Saturday, January 21, 2012

Which GOP candidate has the courage to begin stripping away the Democrat welfare state that is bankrupting this country?

When the media questions a GOP candidate -- from Eric Cantor to Paul Ryan -- their perspective is always the same. Why are Republicans unwilling to compromise with their altruisitic Democrat partners? Why won't they work with President Obama?

The framing of these questions is, of course, patently bogus. When Democrats had control of Congress from 2006 to 2010, and after Obama's election in 2008, where were the great compromises that the media loves to harp about?

• Did they compromise on Obamacare? Or did they ram it through on midnight of Christmas Eve with bribes, backroom deals, and thousands of hidden pages of legislation?

• Did they compromise on Global Warming? Or did the president command the EPA to issue CO2 regulations when even a Democrat-controlled Congress couldn't pass cap-and-trade legislation?

• Did they compromise on the Stimulus package, ramming through trillions in deficit spending that has utterly failed to rescue anything except for the public sector unions' campaign coffers?

• Did they compromise on their outrageous financial reform legislation ("Dodd-Frank") that is spreading misery and layoffs throughout the country?

Actually, I don't recall a single Democrat compromise on any of these outrageous measures. Not a one.

So when we choose a candidate, are we going to have another RINO mush who will "go along to get along"? Who will permit the Democrats' social welfare state to continue expanding, albeit at a slightly slower pace? Who will not try to move the rudder on this country before it sails over the fiscal abyss?

Or will we have a man with courage? Who will shoot straight with the American people? Who would issue a true declaration of political war with the Marxist Utopians that have overthrown the real Democrat Party?

A man who would give a speech like this, paraphrasing Truman?

Two years ago an American juggernaut dropped a bomb on Democrats in Congress and destroyed their usefulness to the Marxist Left. That bomb had the power to swing 63 House seats and 680 state legislative seats and left in its wake what the National Journal called "devastation".

The Democrats began this war in 2007 when they promised to run the "most ethical Congress ever" with "no new deficit spending." Instead they permitted and encouraged rampant criminality and an all-time record of nearly $6 trillion in new deficit spending.

But the end of their reign of fiscal terror is near. The electorate dropped the political equivalent of an atomic bomb on the Democrats again last month. The force which gave birth to this country -- an insatiable desire for freedom -- has been loosed against those who brought fiscal ruin to the nation.

The greatest marvel is not the size of the Democrats' defeat, nor its cost, but the achievement of the people -- a true, grass-roots effort to repudiate Marxism, Statism, Utopianism, whatever their un-American strategies are called -- into a workable plan. People of all races, religions, economic backgrounds and interests worked to advance freedom. It is doubtful if another such combination could have been assembled anywhere in the world. What has been done is among the greatest achievements of a people fighting incipient tyranny in history. It was done under pressure and without failure.

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every destructive endeavor the Democrat Statists have created. We shall destroy their agencies, their bureaucracies, their unconstitutional czars, their ideologues who have burrowed into regulatory bodies unknown to most Americans. Let there be no mistake: we shall completely destroy the Democrats' political power-base: the bloated federal bureaucracy that has grown, unchecked, for one reason and one reason alone, which is to fund Democrat campaigns.

It was to spare the Democrats from utter destruction that I issue this ultimatum.

If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of political ruin, the likes of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this 2012 offensive will follow subsequent forces in such number that and power as they have not yet seen and with the political skills of which they are already well aware.

The power of the people will continue to grow as more citizens educate themselves regarding the unholy alliance of Democrats and the fourth branch of government -- the public sector unions. Both align themselves against the citizen, against the taxpayer, and threaten the destruction of our country, our currency and our way of life.

We pledge to politically eradicate the Marxist left that inhabits the body of the Democrat Party like some sort of horror film zombie.

And in 2014, 2016, 2018 and in every subsequent election, we will return this great Republic to the Constitutional basis that our Framers intended. Our contract with America is this: it is the Constitution.

No political quarter asked, and none given.

This is a war for the country's future. We can have a failed Marxist welfare state of the sort melting down in Europe. Or we can begin to right the ship by returning to the principles of Constitutional government, the wisdom of which becomes more and more obvious by the day.

I believe Rick Santorum is the only candidate who would issue this kind of ultimatum to the Democrat-media complex. Time grows short to save this republic. I urge you to offer him your support.


Good News for News Junkies

I'm a news junkie.

Checking my favorite blogs and periodicals is manually intensive and, frequently, a lost cause... because I end up in the web equivalent of Boston's Combat Zone after getting distracted ("Look, a squirrel!). RSS readers don't work for me: they produce too much clutter, none of it organized in a way that will tell me what's most important.

Which is where BadBlue.com was designed to help.

BadBlue is accessible via two domain names -- http://badblue.com or http://larwyn.com. There are many recent enhancements that should make it much easier to find the hottest news stories of the hour.

A new algorithm levels the playing field for news sources of all sizes - a story at a tiny blog, for instance, that gets re-tweeted 10 times, could be equivalent to 60 re-tweets of a story at a major newspaper. You'll notice that the current front page has links from blogs of all sizes.

New Drudge-style layout - rather than a single column of stories, there is a cleaner-looking, Drudge-style layout that should make it easier to read.

Pictures! - the new layout thumbnails images from stories to make it easier to figure out what a story is about.

Fresher news - links are refreshed more frequently, with the name of the site and its popularity index ("buzz") listed next to each headline.

Twitter and RSS support - unlike the prior version, you can follow BadBlue on Twitter (@BadBlueNews) or RSS.

Comment support - each story now has a permalink page (that's the small symbol) that includes a comments section (with easy social network sign-on supported), so it's simple to make fun of vicious left-wing hacks without actually having to visit one of their sites.

Filter stories by site - click on the name of the news source and you'll get a list of that website's most popular stories.

