Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Poster o' the Day (actually inspired by a Washington Post article, if you can believe it)

If you're a Democrat and you've lost the WaPo...

Federal funds flow to clean-energy firms with Obama administration ties


Sanjay Wagle was a venture capitalist and Barack Obama fundraiser in 2008, rallying support through a group he headed known as Clean Tech for Obama.

Shortly after Obama’s election, he left his California firm to join the Energy Department, just as the administration embarked on a massive program to stimulate the economy with federal investments in clean-technology firms.

Following an enduring Washington tradition, Wagle shifted from the private sector, where his firm hoped to profit from federal investments, to an insider’s seat in the administration’s $80 billion clean-energy investment program.

He was one of several players in venture capital, which was providing financial backing to start-up clean-tech companies, who moved into the Energy Department at a time when the agency was seeking outside expertise in the field. At the same time, their industry had a huge stake in decisions about which companies would receive government loans, grants and support.

During the next three years, the department provided $2.4 billion in public funding to clean-energy companies in which Wagle’s former firm, Vantage Point Venture Partners, had invested, a Washington Post analysis found. Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers...

This is raw criminality, plain and simple. People need to go to jail.


Obama Truth Team Unveils Spiffy New Logo

President Obama is trying to recruit a 2 million member-strong "Truth Team" to ensure that those speaking out against his administration are appropriately dealt with. I'm not kidding.

The Obama campaign is today beginning a new effort to enlist and educate at least 2 million supporters for a “grassroots communications team” they’re calling the Truth Team... “The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama’s record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives,” the campaign said in a statement.

The teams will be first launched in 13 “swing states,” including Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.

Cub Reporter Biff Spackle, in another world exclusive, nabbed photos of the Truth Team's new logo:

The one on the right is for their arm-bands.

In all seriousness, have you ever heard of such a thing? And can there be any doubt as to what Obama meant when he twice mentioned -- in very visible public settings -- the need for "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as our military?

If we don't vote this man out in November, this country is finished.


Larwyn's Linx: Obama “undoubtedly pulled punches in his first term...'

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

GOP Primary

Obama “undoubtedly pulled punches in his first term...': LI
Santorum Pulls Ahead of Romney Nationwide: Hayward
Time for Newt to Do the Honorable Thing: AmSpec

Nation

The 'Progressive' Legacy: Sowell
Mike Lee: Obama ‘Manifestly Wrong’ on U.S. Constitution: Foundry
Has the Tea Party Peaked?: AT

Obama appointee: citizens have no right to bear arms: DC
Marxist Democrat Schakowsky Slanders Christians: GWP
Obama Has Stranded the Catholic Left: Anchoress

Economy

Obama’s Deficit Spending Over Four Years: $70K per Family: WZ
Obama's 2013 budget destroys the millionaire fantasy: Hayward
Happy Valentine's Day, From the Democrats: Alexa

Black Community Responsible For Its Young People: IBD
Boehner’s Bailout: The Highway to Hell: RS
Government dependency tipping point? Been there, done that: Q&O

Top tax rates could exceed 100 percent under Obama’s Buffett Rule: Peth
Obama Advisor Dreams of a Global Minimum Tax: Hayward
Senate Democrats Muted on Obama Budget: Roll Call

Sebelius Admits ObamaCare Exchanges Aren’t Happening, Then Disqualifies Herself from Office: Cato
Obama to Poor Kids In Rotten Schools: Drop Dead: Hayward
TSA Dallas: Woman Sent Through Scanner Three Times for the “Guys”: VS

Scandal Central

Rep. Issa to Holder, We Want Documents Now, Contempt Charges Still On The Table: BigG
Fast and Furious: Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu Says Holder Has Perjured Himself: BigG
GM Unplugs from Business Realities with Chevy Volt Re-Launch: FuelFix

Climate & Energy

Will Canadian Oil Be For the Lamps of China?: IBD
Tragedy unfolding in Europe – Is U.S. media trying to ignore it?: Ice Age Now
Obama Whines About Gas Prices Forgets to Mention Keystone, Other Projects He Killed: GWP

