Thursday, December 08, 2011

Photo: Sarah Palin meets Valerie Bertinelli

@WolfiesMom (Valerie Bertinelli) tweeted this photo the other day:


Hat tip: Don Surber.

Larwyn's Linx: FDR's Class Warfare: A Tutorial For Obama

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

Nation

FDR's Class Warfare: A Tutorial For Obama: AmSpec
Reining in the Feds: Rubio
POTUS cancels Hawaii trip after getting blasted by Romney: Hill

ACORN Visits Obama White House: Vadum
Obama Pursues Rich and Poor, Not White Working Class: Barone
Hillary Campaign Conspicuously Emerges: USN

Obama Promises to Save the Middle Class by Enslaving It: Reason
2008 Presidential Primary Election Fraud Probe Heats Up: Ace
Chart of the Day: Food Stamp Recession Curve: Mish

Economy

Obama Gives SEIU A $4B Christmas Present: S&L
Congress should stop subsidizing Buffet's health care: Foundry
How the economy would change under Newt Gingrich: Yahoo!

Five Big Lies in Obama's Economic Fairness Speech: IBD
How to Ruin Your Life: Mead
ObamaCare Rule May Bar HSAs, Low-Cost Health Plans: IBD

Gunrunner & Energygate

New e-mails: ATF officials discussed using Fast & Furious to … push gun control: Hot Air
Sen. Grassley Calls for Assistant A.G.’s Resignation from Senate Floor over ‘Fast and Furious’: BigGovt
What Does Sec. of State Clinton Know About Fast and Furious (and El Paso)?: BigGovt

Holder Testifies at 10AM ET on "Fast and Furious": C-SPAN
'Obama Blamed US Guns for Mexican Violence – Then He Set Out to Prove Himself Right': GWP
New Fast and Furious Memo Backs Up Whistleblower Testimony: AT

Climate & Energy

Oil-rich America?: Hanson
Eight Warning Signs of Junk Science: Armed & Dangerous
Priorities: Your DHS Now Fighting For Environmental Justice: Ace

Media

Lib media journos punked by fake SEIU press release: Malkin
David Brooks and the Cost of Regulation: Ricochet
GOP Strategist Laughs in Chris Matthews' Face, Mocks His View of 'Sophisticated Voters': NB

Krauthammer slams Panetta for attacking Israel over no peace process: Scoop
Channeling Milton Friedman to a conservative victory: Wolf
Alec Baldwin Kicked Off Plane (Delaying Flight For Everyone Else) For Refusing To Turn Off Electronic Device: Ace

World

The Covert Intelligence War Against Iran: Stratfor
West has new, hardline martyr-in-waiting to fear: Creeping
German Politician: Euro Downgrade Is an American Plot: WklyStd

W.H. Classifies Nidal Hassan's Terrorist Attack on Ft. Hood as... ... ... "Workplace Violence": Ace
The Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum Winner Is…: PJM
Terrorist-Linked CAIR Peddling Islam in Tampa Bay, FL High Schools: Creeping

Sci-Tech

AT&T rated worst cell phone carrier for second year in a row: CNet
$100 tablet now shipping with Android 4.0: CNet
Mercedes C- and E-Class coupes to get AWD option next year: Autoblog

Cornucopia

Remembering Pearl Harbor (and here): Ace
What Do Shoplifters Steal Most During the Holidays?: Marfdrat
The Best Quotes From “Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty”: RWN

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Vote for Ben Howe as WBT's Next Top Talker

QOTD: "This year alone, 772 regulatory documents have been deemed “significant” under the president’s definition, heaping an estimated $230 billion in new compliance costs on the struggling economy. A staggering 76,292 pages of regulations have been added to the Federal Register, and the expected paperwork burden for businesses stands at 119.4 million hours per year. Regulations based on sound science that keep the American people safe are an important function of the federal government, but it is quite clear that our runaway regulatory system must be reined in to help foster private-sector job creation. An estimate from the American Action Forum finds that passage of the REINS Act could yield regulatory cost savings of over $40 billion and save 55,000 jobs." --Sen. Marco Rubio

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

'Income Inequality' is just another form of diversity: so why do liberals hate diversity?

President Obama's speech in Kansas yesterday was breathtaking for its level of dishonesty. Over and over, with a cadence not dissimilar to that of a used-car salesman, the president decried the lack of "fairness" in our society.

The word "fairness" and its derivatives were mentioned by the president more than a dozen times.

But life itself is unfair. And no one and nothing on Earth can change that, even if you tried to create a totalitarian police state like North Korea's.

• It's not fair that I don't play basketball like LeBron James.

• It's not fair that I can't play a guitar like Eric Clapton.

• It's not fair that I didn't invent Google like Larry Page.

• It's not fair that I haven't invested as well as Warren Buffet.