In short, Biff Spackle is standing by in the comments section, waiting to hear your feedback: positive, negative or just, eh, it's okay. If you like it, remember to bookmark the website -- it should provide some of the freshest news stories you'll find anywhere.

So please check it out and let Biff know what you think. Don't hold back -- he's used to harsh criticism from management here at this august journal, where he remains Cub Reporter Level III after more than four years of erratic work history.


Larwyn's Linx: The Che Guevara Democrat Party

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

Nation

The Che Guevara Democrat Party: AmSpec
SC Attorney General Investigating Gingrich Smear: Fits
Draft Allen West for U.S. Senate: Shark-Tank

DOJ coordinates suits with ACORN's Project Vote: Exam
Holder Connected To Illegal Foreclosures of Service Members: JWF
Gingrich as Nominee Just to Watch Him Debate Obama?: Powers

Santorum soars, Romney falters in SC debate: Exam
Why I'm Backing Newt Gingrich: Riehl
Ron Paul's spokesman emphatically rules out third-party run: DC

Economy

Democrats: Only Thing Standing Between Unions and Irrelevance: BG
Ryan confirms House GOP will present 2013 budget: Hill
TSA officer charged with stealing from luggage: Fox

Gunrunner & Energygate

Pleading the Fifth: Gunwalker Witness Refuses to Testify: Owens
Solyndra Caught Destroying Millions of Dollars in Assets: Townhall
Fast and Furious Stinks: Nugent

Climate & Energy

Students rebel against Gorepaganda: Surber
Strait of Hormuz: U.S. Should Be Ready for the Next Oil Crisis: Foundry
As Obama delays controversial Keystone oil pipeline, vast network of pipelines already in place: Fox

Media

Gingrich's Bitter Ex Gets More Coverage Than a Video of Obama Dining with Terror-Supporters: Regan
Obama-linked Center for American Progress Accused of Anti-Semitism: Blaze
Jennifer Rubin On South Carolina: Then An: Riehl

Obama: the media is hurting my rep: ProWis
Rush Limbaugh: Time to ‘focus on’ personal lives of journalists: DC
NYT’s Laughable ‘Fact Check’ Of GOP Debate: S&L

Newt Leaves Media Sputtering: Surber
Odd: the Media Didn’t Care About Infidelity in 1992 and 2008: JWF
Does Michelle Obama secretly hope her husband will be kicked out of the White House?: DailyMail

Mark Levin's Liberty Vs. Thomas Friedman's Tyranny: NB
Huckabee on O’Reilly: Obama Needs to Prove He Didn’t Get “Foreign Student Loans” in College: GWP
What We Really Learned from ABC News and Marianne Gingrich: PJM

World

The Pope Speaks To Obama's War On Christianity: Wolf Howling
One Mexican State Bordering The US Was Deadlier Than All of Afghanistan Last Year: CNS
Substantial legal challenge to Secure Communities coming, says "immigrants rights" group: GSN

Sci-Tech

Nike’s High-Tech Wristband Fuels Your Workout: Wired
Anonymous tricked people into joining Web site attacks: CNet
What are the odds of Zynga getting into online gambling?: LAT

Cornucopia

From “We Can’t Wait” to WTF: who needs Jobs anyway?: MOTUS
And If You Re-Elect Me, You’ll All Get a Castle…: Marfdrat
Exposed: The real Keystone strategy: LaughingCon

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Anyone who made the decision last night, as I did, to watch Nightline’s appallingly tawdry interview with the second Mrs. Newt Gingrich learned nothing new about the target, whose marital infidelities are well known, but did, however, witness two of the most dangerous pathologies of the mainstream media (MSM) on vivid display.

ABC and its MSM colleagues claim to purvey news and opinion that are both serious and impartial. This interview was neither, indeed was the opposite of serious and impartial.

Last night’s performance couldn’t have provided a more vivid illustration of the double standards applied to the coverage of Republicans and Democrats. It was a classic case of an abject lack of the fairness and objectivity they claim to epitomize — even as they attack Fox News as unfair and unbalanced." --Belladonna Rogers

Friday, January 20, 2012

Success story #4,035 for Obama open border policies: beheadings in U.S. "look like work of drug cartels"

But remember, folks: the border "is as safe as it's ever been" (in the words of DHS Chief Janet Napolitano). Except for those pesky beheadings here in the U.S.:

Who: Carina Saunders, 19, born in Oklahoma City and grew up in Mustang, Oklahoma.

What: Torture, beheading and dismemberment.

When: Went missing (per friends) Wednesday, 28 September 2011; Killed, late Sunday, 9 October 2011/early Monday, 10 October 2011; Body found Thursday, 13 October 2011; Identified via tattoos and dental records, Monday, 17 October 2011.

Where: Found in a duffle bag behind a Homeland grocery store at 7101 NW. 23rd and Rockwell in Bethany, Oklahoma.

Why: Used as an example to terrify a group of women who were victims of a human trafficking (prostitution) ring and an associated drug trafficking ring. Note— some of the individuals involved were members of both rings.

Tactical Analysis: A 20 year old woman (name withheld by the police to protect her identity) was kidnapped, blindfolded and transported to an unknown location (some type of room) by Jimmy Lee Massey, age 33, late Sunday 9 October/early Monday 10 October 2011. She was then forced to watch the torture killing of Carina Saunders by a small group of individuals.

Three beheadings in two different states and they happened here in the United States, not Mexico. Former DEA supervisor Phil Jordan says all three beheadings have cartel written all over them. They happened in Arizona and Oklahoma in the past year.

A murder mystery is now unraveling on a stretch of North Reservation Road in Tucson, Ariz. County workers found a headless man lying on the side of the road Jan. 6. The man's hands and feet were reportedly missing, too.

"It would lead me to believe the message wanted to be sent. This is one of the ways they do it in Mexico, Colombia and other places," says Jordan... Jordan says the cartels are getting bolder in carrying out their beheadings across the border. He says we only used to see these crimes in Mexico.

