Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Andrea Mitchell Opines on the All-Important Detroit Caucuses

Remember when NBC's senior political hack analyst Andrea Mitchell belittled the state of Iowa, asserting that "it doesn't represent the rest of the country - too white, too evangelical, too rural"?

The petulant artisans at iOwnTheWorld subsequently filed an official rebuttal in the form of a poster.

Calls to Ms. Mitchell were not returned at press time, though an NBC spokesman confirmed that tingling sensations had been felt in the newsroom.


Larwyn's Linx: Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians for 2011

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

Nation

Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians for 2011: JW
On Virginia AG Cuccinelli's Ballot Rules Reversal: Ace
Former staffer responds to Paul's 9/11 Truther denials: Lid

How the DOJ and media tricked SC to protect vote fraud: BigGovt
Did you miss the White House visitor log document dump?: Malkin
Rand Paul: Tea Party's Better Off Within the GOP: Hot Air

Steady in Iowa, Romney Counts on New Hampshire, Florida: Barone
A Brief Guide to Iowa and Beyond: RWN
Five Easy Steps to End ‘Islamophobia’: Spencer

Economy

Heartache: Obama’s Hawaiian Vacation Is Over: WZ
A Brave New Step on the Tightrope: TL in Exile
‘Let’s Move’: A Government Initiative to Lie to Kids: BigGovt

Obamanomics by the Numbers: Instapundit
Middle Class Warriors Dine Out for $260: Dossier
Economic Indicators: Jobs Will Be Job One: WSJ

Climate & Energy

What's the Punchline?: Dinocrat
This Is How Newt’s “Science Advisor” Thinks: Soylent
Devastating criticism of the IPCC from a guy who contributed to all five IPCC Assessment Reports: Nelson

Corbyn vs. the Met: Bayonet
GOP lawmaker and Chevy dealer looks to end Volt tax credit: Hill
New ad campaign reveals foreign interests sabotaging Canada’s economy: 5 Feet

Media

“Thomas Friedman, you pitiful fool.”: Power Line
And now, an endorsement for Ron Paul: Ace
Cindy Sheehan Brags To #OccupyRoseBowl: “I Haven’t Paid My Taxes” In Nearly Eight Years: Dollard

“You got a name?” Rick Perry shuts down Politico reporter over anonymous source: Scoop
Alan Colmes Deserves His New Nickname: Low-life Scum: Lid
Saturday At The Movies! Alfonzo Rachel Edition: Blogmocracy

WordPress Shuts Down Controversial Anti-Islam Site: BigGovt
Colmes apologizes for comment about son after Santorum and wife get emotional: Hot Air
Occupy the Rose Bowl and Occupy the Navy: Mellow Jihadi

RWN’S Top 10 Referrers For 2011: RWN
Ron Paul Tells Terry Moran He Doesn’t Really See Himself in The Oval Office: Blaze
The First Annual Tabbie Awards for Astute Blogging: TAB

World

Nine Michigan car dealerships in Hizbollah scheme, laundered money in US banks: Creeping
Russia: What Iranian nuclear-weapon program?: Hot Air
Arabs once again raise phony "settlement freeze" issue: TAB

Iran in Convulsion (the death spiral continues): Ledeen
Muslim Brotherhood: What say we put that peace treaty with Israel to a popular vote?: Hot Air
Iran Spits Nails As Sanctions Bite: Mead

Egypt's Winds of Change Give Way to Dark Clouds: IPT
Ron Paul Slams Israel, Alleges Gaza a Concentration Camp: AmPower
Video shows Queens firebug hurling Molotov cocktail: Post

Sci-Tech

L.A. arson: A turning point for police use of Twitter, social media: LAT
Pepsi Says Mountain Dew Can Dissolve Mouse Carcasses: AtlWire
More Best Space Photos of 2011: TAB

Cornucopia

Pure, unadulterated genius: Knuckle-draggin' (NSFW)
Stanley Ann’s Legacy: A Crafty Gift: MOTUS
It Could Be Worse: Knuckle-draggin' (NSFW)

Image: Frontpage Magazine
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum Money Bomb

QOTD: "Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." --Alexis de Tocqueville

Monday, January 02, 2012

Odd Coincidence: Soros-Affiliated Brazilian Company Looks to Win Major DOD Contract Over U.S. Competition

For some reason unbeknownst to me, legacy media has chosen not to report this particular story. Go figure.

It seems after investing around $100 million in this project, Hawker-Beechcraft has been excluded from a contract, worth almost $1 billion, to build a new light air support plane.

What intrigues me is the Brazilian company Embraer, the likely contract winner, is currently under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Justice Department, for possible violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act...

Well, amigo, that certainly seems curious. I wonder how that might have happened?

...it seems George Soros has a connection to Embraer through Harbin-Embraer Aircraft a Chinese-Brazilian joint venture, and Hainan Airlines, which Soros owns a significant stake in.

Surely that must be a coincidence.

...[There may be] nothing sinister going on behind the scenes.

It’s troubling, however, that Hawker-Beechcraft was given no real explanation for this decision. It’s also troubling we’d buy a military aircraft from a foreign manufacturer, under any circumstances. As bad as Americans need jobs, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Never mind the national security factor.

Hawker-Beechcraft isn't giving up.