• It's not fair that I've never worked as hard as Tesla.

• It's not fair that I'm taller than most people.

• It's not fair that most people sing better than me.

• It's not fair that Al Gore invented the Internet first.

To be human is to be unique, to be different than everyone else. It is your uniqueness that makes you special, whether Barack Obama thinks that is unfair or not. For liberals to place you -- a unique, wonderful individual with God-given talents and shortcomings -- in some sort of bucket, in some made-up class, so he can manipulate you or secure your vote, well, it's not just cynical. It's un-American.

And what is "fair" when it comes to society as a whole?

Say I am a businessman about to invent a cancer-fighting drug, but the money I was going to use for that research was ripped from me by the government in the name of "fairness"; how is that fair for the people who could have been saved by that drug?

Is it fair for the government to steal money and claim they're able to use it more efficiently than thousands upon thousands of entrepreneurs, businesspeople, investors, scientists and engineers?

Is it fair for the government to create arbitrary classes of people based upon their income -- and then decide who should have their money confiscated and who should receive that money as gifts to buy their votes?

And who are these geniuses -- these masterminds of humankind -- who can decide what's "fair" and what's "unfair" for all of humanity?

They are Marxists, following the template of all of the failed Statists who've come before them, dividing us, building straw-men and, ultimately, obliterating the civil society. Which is why we must crush them and their vessel -- the Democrat Party -- at the ballot box in 2012.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Report: How Open Borders Policies Led to the Mortgage Meltdown

A little-publicized article in the Norfolk Crime Examiner two years ago featured a startling interview with a mortgage auditor. This man "personally audited thousands of sub prime loans."

The auditor found that "[o]ver 50% of the subprimes were for cash-out refi’s. Regardless of the loan criteria used to pull random samplings for audits, the majority of the last names were Hispanic. The loans I audited were primarily in CA, NV, AZ, FL, CO, compare those to the states with the highest number of foreclosures [and] illegal aliens."

Are these figures plausible? It appears so. A June 2007 MarketWatch article confirmed that "...[m]ore than half of subprime loans are actually cash-out refinance loans... we see subprime offers all-over the place: 'consolidate your debts' or 'tap you home's equity,' the ads read. As Lee puts it, why not pay off credit cards with 18% annual interest rates with a 9% loan?"

"Cash-out refi's" -- for those unfamiliar with the term -- are situations where a loan is refinanced and cash taken out of excess equity in the home. The excess equity could have been provided by a massive run-up in prices or simply a fraudulent appraisal.

The auditor observed that, "[o]ne borrower stole the [social security number] of a retiree and took out $3.5 million in loans, turned around and did cash-out refi’s, then fled the country. The retiree was left with ruined credit, $3.5 million in loans and trouble with the IRS."

Interestingly, cash-out refi's hit a 16-year high in late 2006.

Because subprime cash-out refi's were known to have higher default rates well before this, a reckoning could have been predicted by regulators.

"During the bailout, I called my Congressman and other leadership including Barney Frank and asked if there was a provision within the Bill that prohibited illegal aliens from being bailed out…..the answer was no. I asked if there was a provision in the Bill that helped homeowners that did not take out subprimes but are faced with losing their home due to the negative impact of subprimes and was told... no. So in other words, those that committed crimes to obtain the loans will get a helping hand to bail them out, compliments of the US [t]axpayer!"

"Of course, we all know that, on October 26, 2001, President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act. However, I would wager to say that almost no one knows that contained in section 326(b) of the USA Patriot Act is a provision that allows US banks to accept Mexican Matricula Consular cards (MCCs) as a valid form of ID for opening bank accounts."

"It should be noted that while... Congress ordered American banks to recognize these Mexican-issued cards, there is not one Mexican bank which accepts their own government’s Matricula Consular card as a valid form of ID, because the bearer’s identity is basically untraceable."

In fact, members of the House Judiciary Committee confirm that Mexican banks do not accept Matricula Consular cards as valid identification.

In 2004, a Congressional effort to limit the use of MCCs was defeated by a consortium of financial institutions, immigrants’ rights groups, consumer groups, and many others. These organizations had formed a loose coalition to defeat, again, limitations on the use of consular ID cards by banks, credit unions, thrifts and other financial institutions.

By a vote of 222 to 177, the House passed a bipartisan amendment (HA 754), introduced by Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Pastor (D-AZ), Hinojosa (D-TX), Oxley (R-OH) and Kolbe (R-AZ). It prohibited the Treasury Dept. from implementing regulations regarding the acceptance of FCCs by financial institutions.

But prior to that hearing, the FBI was adamantly opposed to the use of MCCs as valid identification. Assistant Director Steve McCraw's testimony before Congress in 2003 was blunt: "...consular ID cards are primarily being utilized by illegal aliens in the United States. Foreign nationals who are present in the U.S. legally have the ability to use various alternative forms of identification -- most notably a passport -- for the purposes of opening bank accounts..."