...More than 600 miles from the border, a 19-year-old human trafficking victim was found beheaded in Oklahoma. Carina Saunders was stuffed into a bag and left in a grocery store parking lot.

...Investigators in Chandler, Ariz., say cartel operatives came from Mexico to kill 38-year-old Martin Alejandro Cota Monroy. His beheaded body was found in his apartment.

"One is too many; two is too many. Three should send an alarm," says Jordan.

You know what I would do if I were Attorney General Eric Holder?

That's right -- I'd sue states for enforcing federal immigration law. No matter how many murders, kidnappings, rapes, drug- and human smuggling operations, and related violence that American citizens must suffer.

Because Democrats need the votes, man. They need the votes!


Hat tip: Borderland Beat (caution: graphic material).

Illinois suffers yet another downgrade thanks to mysterious unicorn deaths and Democrat stupidity, but mostly Democrat stupidity

You say that raising taxes makes fiscal problems worse? Gee, that's only happened -- oh -- about 57,000 consecutive times in American history, but we wouldn't expect Democrats to learn anything from facts, logic and reason, would we?

I don’t blame Democrats for wanting to seduce Republicans into a tax-increase trap. Indeed, I completely understand why some Democrats said their top political goal was getting the GOP to surrender the no-tax-hike position.

I’m mystified, though, why some Republicans are willing to walk into such a trap. If you were playing chess against someone, and that person kept pleading with you to make a certain move, wouldn’t you be a tad bit suspicious that your opponent really wasn’t trying to help you win?

...European nations, for instance, have been raising taxes for decades, almost always saying the higher taxes were necessary to balance budgets and control red ink. Yet that obviously hasn’t worked. Europe’s now in the middle of a fiscal crisis... So why do some people think we should mimic the French and the Greeks?

But we don’t need to look overseas for examples. Look at what’s happened in Illinois, where politicians recently imposed a giant tax hike:

Run up spending and debt, raise taxes in the naming of balancing the budget, but then watch as deficits rise and your credit-rating falls anyway. That’s been the sad pattern in Europe, and now it’s hitting that mecca of tax-and-spend government known as Illinois.

…Moody’s downgraded Illinois state debt to A2 from A1, the lowest among the 50 states. That’s worse even than California.

…This wasn’t supposed to happen. Only a year ago, Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats raised individual income taxes by 67% and the corporate tax rate by 46%. They did it to raise $7 billion in revenue, as the Governor put it, to “get Illinois back on fiscal sound footing” and improve the state’s credit rating. So much for that.

…And—no surprise—in part because the tax increases have caused companies to leave Illinois, the state budget office confesses that as of this month the state still has $6.8 billion in unpaid bills and unaddressed obligations.

In other words, higher taxes led to fiscal deterioration in Illinois, just as tax increases in Europe have been followed by bad outcomes.

Whenever any politician argues in favor of a higher tax burden, just keep these two points in mind:

1. Higher taxes encourage more government spending.

2. Higher taxes don’t raise as much money as politicians claim.


And higher taxes simply indicate tacit acceptance of government irresponsibility.

Which is why the dial must be turned back on all levels of income. Preferably that's accomplished through the Fair Tax or a flat tax.

Pity the poor taxpayers of Illinois. They have been enslaved by the unholy alliance of Democrats and union bosses. And it's probably too late to save them, unless the citizens are willing to organize and rise up to salvage their freedom.

Thank goodness we don't have Democrat hacks from Illinois running the whole damn country.


Update: Tax Hike Doesn't Prevent Moody's From Downgrading Connecticut

Mark Levin's Ameritopia -- the Complete Epilogue in Plain Text Format

Ameritopia, Mark Levin's latest bestseller, had sold 50,000 copies in two days time as of last night. The book's epilogue -- a brief synopsis of its key themes -- is available in PDF format (hat tip: Dan Riehl). I converted it into text format (actually HTML) because I detest the delays and clunkiness associated with PDFs.

My premise, in the first sentence of the first chapter of this book, is this: “Tyranny, broadly defined, is the use of power to dehumanize the individual and delegitimize his nature. Political utopianism is tyranny disguised as a desirable, workable, and even paradisiacal governing ideology.”

Plato’s Republic, More’s Utopia, Hobbes’s Leviathan, and Marx’s workers’ paradise are utopias that are anti-individual and anti-individualism. For the utopians, modern and olden, the individual is one-dimensional—selfish. On his own, he has little moral value. Contrarily, authoritarianism is defended as altruistic and masterminds as socially conscious. Thus endless interventions in the individual’s life and manipulation of his conditions are justified as not only necessary and desirable but noble governmental pursuits. This false dialectic is at the heart of the problem we face today.

In truth, man is naturally independent and self-reliant, which are attributes that contribute to his own well-being and survival, and the well-being and survival of a civil society. He is also a social being who is charitable and compassionate. History abounds with examples, as do the daily lives of individuals. To condemn individualism as the utopians do is to condemn the very foundation of the civil society and the American founding and endorse, wittingly or unwittingly, oppression. Karl Popper saw it as an attack on Western civilization. “The emancipation of the individual was indeed the great spiritual revolution which had led to the breakdown of tribalism and to the rise of democracy.” Moreover, Judaism and Christianity, among other religions, teach the altruism of the individual.

Of course, this is not to defend anarchy. Quite the opposite. It is to endorse the magnificence of the American founding. The American founding was an exceptional exercise in collective human virtue and wisdom—a culmination of thousands of years of experience, knowledge, reason, and faith. The Declaration of Independence is a remarkable societal proclamation of human rights, brilliant in its insight, clarity, and conciseness. The Constitution of the United States is an extraordinary matrix of governmental limits, checks, balances, and divisions, intended to secure for posterity the individual’s sovereignty as proclaimed in the Declaration.