Media

Obama's New 'Truth Teams' and Web Sites Aren't News at AP, NYT: Blumer
Finally...Truth Team Comics: PJM
Dershowitz: Media Matters Could Cost Obama the Election: BigJ

Is Obama Programing Media Matters Or Is It The Other Way Around? : BigJ
Media Matters memo called for hiring private investigators ‘to look into the personal lives’ of Fox employees: DC
The Media Matters Bombshell (with a Semi-Defense of Ben Smith): VS

BREAKING: IN 1990, according to a line in the Pittsburgh Press...: ProWis
6 in 10 Catholics disapprove of Obama: Exam
Obama's Ohio Attack Dogs: BigG

Another So Called News Journalist Joins The Obama Administration: Glob
Will Congress See the Greek Writing on the Wall?: CDN
FreedomWorks takes Obamacare to Court: FreedomWorks

World

The Obama Defense Strategy Is To Have Less Defense: IBD
Muslim Brotherhood Rep: Our Ultimate Goal Is Establishing a Global Islamic Caliphate: MEMRI
Two 10 Year-Old Suicide Bombers Arrested in Afghanistan: GWP

Michigan: School, police chief shut down talk about sharia law: Creeping
Obama Showers Islamist Radicals With Our Money: MB
Saudi Arabia targets supporters of blogger arrested over Mohammad tweets: Creeping

AP Report: Obama Considering Slashing U.S. Nuclear Force By Up To 80%: WZ
Obama wants to Increase Money to Pakistan: Free Beacon
Obama Tells China He “Welcomes” Their Rise To Power: WZ

Sci-Tech

MIT opens enrollment for its first free, automated online course: GlobPost
Babies understand words from 6 months old, scientists say: Fox
Google Public DNS prevails as the world's largest service: CNet

Cornucopia

Food police bust 4 year-old in NC: Pundette
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, without all the messy blood: MOTUS
Obama's Eligibility Diversion: AT

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

QOTD: "The Occupy movement has me madder than Janet Napolitano's blind date." --Kevin Jackson

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

BBC: "America's homeless resort to tent cities"

Of course, America's "journalists" are nowhere to be found.

America's homeless resort to tent cities


...Just off the side of a motorway on the fringes of the picturesque town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a mismatched collection of 30 tents tucked in the woods has become home - home to those who are either unemployed, or whose wages are so low that they can no longer afford to pay rent.

Conditions are unhygienic. There are no toilets and electricity is only available in the one communal tent where the campers huddle around a wood stove for warmth in the heart of winter... Ice weighs down the roofs of tents, and rain regularly drips onto the sleeping campers' faces.

Tent cities have sprung up in and around at least 55 American cities - they represent the bleak reality of America's poverty crisis... There are an estimated 5,000 people living in the dozens of camps that have sprung up across America.

...Unemployment in America today has not reached the astronomical levels of the 1930s, but barring a short spike in 1982, it has not been this high since the Depression era... There are now 13 million unemployed Americans, which is three million more than when President Barack Obama was first elected. ... The stark reality is that many of them are people who very recently lived comfortable middle-class lives.

The real unemployment rate is over 15 percent. Only through obvious, political skulduggery (like disappearing 1.2 million workers from the workforce in a single month) are the headline numbers reporting to be "improving".

And the media -- which is now indistinguishable from the Democrat Party -- laps it right up. And then wonder why their profession is dying.


So soon? House moves a step closer to finding Holder in contempt of Congress

It's about freaking time.

On Tuesday Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took a major step toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to provide subpoenaed documents and other information about Operation Fast and Furious.

In a Jan. 31 letter, Issa had threatened Holder with such a move if he failed to provide all the subpoenaed documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal by Feb. 9. That deadline has come and gone, and Holder’s Department of Justice still hasn’t provided most of those documents. Issa’s subpoena dates back to Oct. 12, 2011.

