Saturday, February 04, 2012

Good news: Feds warn that using basic Internet privacy tools may be a sign that you're a terrorist

Strange that we hear so little about that "evil, imperialistic Bush presidency" these days.

A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address” as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone “overly concerned about privacy” or attempting to “shield the screen from view of others” should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities.

...Logging into an account associated with a residential internet service provider (such as Comcast or AOL), an activity that could simply indicate that you are on a trip, is also considered a suspicious activity. Viewing any content related to “military tactics” including manuals or “revolutionary literature” is also considered a potential indicator of terrorist activity. This would mean that viewing a number of websites, including the one you are on right now, could be construed by a hapless employee as an highly suspicious activity potentially linking you to terrorism.

Well, all of these warnings seem justified. After all, the DHS was eerily prescient when it warned of imminent attacks by right-wing extremists in 2009.


Social Security Administration Misplaces Car Keys Plus One Trillion Dollars, But Mostly One Trillion Dollars

How disconnected from reality do you have to be to believe that an enormous federal bureaucracy -- that can't fire anybody, has no competition, and operates like the DMV -- can effectively run the entire health care system?

Answer: You have to be a Democrat.

The outlook for Social Security's trust fund has deteriorated to an astonishing degree over the past year, new Congressional Budget Office projections show... [The] CBO expects the trust fund to peak in 2018 and decline to $2.7 trillion in 2022 — a full $1 trillion less than Social Security's own actuaries predicted last year.

...Under current law, once the trust fund is gone, Social Security could only pay 78% of benefits. Since older retirees and the disabled would be protected, new retirees would face much deeper cuts to a benefit that is not especially generous to begin with... The average retired worker received a $1,200 monthly benefit last year before Medicare premiums were subtracted.

...Assuming a 22% automatic cut, average earners (about $43,000 in 2012) halfway into a 40-year career would have to set aside more than 5% of annual wages, or $2,150 a year, to replace [the] lost benefits.

Already, the next president will have to address a near-term crisis in Social Security's disability insurance program that CBO expects to hit in 2016 — resulting in immediate cuts for many of the neediest beneficiaries.

...Social Security already is cash-flow negative, taking less in revenue than it pays out in current benefits. CBO sees the program's $48 billion cash gap in 2011 rising above $100 billion by 2019... And depressed Treasury rates mean smaller interest payments on the trust fund's official balances.

Like night follows day, bankruptcy awaits each and every one of these Democrat-created programs, all operating outside the Constitution (not to mention the laws of arithmetic and common sense).


Larwyn's Linx: Obama Thinks Veterans Are Only Good For Menial Jobs

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

Nation

Obama Thinks Veterans Are Only Good For Menial Jobs: RWN
Friday doc dump: Obamacare’s job-killing medical device tax: Malkin
Military silences chaplains: no speaking against Obamacare: Blaze

Jim Moran, Racist Pig: Malkin
GOP Rep. walks out on Obama's partisan "prayer" breakfast: GWP
Mass Voter Fraud Uncovered in FL: Breitbart

Economy

8.3% Unemployment? Completely Phony: Peth
Unemployment disaster: 1.2M driven out of the workforce: Hayward
Real unemployment rate hits 11.5%; propaganda gap rises: ZH

The Motor City Plunges Off the Greek-Style Debt Cliff: CDN
Government Unions Support California Tax Hike: Foundry
Providence, RI faces bankruptcy by June: Mish

Budget? Who Needs A Budget?: Power Line
Surprise! Harry Reid, Democrats, Refuse to Budget, Again: RWN
Improving black people’s lives is not racist: HoosierAccess

GOP Primary

Gingrich, Romney, Trump Monopolize Media; Santorum Keeps Campaigning: RSM
For Romney and Paul, a strategic alliance: WaPo
Santorum: Obama Most Anti-Religion President in History: Max

Scandal Central

Groundhog Day: Holder Repeats Fast And Furious Lies: IBD
Military Is Now Telling Catholic Chaplains What They Can And Can't Say About The Obama Administration: Insider
New BS BLS Report Shows Obama Costs US $20 Trillion: Ransom

Media

Pew: Democrats getting hammered by religious voters.: Moe Lane
Pelosi Praises Planned Parenthood’s Corruption of Girl Scouts: MB
Santelli: 1.2 Million Fall Out Of Labor Force As Participation Rate Hits 20-Year Low: RCP

The Incredible Shrinking New York Times: Insider
Not News: Significant Non-Citizen Voting Found in FL 2 Days After Tampa Paper Says It's 'Nonexistent': NB
Trends in Party Identification of Religious Groups: Jewish Support for GOP Rises: Pew

World

Israel Puts Global Facilities On High Alert Following Warning Of Rising Iran Strike Threat: ZH
Obama Poised to Betray America Through 4 UN Treaties: Nice Deb
Planting Trees Is Racist: IPT

Philadelphia City Council Welcomes Its New Sharia Overlords: Creeping
Greece About to Go Boom: Mish
Do You Like Online Privacy? You May Be a Terrorist: PubInt

Justice Ginsburg to Egyptian TV: You probably don’t want to use our Constitution as a model: STACLU
Army rules Manning will face court-martial: ArmyTimes
Panetta reassures European allies over defense cuts: Reuters

Sci-Tech

Twitter and Facebook, Why Twitter Might Be Worth More In The Long Run: P&F
US government and military to adopt custom Android phones, says CNN: Verge
Autonomous Quadrotors Fly Amazing Formations: Wired