This is the grand heritage to which every American citizen is born. It has been characterized as “the American Dream,” “the American experiment,” and “American exceptionalism.” The country has been called “the Land of Opportunity,” “the Land of Milk and Honey,” and “a Shining City on a Hill.” It seems unimaginable that a people so endowed by Providence, and the beneficiaries of such unparalleled human excellence, would choose or tolerate a course that ensures their own decline and enslavement, for a government unleashed on the civil society is a government that destroys the nature of man.

On September 17, 1787, at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Delegate James Wilson, on behalf of his ailing colleague from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, read aloud Franklin’s speech to the convention in favor of adopting the Constitution. Among other things, Franklin said that the Constitution “is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become corrupt as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. . . .”

Have we “become corrupt”? Are we in need of “despotic government”? It appears that some modern-day “leading lights” think so, as they press their fanatical utopianism. For example, Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, considers the Constitution a utopian expedient. He wrote, “If the Constitution was intended to limit the federal government, it sure doesn’t say so. . . . The framers weren’t afraid of a little messiness. Which is another reason we shouldn’t be so delicate about changing the Constitution or reinterpreting it.” It is beyond dispute that the Framers sought to limit the scope of federal power and that the Constitution does so. Moreover, constitutional change was not left to the masterminds but deliberately made difficult to ensure the broad participation and consent of the body politic.

Richard Cohen, a columnist for the Washington Post, explained that the Constitution is an amazing document, as long as it is mostly ignored, particularly the limits it imposes on the federal government. He wrote, “This fatuous infatuation with the Constitution, particularly the 10th Amendment, is clearly the work of witches, wiccans, and wackos. It has nothing to do with America’s real problems and, if taken too seriously, would cause an economic and political calamity. The Constitution is a wonderful document, quite miraculous actually, but only because it has been wisely adapted to changing times. To adhere to the very word of its every clause hardly is respectful to the Founding Fathers. They were revolutionaries who embraced change. That’s how we got here.” Of course, without the promise of the Tenth Amendment, the Constitution would not have been ratified, since the states insisted on retaining most of their sovereignty. Furthermore, the Framers clearly did not embrace the utopian change demanded by its modern adherents.

Lest we ignore history, the no-less-eminent American revolutionary and founder Thomas Jefferson explained, “On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”

Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times and three-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, is even more forthright in his dismissal of constitutional republicanism and advocacy for utopian tyranny. Complaining of the slowness of American society in adopting sweeping utopian policies, he wrote, “There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today. One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.”

Of course, China remains a police state, where civil liberties are nonexistent, despite its experiment with government-managed pseudo-capitalism. Friedman’s declaration underscores not only the necessary intolerance utopians have for constitutionalism, but their infatuation with totalitarianism.

It is neither prudential nor virtuous to downplay or dismiss the obvious—that America has already transformed into Ameritopia. The centralization and consolidation of power in a political class that insulates its agenda in entrenched experts and administrators, whose authority is also self-perpetuating, is apparent all around us and growing more formidable. The issue is whether the ongoing transformation can be restrained and then reversed, or whether it will continue with increasing zeal, passing from a soft tyranny to something more oppressive. Hayek observed that “priding itself on having built its world as if it had designed it, and blaming itself for not having designed it better, humankind is now to set out to do just that. The aim . . . is no less than to effect a complete redesigning of our traditional morals, law, and language, and on this basis to stamp out the older order and supposedly inexorable, unjustifiable conditions that prevent the institution of reason, fulfillment, true freedom, and justice.” But the outcome of this adventurism, if not effectively stunted, is not in doubt.

In the end, can mankind stave off the powerful and dark forces of utopian tyranny? While John Locke was surely right about man’s nature and the civil society, he was also right about that which threatens them. Locke, Montesquieu, many of the philosophers of the European Enlightenment, and the Founders, among others, knew that the history of organized government is mostly a history of a relative few and perfidious men co-opting, coercing, and eventually repressing the many through the centralization and consolidation of authority.

Ironically and tragically, it seems that liberty and the constitution established to preserve it are not only essential to the individual’s well-being and happiness, but also an opportunity for the devious to exploit them and connive against them. Man has yet to devise a lasting institutional answer to this puzzle. The best that can be said is that all that really stands between the individual and tyranny is a resolute and sober people. It is the people, after all, around whom the civil society has grown and governmental institutions have been established. At last, the people are responsible for upholding the civil society and republican government, to which their fate is moored.

The essential question is whether, in America, the people’s psychology has been so successfully warped, the individual’s spirit so thoroughly trounced, and the civil society’s institutions so effectively overwhelmed that revival is possible. Have too many among us already surrendered or been conquered? Can the people overcome the constant and relentless influences of ideological indoctrination, economic manipulation, and administrative coerciveness, or have they become hopelessly entangled in and dependent on a ubiquitous federal government? Have the Pavlovian appeals to radical egalitarianism, and the fomenting of jealousy and faction through class warfare and collectivism, conditioned the people to accept or even demand compulsory uniformity as just and righteous? Is it accepted as legitimate and routine that the government has sufficient license to act whenever it claims to do so for the good of the people and against the selfishness of the individual?

No society is guaranteed perpetual existence. But I have to believe that the American people are not ready for servitude, for if this is our destiny, and the destiny of our children, I cannot conceive that any people, now or in the future, will successfully resist it for long. I have to believe that this generation of Americans will not condemn future generations to centuries of misery and darkness.

The Tea Party movement is a hopeful sign. Its members come from all walks of life and every corner of the country. These citizens have the spirit and enthusiasm of the Founding Fathers, proclaim the principles of individual liberty and rights in the Declaration, and insist on the federal government’s compliance with the Constitution’s limits. This explains the utopian fury against them. They are astutely aware of the peril of the moment. But there are also the Pollyannas and blissfully indifferent citizens who must be roused and enlisted lest the civil society continue to unravel and eventually dissolve, and the despotism long feared take firm hold.

Upon taking the oath of office on January 20, 1981, in his first inaugural address President Ronald Reagan told the American people:

If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price. It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.