...“We cannot wait any longer for the Department’s cooperation,” Issa continued. “As such, please specify a date by which you expect the Department to produce all documents responsive to the subpoena. In addition, please specify a Department representative who will interface with the Committee for production purposes.”

Issa added that whoever Holder designates as the go-to DOJ official for delivering subpoenaed documents “should also serve as the conduit for dealing with the contempt proceedings, should the Department continue to ignore the Committee’s subpoena.”

The California Republican slammed Holder, too, for claiming the congressional investigation into Fast and Furious was a political game for Republicans... “It is ironic that while the Department’s delay tactics have extended this investigation into a presidential election year, you have had the audacity to characterize it as an attempt at ‘headline-grabbing Washington ‘gotcha’ games and cynical political point scoring,’” Issa wrote to Holder on Tuesday.

Issa also attacked Holder for Justice’s failure to comply with Congressional subpoenas. “Had the Department demonstrated willingness to cooperate with this investigation from the outset — instead of attempting to cover up its own internal mismanagement — this investigation likely would have concluded well before the end of 2011. In reality, it is the Department that is playing political gotcha games, instead of allowing a co-equal branch of government to perform its constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch.”

Issa’s letter concluded by warning that Congress will continue to investigate Operation Fast and Furious until responsible parties are held accountable. He pointed to bipartisan support behind efforts to assign responsibility for Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder, for the murders of at least 300 Mexican civilians and, likely, for the murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata.

“This is not an ‘election year political ‘gotcha’ game,’ but rather a bipartisan sentiment,” Issa wrote. “As Ranking Member [Democratic Rep. Elijah] Cummings promised the family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, ‘we will not rest until every single person responsible for all of this, no matter where they are, are brought to justice.’

The House Oversight Committee offers the following summary of their latest request.

The letter outlines lingering unanswered questions about Operation Fast and Furious including:

• Exactly how and when did senior Department officials learn the truth of what happened?

• Did Department officials retaliate against whistleblowers?

• Why did Department officials decide to move forward with prosecuting old cases involving highly objectionable tactics when line prosecutors had refused to do so?

• Why did senior Department officials fail to see the clear connection between Fast and Furious and prior flawed operations they have admitted they knew about?

• When did the Department first learn about Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer's February 2011 suggestion of gunwalking, and why did the Department wait so long before telling Congress about it?

• A year later, will the responsible senior Department officials be held accountable?

I do like the internal title of the House letter (PDF):




Another day, another Obama-funded "green energy" company falls by the wayside

Please consider juxtaposed headlines number one...

...and number two.

You guessed it: this bankruptcy represents yet another Democrat "Success Story".

I used to maintain the Handy Dandy Energygate Cheat Sheet so I could keep up with the constant diversion of taxpayer dollars to Obama campaign contributors green energy companies with ties back to the administration.

The list grew so long that I've given up. At least for now.

Maybe I should just start a Wikipedia article to make it easier for all of us to keep up-to-date.


Could someone wake up John Boehner? Because it's long past time to impeach Kathleen Sebelius

The peerless Mark Levin made the point last night. If the House of Representatives had real leadership, it would already be drafting articles of impeachment for HHS Chief Kathleen Sebelius.

...the Obama administration has reversed itself on whether it has enough money to create federal Exchanges in states that decline to create them. The administration has repeatedly claimed that the $1 billion ObamaCare appropriates would cover the federal government’s costs of implementing the law. And yet the president’s new budget proposal requests “another $1 billion” to cover what Sebelius calls “the one-time cost to build the infrastructure, the enrollment piece of [the federal exchange], the IT system that’s needed.”...

In other words... the Obama administration does not have the money it needs to create federal Exchanges. Therefore, if states don’t create them, ObamaCare grinds to a halt. (Oh, and this billion dollars is the last billion the administration will request. Honest.)

Most important, however, is this:

Even if Congress does not grant the president’s request for more health reform funding, Sebelius said her department will find a solution. “We are going to get it done, yes,” she said.