Cornucopia

Here on Republican Isle: GayPat
Mooch To Promote “Healthy Eating” At Bottomless Pasta-Pit Olive Garden: WZ
Iran Says It May Ban Samsung Over Israeli Commercial Depicting Mossad Agents Blowing Up Nuke Plant: WZ

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

QOTD: "I was talking to a CEO last year — an Obama supporter no less — who told me he was amazed at how openly Administration officials threatened to use media demonization if he didn’t play ball. It’s like they’ve got the press in their pocket or something. But now some of those officials have to be thinking that the people they threaten will be around after Obama’s gone, and they’ll remember." --Glenn Reynolds

Friday, February 03, 2012

Shock: People of All Religions Abandoning Democrat Party in Droves

But Pew Research didn't poll Militant Quakers, so maybe they're the exception:

As the 2012 presidential election approaches, the partisan affiliations of the electorate have shifted significantly since 2008. In surveys conducted in 2011..., 34% of registered voters described themselves as Democrats, down four points compared with 2008 (38%). Over the same period, the percentage of voters describing themselves as Republicans has held steady at 28%, while the total saying they are politically independent or have no partisan preference has risen four points (from 34% in 2008 to 38% in 2011).

...A new analysis shows that the share of voters identifying with or leaning toward the GOP has either grown or held steady in every major religious group. This includes both religious groups that are part of the GOP’s traditional constituency as well as some groups that have tended to be more aligned with the Democratic Party, including Jewish voters...

Among white evangelical Protestants (a traditionally Republican group), support for the GOP has grown from 65% in 2008 to 70% today. The GOP has also posted gains among Mormons, with 80% now saying they identify with or lean toward the Republican Party. Republican gains are also apparent among white mainline Protestants (who were evenly divided between the parties in 2008 but who now favor the GOP by a 12-point margin) and white non-Hispanic Catholics (among whom an eight-point Democratic advantage in 2008 has become a seven-point Republican advantage at the end of 2011). Even Jewish voters, who have traditionally been and remain one of the strongest Democratic constituencies, have moved noticeably in the Republican direction; Jewish voters favored the Democrats by a 52-point margin in 2008 but now prefer the Democratic Party by a significantly smaller 36-point margin. There has been less change in the partisanship of black Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated, two other strongly Democratic groups.

The analysis shows that across several religious groups, the move toward the GOP has been at least as large – if not more pronounced – among those under age 30 as among those 30 and older. White evangelicals under 30, for instance, are now more heavily Republican than those over 30 (82% vs. 69%); in 2008, by contrast, the partisan preferences of younger evangelicals closely matched those of evangelicals over age 30. And among white non-Hispanic Catholics under age 30, support for the GOP has increased from 41% in 2008 to 54% in 2011.

Jesse Jerkson and Al "No So" Sharpton hardest hit.


A Conservative Alternative to the Drudge Report?

BadBlue News ServiceSenator Fred Thompson says that "Romney has Drudge (top news source) in back pocket."

While that may or may not be true, there appears to be an alternative news aggregator that seems to be taking off. BadBlue.com monitors the social networks to determine which news stories are getting the most "buzz". It runs 24/7/365 monitoring hundreds of news sites and (most importantly!) blogs.

Here's how it looked when this post was created:

Unlike the Drudge Report, you can find the top stories that are trending now, over the last 24 hours, the last week, or even the last month.

You can even track the popularity of each story over time. Here's an example:

Need a list of stories from each news source? Here are the top stories from Ace of Spades:

Check it out and, if you like it, bookmark BadBlue and follow its updates on Twitter at @BadBlueNews.

Now conservatives have a choice.


"Obama's Enemies List"

When the full history of Barack Obama's administration is written, I feel confident that Richard Milhaus Nixon will look like an Eagle Scout in comparison. Former Solicitor General of the United States Ted Olson explains:

How would you feel if aides to the president of the United States singled you out by name for attack, and if you were featured prominently in the president's re-election campaign as an enemy of the people?

What would you do if the White House engaged in derogatory speculative innuendo about the integrity of your tax returns? Suppose also that the president's surrogates and allies in the media regularly attacked you, sullied your reputation and questioned your integrity. On top of all of that, what if a leading member of the president's party in Congress demanded your appearance before a congressional committee this week so that you could be interrogated about the Keystone XL oil pipeline project in which you have repeatedly—and accurately—stated that you have no involvement?

Consider that all this is happening because you have been selected as an attractive political punching bag by the president's re-election team. This is precisely what has happened to Charles and David Koch, even though they are private citizens, and neither is a candidate for the president's or anyone else's office.

...This is why it is exceedingly important for all Americans to respond with outrage to what the president and his allies are doing to demonize and stigmatize David and Charles Koch. They have been the targets of the multiyear, carefully orchestrated campaign of vituperation and assault described above—and much more. It has been choreographed from the very top. When the president personally takes leadership, his political surrogates and army of allies in the press and Congress quickly and surely follow the direction and tone he sets.

The misuse of government power to damage or demean one's political enemies is abhorrent and the very antithesis of a free society and a government of laws, not men. It is time for the public to ask those engaged in these practices, "Have you no sense of decency?"

Simple answer: no.

Barack Obama is, in word and deed, trying to turn this country into a banana republic, suitable more for Hugo Chavez than a normal American president. Every action is politicized and every instrumentality of government is used as a support for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign.

Sorry, Rick Moran, but this administration represents a group of hard-core, Marxist ideologues for whom the ends always justify the means. Which is why the Democrat Party must be flushed from office in November, at every level of government.