It's still a mystery... but it's one that Hawker Beech intends to get to the bottom of... Hawker Beechcraft has confirmed that they will file a suit with the Court of Federal Claims following notification late last week that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has declined to review its protest of the decision by the U.S. Air Force to exclude the company's Beechcraft AT-6 from the Light Air Support (LAS) competition.

The company still has no concrete reasons for the AT-6's exclusion, having been denied explanation by the US Air Force on two occasions. The LAS contract is valued at nearly $1 billion of U.S. taxpayer money and exclusion of the AT-6 could result in a de facto award to a non-U.S. company.

Hawker says that keeping the contract in the U.S. would preserve 1,400 jobs at 181 companies around the U.S.

But leave it to President Obama -- who "will not rest" until every American has a good job -- to outsource the construction of military aircraft.


Hat tip: Winter Soldier.

A little reminder for 2012: which RINO hacks voted to confirm Eric Holder

Has there been a more malevolent, malicious and partisan attorney general in American history than Eric Holder?

• Holder's Justice Department orchestrated "Operation Fast and Furious", which sent thousands of military-grade weapons to Mexican drug cartels and resulted in the killings of hundreds of Mexican nationals and at least two U.S. law enforcement personnel.

• Instead of owning up to the disastrous operation, the Holder DOJ has engaged in a massive cover-up including an endless series of fabrications, deflections and outright lies. Holder's behavior has been so outrageous that Judiciary Committee member James Sensenbrenner has threatened impeachment and more than 50 members of Congress have called for him to resign.

• Under Holder, the Justice Department is suing a series of states for enforcing immigration law -- while tolerating sanctuary cities in other states.

• The Holder DOJ has withheld and redacted critical evidence of Justice Elena Kagan's relationship with the defense of Obamacare, a potentially criminal matter.

• Furthermore, Holder has now confirmed that at least nine Department of Justice appointees worked directly or indirectly (e.g., filing Amicus Curae briefs) as terrorist advocates. Other DOJ political appointees also worked for law firms that participated indirectly in the defense of Gitmo terrorists.

• This comes on the heels of Holder's shocking failure to prosecute the New Black Panthers who intimidated voters at a Philadelphia polling station in 2008.

And Holder, of course, had a singularly evil track record that should have clearly warned Congress against his confirmation: he had helped free FALN terrorists for Bill Clinton in an apparent quid pro quo; he had approved the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich after his wife had donated millions to Bill Clinton; and he'd had deep involvement in a variety of other situations that should have disqualified him instantly from holding any public office.

Many months ago, Michelle Malkin helpfully reminded us of the list of Republicans who had voted to confirm Holder:

Alexander (R-TN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Chambliss (R-Ga)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Sessions (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Voinovich (R-OH)


 
 
 
 
 
 

Voinovich and Specter no longer count, of course.

But the usual suspects -- Dick Lugar (up for reelection in 2012), Olympia Snowe (2012), Susan Collins (2014), Lindsay "Goober" Graham (2014), and John McCain all voted for Holder -- along with a bunch of more solid Republicans who definitely should have known better.

I urge you to remember these names and to support their primary opponents:

Richard Mourdock is taking on Dick Lugar in Indiana

Andrew Ian Dodge is facing off against Olympia Snowe in Maine

It's time to take action.


Nice: Occupy Movement Crashes Rose Parade with 70-Foot Octopus "Float" That Pins Economic Woes On... Well, You Know

Yeah, you remember that conspiracy orchestrated by those greedy, corporate, Wall Street globalists?

Planning to walk behind the nationally-broadcast Rose Parade Monday demonstrators against Wall Street 'greed and corruption' have constructed a 70-foot-long octopus entirely from recycled plastic bags... The octopus is said to represent the tentacles 'that reach into your pocket to get your money and a tentacle to get your house,' activist Mark Lipman told the Los Angeles Times.

...During a dress rehearsal of their plastic creature in November outside City Hall, activists carrying signs reading Teacher, Home Owner, Retiree and of course, 99 per cent, one-by-one stepped into grabbing point of the activist-raised arms pulling them in.

Say, where have we seen that octopus symbolism before?

Oh, yeah, that's right:

Are people so afraid to stand up against the hatred, public hatred broadcast for the entire world to see? The image of the octopus has been used in attacks on the Jews for over a century. Here's a roundup on the Jewish conspiracy octopus at the Coordinating Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism.

And the local organizers didn't even try to hide their hatred.

People keep saying that the Occupy movement is all about fairness and "getting money out of politics."

Right.

This is the modern Left in action. It tries to divide Americans against one another: rich vs. poor, black vs. white, union vs. non-union, urban vs. rural, you name it.

This kind of rhetoric defies American tradition and, furthermore, it's downright dangerous. Nothing good can come from demonizing arbitrary groups of Americans.


Exclusive Photo: Security Cam Captures L.A. Arson Suspect

Biff Spackle emails us this photo acquired from an unnamed source in Hollywood.

Hey, is that a Chevy Volt?

Seriously, police now have one person in custody related to the recent arson spree.