An HHS staffer prevented the reporter from asking Sebelius what she had in mind... This is a remarkable statement. Sebelius basically just copped to a double-subversion of the Constitution: Congress appropriates money for X, but not Y. Sebelius says, “I know better than Congress. I’m going to take money away from X to fund Y.” Sebelius has already shown contempt for the First Amendment, first by threatening insurance carriers with bankruptcy for engaging in non-fraudulent speech, and again by crafting a contraceptives mandate that violates religious freedom. Now, she has decided the whole separation of powers thing is for little people. What will Sebelius do the next time something gets in the way of her implementing ObamaCare?

We know what she'll do. She'll spit on the Constitution.

Could someone tell me what the hell John Boehner is doing as Speaker? The president is violating the Constitution left and right as he bankrupts America. His attorney general is, in the estimation of some law enforcement officials, perjuring himself in the process of orchestrating a massive cover-up of an illegal gun-running operation. And his HHS Secretary has basically laid a dukie on the House Speaker's head.

Which is the term Boehner prefers, I hear.

John Boehner needs to go. He's about as useful as you-know-whats on a bull. Which really overstates his usefulness.


Larwyn's Linx: Michigan: Santorum 39, Romney 24, Paul 12, Gingrich 11

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

GOP Primary

Michigan: Santorum 39, Romney 24, Paul 12, Gingrich 11: WS
The Underestimation of Rick Santorum: RS
Rick Santorum Takes First National Lead: RSM

Santorum Leads in Michigan: PolWire
When Romney Praised Obamacare: PolWire
Is Mitt Romney A Serial Liar?: PunditWire

Nation

"Squid Ink": The HHS mandate is already law: Pundette
The Liberal Uses of Race: Sultan Knish
Notre Dame to Obama: HHS Mandate 'Can Not Stand': GWP

Obama: In the Footsteps of Twentieth Century Despots: AT
AttackWatch II: Obama’s Goon Squads Launch “Truth Teams”: JWF
Obama’s Attack Watch returns as … “Truth Team”: Hot Air

Economy

Obama's 2013 Budget: A Monument To Irresponsibility: IBD
Dem Rep. on Obama Budget: 'A Nervous Breakdown on Paper': JWF
More Obama Budget Buffoonery: CDN

Failed President to Unveil “Job Training” Program: JWF
Economy recovering in spite of Obama: Exam
Obama’s IRS to Target Charter Schools?: CDN

Even Politico calling Obama's budget 'Borderline Delusional': Cove
White House Underestimated 2012 Deficit by $769.5B--or 138 Percent: CNS
Michigan Teachers Instruct Elementary Students To Write Letters Criticizing Budget Cuts: SAB

Obama’s ‘rosy’ budget scenario doubles down on class warfare: Peth
President’s Budget Shows Feds Can’t Create ObamaCare ‘Exchanges’: Cato
Obama Requests $1 Billion…To Get Right Names on Social Security Checks: BigG

Scandal Central

Fast And Furious Gun Control Plot Was Widely Known: IBD
Solyndra Tip of Iceberg: Tens of Billions Yet to Come: MagNote
Media Silent As Mexico Arrests Key Figure In Fast and Furious: BigJ

Climate & Energy

Obama Budget Kills $8K/Yr. DC Scholarships, But Ups Subsidies For Chevy Volts To $10K Apiece: HayRide
Obama Proposes Nearly $90 Billion in Tax Hikes on Energy Producers: ATR
Shocker: dirty electric cars: Watts

Media

Remember when no one understood why ABC asked about contraception at the NH GOP debate?: LI
'Non-Partisan,' Tax-Exempt 'Media Watchdog' Organization Has... Weekly Strategy Session With White House: Ace
GOP discovers Obama's Achille's Heel: Just Let Him Do What He Wants: ZH

Non-shocker of the morning: Soros monkeys coordinate with Democrats: Malkin
The War on Life: JPA
National Review to Newt: Get Out: Hot Air