Lies, Damn Lies, and Obama's Unemployment Numbers

Look up bogus in the dictionary and odds are you'll see a picture of President Obama standing in front of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such is the reputation of the BLS as the nation's leading producer of economic propaganda.

You may have seen their headline number of 8.3% unemployment earlier today. What you didn't see is that the BLS had to "disappear" 1.2 million people out of the workforce over the last month alone to achieve that "drop".

It’s the headline that a President facing re-election with a dismal economic record didn’t want to see:

1.2 million people driven out of the workforce in a single month!


A frantic White House exploded into damage-control mode, as a deeply shaken President Obama retreated into his chambers. Nervous spokesmen fanned across the airwaves to stammer apologies, search for silver linings among the storm clouds, offer campaign boilerplate about “hope and change,” and desperately search for some way to blame George Bush for an absolute unemployment disaster that occurred over three years after he left office…

What’s that, you say? You didn’t see that headline? Well, of course not, silly. All you’re seeing in the headlines is good news, because the official, heavily-massaged U-3 unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent. Fewer people in the workforce means the percentage of unemployed people in the workforce drops.

Tyler Durden uses an illustration to explain how the Democrat employment scam works:

Sick of the BLS propaganda? Then do the following calculation with us: using BLS data, the US civilian non-institutional population was 242,269 in January, an increase of 1.7 million month over month: apply the long-term average labor force participation rate of 65.8% to this number..., and you get 159.4 million: that is what the real labor force should be.

The BLS [instead] reported ... 154.4 million: a tiny 5 million difference. Then add these people who the BLS is purposefully ignoring yet who most certainly are in dire need of labor and/or a job to the 12.758 million reported unemployed by the BLS and you get 17.776 million in real unemployed workers.

What does this mean? That using just the BLS denominator in calculating the unemployed rate of 154.4 million, the real unemployment rate actually rose in January to 11.5%. Compare that with the BLS reported decline from 8.5% to 8.3%. It also means that the spread between the reported and implied unemployment rate just soared to a fresh 30-year high of 3.2%. And that is how with a calculator and just one minute of math, one strips away countless hours of BLS propaganda.

Oh, and just for reinforcement, the invaluable James Pethokoukis piles on:

...If the size of the U.S. labor force as a share of the total population was the same as it was when Barack Obama took office... the U-3 unemployment rate would be 11.0 percent.

...Then there’s the broader, U-6 measure of unemployment which includes the discouraged plus part-timers who wish they had full time work. That unemployment rate is still a sky-high 15.1 percent.

Based on Peth's data, the BLS has "disappeared" a startling four million workers to get unemployment "down" to 8.3 percent.

This kind of egregious activity -- certain to go unreported upon by legacy media -- is why I like to call the BLS unemployment numbers "the Eric Holder of Economic Reports."


Larwyn's Linx: The bombshell CBO report and why Obama should be worried

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

Nation

The bombshell CBO report and why Obama should be worried: Hot Air
Obamacare’s Latest Victim Is Religious Freedom: Foundry
Waivers: The Yellow Brick Road To Amnesty: Bruce

What does Obama do all day?: Kaus
Breaking: Heath Shuler (D, NC) cuts and runs.: RS
Shocker: More Wisconsin Recall Fraud: BigG

Economy

A Year Later, Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics: Cato
Obama Underestimated 2012 Deficit by... $500 Billion: WS
Planned layoffs surge in January: Challenger: Reuters

ObamaCare Advisers Predict Death of Health Insurers: NewAm
Disgusting: Occupy Charlotte Used Water Supply as Toilet: VS
Thank a Union: Alleged Perv Teacher on Full Pension: VS

Krazy Kat-ifornia: JPA
A Former Union Thug’s Take On Right-to-Work: RS
Social Security Trust Fund Outlook Takes $1 Tril Dive: IBD

GOP Primary

Newt Beats Mitt on Energy Policy: NRO
It's Insane For Conservatives To Back Romney In The General: Riehl
The Fractious Rich Lowry and Jennifer Rubin: Lord

Scandal Central

Holder to Issa: I’ll hold people accountable … for whistleblowing: Hot Air
Holder DOJ lets bribery-compromised officials free indicted financial-crime suspects: DC
Holder to Issa: I wasn’t aware of your subpoena: Scoop

DOJ: First “Fast and Furious,” then bribery, and now kiddie porn?: PubSecrets
Holder to Puerto Rican Rep: 'Wherever you're from': Exam
Groundhog Day: Holder Repeats Fast And Furious Lies: IBD

Climate & Energy

Warmie Angst & The AGW Theory Hanging By A Single Untested Hypothesis: Wolf Howling
Now Why Would Coal Mines Be Laying People Off?: AllAm
Read All About it: Al Gore's 'melting' Antarctic claims refuted by reality: Depot

Insurers Required to Report on Global Warming Predictions: MenRec
Concrete Evidence Man is Causing Glacier Retreat: Malkin

Media

Obama Hides From the Press: Surber
Allen West Questions Florida Legislators’ Motives: Shark Tank
Salon v McKeon: When is an investigative reporter not an investigative reporter: Q&O

How dare a private group spend its money as it wants? Liberals Slam Susan G. Komen: Bookworm
Chris Christie stands up for his bizarre NJ Supreme Court nominees: WyBlog
Ann Coulter's Laughably Weak Attempt To Defend RomneyCare: Riehl