So, my fellow countrymen, which do we choose—Ameritopia or America?

Buy a copy and pass it on. Drop some knowledge on your family, friends and colleagues. These are perilous times. And November is coming.


Obama-supported Occupy Movement's Official Advertising Material Threatens Violence, Rioting, and Destruction of Private Property

Marathon Pundit alerts us to the Occupy movement's universal symbols of tolerance: an anarchist wielding a pipe-wrench and a crowbar:

Those peaceful chaps with Occupy Eugene in Oregon are distributing a protest flyer portraying a ninja--masked of course--carrying a heavy wrench and a crowbar. Presumably these objects are weapons. And they can be deadly weapons.

Names of prominent banks are listed on the flyer. Occupy Eugene is calling for Monday to be a "Day of Direct Action."

But they're just like the Tea Party.

Except, that is, for the arson, murders, drug-dealing, rapes, suicides, overdoses, vandalism, burglaries, and assaults.


Larwyn's Linx: So You Want a Revolution...

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

Nation

So You Want a Revolution...: Sultan Knish
Rick Santorum Won Iowa: RS
Good News: Obama to hold four fundraisers in a single day: Dossier

2012: Anyone but … Harry!: PJM
What Sank Rick Perry's Campaign: Malcolm
PPP: Newt on top in South Carolina, 35-29: Politico

State Of The GOP Primary Race: Pre-SC Analysis: Hawkins
Democrats Are the Ones Pushing Web Censorship: ZH
Legislators run for the exits on SOPA/PIPA after protests: Hot Air

Economy

The Land of Obama Make-Believe: Malkin
Democrat economics: The “Reasonable Profits Board”: Hot Air
Marxist Kook Jan Schakowsky Goes Off the Rails: BG

SOPA, Guns and Freedom: PJM
Obama's Administration's Definition of 'Full Employment': AmEleph
Cracks in the Socialist Reality Bubble Begin: SDA

Climate & Energy

Heretics in the classroom: SDA
New Chevy Volt Scam: Junk Science
Keystone Aftermath Arrives: Canada Pledges To Sell Oil To Asia, As US Becomes Source Of "Uncertainty": ZH

Media

Babbling, Weak Man Blames Press For His Image As Being Cold and Aloof: Ace
Are You Ready for Ameritopia?: RSM
Mark Levin’s Ameritopia: Progressivism, the Oldest Evil: PJM

Black Farmer Who Helped Expose Pigford Fraud Has Positive Words For Newt Gingrich: Stranahan
Obama To Hold a Closed, Invitation-Only "Town Hall" In A Magical Fantasyland Where All Dreams Are True: Ace
Problem Solved: the Urinating Marines: TAB

The Left Really, Really Wants Dana Loesch Kicked Off of CNN: Ace
Mitt defends Mitt while Newt upholds conservatism: Wolf
Newtered – The List Grows: Spew

The Worst People In Politics Aren’t Racists: Hawkins
Hypocrisy Alert: Redford praises Obama in Huffington Post for stopping Keystone XL: Marathon
The Republican Bulwark Against Tyranny: SHN

World

Slap In the Face: Belmont Club
Exclusive: New U.S. Commando Team Operating Near Iran: Wired
Want Peace? Democratize Jordan: Belman

George Soros About To Leap Back Into U.S. Politics?: IBD
Ron Paul: Dangerously Delusional on the Taliban: McCarthy
The last Haditha Marine: Trial update, prosecution collapse, plea deal in the works?: Malkin

Nadin Al-Badir Condemns Saudi Religious Police on Dream 2 TV Egypt: Blaze
Egyptian Cleric: “Jews Are a Cancer In The Body of Planet Earth, Getting Rid of These Jews Is a Must”: WZ
Netanyahu denies calling Haaretz and New York Times Israel's 'main enemies': Haaretz

Sci-Tech

Feds Shutter Megaupload, Arrest Executives: Wired
'Anonymous' hackers claim to take down DOJ site in retaliation for Megaupload shutdown: Fox
Former Facebook Employee Wants To Create A Network As Big As Google AdSense, But For Apps: Insider

Cornucopia

Fear and Loathing at Arrowhead Stadium: Claims That KC Chiefs Tap Phones, Spy on Employees: Ace
Obama’s 2012 Campaign Poster Revealed: HayRide
Obama At Disneyworld–The Perfect Metaphor: Soylent

Image: Via iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "What, after all, was the real origin of these two programs [Social Security and Medicare] aimed at the elderly and health care for the elderly? Who thought them up? If you are under the impression these programs were the work of assorted 20th century liberal intellectuals and politicians you would be wrong. Yes, Levin names the names of those involved in creating these programs. Columbia University professor Henry Rogers Seager came up with the modern idea of Social Security in his 1910 study Social Insurance: A Program of Social Reform. There is the later bread-crumb trail of American liberal politicians like Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and 1960s-era House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills.

But, in the end, of course, the real origin of these twin modern problems was that each of these people (and more) were busily trying to create utopia in America.

And, oh by the way, there was that political side benefit of thinking this would elect fellow liberals through eternity." --Jeffrey Lord

Thursday, January 19, 2012

First 2012 Obama Campaign Poster Emerges

At least that's what Biff Spackle calls this:

I was thinking about a picture of the Hindenburg exploding, myself.


"But we don't have enough regulations!"

The state of Florida Human Resources Department needs to find the person who invented this ingenious regulation (via Marfdrat):

I had to read it a few times and then contact the officials who required it to discover that the only point of the sign is: it's illegal to not have it. Is this some bureaucrat's idea of a practical joke?

The Florida Department of Revenue lists the law on its website. We called them and asked if there was a reason for the law.

Spokeswoman Renee Watters responded: “A vending machine operator that does not place the notice on the machine presumably is not in compliance with the other requirements such as registration and payment of the tax.”