Larwyn's Linx: No Rest For Conservatives, the 'Sleeping Giant', in 2012

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

Nation

No Rest For Conservatives, the 'Sleeping Giant', in 2012: BigGovt
A Holiday Gift From Ron Paul: Patterico
SSgt Wuterich: The Last Haditha Marine Goes On Trial: Malkin

The No News Stories of 2011: Hanson
The truth behind Holder’s push for ‘electoral equality’: Greenroom
Americans buy record number of guns for Christmas: Telegraph

My Final Short and Sweet Case For Newt Gingrich: RWN
Nationwide FEMA Camps Should Raise Eyebrows: AT
Perry backers could move to Santorum: Hill

Economy

Debt Man Walking: RS
Officer Stabbled in #OWS Riot: WZ
The RNC's 500-Page Book of Clips of Anti-Obama Material: NatlJrnl

Unlimited Domestic Energy...Right Now: AT
The GOP's Answer to Union Money: Barnes
Eurozone collapse 'starts this year' says CEBR: Telegraph

Gunrunner & Energygate

Obama on Guns: HE
Journalistic Sunstroke: IowaHawk
AP ‘Top 10’ List Confirms Media Still Ignoring Fast And Furious Story: AmmoLand

Climate & Energy

Utility may cut off power to solar plant: Surber
SST’s cooler now than in the Medieval Warming Period: Watts
How Columbus Caused the Little Ice Age: RWN

Media

David Gregory Calls President Obama A Liar On Meet The Press: Ace
Don’t Underestimate Rick Santorum’s Campaign Strength in New Hampshire: RSM
‘Get Crazy With The Cheese Whiz’: RSM

What a Difference a Network Makes: Hookers & Booze
“the ethos of Legal Insurrection is much more subtle”: LI
New to Twitter: the tweet Murdoch took down ... fast: smh

Ten 2011 Examples of Major Media Malfeasance: Blumer
WaPo's Ignatius Predicts Obama to Take on Israel's Netanyahu in 2nd Term: NB
Taylor Marsh throws in the towel on Obama: Hot Air

Diogenes' 2nd Annual Golden Turd Awards.: Diogenes
“60 Minutes” Grills Eric Cantor on Why He’s Republican in Sunday Night Hit Piece: GWP
Santorum Schools Yet Another MSM Hack on Obama's Appeasement – This Time, NBC’s David Gregory: Pollak

World

The coming war with Iran: Kahlili
Obama’s Peace Partners, the Taliban, Attack Bagram Air Base on New Year’s Eve: GWP
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Vows Not To Recognize Israel, Cancel Peace Treaty: WZ

Sci-Tech

Apple's first iPhone was made in 1983: smh
'Neat and tidy' trumps bulging six pack: smh
Mobile carriers: Five predictions for 2012: CNet

Cornucopia

Obama on Mythbusters: iOTW
The 50 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2011: RWN
Skid Marx: iOTW

Image: Los Angeles car fires security video released
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support John Kasich in Ohio

QOTD: "The issue here is not gonna be a list of accomplishments. As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln. — Barack Obama"

Sunday, January 01, 2012

What could go wrong? Dennis Rodman recruiting for his new topless women's basketball team

I can't wait to find out the name of the team (and feel free to propose some in the comments and I'll be sure to relay them to the Rod-man):

Dennis Rodman is bouncing back into basketball — this time as a coach for a topless women’s team he’s launching for Headquarters Gentlemen’s Club, the New York mammary mecca. [Ed: "mammary mecca"? If we're going to do alliteration, how about "boob bazaar"?]

The NBA bad boy dreamed up the team after hearing that rival strip joint Rick’s Cabaret had launched a league with former Atlanta Hawk Spud Webb, who runs the Texas Legends, an NBA Development League team. Rodman is even challenging Rick’s Cabaret’s topless team to a charity game.

I don’t know too many men that don’t like a good-looking woman running up and down around the court,” Rodman told Page Six. [Ed: Word.]

Rodman, who told us he’s been a Headquarters customer for more than 30 years, is currently scouting for talent. He’ll be holding auditions next week at the jiggle joint for girls over 5-foot-10 to join the team.

“You don’t have to have too much experience, just know how to throw the ball into the hole,” was his sterling advice to hopefuls... Rodman said he also planned auditioning “players” during his appearance at Huntington, LI, club Paramount last night.

Team members will wear shorts, skimpy shirts and sneakers during games. “They’ll come out in a T-shirt or a tank top, but when the game starts, they’ll go topless,” Rodman boasted.

I'll be honest: this idea is a winner. And with a "Level 5 Leader" like Rodman at the helm, there's virtually nothing that can go wrong.


Image: Based upon an original found at Fark.

The EPA: Enemy of Civilization

I can come to no other conclusion that Lisa Jackson and the rest of President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency are bound and determined to de-industrialize America. And I can prove it. Please consider the following panoply of headlines from around the country:

• West Virginia: End EPA War Against Coal


"[The EPA] sprang a terrible Christmas "present" on West Virginians, Ohioans and ...other Americans. In mid-December the agency - merely doing the bidding of its boss, President Barack Obama - announced drastic new regulations aimed primarily at industries such as coal-fired power plants... the EPA's new rules will force utility companies to close at least 32 power plants...

...Obama's goal, in which top EPA officials and liberals in Congress cooperate enthusiastically, is to wreck the coal industry... One especially outrageous aspect of the rules - but, ironically, one cause for hope - is that they are the EPA's attempt to overrule Congress. Even under Democrat domination of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the Obama administration's "cap and trade" proposal was rejected. His response was to tell the EPA to plow ahead without lawmakers' approval."

And all this time I thought Bush was "the imperial president".