Give Me Your Money In the Name of Jesus: RS
Gospels Contradict Obama's Idea Of A Socialist Jesus: IBD
Okay, I’ve been sitting on these quotes long enough.: Troglopundit

World

Israeli: Iran creating missile to hit U.S.; East Coast in reach: LAT
Is Israel preparing to attack Iran?: WaPo
#OWS May Day Agitprop: UrbInf

Breaking: Democrats Preyed On Immigrants In Ballot Fraud Scandal: MenRec
Israel says Iran has material for four A-bombs: Reuters
Meet the Air Force’s Newest X-Plane: DefTech

Sci-Tech

Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter to Investors: ‘The Hacker Way’: Wired
Microsoft Vows to Fix ‘Broken’ Code In Open Source Cloud Project: Wired
LEAKED: Here's Everything Coming In The Next Windows Phone: Insider

Cornucopia

Separated At Birth?: Moonbattery
I Guess Endorsements Do Matter: AllAm
McDonald's Finally Realizes Pink Slime Is Not An Appetizing Burger Ingredient: Consumerist

Two Hogs, Two Shadows: MOTUS
Terrell Owens out of work, going broke and 'in hell': LAT
'Fear Factor' contestants told by NBC to shut up about canceled episode they starred in: Fox

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President: Yes, He Can Win

QOTD: "Thus, the administration that took military action in Libya without any authorization from force from Congress, that appointed czars with policymaking authority without Congressional confirmation, and that made ‘recess’ appointments while Congress was not in recess is invoking executive privilege to cover how the Department of Justice reacted when Congress began asking about a gun-trafficking operation that got U.S. law enforcement officers murdered by Mexican drug cartels.

All from a president who railed against a runaway imperial presidency when George W. Bush sat in the office he currently occupies." --Jim Geraghty

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Three Must-Read Quotes from Eric Holder's Fast and Furious Testimony Today. Plus: Brian Terry's Mother Rips Holder.

Eric Holder was back in front of the House Oversight Committee today to testify on Operation Fast and Furious. For those unfamiliar with the crimes, consider it like Watergate, only with 300 dead -- including Brian Terry, a U.S. Border Patrol agent killed by murder weapons supplied to drug cartels by Eric Holder.

During testimony, three particular quotes struck me as especially memorable:

• GOP Rep. Anne Marie Buerkle to Eric Holder:

"What more could have possibly gone wrong before you'd have been held accountable [for Operation Fast and Furious]? I would suggest that the President has been eerily quiet about coming to your defense. So let me ask it this way: How many more Border Patrol agents would have had to die as part of Operation Fast and Furious for you to take responsibility?"

• Eric Holder threatens Darrell Issa, asserting that Congress can not view sealed wiretap records even if a whistleblower reveals them:

"That direction that you just said, about the media and Congress and court orders, is really incorrect and you act at your peril if you think that's the truth."

• GOP Rep. Patrick Henry to Eric Holder on the delays in the DOJ's "investigation", which has now taken longer than the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK:

"Thirteen months later, we have a possibility of somebody actually being punished for an agent getting killed. This is absolutely absurd."

Brian Terry's mother also watched Holder's outrageous performance today and had the following to say on Facebook.

“THIS IS FOR YOU SON,” Mrs. Terry posted on Facebook at about 3:30 p.m. “Mr. Holder. How come you can never say my sons name. You never have. All i ever hear you say is ‘i didnt find out or I cant say’ Im actually tired of hearing your double talk in answering questions. What a joke you are. You know my son was a real AMERICAN, a WARRIOR, and a HERO, who was also protecting COWARD POLITICANS like you.”

“Hope you remember that,” Mrs. Terry added in her message to Holder before signing it: “PROUD MOM OF BRIAN A. TERRY.”

Brian Terry was murdered with a weapon his own government allowed to be sold to Mexican drug cartels via Operation Fast and Furious. Like Terry, about 300 Mexican citizens were also murdered with the guns Holder’s Justice Department gave to the drug cartels.

Nobody has been held accountable inside the Justice Department, and more than 100 congressmen, three U.S. senators, two sitting governors and all major Republican presidential candidates have demanded that Holder step down in the wake of the scandal. Holder has time and again refused to hold anybody accountable and has refused to step down himself.

Holder never even apologized to the Terry family until publicly shamed into it during November's Congressional testimony. And, even then, he released the apology publicly to Politico before the family ever saw it.

Holder needs to be held in Contempt of Congress right now and prosecuted for obstruction of justice.


Cartoon: IBD - Ramirez

Four charts: how Obama destroyed the energy economy in the Gulf of Mexico

A report issued Tuesday by the Greater New Orleans Economic Alliance reveals the true economic devastation wrought by President Obama's draconian and illegal oil drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico

Thanks to the people at the New Orleans Regional Economic Alliance, one can cut through all the claims about how oil drilling in the United States is back to normal since the Gulf oil spill.

The [accompanying] figures ... show the trends in both shallow- and deep-water drilling permit approvals in the gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As can be seen, the Obama administration did not let that crisis go to waste, it used it to implement another plank in its anti-fossil fuel agenda...

Regardless of the Obama administration’s claims that they aren’t hindering oil exploration and development in the Gulf, a few minutes of looking at their own data tells the real story: they’re both cutting it down, and stretching it out.

So the next time legacy media allows President Obama to claim that oil drilling is back to normal in the Gulf, remember these charts.


Hat tips: HyScience and BadBlue.

'Progressives' Believe Strongly in the Separation of Church and State. Except, Of Course, When It Comes to Abortion.