Is the White House manipulating the media through Media Matters?: Hot Air
Obama Chief Of Staff: "American People Should Be Pleased" That Economy Is Improving: RCP
Jim Cramer: Obamacare is going to derail economy: Exam

The CPAC 2012 Experience: 43 Pictures: RWN
CPAC: Observations From a Rookie: MenRec
Krauthammer on Obama’s Budget: “Truly Scandalous”: GWP

World

Breaking: Iran’s ‘Fordow’ Nuke Plant Now Fully Operational: Kahlili
Saudi Arabia Gives Israel Clear Skies to Attack Iranian Nuke Sites: Fox
Bombs target Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia; 2 injured: WaPo

Greece Goes Cold Turkey: Q&O
The Silent Victims of the U.S.-China Currency War: USN&WR
Obama proposes $800 million in aid for "Arab Spring": Reuters

Clinton: We need Assad's consent to put troops in Syria: ForPol
Must Watch Video: Douglas Murray on Israel and a nuclear Iran: TPC
5 people wounded in 3 explosions in Thai capital: AP

Sci-Tech

President’s 2013 Budget Hits Planetary Science Hard: Wired
Army doctor develops breast cancer vaccine: ArmyTimes
Tech lament, who are the iDiots behind iTunes for Windows 7?: WyBlog

Why I quit Facebook: Post
AT&T customers surprised by 'unlimited data' limit: AP
How To Reduce Eye Strain While You Read, Work And Watch: Consumerist

Cornucopia

Moonbat Tech: Eco-Friendly Mobile Home: Moonbattery
Photos - CPAC 2012: Urban Infidel
Messageless: Occupy protesters demand Al-Jazeera on Cable TV in Philly: Marathon

Image: The CPAC 2012 Experience: 43 Pictures, by John Hawkins
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "...according to family members, by the end of his life Osama bin Laden was telling his family to “Go to Europe and America and get a good education.”

What? The great Islamic umma, center of global culture and light of the world has no universities where the children of the Great Jihadi can get a decent education? The clueless, hell-bound infidels of Europe and America make the Sons of the True Faith look incompetent and backward on the vital matter of educating the young? It isn’t enough to sit on a dirt floor in Pakistan memorizing the Koran and learning how to wear a suicide bomb vest?
But what about the obligation to take up the cause of jihad and violence and crush the evil doers in the West?

Never mind about all that, Osama supposedly told his children and grandchildren. “Do not follow me down the road to jihad,” he said. “You have to study and live in peace and don’t do what I am doing or what I have done."" --Walter Russell Mead

Monday, February 13, 2012

Pew: Santorum Passes Romney Nationally

It's Mitt Romney's worst nightmare: a true conservative that has energized the small-government wing of the Republican Party.

Rick Santorum’s support among Tea Party Republicans and white evangelicals is surging, and he now has pulled into a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. In polling conducted Feb. 8-12, 30% of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters favor Santorum while 28% favor Romney. As recently as a month ago, Romney held a 31% to 14% advantage over Santorum among all GOP voters.

Santorum is now the clear favorite of Republican and GOP-leaning voters who agree with the Tea Party, as well as white evangelical Republicans. Currently, 42% of Tea Party Republican voters favor Santorum, compared with just 23% who back Romney. Santorum holds an almost identical advantage among white evangelical Republican voters (41% to 23%)...

...Three months ago, a slim majority (53%) of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said Mitt Romney was a strong conservative. Today, 42% see him this way, while the number who say he is not a strong conservative has jumped from 33% to 50%.

This growing skepticism about Romney’s conservatism is most pronounced among Tea Party Republicans. Among Republican and Republican-leaning voters who agree with the Tea Party, just 29% say Romney is a strong conservative, down from 51% three months ago. Fully 68% of Tea Party Republicans say Romney is not a strong conservative...