The FBI identified a variety of problems with MCCs:

* There was no centralized database of MCCs
* There were no interconnected, local databases of MCCs and, therefore, no way to authenticate the validity of a card
* MCCs could be obtained with little -- and sometimes -- no documentation whatsoever
* MCCs were easily forged (90% in circulation had no security features at all)

In 2003, Gabriel Manjarrez, Senior Vice President and Hispanic Marketing Executive of Bank of America testified before the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. He explained, "...The first program I want to discuss is our initiative to accept the use of the Mexican consulate ID, the Matricula Consular. We developed this initiative [in 2001] because we wanted to make it easier for Mexican citizens living in the USA to have access to banking services from Bank of America... Today, every single Bank of America banking center recognizes the Matricula Consular as a valid form of identification."

At least a dozen U.S. banks and mortgage insurers offered home loan programs targeted at illegal aliens.

And anecodotal evidence would appear to confirm alarming abuse of the system; the infamous $720,000 mortgage to two pairs of illegal immigrants with a combined annual income of less than $50,000 comes to mind.

Consider the findings of the auditor: "Over 50% of the sub primes were for cash-out refi’s. Regardless of the loan criteria used to pull random samplings for audits, the majority of the last names were Hispanic. The loans I audited were primarily in CA, NV, AZ, FL, CO, compare those to the states with the highest number of foreclosures & illegal aliens."

* * * * * * * * *

Those who have supported open borders policies -- on either side of the aisle -- seem to have contributed mightily to the mortgage crisis. And someday we might actually get legacy media to tell the entire story of the mortgage meltdown.


Larwyn's Linx: Obama: Capitalism Has "Never Worked"

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

Nation

Obama: Capitalism Has "Never Worked": Ace
Obama embraces liberal fascism in Kansas speech: Greenroom
Ixnay on Cordray: Not another Obama czar: Malkin

Ten Years to Greece: Stossel
RNC: Let’s not personally attack Obama next year: Hot Air
The Stupid Party: Walsh

Kings of Crony Capitalism: Power Line
Corzine-Bubba Twist: MF Global hired Clinton’s group: Post
Karen Harrington- “A Two-State Solution is Already in Place”: Shark

Economy

Then and Now: American Digest
Obama vs. Capitalism: Harsanyi
Obama's New Villain on Job Losses: The Internet: Ace

President Obama’s Inane Payroll Tax Campaign Ploy: Motley
Obama Union Goon: “Obama the only choice for the 99%”: JWF
Hoyer: More Unemployment Payments Reduces Unemployment: CNS

Gunrunner & Energygate

Video: US approved large escalation of legal gun sales to Mexico: Hot Air
Fast & Furious Cover Up Coming Apart Fast and Furious: Ace
Gunwalker’s Cousin: ‘Moneywalker’?: Owens

Climate & Energy

CO2 ... The World's Savior?: Wolf Howing
Great News: DHS drafts 'environmental justice strategy: Exam
New hurricane record – 2232 days since major Hurricane made landfall in USA – most since 1900: Watts

Media

Snared in the Soros Web: NoisyRm
Survey of Conservative Bloggers On The 2012 GOP Primaries: RWN
Former NRA Chairman: Sharon Bialek was terminated before Herman Cain was even hired: Nice Deb

Bob Woodward: Gore Told Me That the Public Knows Just 'One Percent' of Clinton's Dealings: NB
Transcript of Newt Gingrich interview: Beck
Santorum on Trump: Couldn't Be Any Worse 'Than What We Get from the Mainstream Media': NB

The 5 Best Paul Krugman Meme Pics: RWN
It's Time To Give Up On Mainstream Economics: Martenson
Hollyweird distraction of the day: Alec Baldwin booted off plane: Malkin

World

Obama’s new gay rights strategy? FAIL. Check out MY new gay rights strategy.: Zombie
NAACP begs United Nations to block US voter ID laws: Toldjah
Obama to Iran: Enjoy Your Nukes!: Simon

Jerusalem Post: the U.S. is an ally no more: JPost
Islamic ascendancy intensifies US appeasement: Word From Jerusalem
Experts: Nuclear Iran Would be Game Changer: CBN

Pregnant Gang Rape Victim to Be Lashed 100 Times After She Delivers Baby: GWP
Perry on Obama Administration’s Use of Gay Rights to Make Foreign Aid Decisions: Rick Perry
China begins to admit 'fog' is really smog: MSNBC

Sci-Tech

Verizon blocks Google Wallet on Galaxy Nexus: CNet
Verizon Blocks Google Wallet on New Smartphones: WSJ
Mark Zuckerberg's private pictures leaked after security breached on Facebook: Post

Cornucopia

Iowahawk Geographic: The Secret Life of Climate Researchers: IowaHawk
The Ultimate Hamburger: American Digest
President Obama stops at We B Smokin Barbecue: Dossier

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

QOTD: “If we’re training cops as soldiers, giving them equipment like soldiers, dressing them up as soldiers, when are they going to pick up the mentality of soldiers?