If the ramifications weren't so diabolical, the hypocrisy exhibited by Democrats would be laughable.

It has not even been two years since Obamacare was enacted, and already the President’s health care law has taken another victim — the religious freedoms Americans hold dear, as reflected by the First Amendment.

The Obama Administration recently reaffirmed a rule under Obamacare that requires many religious employers to provide health care coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and related education and counseling. On the grounds that certain FDA-approved contraceptive methods can sometimes “cause the demise of embryos both after and before uterine implantation,many groups also believe that the rule forces them to cover abortion.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling the contraception mandate an “unprecedented” attack on religious freedom. And in statement after statement issued in diocese after diocese, many bishops are publicly declaring that they “cannot” and “will not” comply with “this unjust law.” As Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon explained, “Unless this rule is overturned, Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences or to drop health care coverage for our employees.”

It’s not just Catholics affected by the rule, however. Leaders from other faith traditions have expressed their concern, and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has already filed a lawsuit on behalf of an interdenominational Christian college that objects to providing abortion and related education and counseling in its health care insurance. “The mandate is un-American, unprecedented, and flagrantly unconstitutional,” says an attorney for the college.

As shocking as the Obama Administration’s action is, it should not come as a surprise. Heritage experts explained years ago that freedom of conscience in health care is closely linked to greater personal freedom over health care decisions. Health care expert James Capretta says that “it was inevitable — only a matter of time,” now that the government is calling the shots and making health care choices for the American people. “Just the sight of Catholic leaders’ being forced to go begging before federal officials ought to be enough to convince most Americans that handing over so much power over such sensitive matters to the federal government was a terrible, terrible mistake,” he writes.

Pathetic Democrat dupes like Bart Stupak and Steve Driehaus hardest hit.

The leaders of the Catholic Church could begin their fight by excommunicating Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius, and any other Catholic members of the Democrat Party who support this outrage.


Genius: Starting in 2014, Obamacare begins taxing... itself.

Gee, it's so surprising that we keep uncovering time-bombs buried inside a 2,200-page bill that no one read.

Under the health care overhaul, the federal government will begin taxing itself and the states beginning in 2014... And that’s giving state Medicaid directors heartburn.

The law calls for a new tax on health insurers’ premium revenue — intended to help pay for expansion of coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans. But the tax will be paid by all insurers, including those that contract with states to provide coverage to recipients of Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor. Under federal law, that fee must be paid by the Medicaid program, meaning that state and federal governments must pick up the tab.

A report released today by the actuarial firm Milliman Inc. said the tax will cost the Medicaid program between $36.5 billion and $41.9 billion over 10 years. At least $13 billion will be borne by states, and at least $23.5 billion by the federal government, based on the state-federal Medicaid matching formula, according to the report paid for by the Medicaid Health Plans of America, which represents private health plans that cover people on Medicaid. According to the America’s Health Insurance plans, the tax overall would generate at least $73 billion from 2014-2019.

“This is not an issue on most people’s radar screens, but this is going to be a big problem,” said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “This policy never really made sense … I get the point of an insurance tax, but when you are just passing on those costs to Medicaid, that makes no sense.”

With delightful surprises like this built into the Democrats' destructive health care bill, it's no wonder that Obama's advisers are predicting the death of America's health insurance companies. Which should do wonders for unemployment.


Larwyn's Linx: After Big Win, Romney Faces Tough Opponents in a Long War

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

GOP Primary

After Big Win, Romney Faces Tough Opponents in a Long War: Barone
Is Rick Santorum the logical conservative alternative?: Hot Air
65-to-1: It's not that complicated: RS

Gingrich Challenging Florida Delegate Apportionment: Ace
Apathy will be the legacy of Romney’s carpet bombing: LI
The Un-Obama: Hanson

Santorum Can Beat Romney: AmSpec
Romney's Progressive Pandering Begins: Riehl
Trump to Endorse Gingrich: NatlJrnl

Nation

Obama's Enemies List: WSJ
Obama's new plan: homeowner rescue package #4,350: Malkin
Racist GOP Bill to Ban Welfare Bucks at Strip Clubs, Casinos: WZ

Obama to Unveil New Vote-Buying Scheme: JWF
Catholic Backlash Against Obama Grows: NatlJrnl
Confirmed: Lowlife Weiner Used Campaign Cash for Twitter Mess: JWF

Economy

Another Obama Record! 4 Straight Years of Trillion-Dollar Deficits!: GWP
Obama Speech Brags About 3 Million New Jobs: NUSA
Federal Deficit For 2012 Closer to $4 Trillion: Rasmussen

Indiana: the Nation’s 23rd Right to Work State: HoosierAcc
Stunner: Walker Recall Petitions NOT Available for Online Review: BigG
Vote for Obama, and he'll pay your mortgage!: WyBlog

Obama Economy – Jobs Created at Welfare Offices: LoneCon
Democrats Love Taxes — They Just Don’t Want to Pay Them: Elder
California To Run Out Of Cash In One Month, Controller Warns: ZH

Scandal Central

Bribery, compromised officials leave indicted financial-crime suspects free from prosecution under Holder’s DOJ: DC
Obama’s top donors: disgraced MF Global CEO Jon Corzine and two Solyndra linked fundraisers: FAM
Family of Murdered Border Agent Brian Terry Files $25 Million Lawsuit Against ATF: GWP

DOJ Stonewalling on Justice Kagan: Power Line
Are Big Media Covering Up Fast and Furious?: AT
A failed ‘Fast and Furious’ whitewash: Post