• Wyoming: The EPA's CYA Move


"It all started when Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said something never before stated by the EPA... In comments to a Bloomberg TV news show, she said the oil and gas industry practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, may have been responsible for the contamination of water at Pavillion, home to a few hundred people in west-central Wyoming.

...[Congress then demanded] she provide evidence to support what she had claimed. The next day the EPA announced it would release the report draft that very tentatively connected fracking with contamination in Pavillion, and then did so several hours later... It felt rushed. It felt like something that happens when an agency is trying to CYA, or to put it respectably, cover its butt.

...This time, the agency’s credibility — far more important than its chief’s butt — is on the line. Can the agency be trusted to do something important the right way? For many people, particularly in the oil and gas industry, that answer is already no."


So the EPA wants to destroy the coal, oil and gas industries. Gee, I wonder what they'll use to power those big, heavy government Suburbans?

• Oklahoma: EPA policy consistently incorrect


"The EPA has been consistently incorrect through the years, as with the Alaska pipeline and the Tennessee snail darter, to name a few, costing taxpayers billions. Now they plan to force coal-powered electrical plants to spend billions that will drastically increase electrical rates...

Their stated justification includes prevention of 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks annually. How does one determine who died prematurely? How do they separate the air pollutants of coal-powered plants from the many other air pollutants such as volcanoes, internal combustion engines, natural waste from mammals, forest fires, exhaust from home heating/AC systems and more?"

Dude, didn't you hear? The science is settled!

But there is a little bit of good news:

• Texas: Federal court stays EPA’s CSAPR


"A federal court Friday put on hold a controversial Obama administration regulation aimed at reducing power plant pollution in 27 states the Environmental Protection Agency contends contributes to unhealthy air downwind... [The] EPA’s unrealistic timelines for unspecific regulations have forced company orders to idle units in both plants, threatening their respective power grids, and potentially increasing utility costs to customers.

...So, the stay will be a bit of a reprieve."

Two good quotes to tie a bow on things


1. Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, said the stay was a "first step to setting it right. The underlying rule was the subject of hasty process, poor technical support, unequal application and substantial threat to jobs, power bills and reliability."

2. Nebraska A.G. Jon Bruning stated, "this stay means Nebraskans will not have to foot the bill for unnecessary modifications mandated by the EPA. We will continue to fight these job-killing regulations by an overreaching federal government run amok."

If you want to live in a third-world country that has an unstable electric grid, then -- by all means -- please vote for Barack Obama in 2012.

But if you've gotten used to having electricity in your life, then my recommendation would be to vote against every Democrat you possibly can. In fact, do it for the children.


Spy Photo: Nancy Pelosi in Bikini; Also 'Occupy Hawaii' Protesters Rally at Pelosi's Hawaiian Resort

It turns out that Nancy Pelosi -- who empathizes deeply with "The 99 Percent" -- is enjoying her ill-gotten gains hard-earned IPO profits at Hawaii's Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka'upulehu in Kona. Cub Reporter Biff Spackle -- on assignment in Kona -- captured this spy photo of the dynamic former House Speaker enjoying the beach in a flattering bikini.

Okay, I admit it: this is a Photoshop.

But in all seriousness, Occupy Hawaii protesters are rallying near Pelosi's resort to express their discontent with the crony Marxist progressive princess.


The Graph That Proves President Obama Truly Is 'Historic'

But not in a good way:

Over the past 50 years, 10 U.S. presidents have made annual budget requests to Congress, projecting deficits both big and small. But no other president compares to Barack Obama when it comes to the size and scale of the current budget deficit facing the United States.

The country is facing an 8.3 percent estimated average national deficit of a two-term Obama administration — the biggest of the past 50 years. By comparison, the current estimate for Obama is nearly double the percentage under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush — and they were fighting the Cold War.

...So what does the current trajectory mean for the United States? We’re certainly no longer looking at a continuation of manageable deficits in the years to come. This is a dramatic change in the magnitude of annual shortfalls at the federal level. That’s one reason Heritage came up with a plan to fix the debt crisis.

And for the drones out there who point to President Clinton's "budget surplus", I'd like to remind you of one simple fact: the House of Representatives -- and specifically Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. John Kasich (now governor of Ohio) -- pinned Clinton's shoulders to the mat in order to force a balanced budget on the spend-happy Democrats.


Larwyn's Linx: Voter ID Terrifies Democrats

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

Nation

Voter ID Terrifies Democrats: Times
Sundays with Sherrod: ‘Celebrating’ 19 Awful Years: BigGovt
Suspected Terrorists Can Be Indefinitely Detained Without Trial: Wire

Will Obama steal the 2012 election?: Times
Aides: Obama to bypass Congress, issue XO's every week: WZ
Is Mitt Romney just John McCain with hair?: Paco

GOP Senators Join Call for Kagan Recusal as Required By Law: TH
Chief Justice Responds to Obamacare Recusal Calls: WSJ
Virginia AG Intervenes in Ballot Mess: Tatler

Economy

A Simple Way to Think About the U.S. Debt and Deficit Problems: AT
Two Possible Paths in 2012: Driscoll
Small businesswoman's unbelievable takedown of Obamanomics: WZ

Privatize the Schools: PJM
Keynes was right -- about the Jews?: Power Line
Ron Paul: 'I Can Connect With Both' Tea Partiers and Occupiers: CNS