Santorum is a Constitutional conservative praised by Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin -- to name but a few -- and, most importantly, is a man who has stood by his principles through thick and thin.

He didn't cut and run when he backed the surge in Iraq. He didn't shrink from leading a successful entitlement reform (the 1996 Welfare Reform Act). He's voted the right way on almost every important issue for conservatives.

If you have an extra five-spot (or ten of 'em), Rick Santorum can use your support.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

J. Wellington Obama's Official Budget

J. Wellington Wimpy -- better known simply as "Wimpy" -- was Popeye's recurring sidekick in the long-running cartoon series.

And Wimpy had a motto that could just as well be President Obama's:

"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today"

As Cato explains, Obama's budgets consist of tax hikes now, with spending cuts and accounting gimmicks sometime... in... teh... future.

We’ve become so used to these unfathomable levels of deficits and debt—and to the once-rare concept of trillions of dollars—that we forget how new all this debt is. In 1981, after 190 years of federal spending, the national debt was “only” $1 trillion. Now, just 30 years later, it’s past $15 trillion...


As ATR points out, the "Obama Plan Uses Budget Gimmickry To Mask Explosive Spending":

The budget continues to call for spending at historic levels: the request sets spending for the fiscal year at $3.8 trillion and projects $47 trillion in spending over the next ten years

Holds spending at 23 percent of [GDP] the next ten years, two percent higher than its historical average

Uses totally dishonest accounting: the President claims to include $4 trillion in deficit reduction. These supposed cuts include $1.6 trillion in tax hikes and $900 billion in war spending the President plans to plow back into infrastructure spending

Repeats failed “stimulus” spending: For the third year in a row, the plan looks to create a permanent Infrastructure Bank with $350 billion in new spending. The budget also requests $500 billion for a transportation package while shifting Highway Trust Fund spending to mandatory accounts, ensuring its insolvency for posterity

Continues practice of extending Medicare providers payments without offsetting the $438 billion in spending with cuts elsewhere

The budget only addresses 40 percent of the government spending problem: the President bankrupts the entitlement programs by once again refusing to confront the nation’s largest debt-drivers

Fails to take into account the coming costs of the government takeover of healthcare and financial regulatory overhaul. Instead, the President’s budget claims zero effect for supposed cost-saving mechanisms, such as the implementation of the Obamacare Independent Payment Advisory Board

James Pethokoukis summarizes some of the most important changes for the average worker and small businessman:

• The top income rate [for individuals and most small businesses] would be raised to 39.6 percent vs. 35 percent today... [Ed: well, that should help hiring.]

• Between now the end of a second Obama term, Obama proposes $707 billion in “net deficit reduction proposals.” Of that amount, only 16 percent is spending cuts.

• The capital gains rate would rise to 25.0 percent (including the Obamacare surtax and deduction phase out) from 15 percent today... [Ed: well, that should help investments.]

• The double-tax on corporate profits (including dividends) would increase to 64 percent based on the statutory corporate tax rate (58 percent using the effective tax rate), easily the highest among advanced economies... [Ed: well, that should help hiring.]

...Higher taxes, more spending, more debt, and no long-term entitlement reform plan. Hmm, this isn’t a rosy scenario at all. It’s actually a pretty bleak one.

The problem on Capitol Hill is spending, catastrophic levels of debt and an impending fiscal collapse. And we need another wave of real conservatives -- not RINOs and certainly not Democrats -- to continue turning the tide. Because the feckless John Boehner ain't cutting it.


Epic fail for the electric car crowd: researchers find that electric vehicles are far worse for public health than real cars

Even assuming electric cars worked effectively (which they don't), the eco-tards' whiny shrieks for plug-in vehicles make, oh, about as much sense as the rest of their agenda.

Report Finds Electric Cars in China Worse for Public Health


Electric cars are often assumed to be better for the environment and therefore better for public health.

A study by the University of Tennessee of electric vehicles in China, however, found that when you factor in where and how the energy for those vehicles is produced, the result is actually worse for public health when compared to gas-powered cars...