Climate & Energy

Electric Cars: Doubling Down On Dumb: RCM
Leaf & Volt Sales: January 2012: Bayonet
Gulf Deepwater Drilling Ban’s Hidden Victims: IBD

Media

My Endorsement This Year: Rick Santorum 2012: RS
Big Journalism’s Loesch, CBS’s Attkisson Receive 2012 Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award: BigJ
If Bloggers Aren’t Journalists, Neither Are Many Members of the MSM: BigJ

Sound Advice For 'Anybody But Mitt' Republicans: HyScience
Obama shows contempt for judicial process: Sonoran News
Gallup state numbers predict huge Obama loss: Exam

Meet Politico’s ‘Crackers’: FL Panhandle Home to Many Military Bases: Riehl
Ezra "Mr. Constitution" Klein Offers Up Another Laughable Lie (Idiot Faux Journalists Hardest Hit): Peth
MSNBC Carefully Avoids The Dreaded "I" Word: Jawa

Obama's Been Skipping the White House Press Corps for Network and Social Media Softballs: NB
Coulter Jumps Shark… Praises Romneycare After Trashing It in October: GWP
The dhimmedia's whitewashing of honor killing: Geller

World

DHS Report Compares Terrorism To “Ordinary Crime,” Omits Islamists: JW
Iranian Websites Publish Threats against U.S. Targets in Gulf: MEMRI
Obama Could Lose Peace Prize: Nobel Committee Faces Inquiry Over Selection Criteria: VS

Taliban Release Graphic Video Showing Its Fighters Executing 15 Government Troops: WZ
Muslim Genocide on Black Africans: Creeping
Chavez Threatens Banks and Land Owners Refusing His Orders: NewAm

Sci-Tech

Android Users Are More Likely To Have Sex On The First Date: Insider
Student cell phones confiscated in school's probe of drug selling: Trib
Copyright: To the Batmobile!: Wired

Cornucopia

Liberal Logic, Illustrated: AllAm
JayMo and Mustang Sally: You Guys Just Bu-Rock My World!: MOTUS
20+ years of the lights coming on across the land: Sondrakisan

Image: Candy Hearts for Liberals
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Let's never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same. It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom. No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts."--President Obama, State of the Union Address, Jan. 24

"On the day I took office, . . . the American auto industry was on the verge of collapse. And some politicians were willing to let it just die. We said no. We believe in the workers of this state."--Obama, remarks to students in Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 27 (via James Taranto)

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Liberal Genius: Mark Levin's Ameritopia Is a #1 Bestseller Because Koch Brothers Are Buying Up Books In Bulk

Some progressive kook named "Ramona" (if that is her real name) has a novel theory regarding the rise of Mark Levin's Ameritopia to the top of all of the bestseller lists (The New York Times hardest hit). The Koch Brothers are buying up conservative books like Ameritopia to drive incredible sales volume.

Mark R. Levin, a Right Wing radio personality and "the #1 bestselling author of Liberty and Tyranny and regular Fox News contributor" is on January's cover [of the Books-a-Million catalog]. (Last month it was Glenn Beck). Levin has a new book out called, "Ameritopia, The Unmaking of America". Before I saw that cover, I confess I had never heard of Mark R. Levin. (Go ahead and strip me of my Rotten Persons Investigator badge--I know now that his new book, "Ameritopia" is at the top, the very tip-top, of this week's New York Times non-fiction bestseller list! )

So I took a look at the new book by this guy who--my god! NYT Best Seller!--I really should have heard of by now. I turned page after page and, okay, as a new Mark R. Levin reader who is also a liberal, I'm as biased as biased can be. But even I am shocked at how badly this book stinks!

...So here's what I'm thinking: What's to stop [Books-a-Million] from manipulating the market? (They also own a book distribution company.) What's to stop Threshold? What's to stop any of the Right Wing top guns--the Koch Brothers, say-- the people with all the money? What's to stop them from buying up tens or even hundreds of thousands of these books and sitting on them? ... And what's to stop 800+ stooges from churning out magnificent reviews for a book that nobody in their right mind would actually read through to the end?

I truly hope this isn't what passes for informed commentary on the Left.

Eh, Junior: Levin has roughly 10 million listeners for his radio show not because the Koch brothers paid them to listen, but because he explains -- in great detail -- the philosophical, moral, legal and ethical underpinnings of this country.

In other words, conservatism is winning in the marketplace of ideas. And, furthermore, the book's not for dummies. i.e., not for you.

Levin outlines the lessons of Smith, Locke, Montesquieu and others who influenced this nation's founders; the rationale for the form of government they created; and the thousands of years of human experience they leveraged to try to prevent the rise of a corrupt, massive, authoritarian central government. i.e., the Democrat Party.

So tune in to Levin on your local station, schmuck, and try learning something for a change.

Because your philosophy -- the philosophy of Utopianism -- has failed every time it's been tried in human history. Which is, as Levin has also explains, why liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid.


Photos: Massive Food Shortage Unfolding in Mexico -- Is a Refugee Crisis Imminent?

I predict an influx of undocumented Democrats.

The Rarámuri indigenous community in northern Mexico faces severe food and water shortages after the region's worst drought in more than 70 years...






The people are getting angry:

Thousands Demand Food, Jobs in Mexico City - The shortage of basic foods and the spike in prices are devastating the urban dwellers who consume these goods daily,” National Peasants Confederation, or CNC, president Gerardo Sanchez said.