If you look at the police department, their creed is to protect and to serve. A soldier’s mission is to engage his enemy in close combat and kill him. Do we want police officers to have that mentality? Of course not." --Arthur Rizer

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

It begins: bank runs break out in Greece, following the contours of the sovereign debt crisis

Following the path of the sovereign debt crisis, the Eurozone's bank runs have begun.

Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts


Many Greeks are draining their savings accounts because they are out of work, face rising taxes or are afraid the country will be forced to leave the euro zone. By withdrawing money, they are forcing banks to scale back their lending -- and are inadvertently making the recession even worse.

Georgios Provopoulos, the governor of the central bank of Greece, is a man of statistics, and they speak a clear language. "In September and October, savings and time deposits fell by a further 13 to 14 billion euros. In the first 10 days of November the decline continued on a large scale," he recently told the economic affairs committee of the Greek parliament... the outflow of funds from Greek bank accounts has been accelerating rapidly. At the start of 2010, savings and time deposits held by private households in Greece totalled €237.7 billion ... [but] the Greeks today only have €170 billion in savings -- almost 30 percent less than at the start of 2010.

...Nikoloudis has detected a further trend. At first, it was just a few people trying to withdraw large sums of money. Now it's large numbers of people moving small sums. Ypatia K., a 55-year-old bank worker from Athens, can confirm that. "The customers, especially small savers, have recently been withdrawing sums of €3,000, €4,000 or €5,000. That was panic," she said.

For those who insist it couldn't happen here, a word of caution: it can and it has, as recently as 2008.

The 2008 financial crisis displayed characteristics of a classic bank run, but people holding bank accounts weren't the ones scrambling to get their cash. It was lenders demanding their money from other financial institutions.

Indeed, today's panics are more likely to involve major financial institutions and are largely hidden from plain sight until they are severe enough to trigger plunging stock prices, bankruptcies, layoffs and rising unemployment. And the current European crisis is a reminder that some of the vulnerabilities exposed in 2008 still exist.

These panics often originate in the shadows of the banking system, where major financial institutions do business with one another... [and] the size of shadow-banking activities [are] roughly $60 trillion as of 2010—a sum that represents 25% to 30% of the total global financial system.

At best, shadow banking offers financial institutions a source of funding and liquidity on a day-to-day basis. At worst, it allows the buildup of leverage and systemic risk, as the 2008 financial crisis revealed. Gary Gorton, a Yale University professor and leading researcher in this field, has documented that the crisis was effectively "a run by banks and firms on other banks."

...Given the speed that Europe's debt crisis is unfolding, however, any measures that could help fend off future shadow-banking panics risk coming too late.

The propagand-conomist Paul Krugman -- a proponent of the debt-ridden European social welfare state -- hardest hit.


Oops! Chart Proves Obama's Housing Policies Have Been a Complete and Utter Cluster-Fail

This is why the President runs around the country -- when he's not golfing or vacationing -- talking about how great the future will be if only Congress would stop blocking his agenda. Because, like all liberals, he can never, ever look back at the past, the results of his previous decisions, which are uniformly disastrous.

A few days ago we presented an analysis by ConvergEx showing that due to the very close historical correlation between home prices and employment, it is the Fed's view that the only way to stimulate employment (aside from such BLS shennanigans as pretending that despite the natural growth of the labor force by 90k a month to keep up with population, those willing to work are in fact declining) is to raise home prices. Raising home prices by definition means either reducing supply - an event which is proving impossible with shadow inventory in the millions and rising, even as thousands of new delinquent mortgages appear each day... or increasing demand. It is the latter that the Fed targets, by attempting to make mortgage rates ever cheaper via LSAP, Operation Twist or other Treasury curve interventions that attempt to push down long-dated yields ever lower. This works in theory. In practice, however, as the chart below demonstrates, the Fed's entire [Zero Interest Rate] policy over the past several years has been one abysmal failure (for everyone expect those with immediate access to the Fed's zero interest rate capital - i.e., the Primary Dealers)...

...What appears very clearly on this chart is that despite ever declining mortgage rates, there is simply no interest in home turnover, and sales are at record low levels due to lack of demand, and lack of desire to sell into a bidless market, in essence causing the entire housing market to halt.