Climate & Energy

A New Year’s Prediction Challenge For Climate Alarmists – 2012 Edition: RWN
Say what? Rep. Dingell claims Chevy Volt is "selling like hotcakes": AutoBlog
Gingrich Axes Chapter on Climate Change in Forthcoming Book: Malkin

Media

“Anti-Semitism has become almost wholly the province of the Left today”: Wizbang
Santorum Closing in on Romney in Iowa in Des Moines Register Poll: HE
Occupy Wall Street in 2011 & The Racist Rager from Occupy Wall Street Responds: Urban Infidel

New TV Show Idea: All-American Christian: AT
NBC Touts Californians Who Support Higher Taxes: NB
Mormonism or Marxism: Which Would You Prefer at the White House?: Townhall

2011 Graphics Roundup: Looking Spoon
Top 10 Most Influential Conservative Women in America: HE
Ezra Klein, Chris Hayes Reveal What DC Media Knew: Obama Willing to Let Payroll Tax Cut Expire: BigJourn

World

The Year We Lost Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia and Most of the Middle East: Sultan Knish
Obama administration turns to notorious Jew hater to mediate in Afghanistan: AT
Al Arabiya Arabic Channel Chooses Weirdest Fatwas of 2011: Blaze

The Santa Killer Was a Religion of Peacer: Giles
Christians could disappear altogether from Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan: Atlas
Best War Porn Evah!: WZ

Intellectual Freedom Buried Yet Again: AT
Afghan Child Bride Beaten and Tortured: “My Mother-in-Law Pulled Out My Nails”: GWP

Sci-Tech

First Siri, Now Threat Detection: Inside SRI’s Amazing R&D: Wired
Facebook hands out White Hat debit cards to hackers: CNet
Chicago restaurants stop taking cell phone orders: CNet

Cornucopia

Young Aldo: Double Plus Undead
Steel Panther, The Greatest Band Ever: Ace
The Genius Of Capitalism - An Alien Cathouse: Wolf Howling

Image: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Better than hoped for"
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The 2011 Fabulous 50 Blog Award Winners

QOTD: "Nancy Pelosi and her husband were parties to a dozen or so IPOs, many of which were effectively off limits to all but the biggest institutional investors and their favored clients. One of those was a 2008 investment of between $1 million and $5 million in Visa, an opportunity the average investor could not have bought, begged, or borrowed his way into — one that made the Pelosis a 50 percent profit in two days. Visa, of course, had business before Speaker Pelosi, who was helping to shape credit-card-reform legislation at the time. Visa got what it wanted. The Pelosis have also made some very fortunate investments in gas and energy firms that have benefited from Representative Pelosi’s legislative actions.

The Pelosis made a million bucks off a single deal involving OnDisplay, the IPO of which was underwritten by investment banker William Hambrecht, a major Pelosi campaign contributor. Writes Schweizer: “The same Bill Hambrecht went before the House Finance Committee, chaired by Barney Frank, a Pelosi ally, to push for a change in the registration process for stock IPOs, an exemption called Regulation A. Under current law, a company that plans an IPO of less than $5 million in stock gets an exemption from detailed reporting. Hambrecht wanted the exemption raised to $30 million, which would greatly benefit his business, making IPOs easier, quicker, and far less expensive. As the hearings began, Congressman Frank said, ‘I should note also that it was Speaker Pelosi who first called this to our attention earlier in the year. It is something that the speaker has taken a great interest in.’”" --Kevin D. Williamson, "Repo Men"

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Exclusive Photo: First Chevy Volts arrive at local dealers

Truth be told, this isn't the real photograph that accompanied the news story. It's just one I found online. But, c'mon, you could easily imagine this happening:

Car described as a fuel saver, but also a little pricey (Ed: and sometimes quite warm)...

...The Edmunds.com Web site called the 2012 Chevy Volt "arguably the most fuel-efficient car on the market, but it's pricey for what you get."

Contrary to what its name suggests, the Volt is far from an all-electric vehicle. It is powered by a 149 horsepower electric motor that relies on a lithium-ion battery pack until the battery charge nears depletion. A four-cylinder internal combustion engine then kicks in and replaces the battery pack in generating power for the electric motor. A fully charged Volt can travel about 35 miles before it begins using gasoline at a rate of about 40 miles per gallon, according to the EPA.

The battery can be recharged in about four or eight hours, depending on whether it is plugged into a 120-volt or 240-volt charging outlet.

The cars available at dealerships in the area sell for $39,000 to $44,000, but a $7,500 federal tax credit cuts the buyer's cost to the low- to mid-$30,000 range.

The Volt's introduction to the region has been accompanied by a wave of news stories reporting an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into potential fire hazards linked to the Volt's battery pack. The agency reported two fires and an incident of smoke and sparks stemming from safety tests conducted by regulators this year... The agency added that Volt owners who have not been in a serious crash "do not have reason for concern."

And since each Volt appears to cost American taxpayers roughly $250,000 apiece in various subsidies to GM, a buyer is truly getting a heck of a deal for that $40,000.


Here's something we can all get behind: House Speaker John Boehner faces primary challenger from Tea Party

The feckless RINO House Speaker -- a curiously perma-tanned man named John Boehner -- faces a primary challenger in Ohio.

House Speaker John Boehner will face a challenge in the GOP primary next year, Fox News has confirmed.

26-year-old David Lewis, who does not live in Boehner's Ohio district, has filed with the Butler County Board of Elections (in Boehner's home county) to challenge the speaker on March 6.