Even Mexico’s Drug Cartels Are Affected By Worst Drought In Years - Mexico is currently experiencing its most intense drought in 71 years... More than 2 million people in the country have been affected by the water shortage... Government officials warn that the drought could last for at least another five months, with freezing temperature in some states now threatening to endanger lives and crops... Nearly 7 percent of the country’s agricultural land, mostly in the north and centre, has suffered complete losses

Drought Threatens Food Supply of 2.5 Million Mexicans - Some 2.5 million people are at risk of going hungry due to the severe drought plaguing more than half of Mexico’s 32 states, a leading expert said Thursday... The shortage of rain has already led to the loss of 3.2 million tons of maize, 600,000 tons of beans and 60,000 head of cattle, he noted. ...Without measures to counteract the agricultural losses, “this population runs the risk of suffering hunger,” Romero said, calling it “paradoxical” that the government delayed so long in tapping some of Mexico’s $147 billion in international reserves to address the problems caused by the drought.

You can donate to Mexican food relief here.


Hat tip: Doctor M.

Gallup approval numbers show potentially 'huge Obama loss'

From their lips to God's ear:

Gallup released their annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers yesterday, and the results should have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue very worried. If President Obama carries only those states where he had a net positive approval rating in 2011 (e.g. Michigan where he is up 48 percent to 44 percent), Obama would lose the 2012 election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215.

Gallup adds:

Overall, Obama averaged 44% job approval in his third year in office, down from 47% in his second year. His approval rating declined from 2010 to 2011 in most states, with Wyoming, Connecticut, and Maine showing a marginal increase, and Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia showing declines of less than a full percentage point. The greatest declines were in Hawaii, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico.

Take nothing for granted. It will take every bit of energy; every friend, colleague and family member we can convince; and every bit of divine providence we can muster to save this republic.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

Constitutional Showdown: DOJ Threatens to Defy Congressional Demands for Fast and Furious Documents

Yesterday the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued yet another demand for documents, this time going to the unprecedented step of threatening Attorney General Eric Holder with Contempt charges should he again defy Congress (PDF). The highlights of the Committee's demands revolve around the Justice Department's fabrications, delays and denials, many of which appear to involve false testimony. In short, Holder has until 4 February 2012 to avoid a Contempt of Congress charge.






CNN reports this evening that the DOJ is ignoring those threats and claiming it can't produce any documents in time (this, after literally years of requests).

...the Justice Department late Wednesday sent a sharp letter to Issa rejecting his demands from a day earlier for documents by a next-week deadline... Issa is threatening the attorney general with contempt of Congress if DOJ fails to deliver.

The exchange of stinging letters the past two days caps weeks of maneuvering by both sides in advance of the anticipated Holder appearance Thursday before Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The Justice Department [claimed] Issa's letter showed "significant misunderstanding both of the documents we recently produced and of the Department's position on the issues you raise."

The Justice Department response Wednesday rejected Issa's February 9, 2012, deadline to produce all demanded documents. Cole called the deadline "impossible" to meet because of the broad scope of the request... He did not directly refer to the threat of a contempt charge by Issa.

The political battle has been raging for more than a year, following the discovery that two of the "fast and furious" weapons that had gone missing in Mexico in the botched sting were discovered at the scene of the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in Arizona.

This, my friends, could precipitate a true Constitutional crisis. The DOJ's lawless behavior is unacceptable no matter which political party is in power.

Liberals who ignore this flagrant criminality do so at their own peril. Because Democrats will not always control the Executive Branch.


President Obama really should NOT be called "The Foodstamp President"

Not because it's "racist", or because it's inaccurate.

But because he prefers the term "The Unemployment President". At least, that's what I hear.


The most critical question facing us in November is whether enough American people have become slaves to government. That is: willing to vote for more entitlements, more wealth redistribution, more lawful plunder, more centralized government, and -- ultimately -- a European form of socialism, dependency and economic misery.


Larwyn's Linx: Romney wins Florida GOP primary

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

GOP Primary

Romney wins Florida GOP primary: RSM
Newt Battles Mush From the Wimps: Lord
GOP Establishment Only Wants Conservatives on Election Day: Rush

The State Of The GOP Horserace Post-Florida: Hawkins
Romney: 87 Down, Only 1,057 to Go: AmSpec
Mitt Romney Wins Florida: AmSpec

No, there isn't a Romney Conspiracy against Allen West: Sunshine
Rick Santorum: Newt Gingrich blew it: Politico
Rep. Allen West Is Conservative Slam Dunk For Veep: IBD

Nation

The Inconvenient Constitution: Sen. Mike Lee
Obamacare’s Great Gift: Clarification: Anchoress
Obama: above the fray or above the law?: DC

First, They Came for the Catholics: Malkin
Obama's Racial Politics: Williams
How Presidential Elections Really Get Decided: Ace

Economy

Congressional Dems Promise Class Warfare: S&L
Budget Outlook Getting Worse, CBO Report Shows: Foundry
Visualize: the European Superhighway of Debt: ZH

How Obama created 22 million jobs: AT
Occupiers Dump Condoms on Catholic School Girls: Fox
Three Things to Know About the CBO Budget Report: ATR

Planned Parenthood: Komen Stopped $ Because Pro-Lifers Hate Women: LifeNews
Obamanomics Has Gov't Workers Happy, Others Miserable: IBD