...And this makes intuitive sense: the bulk of home owners who can take advantage of cheap credit are those who already have a mortgage and at best will refi into a cheaper one. For everyone else, either the bank's admissions criteria are too stringent, or the potential borrower is simply convinced that a year from today, the 30-year mortgage rate will be another 1% lower (most likely with 100% justification). As such there is absolutely no drive to naturally restart the housing market (one can commence here a discussion of how central planning destroys every market it infect like a lethal virus, but we will spare that for another, more preachy night). For now we will leave you with this chart which proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the Fed's primary mandate: to lower the unemployment rate (by boosting home prices) has been a failure...

Oh, for the love of...! Now I'm gonna have to add another item to The Complete List of President Obama's Historic Firsts™.


Beautiful: Chevy Volt Safety Issues 'May Have Been Suppressed' (plus, the Top 12 Chevy Volt Slogans!)

Gee, it seems so surprising that a government-owned auto company would use the instrumentalities of government to suppress safety findings.

Top 12 Chevy Volt Slogans

12. Fight global warming by driving an electric car that bursts into flames!
11. The money you will save at the pump helps you pay the deductible on your homeowners insurance.
10. If you have friends push it around while making ***vroom vroom*** noises, it's a lot like driving a car.
9. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil while reducing our garage to a pile of ashes.
8. We call it the “Volt” because the name "Chevy Coal" didn’t test well.
7. Ask us about our Sail option!
6. The Chevy Volt, the $41,000 before-tax-credit, four-seater that you might as well buy because you’re paying for it anyway car
5. Forward, into the futu-- AGGGHHH!!! AGGGHHH!!! PUT ME OUT!!! ROLL ME AROUND ON THE GROUND!!!
4. Got Squirrel?
3. The Kia of Golf Carts
2. I coulda had a V-8
1. Why pollute around you with exhaust when you can pollute far away with coal?
Following on from the announcement that GM is looking at redesigning the Chevrolet Volt’s lithium-ion battery system in the wake of several highly publicized fires resulting from test crashes, comes further news that both the automaker and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration delayed disclosure of their original findings by months.

Apparently, way back in June, General Motors heard about a Volt fire that happened three weeks after said vehicle was crash tested, yet it wasn’t until November that the company, or NHTSA disclosed there was a potential problem, urging both dealers and customers to drain the battery pack immediately following an accident.

As a result the public relations nightmare surrounding Chevy’s halo vehicle appears to be deepening, though a good deal of the blame in this case also rests with NHTSA.

Joan Claybrook, a former adminstrator at NHTSA believes part of the reason for the delay was the “fragility of Volt sales.” Yet she also believes that “NHTSA could have put out a consumer alert, not to tell them [customers] for six months makes no sense to me.”

GM designed a complex cooling system for the Volt’s lithium ion battery pack to help regulate its temperature (lithium-ion units are known for overheating), yet until July it hadn’t finalized a standard proceedure to power down the battery system, the Volt had already been on sale in the US for six months at that juncture.

The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, which crash tested a Volt back in February reported no incidents of fire as resulting from the accident, yet when a second crash test was performed in August, General Motors sent a technician to power down the battery.

General Motors is certainly blazing a path to a clean energy future!

Can I get a rim-shot?


Hat tips: Biff Spackle, IMAO, Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, Cruze Forum and Greg Gutfeld.

Presidents Behaving Strangely [Dan from NY]

Dan from NY:

At some point (like now) it’s appropriate to ask Barack Hussein Obama “what can you be thinking?”

12/6/11

'Obama urging US lawmakers to soften Iran sanctions'


By REUTERS

Senator Mark Kirk, co-author of proposal approved 100-0 by Senate to penalize foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran's central bank, says Obama administration trying to undermine sanctions.

Dan, I beg to differ. This isn't 'strange' behavior on the part of President Obama.

He's doing precisely what he was taught to do.


Larwyn's Linx: Wargaming the Electoral College

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

Nation

Wargaming the Electoral College: Vodkapundit
The Orwellian American Left: DLim
Ten Reasons To Love Rick Perry : CDNews

Battlefield Main Street: Daily
Pelosi retreats from Gingrich insinuations: Lane
Newt fires back at Pelosi: Bring it on!: Scoop

Economy

Dodd-Frank Rules Will Crush Employment, Banks Warn: IBD
On Payroll Taxes, Milton Friedman and TANSTAAFL: AllAm
Jesse Jackson: "Christmas Should Be Poor People’s Holy Day": WZ

Congressional Insider Trading and the Media: Schweizer Speaks: NB
New Signs Of “Invisible” Bank Run in Southern Europe: WorldCrunch
Fed may give loans to IMF to help euro zone: paper: Reuters

Gunrunner & Energygate

Justice Dept. Caught In Lie About 'Fast And Furious': IBD
Friday 'Document Dump' Reveals DOJ Misled Congress: PJM
Hey, Guess Who Else Profited From Corzine's Debacle?: Ace