So there is a reason, after all: If a businessman fails to notice the regulation – it’s conveniently located in Rule 12A-1.044(4)(b) of the Florida Administrative Code, by the way – it’s a tip-off to the authorities that he might have failed to follow some of their other confusing regulations.

But even if he is in compliance with registration and taxes, lack of the notice could still land him a $250 fine.

So, if any of you Floridians happen to see a machine without that required special notice, use the number on the notice to report it… Oh wait.

And progressives rail about "evil corporations"?

How about the out-of-control bureaucracies that churn out 80,000 pages of regulations a year?


WaPo: Obama's Keystone pipeline decision "an act of insanity"

Dan from NY:

It’s not everyday that we hear such shrill criticism emanating from a mainstream columnist writing for a liberal mainstream news outlet.

# # #

Washington Post, January 19 2012, By Robert J. Samuelson

Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity


President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances.

Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won’t get much. Stopping the pipeline won’t halt the development of tar sands, to which the Canadian government is committed; therefore, there will be little effect on global-warming emissions. Indeed, Obama’s decision might add to them. If Canada builds a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific for export to Asia, moving all that oil across the ocean by tanker will create extra emissions. There will also be the risk of added spills.

Now consider how Obama’s decision hurts the United States. For starters, it insults and antagonizes a strong ally; getting future Canadian cooperation on other issues will be harder. Next, it threatens a large source of relatively secure oil that, combined with new discoveries in the United States, could reduce (though not eliminate) our dependence on insecure foreign oil.

Finally, Obama’s decision forgoes all the project’s jobs. There’s some dispute over the magnitude. Project sponsor TransCanada claims 20,000, split between construction (13,000) and manufacturing (7,000) of everything from pumps to control equipment. Apparently, this refers to “job years,” meaning one job for one year. If so, the actual number of jobs would be about half that spread over two years. Whatever the figure, it’s in the thousands and thus important in a country hungering for work. And Keystone XL is precisely the sort of infrastructure project that Obama claims to favor.

The big winners are the Chinese. They must be celebrating their good fortune and wondering how the crazy Americans could repudiate such a huge supply of nearby energy. There’s no guarantee that tar-sands oil will go to China; pipelines to the Pacific would have to be built. But it creates the possibility when the oil’s natural market is the United States...

This decision illustrates just how radicalized the Obama administration truly is.

As they say on the real blogs, read the whole thing.


Bestest Caption Contest Evah!

Okay, I'll freely admit I stole the photo from the invaluable Tammy Bruce's website. That said, it's too good not to propagate this as: (a) a caption contest; (b) a Twitter meme (hashtag #TragicKingdom) and (c) an iPad app.

So have at it in the comments section. Winner gets whatever's left at the bottom of the sock drawer when I clean it out this weekend.


Which is the proper name: Barack Hussein Foodstamp or Barack Foodstamp Obama?

Because only one man in history can properly be called "The Foodstamp President" and this chart illustrates why.

And you would think Obama would be proud of that title: after all, he reveled in the media's coverage of his "Stimulus" package in 2009. Remember when CBS Evening News ran featured segments like "Stimulus Boost For Food Stamp Recipients?"

And now he wants to run away from his great achievements?


Update: "State Gets $5 Million Bonus For Food Stamp Sign Up"


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: Newt: I’d ask Palin to play a major role in my administration

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

Nation

Newt: I’d ask Palin to play a major role in my administration: Scoop
Hey, Holder: NY Dems say that vote fraud is 'normal': Nice Deb
IA Poll: Gingrich Now Leads Romney in South Carolina: Max

Justice Alito oddly unimpressed with EPA procedures: Hot Air
Even more embarrassing Ron Paul newsletters emerge: Blaze
This is why Marco Rubio is a hero on the right: RS

Five key senators abandon online piracy bills amid Web protests: Hill
NYPD, Feds Testing Gun-Scanning Technology: CBS-NY
Rick Perry’s Final Act: King Maker?: RS

Economy

Some Advice For The GOP: the Abysmal Keystone Decision: HayRide
Walker: Recall All About Automatic Dues Payments for Unions: BTV
It's Productivity, Stupid: Hoosier

Pelosi: Hey, We're Not Tied to the Criminal Occupy Mob: JWF
Michigan Teacher Pays To Leave Union, Retain Self-Respect: ConCom
Ron Paul's Soros-Funded Defense Plan: Greenfield

Gunrunner & Energygate

Activist Virginia judge who wouldn’t allow Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich on state’s ballot is Obama appointed: FAM
GM Has Advertising Campaign Prepared Should Volt Fire Concerns Worsen: PCMag
Fast and Furious Is One Among Many Similar Drug-War Warts: Narcosphere

Climate & Energy

Obama Kills 20,000 Keystone XL Jobs, Laborers’ Union Vows Not To Forget Betrayal: LUR
Obama’s Keystone Pipeline Problem Ready to Blow: Shark Tank
Obama’s National Energy Plan Coming To a Corner Near You?: Shark Tank

Obama Rejects 20,000 Pipeline Jobs to Appease Radical Green Base: AmElephant
Under Obama, Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands Is Down 40%: Foundry
Gingrich on Obama’s Keystone Decision: “This Is a Stunningly Stupid Thing to Do”: GWP

Media

Is Mark Zuckerberg Teaming Up with Politico to Give Obama an Edge?: BG
ABC News Holding ‘Bombshell’ Interview with Newt’s Ex Until After SC Primary?: LoneCon
Democrats in denial about Obama's impending loss: Times

Beckel Admits: 'We Liberals Made a Terrible Mistake': FoxNation
Jimmy Carter: Newt Gingrich Has That Subtlety Of Racism: Wizbang
ABC: Romney has millions parked in funds in the Caymans: Hot Air

Why The Media Wants Romney To Win The Nomination So Badly: Riehl
Drudge: Gingrich’s ex-wife is ready to dish; Update: Nothing new revealed in interview?: Hot Air
Levin: We know so little about Obama and ABC is talking to Newt’s ex-wife: Scoop