Lewis is a Tea Party loyalist who lives in Clermont County on the east side of Cincinnati.

Asked about the challenge, Boehner spokesman Cory Fritz said: "The Speaker is focusing on working for the people of the eighth district to cut wasteful Washington spending, eliminate excessive regulations and help create a better environment for jobs and long-term economic growth."

Boehner did not face a primary challenge last year, though Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones has flirted with previous bids.

Looking for something you can do?

Make a New Year's resolution to lend David Lewis a hand. It's time to start firing the big government RINO's who are either too incompetent or too ideologically blinkered to fight the destruction of our Republic.


Bummer: Seven State Unions Sue New York Over Obamacare

When you've lost the public sector unions... oh, and please note -- this article was written from the perspective of a drone Obamacare supporter named "Melissa Freeman" (if that is her real name):

Seven New York state unions have filed federal lawsuits against the state over what they claim is an unconstitutional increase in health care costs for retired workers. This is not a promising beginning for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), now that Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has given more power to the states in implementing the law.

HHS announced Dec. 16 that individual states will be left to select their own “benchmark” minimum health insurance plan under the national law. As a key step in defining universal health care in the U.S., determining minimum standards of health care should be done on a national level. Sebelius’ choice to delegate this duty to states is a cowardly attempt to evade tough decision-making, leading to a less efficient and effective policy of accommodation rather than full national change, and decreased federal accountability for the outcome of the ACA...

...By delegating this responsibility to the states, Sebelius has also deflected federal, mainly executive, responsibility for the plan’s possible failure, though assuredly not its potential success. The unfolding details of the law will undoubtedly draw many critics: The greater the benefits, the higher the costs; yet the lower the benefits, the less successful the law – a trophy of Obama’s first term. With its validity and effectiveness questioned early on, the ACA is already in a weak position to affect change. Sebelius has further weakened it by giving up the federal government’s ability to establish a major component of how the law will affect the millions of uninsured people across the country...

...With the passage of the ACA as a move towards universal health care, the national government needs to be more involved in establishing the standards that will detail the bill’s vaguely stated requirements. Allowing states to determine their own benchmark plan is a disappointing indicator of the ACA’s potential to bring about actual change...

Hey, genius: we don't have a "national" government. We have a federal government, established by the Constitution. You know, that's the document your pathetic Democrat hack politicians take an oath to uphold and promptly spit upon. And it's the same document that enumerates the federal government's powers.

And, last time I checked, there was no "Obamacare" clause in the Constitution. Or maybe it's hidden next to the "Abortion" clause.

Finally, Ms. Rocket Scientist, please list just one time in the history of mankind that a tiny authoritarian cabal of masterminds were able to centrally-manage an economy.

I'll wait here while you check, Einstein.


The most terrifying economic chart of 2011

Of 'the 11 most disturbing economic charts of 2011' presented by Tyler Durden, this particular graph struck me hardest:

Why is this single graph so horrifying?

Please note what occurred to the labor force participation rate when Barack Obama took office.

Not when "the Great Recession" hit. When Obama took office. After he took office, the labor force participation rate went into freefall.

And please note the coincidental rise in food stamps and government assistance at the exact same time; free money to stay unemployed, dispensed with leaf-blower-like efficiency throughout the country:


This, my friends, is the inevitable result of President Subprime McDowngrade's expansion of the welfare state: a new class of individuals so enriched by government largess that they have lost all motivation to work.

But it's not all bad news: at least the USDA is aware of how food stamps are being used and is highly efficient at stamping out waste, fraud and abuse.

Oh, wait. They're not - they don't even know what kind of things are getting purchased with your tax dollars.

Talk amongst yourselves.


Presenting: the 2011 Fabulous 50 Blog Award Winners! #fab50

The moment you've been waiting for is here.

The votes are in. The anxious nominees' fingernails have been chewed down to the quick. And at least one blogger just excused himself to go to the bathroom (number two, apparently).

So we're more than pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards, the most prestigious new media awards in the conservative blogosphere. Or, at the very least, in the 993 area code.

These awards recognize a variety of blogs and websites operating in the conservative hemisphere of the Internet, all of which have worked tirelessly to protect America from Statism -- some in very unique ways.

So, without further ado, may I have the envelopes, please?

Best News Portal:
Best Hybrid Portal:
Best Blog Portal:
Best Multimedia Pundit:
Best Group Blog:


Best Blogger in a Group Blog:
Best Op-Ed Blog:
Best Op-Ed Columnist:
Best News Blog:
Best Political Analysis Blog:


Best U.S. Econ Blog:
Best Global Econ Blog:
Best Talker's Website:
Best Investigative Bloggers:
Best Political Group Blog:


Best Event Coverage:
Verum Serum, for its coverage of the "Occupy" movement
Best Economic Reporter:
Best Investigative Journalism:
Best Political Blogging:
Best Video Host:


Best News Outlet:
Best White House Coverage:
Best First Lady Blog:
Best Blog-Ring:
The Watcher's Council (All 2011 Council members are winners)
Best Latin American Coverage:


Best Law Blog:
Best Investigative Reporter in Legacy Media:
Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News for her reporting on Operation Fast & Furious
The David Brooks Award for Demi-Conservatism:
The David Frum Award for Faux Conservatism:
The Jennifer Rubin Award for Pseudo-Conservatism:


The Sweater-Full-of-Mischief Award for Humorous News Blogging:
The Daniel Irvin Rather Award for Media-Busting:
The Vince Vaughan Award for Pithy Commentary:
The Bob Saget Award for Best Videos:
The Stuxnet Award for Best Information Warfare Campaign:


The Bozell Award for Best Media Pundit:
The Daniel Simpson Day Award for Best Graphics:
The Salvador Dali Award for Most Creative Blogging:
The Deb Morgan Award for Best Use of Cursewords:
The Ernie Pyle Award for Largest Brass Accoutrements:


The Yglesias Award for World's Dumbest Blogger:
The Enron Award for Best Propagan-conomist:
The Kent Dorfman Award for Most Confused Blogger:
The Douglas C. Neidermeyer Award for Defending America Against Right-Wing Visigoths:
The Larry Kroger Award for Most Promising Newcomer:


Best Blogger Working in Legacy Media:
Post of the Year:


The Ronald Reagan Award for Best Anti-Communist Blogger:
The Moshe Dayan Award for Best Israel Blogger:
The Golda Meir Award for Best Anti-Jihad Blogger:
The Morrissey Award for Best Online Op-Ed Blogger:
Article of the Year:



Frequently Asked Questions


Q: Okay, I won. Where do I get my damn award badges?
A: Right here. If you have questions about installing your badge, ask 'em in the comments.

Q: *Sob*. I didn't win. Can I use one of the badges anyhow?
A: Yes, we've included handy LOSER badges for you.

Q: You suck -- I didn't win.
A: That's not a question.

Q: Where are the previous Fabulous 50 Award Winners listed?
A: You can review The 2010 Fabulous 50 here and The 2009 Fabulous 50 here.


Larwyn's Linx: George Washington writes a letter to President Obama

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

Nation

George Washington writes a letter to President Obama: Paco
The five worst human beings in America – 2011: JPA
Bill Whittle Does It Again: Your Crazy Uncle

New Year's Resolution: AT
Holder bets Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act: Hot Air
Ron Paul: Know Who's Really Behind Islamic Terror? The Jews.: RS

America's Big Loser for 2011: Americans: RWN
Obama Request for $1.2 Trillion Debt Limit Increase Delayed: Malkin
Gingrich picks up major Iowa endorsement: AT

Economy

How John Corzine Could Be Archduke Ferdinand: Silicon Graybeard
On a $4M Vacation, Michelle Seeks $3 From Backers: Dossier
Obama Uses Final Weekly Address To Whine Some More: RWN

AP Hack Markets Ludicrous Claim on the Debt: Blumer
Top 10 Most Read Foundry Posts of 2011: Foundry
The Great Society's Great Defender: WS

Sobering Up Politically: If this doesn’t work, nothing will: ConAlley
Police: More cars set afire in LA, arson suspected: AP

Climate & Energy

New Light Bulb Standards Enforced Via Honor System… for Now: Malkin
Fountains of methane 1,000m across erupt in Arctic: greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than CO2: Daily Mail

Media

Tweet of the Year Awards: LI
Obama's Missing Ingredient: Dossier
Contain Your Surprise: Keith Olbermann Not Getting Along With Latest Employer: WS

Memorable Quotes from 2011: Pundette
Bare Naked Islam Down – CAIR Casualty: MagNote
In early book, Rep. Ron Paul criticized AIDS patients, minority rights and sexual harassment victims: CNN

Ramirez Cartoons: Top 10 For 2011: IBD
15-Year-Old Behind Blaze Story on Girl Scouts Speaks Out: ‘We Were So Deceived: FSM
AP Hack Marvels at Ubiquitous Kim Jong Il Images, Never Notes That It's a Totalitarian Slave State: Blumer

World

The failure of Obama’s foreign policies is nowhere more evident than in the Middle East: Glick
Hizballah honcho Nasrallah reportedly worth $250 million: JihadWatch
Israeli Legal Center Threatens Twitter With Legal Action Over Terrorist Accounts: Blaze

UK: Annals of Government Medicine: Power Line
No Peace, No Peace Plans, No Price for Peace (A Short Guide for Those Obsessed with Peace): ACPR
2011: The Year the Wheels Fell Off: Babbin

Sci-Tech

Orangutans go ape for iPads: smh
This week in Crave: The superhero edition: CNet
3-2-1: Twin NASA probes to make back-to-back arrivals at the moon during New Year’s weekend: WaPo

Cornucopia

The Italian Job II (The Brazilian Job): Mellow Jihadi
Half Empty and Still Full of It.: MOTUS
Vodka Nation: WS

Image: Australia greets 2012 with fireworks and hope: LAT
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Coming Later Today... the 2011 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards!

QOTD: "Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws." -- John Adams

Friday, December 30, 2011

E-Z to follow instructions: how to escape any traffic stop without a ticket!

Stopped for a traffic violation and don't want to get hit with an expensive ticket? Just follow these simple instructions:

1. When the police officer asks for your driver's license and registration, state: "No habla ingles."

2. As the police officer figures out how to react, recite the following sentence (preferably using a exaggerated accent): "I am an illegal alien to the United States."

3. Before the police officer can react to your second statement, close the deal with: "You are not allowed to ask for my papers. Eric Holder said so."

4. After the police officer shrugs, closes his traffic investigation pad and sends you on your way, put the car in D (not R, heh) and slowly drive away from the scene. Try not to unleash an evil cackle.