Scandal Central

Issa threatens Holder with Contempt Unless He Complies With Subpoena For Documents: Nice Deb
DOJ: No Comment On Whether Eric Stedman Holder Was Told of Fast & Furious Murder on Day It Occurred: Ace
Congress Warns Holder Over Acorn Payola: IBD

Climate & Energy

The Coming of the New Ice Age: End of the Global Warming Era?: Zombie
Bad Dreams In The Night: NoisyRm
Hope, Change, & Lies About Green Energy Jobs: Wolf Howling

Media

For No Reason Except To Punish Cultures He Abhors, Obama Mandates Catholics Pay for Abortions: Ace
Media Act As Though Only Republicans Misbehave: IBD
Barack Schettino Obama: Ace

Wag the Finger: Media’s Selective Memory: Loesch
New York Times: Regulations Good Unless It’s About Abortion: LifeNews
Allen West Defends Forceful Comments to Dems to “Get the Hell Out”; He Fires Back at Bob Beckel: FN Insider

On MSNBC, Politico Punk Refers to Florida Panhandle as ‘Cracker Counties’: BigJ
Chris Matthews Inadvertently Exposes Why Elitists Fear the Tea Party, Support #OWS: AllAm
74% favor eliminating mandatory union dues: Rasmussen

World

Iran prepared to attack US, intelligence says: Post
U.S. Special Forces Will Be Weakened by Defense Budget Cuts: Foundry
Intel chief: Al Qaeda hurting, Iran 'more willing' to launch attacks in U.S.: Fox

Mossad chief holds secret U.S. meetings on Iran nuclear threat, Senate panel reveals: Haaretz
Nine year old British girls forced to marry under sharia: Creeping
Report Finds Terrorism 'Hot Spots'; and Historical Trends in Terror Types: Blaze

Qaradawi: No Chopping Off of Hands Now…But Later is OK: IPT
U.S. military says Taliban set to retake power: report: Reuters
UK: Doctors rebut claim most favour health reforms: Telegraph

Sci-Tech

Yahoo's 1,100 patents could pose a problem for Facebook: Insider
Facebook to file for $5 billion IPO Wednesday: report: Townhall
Microsoft: The Web is better without plug-ins: CNet

Cornucopia

Leading urban kids on nature hikes: C&S
Peyton Manning likely will never play football again, sources say: LAT
Newt Gingrich Judges You

Image: The Looking Spoon
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "This is the chief character flaw of the leftist movement -- their inability to respect anyone at all but their own. A very provincial and solipisitically childish way to view the world, of course, which leads to a vicious arrogance in attempting to pound, pound, pound square pegs into the round holes the state has cut for them.

The left would just be wrong, and not dangerous, if it weren't so arrogant about disposing of people's freedom with a single thoughtless line of legislation.

It is that, the arrogance and the profound disrespect of anyone who does not wear the feathers and warpaint of their tribe, that makes them not just wrong but sinister." --Ace

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Six charts from the CBO that spell big trouble for the U.S.

Jim Pethokoukis points us to a just-released report from the Congressional Budget Office (PDF) that includes some extremely troubling graphs.

Catastrophic budget deficits and unemployment levels (purposefully understated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) as far as the eye can see. The good news? By 2022 the economy will have collapsed been "fundamentally transformed" under soaring interest rates and unpayable debts.

Obama can blame Bush, Martin Van Buren, or Mary Tyler Moore -- but the facts are simple: those last four bars are owned 100% by the Democrat Party. The Stimulus package, which I like to call "the most audacious armed robbery in world history" continues to be spent every year as it is built into the baseline budget. Which somehow seems to escape legacy media's attention as they discuss taxing "the rich", "oil companies", "doctors who charge $30,000 for an amputation", and anyone else who tries to make an honest living.

The CBO defines the GDP gap as, essentially, the delta between where the GDP is and where it should be. They're too diplomatic to put it the way I would, which is: "the difference between where the GDP is now and where it would be if we didn't have a radical ideologue beholden to the environmental flat-Earth no-growth Marxists and the public sector union bosses as president".

I don't believe the CBO's projections for the future, especially in the case of this chart. There's a concept called "reversion to mean" that, roughly translated, says that figures generally return to their average. Note the average interest rates the country's seen over the last four decades. Now add in the monstrous amounts of global debt that lies lurking, ready to smash into the global economy at any moment thanks to the insanity of bankers and their surrogates in government. We'll be lucky if we only see a reversion to the mean over the next 10 or 15 years.

• "The U.S. housing industry, where experts believe the economic crisis began, is the target of President Barack Obama's latest initiative to strengthen the economy. Mr. Obama has unveiled a $75 billion plan to prevent as many as nine million Americans from losing their homes." (2/18/2009)

• "Obama expands mortgage modification effort - Under fire to do more to stop the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration announced new mortgage modification steps on Friday to help the unemployed and those who are "underwater" with a bigger loan than their home is worth." (3/26/2010)

• "OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR TARGETED FORECLOSURE-PREVENTION PROGRAMS TO HELP HOMEOWNERS STRUGGLING WITH UNEMPLOYMENT - Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund Will Provide $2 Billion of Additional Assistance in 17 states and the District of Columbia; HUD to Launch a New $1 Billion Program to Help Unemployed Borrowers in Other Areas..." (8/11/2010)

• "Obama’s Plan Announced - On Monday, the Obama administration announced a plan which will attempt to help struggling homeowners refinance their mortgages." (10/31/2011)

I got a million more of 'em.

Hey, isn't central planning grand?

If we don't vote these malevolent Statists out of office in November, this country may be gone.