Oh, About That Newsweek Cover: Driscoll
Not by sight, but by faith: Cal Thomas
Why Is Mitt Romney Still the Least Vetted GOP Candidate?: Tatler

World

Civilization in Reverse: Hanson
False Flag: CIA memos describe how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies: ForPol
Thousands in Jerusalem protest racism against Ethiopian Israelis: Haaretz

Police Seek Middle Eastern Males in Fatal Philly Beating: Creeping
The Three Rules of Western Discourse and Why The Media Must Always Blame Israel: BRubin
Muslim threatens jihad, shuts down college talk on sharia law: Creeping

Sci-Tech

Google Workers Caught ‘Vandalizing’ Open Source Maps: Wired
How a Diamond Is Like a Champagne Cork: Wired
What Is SOPA Anyway? A Guide to Understanding the Online Piracy Bill: WSJ

Cornucopia

What Do Men Prefer; Women With Curves or Women Who Are Model Thin?: RWN
October 3rd, 1938: iOTW
Not Romney: Barnhardt

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "A mere two days after it's release - discussed here in this space just yesterday in it's role as a serious player in the 2012 campaign -- now comes word from Amazon that Mark Levin's Ameritopia is already Number One on the Amazon list of the 100 best-selling books. 

This is no small -- much less easy -- feat. It is a tribute to author Levin, his hard work and most particularly his in-depth understanding of conservatism and its history and application in American life. In case you missed it, Levin was on Hannity discussing the book just last night -- and you can see that here.

Read this book -- understand this book -- and you will understand the 2012 campaign and everything and everyone involved in it." --Jeffrey Lord

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Infographic: a unique view into the brief history of personal computing

A unique view into the history of computing:

Notice that the scale of the Y-axis is logarithmic.

Things move pretty damn quick in industries where government gets the hell out of the way and lets entrepreneurs do what they do best.

Shhh... no one tell the Democrats.


Via Eponymous Pickle.

I love the smell of red-on-red warfare in the morning: unions vow war with Obama over Keystone XL

In the battle between the flat-earth, no-growth, environmental Marxists and the labor unions for control of President Subprime McDowngrade, it would appear that the ecotards just won a major victory (oh, and "ecotards" is the term they prefer, I hear).

After months of playing political ping-pong with 20,000 potential (mostly union) jobs, the Obama administration decided on Wednesday to kill the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries...

For more than three years, the State Department has conducted its “transparent, thorough, and rigorous review.” However, apparently, the Obama Administration believed that three years wasn’t enough to be transparent, thorough, or rigorous enough...

...As a result of the Obama’s job-destroying decision, Laborers’ union president, Terry O’Sullivan issued a blistering statement:

The score is Job-Killers, two; American workers, zero. We are completely and totally disappointed. This is politics at its worst. Once again the President has sided with environmentalists instead of blue collar construction workers – even though environmental concerns were more than adequately addressed. Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this.

The project would create thousands of good jobs at a time when unemployment in the construction industry is 16 percent with 1.3 million men and women jobless.

Environmental groups have used the Keystone XL as a disingenuous proxy for arguments about global warming. The pipeline would carry up to 900,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada’s Tar Sands to the U.S., reducing reliance on oil from hostile nations. While environmental groups decry Tar Sands development, the Canadian government and Trans-Canada, the company developing the Tar Sands, have made clear the oil will be developed – and possibly sold to China – regardless of whether Keystone XL is built...

Hey, O'Sullivan: did Obama at least buy you flowers beforehand?

Dick Trumka and Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. could not be reached for comment at press time. I just wanted to know whether they would miss the roughly 100,000 jobs (direct and indirect) that would have been created by the Keystone. I guess not, since they're sitting in their multi-million dollar homes, insulated from the concerns of their hapless members.


Hilarious graph: what Californians got for their $27 billion

Man, those teachers' unions are working out great in Cali, aren't they?

"Would an Extra $27 Billion Improve CA Public School Performance?" ...an op-ed in today’s Orange County Register [explains] that’s not a theoretical question. After adjusting for inflation and enrollment growth, CA spent $27 billion more on K-12 public schooling in 2010 than it did when Jerry Brown was first elected governor back in 1974. SAT scores fell over that period (see chart below).

...And if a $27 billion spending boost was associated with a decline in SAT scores, why would anyone expect Governor Brown’s proposal to raise another $7 billion in education taxes to do any good?

Say, I've got an idea for you hardworking California taxpayers: keep electing Democrats to office who are completely beholden to public sector unions and whose allegiance lies with illegal immigrants. That way, you'll keep paying more and more money for fewer and fewer services. At least until the state melts down in a cauldron of civil unrest.

That's the Democrat way.


Hat tip: BadBlue.

Obama: Resolutely Determined to Do Absolutely Nothing About Iran

Dan from NY:

This comes from an Iranian news site (www.mehrnews.com), and you have to assume the Iranian regime has to approve the slant of everything that goes out.

Even so, the idea that Obama is still offering to engage the Mullahs, and being ridiculed for it, is more like a running joke over there than it is news or giving away state secrets.

# # #

Details of Obama’s letter to Iran released


TEHRAN, Jan. 18 (MNA) -- A number of Iranian officials have released the details of the letter that U.S. President Barack Obama recently sent to Tehran [...] warning that closing the Strait of Hormuz is a “red line” that would provoke a response by the United States.

Obama has called for negotiations ... MP Ali Motahhari said on Wednesday, “In the letter, it has been stated that ‘closing the Strait of Hormuz is our red line’ and they have requested direct negotiations..."

Obama says U.S. will not take hostile action against Iran ... “In the letter, Obama has mentioned cooperation and negotiation based on the interests of the two countries... He has stated in the letter that they will not take any hostile action against the Islamic Republic of Iran..."

“Obama’s letter indicates that the United States has become afraid of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s might and has realized the point that an arrogant spirit is of no use... The important issue is that without the Islamic Republic of Iran’s permission, no country can benefit from the Persian Gulf."