Note: If you are hassled at all, contact La Raza or some other separatist front group for the government of Mexico and figure out how to sue the city, town or county in question.

After all, according to the Obama administration and the Holder DOJ, no one has a right to ask you for your papers. And anyone who does so must be profiling.

By the way: if I had any entrepreneurial skills whatsoever, I'd turn this into a 30-minute infomercial and charge four installments of $19.95 for all of this valuable information.



The Coming Tidal Wave... of Crime

Caution: this is not a snarky post. Zero-percent snark. I want to connect a few dots for you. Additional caution: you may want to sit down.

* * * * * * * * *

 1  USA Today headline: Record number in government anti-poverty programs

Government anti-poverty programs... now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand... More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor...

...More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years...

...Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits. Caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January — "the highest numbers on record," says Christine Riordan of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for low-wage workers.

More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase during the recession...

In February 2009 Robert Rector, quoted in the London Sunday Times, predicted that the Obama Democrats' expansion of welfare, food stamps and unemployment would be disastrous.

One of the few undisputed triumphs of American government of the past 20 years – the sweeping welfare reform programme that sent millions of dole claimants back to work – has been plunged into jeopardy by billions of dollars in state handouts included in the president’s controversial economic stimulus package...

...Robert Rector, a prominent welfare researcher who was one of the architects of Clinton's 1996 reform bill, warned last week that Obama’s stimulus plan was a “welfare spendathon” that would amount to the largest one-year increase in government handouts in American history... Despite dire warnings that reduced benefits for single mothers and deadlines on entitlement would create a social calamity – one liberal senator warned at the time that children would be “sleeping on grates” – the 1996 reforms cut welfare rolls from more than 5m families in 1995 to below 2m a decade later without a discernible increase in hardship.

In other words, the Obama 'Stimulus' program was intended to massively expand the welfare state. But wait! There's more!

* * * * * * * * *

 2  Increasing welfare and food stamps leads to more kids born to unwed mothers

The statistical link between the availability of welfare and out-of-wedlock births is conclusive. There have been dozens of studies that link the availability of welfare benefits to out-of-wedlock births.

One study found that a 50 percent increase in the value of AFDC and foodstamp payments led to a 43 percent increase in the number of out-of-wedlock births.

A 1996 paper describes the correlation in ominous terms.

...Out-of-wedlock births are strongly related to welfare dependency. A 1 percent increase in the welfare dependent population in a state increases the number of births to single mothers by about 0.5 percent...

...Welfare dependency reduces employment. A 1 percent increase in the dependent population increases the number who are not employed by about 0.1 percent... An increase in welfare benefits reduces employment by increasing the number of welfare dependents. An increase in AFDC benefits by 1 percent of average income increases the number who are not employed by about 0.5.

In other words, if you ratchet up welfare benefits, you get reduced employment and more single-parent families.

Now, why am I telling you this?

* * * * * * * * *

 3  Single-parent families correlate to higher crime rates

In 1995, Dr. Patrick Fagan wrote a seminal summary of the situation: "Over the past thirty years, the rise in violent crime parallels the rise in families abandoned by fathers... High-crime neighborhoods are characterized by high concentrations of families abandoned by fathers... The rate of violent teenage crime corresponds with the number of families abandoned by fathers...

"Neighborhoods with a high degree of religious practice are not high-crime neighborhoods... Even in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe, stable homes do not become delinquents. By contrast only 10 percent of children from unsafe, unstable homes in these neighborhoods avoid crime... Criminals capable of sustaining marriage gradually move away from a life of crime after they get married."

Of 23 peer-reviewed U.S. studies since 2000, 20 found that family structure directly affects crime and/or delinquency.

"[R]esearch strongly suggests both that young adults and teens raised in single-parent homes are more likely to commit crimes, and that communities with high rates of family fragmentation (especially unwed childbearing) suffer higher crime rates as a result."

For example, a 23-year study found that nearly 90% of the change in violent crime rates can be attributed to the change in percentages of out-of-wedlock births (divorce rates, on the other hand, had no relationship with crime).

In The Atlantic Monthly, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead noted that the "relationship [between single-parent families and crime] is so strong that controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime. This conclusion shows up time and again in the literature. The nation's mayors, as well as police officers, social workers, probation officers, and court officials, consistently point to family break up as the most important source of rising rates of crime."

Let me repeat the most important statement -- "controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime."

Single-parent families generally lead to increased levels of crime; and there are no significant differences between blacks, whites, or any other race when it comes to this simple fact.

* * * * * * * * *

 4  Recap:

• Fact: There are a record number of Americans dependent upon government anti-poverty programs thanks to the Obama Democrats
• Fact: Expanded access to welfare and food stamps greatly increases the number of children born to unwed mothers
• Fact: Single-parent families correlate to higher crime rates
Conclusion: with the unprecedented increase in welfare, food stamps and unemployment, we will also see an unparalleled increase in violent crime within the next dozen or so years.

Obama and his Democrat sycophants in Congress will have created hundreds of thousands of single-parent families. These kids, born out-of-wedlock, will find themselves trapped in lives of criminality at far higher rates than kids from two-parent families.

Fast forward a dozen years, give or take a couple, and we will see a true Obama Crime Wave. I predict that we will see an unprecedented increase in crime. In fact, you could call it historic.

And the question is not whether it will happen. The question is just how bad it will be.