Climate & Energy

Climategate 2 Emails Loaded with Bombshells : Heartland
A loophole in the incandescent light bulb ban?: WyBlog
Science of Public Choice Reveals Government is Motivated by Politics and Not by Science: Hayek

Media

Iran, Orwell & The Enigma Of Greenwald: Wolf Howling
Another Liberal Talk Radio Failure; San Fran Lib Station Replaced With Conservative Talk: Loesch
My Affair With Herman Cain: Riehl

Drudge headline that cost Newt 1,000,000 votes: Surber
Disgraced CNN Journalist Who Accused U.S. Troops of Atrocities to Produce GOP Debate: NB
GOP Moderator Donald Trump: Yeah, Obama's Birth Certificate Looks Pretty Fake To Me: Ace

Pedophilia Rampant In Hollywood, And Everyone Looks The Other Way, Charge Former Child Stars: Ace
Glenn Reynolds: Let’s put colleges on the hook for loans that their students can’t repay: Hot Air
Does Liberal Media Ever Identify Anyone as 'Liberal'?: ChicagoNow

World

A dubious death in Dubai: Officials tight-lipped over Iranian expat’s ‘suicide’: Timmerman
'Israel biggest loser from Brotherhood Egypt win': JPost
Despite Massive Fraud, Putin Loses Seats: PJM

Three Slaps and You're Out?: Baehr
Report: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Put On “War Footing” After Explosions Rock Key Nuclear Installations: WZ
Chavez Price Caps Spark Panic Buying of Coffee, Toilet Paper: Bloomberg

Report: UN to tax Americans for Green Climate Fund: Bruce
Egypt’s Rising Salafi Party Says Christians Will Be Better Off Under Sharia Law: WZ
The Arab Spring: Lancing The Boil: RWN

Sci-Tech

Could HTC phones be banned from the U.S.? (FAQ): CNet
Potentially Earth-Like Planet Has Right Temperature for Life: Wired
Yahoo lesson: Don't get comfortable, it'll kill your business: smh

Cornucopia

17 Days of Fun, Fun, Fun ~ The Obama Hawaii Vacation: GJ&JK
Kennedy Center Tributes: Sapphires, Diamonds & Salvation: MOTUS
New Bumper-Sticker Idea: Looking Spoon

Image: The Daily: Battlefield Main Street
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "One thing that emerges from the new emails is that, while a large number of scientists are working on separate, detailed nodes of climate-related issues (the reason for dozens of authors for every IPCC report chapter), the circle of scientists who control the syntheses that go into IPCC reports and the national climate reports that the U.S. and other governments occasionally produce is quite small and partial to particular outcomes of these periodic assessments. The way the process works in practice casts a shadow over one of the favorite claims of the climate campaign​—​namely, that there exists a firm “consensus” about catastrophic future warming among thousands of scientists. This so-called consensus reflects only the views of a much smaller subset of gatekeepers." --Steven Hayward

Monday, December 05, 2011

A picture from President Obama's post-Constitutional America

I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I say.

I was strolling around the waterfront fish market in DC on Saturday, admiring the whole octopi, the squid, lobsters, jumbo crab legs and Maryland blue crabs for sale.

Imagine my surprise when I spotted this sign above a pile of crabs.

...But this is all good news, according to this administration. Remember, food stamps stimulate the economy!

Say, did someone mention another Obama record?

...according to the latest update from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), some 423,000 Americans found their way to minimum way subsistence, courtesy of Food Stamp handouts from Uncle Sam. Since the start of the Second Great Depression, food stamp participation has increased by 18.7 million, and is now at an all time higher 46.3 million.

All Bush's fault, or something. At least the chart below appears to be plateauing... Actually, sorry, no. It isn't.

Not to worry, folks.

At least the USDA has an excellent handle on how food stamps are being used.

Sorry. I couldn't restrain my chortle.


Hat tip: Occam's Razor X.

County Approves Display of Crucifixion of Santa Claus; Ten Commandments, However, Still Off Limits

I guess this is the kind of cultural shift that President Obama was talking about when he spoke about 'fundamentally transforming America'.

A skeleton, dressed as Santa Claus and nailed to a cross, was torn down by an enraged woman outside of the Loudoun County Courthouse.

The display was legally there, with the consent of the county, officials said.

Mary Zenecki, a county resident, wasn't having it. Piece by piece and bone by bone Zenecki took Skele-Claus off the cross and laid him on the courthouse's lawn. "You don't think this is offensive?" she asked.

The display was put there by Jeff Heflin. He applied for approval with the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors to put up his anti-Christmas Season display.

"It depicts how society's materialistic obsessions and addictions are killing the season's peace, love, joy and kindness," Heflin said.