Mr. Chamberlain, meet Mr. Obama.


Apparently, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

So all of those years my Dad spent drilling into my head the acronym TANSTAAFL ("There ain't no such thing as a free lunch") were -- it would seem -- a complete waste of time.

That is, if you're a Democrat intent on addicting children (and their parents) on governmental dependency; the theory being that all will turn out to be reliable Democrat voters.

From the data provided by the Ohio Department of Education, I created a chart showing the number of students and free lunches provided in the period 2002 through 2011.

While the number of school children in Ohio is trending down (the 2005 figure from the Ohio Department of Education seems to be a mistake), while the number of students receiving a free lunch is trending up at a much faster pace.

What do should we make of this chart?
• poverty has greatly increased in Ohio
• the Great Recession is responsible for the increase
• government has created another program that fosters dependency

The simple fact is, that there is no way that this many families cannot provide lunches for their own children. Instead, in a great many of these cases... government is simply allowing parents to shirk their responsibilities to their own children, and in essence, place that burden on other taxpayers.

...A decline of individualism is upon us and is being replaced with, almost a Plato like system where the children are raised by the community rather than the parent.

Aristotle, in Politics, wrote of the consequences of the communal state:

"That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest; and only when he himself is concerned as an individual."

The Democrat Party is following the Utopian template of Plato, Thomas More, Hobbes and Karl Marx; each believed that a few altruistic masterminds in government could orchestrate society into an ideal community.

And each of their models, of course, descended into despotism, tyranny and mass murder as a few not-so-altruistic masterminds used the levers of governmental power to pursue their own corrupt ends.

So too will the Democrats' plans fail -- as they have throughout all of human history.

And only the Constitution and an engaged citizenry, you and I, stand between the Democrat masterminds who seek to destroy this society and replace it with a Utopian nirvana that they can't even define.

Only the Constitution -- the greatest bulwark of liberty ever created, designed explicitly by our founders to protect the individual from the corrupting powers of centralized government -- only the Constitution, you, and I stand in their way.

And 2012 may be our last chance to save this republic from their destructive, Utopian dreams. And I don't care if Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or Rick Perry is the GOP candidate. I would vote for a banana peel over Barack Obama, because a banana peel would do significantly less damage to this society than the Utopian mastermind who won't even reveal his college transcripts.


Larwyn's Linx: Sarah Palin Endorses Newt (Sort Of)

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

Nation

Sarah Palin Endorses Newt (Sort Of): Ace
White House locked down after Tea Partiers throw smoke bomb: WZ
Debate Reaction: Pundette

Final Recount Could Show Romney Lost Iowa: Exam
Valerie Jarrett Has a Secret Service Detail?: Dossier
The obnoxious little turd that is Mike Bloomberg: WyBlog

All We Ever Wanted: TL in Exile
Ron Paul Steps In It In South Carolina: OTB
Ron Paul Flashback: Civil War Was Senseless: Pirate's Cove

Economy

45% of Ohio schoolchildren receive subsidized federal lunches: VR
Soros funds Indiana Right-To-Work opposition: HoosierAccess
Obama administration warns the left: You will not like our budget: Hill

“Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash”: ProWis
Another Installment in the Horrors of Socialized Medicine: MB
Presenting The Big Mac Index Infographic: ZH

Gunrunner & Energygate

11 More Solyndras — if it’s this bad on CBS News...: ProWis
Another subsidized solar company lays off most of its employees: Hot Air
Another Obama "investment" goes belly up: WZ

Climate & Energy

Canada's Big Green Fight: Daily Bayonet
A Response to Skeptical Science’s “Patrick Michaels: Serial Deleter of Inconvenient Data”: WCR
Playing the Glacial Fraud Game: Real Science

Media

Pathetic. Vile. Disgusting: The Attack On The Santorums: Camp o' the Saints
NY Times Editorial Board: “Sarah Palin Got It Right Last Week”: C4P
The Transformational Tyrant: Gensert

Mark Levin Proves Leftism Is Predicated On Utopianism In New Masterpiece, 'Ameritopia': DLim
Selling Faux Outrage: The Economics Behind Media Matters’ Hit Pieces: Stranahan
After Jarrett Rips Republicans From Pulpit, Scarborough Slams MSM Double Standard: NB

Why Are President Obama's Defenders So Dumb?: IBD
Sarah Palin Slams Newsweek for Giving Cover Story to 'TrigTruther' Andrew Sullivan: NB
Video: Carney dodges question about Obama’s college transcript: Hot Air

World

The Society for the Protection of Iranian Nuclear Scientists: Knish
Muslims Attacked, Media Silent: Creeping
Report: Iran planning attacks on U.S. targets in Turkey: Haaretz

Sci-Tech

Scientists find hundreds of lost fossils from Darwin collection: Fox
Windows 8 Doesn’t Play Nicely With Others: WSJ
Internet strike: Wikipedia, Mozilla, Reddit to go dark tonight: LAT

Cornucopia

So Why Read Anymore?: Hanson
'Sue us if you want compensation' Concordia survivors told: Telegraph
Mutombo’s role in $10 million gold scam only now coming to light: Chron

Image: Big Mac Index - Zero Hedge
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Inside the home, the federal government regulates washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, dishwasher detergents, microwave ovens, toilets, showerheads, heating and cooling systems, refrigerators, freezers, furnace fans and boilers, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, lightbulbs, certain renovations, fitness equipment, clothing, baby cribs, pacifiers, rattles and toys, marbles, latex balloons, matchbooks, bunk beds, mattresses, mattress pads, televisions, radios, cell phones, iPods and other digital media devices, computer components, video recording devices, speakers, batteries, battery charges, power supplies, stereo equipment, garage door openers, lawn mowers, lawn darts, pool slides… toothpaste, deodorant, dentures…" --Mark Levin, Ameritopia