How about we strive for separation of stupidity and state?


Hat tip: The Quinton Report.

Dear Abby [Papa B]

Papa B:

DEAR ABBY:

I have always wanted to have my family history traced but I can't afford to spend a lot of money to do it. Do you have any suggestions?

Sam in California.

DEAR SAM:

Register as a Republican and run for public office.

Abby

Bizarre Coincidence: Right-to-Work States Superior In Every Way for the 'Workers'

Why, this must be some sort of statistical -- how you say in English? -- anomaly. Turns out that states which force employees to join unions against their will are inferior to right-to-work states using about any economic measure you can think of.

The term 'Tax Freedom Day' was coined by the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think thank. It translates to "the day when Americans... finally have earned enough money to pay off their total [federal, state and local] tax bill for the year."

Notice the eight-day difference between right-to-work and forced unionization states. For those of you who live in the latter, you spend eight days every year working for the unions.

Which is the way the self-professed Marxist union bosses like Andy Stern and Dick Trumka want it.


Deranged Propaganda Cartoonist Pat Oliphant Has a Simple Message for America: Republicans Are Pedophiles

Thank goodness we're in the post-Gabbi Giffords era, where political discourse is rational, reasoned and based strictly upon policy differences:

Progressives, the vultures of tragedy, aren’t above exploiting it for a political purpose. (See the funeral of Paul Wellstone, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the Tucson shooting.) Cartoonist Pat Oliphant is no exception: his latest attention-seeking panel compares Republicans to child rapists.

Factually, the only two lawmakers have been making news with child abuse scandal headlines and they’re both Democrats: David Wu and Dale Kildee.

People complain about polarization in politics -- well, let this putz serve as Exhibit A.

Rather than discuss the Democrats' failed 'War on Poverty, their complete disregard for the nation's highest law or their rampant support of election fraud, this pencil-necked kook enjoys creating Julius Streicher-like agit-prop.

Hey, miscreant: next time, why not just depict Republicans as rats who need to be thrown into concentration camps, like your hero Streicher used to do?

You're scum, Oliphant. You. Are. Scum.


Hat tip: JTT

America's Problem

Doug writes:

If you don’t already believe we’re headed for a potential disaster in America, just take a look at this Kleiner Perkins chart.


I blame Bush. Plus Millard Fillmore. But mostly Bush.

And definitely not the Stimulus package of 2009 that has been built into the baseline budget every year since.


Larwyn's Linx: Apocalypse Nowish

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

Nation

Apocalypse Nowish: NoisyRm
The Ethics of Eric Holder: AT
Bye, Bye Barney: Ace

The Welfare State's Day of Reckoning Is Here: Samuelson
Jess Jackson Jr. Document Dump: Malkin
Perry Suggests Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices: GWP

But Let's Not Profile!: Driscoll
Why I’m Endorsing Newt Gingrich: Hawkins
Obama writing off Pennsylvania?: PittLive

Economy

What Needs to Be Done to Fix Detroit: Mish
How the Left is Sucking the Life out of the Private Economy: AT
Congress Tees Up Year-End Spending Spree: Fox

California ‘The Big State that Can't' (or won't): Greenhut
Shock waves from MF Global collapse felt on farms: Yahoo!
Feel Stupid Yet, Occupiers?: iOTW

Obama to Travel to a Red State!: Dossier
We Need Employment Benefits, Not Another Permanent Welfare Program: RS
Contagion Catastrophe: NatlJrnl

Gunrunner & Energygate

White House denies reports Obama knew of ‘Fast and Furious’ in 2010: DC
Gunwalker: Justice Dept. Violated US Laws Beyond Those Being Investigated: PJM
Fast and Furious denials found to be false: UPI

New York Times Spins Fast And Furious Document Dump In Favor Of DOJ: BigJourn
‘Fast and Furious’ Not Holder’s First Controversy Involving the Murder of an American Citizen: BigGovt
General Motors buying back Chevy Volts: WDAY

Climate & Energy

Whether It Is Warming or Climate Change, It Cannot be the CO2.: Dr. Tim Ball
House says EPA rule costs 186k jobs per year: Exam
Missing You: Remy

Media

The Chicago Tribune Reveals the Democrat 2012 Pitch to Independents: Cary
‘Exhausted From Grueling Fundraising Trips, POTUS to Vacation for 17 Days’: Driscoll
Hot Air Presidential Survey Results: Greenroom

Trump-ed up: You won’t believe what Eason Jordan’s up to now: Malkin
‘Why isn’t Brian Williams Telling Me This?’: Driscoll
Former Union Chief Andy Stern Praises Crony Communism: IBD

Chelsea Clinton's Baggage. No, Not Them.: AT
In Defense of a Democrat: RS
Newt Keeps Pitching the America of His Imagination: Barone

World

Obama's Ambassador To Belgium: Muslim Antisemitism Is Israel's Fault: Commentary
Clinton criticism sparks Israeli anger: Al Arabiya
Iranian Regime Claims It Shot Down US RQ-170 Drone: GWP

Obama’s Middle East Policy: A Unified Field Theory: BRubin
I Like These Guys: Productive Class Revolt
Khmer Rouge leader at Cambodian trial says they were not 'bad people' : Telegraph

Has the War with Iran Already Begun?: NatlJrnl
Did Iran Capture a U.S. Stealth Drone Intact?: Wired
Wahabbi Muslim turned Christian exposes Koran: Creeping

Sci-Tech

Mystery company buying up U.S. gun manufacturers: SFgate
Apple iOS is safer than Android, McAfee says: CNet
EFF asks US Copyright Office to exempt jailbreaking from DMCA: Sophos

Cornucopia

Slip n' Slide: iOTW
This Week in Automotivators: RWN
A Look Back At Paulina Gretzky’s Racy Twitter Account, Which Was Shut Down This Weekend: Sportsgrid

Image: Astonishing accident involving eight Ferraris 'world's most expensive car crash' (via TAB)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Halt the NLRB’s Assault On America’s Union-Free Workplace

QOTD: "Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as 'bad luck.'" --R.A. Heinlein

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Hell's Door vs. the Incandescent Light Bulb

In the middle of the Karakoum (Turkmenistan) desert, close to the tiny nomadic village of Darvaza, there is a crater about 100 meters in diameter and more than 25 meters deep. It is called "Hell's Door". Inside this well, a fire has been burning for more than 40 years.

A Soviet prospecting mission began here in the fifties. In 1971, a drilling operation exposed an underground cavity that discharged enormous quantities of gas. Thinking the supply of gas would last but a few weeks, Soviet engineers decided to torch the hole. And it's been burning ever since. The intense heat coming from the crater allows visitors to approach Hell's Door only for a few minutes at a time because of the unbearable temperature.

At night, the hole looks like Dante's Inferno: the fire burns in all its magnificence, giving the well the look of a volcanic burning crater.

* * * * * * * * *

40 years of intense, volcanic heat emitted by a massive, burning hellhole.

But you and I have to give up our incandescent light-bulbs.

For the children. Oh, and the global warming scam, too. But mostly the children. And Ewoks.


Euro-Bomb!

Guess the one word that describes the Eurozone (hint: it starts with 'S' and ends with 'crewed').

In simple terms, this is the stark reality: now that debt and risk have been repriced, Europe's debts are completely, totally unpayable. There is no way to keep adding to the Matterhorn of debt at the old cheap rate of interest, and there is no way to roll over the trillions of euros in debt that are coming due at the old near-zero rates.

Never mind actually paying down debt, sovereign, corporate and private--the repricing of risk and debt mean even the interest payments are unpayable. Consider this chart of one tiny slice of total EU debt:

There is no way to push the repricing genie back in the bottle, and so there is no way to roll over this debt and add to it--and to support the high-cost structure of Euroland's welfare-state governments and their astounding debt, then debt must be added, and in staggering quantities.

...[The] repricing has already occurred, and cannot be revoked or shoved back in the bottle. The Great European Debt Bubble has already burst, and so now it boils down to a simple choice: debt serfdom or open rebellion against the banks that profited so handsomely from the euro-fantasy.

There is no middle ground, as the debt cannot be repaid, not now and not in the future. It cannot be reshuffled, masked, or hidden; it can only be renounced.

It's your choice, Europe; choose wisely. If you want a model for sanity and growth, look to Iceland. They renounced their unpayable debts and debt-serfdom, and let the market reprice their currency, debt and risk. The nightmare is past for them; they chose wisely. Now it's your turn to choose.

The debt-serfdom will fall to you, not the banks or your Elites.

And if you find yourself mildly amused by the collapse of Europe's social democrat welfare states, a word of warning. We're next.


Media Struggle To Keep Their 'Narrative' Alive [Dan from NY]

Dan from NY:

Here’s a rather factual news story from the UK's Telegraph reporting the rise of the Islamist bloc in the wake of Egyptian elections. It's headlined Egypt elections: Islamists seize two-thirds of votes.

But let's review the last paragraph and the Muslim Brotherhood line spoon-fed and eagerly swallowed by the Telegraph’s reporter. See if you can stop yourself from laughing.

###

Seeking to allay the fears of Egyptian liberals, Essam el-Erian, the deputy leader of the Freedom and Justice party, said: “We represent a moderate and fair party. We want to apply the basics of Sharia law in a fair way that respects human rights and personal rights.”

The ludicrous Bill Kristol hardest hit.