...According to new research from the University of Tennessee, electric cars in China have had an overall worse impact on the public health with regard to releasing particulate matter compared to those guzzling gas. The research conducted by Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, and graduate student Shuguang Ji, evaluated 34 major Chinese cities where electric vehicles, including bikes, outnumber conventional vehicles 2:1. Their research states that the number of electric cars have grown to more than 100 million in the country in the last decade...

...Cherry says his study clearly shows that electric vehicles aren’t the zero-emission savior many expect them to be... “I think electric vehicles have a lot of promise, but I’m not an evangelist,” he says. “There are these electric cars out there touting themselves as being emission free, but you and I both know that’s not true.”

Oh, and don't assume the researchers are just talking about China. While they didn't study the U.S. directly, a huge portion of our electricity is produced by coal. Therefore, it's safe to say that we have many of the same challenges.

Consider this Exhibit 18,036 for my new book entitled The Inevitable Result of Central Planning: Epic failure, Democrat-style.

When the free market's ready for electric cars, the free market will produce electric cars. Not a minute before nor a minute after.

Schmucks.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

Obama Unveils Family Togetherness Plan: Economy Sucks So Bad That a Record Number of Adults Are Moving In With Their Parents

Had Democrats known their wanton destruction of the economy would bring so many families together, it's likely they would've toned down the reckless deficit spending and regulations a bit.

According to a report released today by Pew Research, most Americans believe the young have been hardest hit by the Obama economic failures, nearly one quarter young adults aged 18-34 have been forced to move back in with their parents.

For some, tough economic times have had an impact on their personal life as well. Roughly a quarter of adults ages 18 to 34 (24%) say that, due to economic conditions, they have moved back in with their parents in recent years after living on their own. Among those ages 25 to 29, the share moving back home rises to 34%. Most adults under age 25 are enrolled in school at least part time (46% are full-time students). By age 25, the majority are out of school, but jobs and housing can be hard to come by, and many “boomerang” back home.

The lesson here, of course, is that you should never tell your parents that you hate living with them, because you’ll probably end up back there, eating your words and helping to chop beans with a dull knife.

To be fair, the real lesson for young people is that voting Democrat means voting for your own economic destruction -- through massive, centralized government; unchecked deficit spending (which you'll have to pay for... plus interest); and complete disregard by government for the rule of law and the civil society.

To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, the problem with Democrats is that eventually they run out of other people's money to spend.


Larwyn's Linx: A Historical Perspective On Religion and HHS Mandates

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

Nation

A Historical Perspective On Religion and HHS Mandates: Howing
Why Democrats Fear Ultrasound and Photo ID: CDN
Bungling Bundlers: NRO

Kathleen Sebelius Praises Abortion Accounting Trick: MB
DHS Gives Muslim Brotherhood Top Secret Clearance: NoisyRm
Obama Reelection Campaign Trying To Make Him “Cool” Again: WZ

GOP Primary

CPAC's winners and losers: Politico
Romney Wins Maine Caucus: Ace
Three Cheers against Romney Care: RWN

Economy

School Choice Lowers Crime: Cato
Do you enjoy paying other people's cell phone bills?: Althouse
'Ordering Private Companies to Offer a Product for Free’: WS

White House Lies to Dodge Responsibility for Budget: Power Line
Obama Budget: Stimulus, Tax Hikes And Accounting Gimmicks: WZ
Do U.S. Corporations Pay Their ‘Fair Share?’: BigG

Why Car Insurers Don’t Cover Oil Changes: SAB
We Cannot Have A Fair, Merit Based Process: DailyPundit
Lew misleads on Senate budget reality: Events

Total Chaos; Riots Rage; Athens Resembles War Zone: Mish
Athens Burning: Tens of Banks in Flames: Mish
China Banks to Roll Over $1.7T in Debt to Avoid Mass Default: Mish

Scandal Central

Issa Blinks, No Contempt Charges for Holder: BigGovt
Will DOE’s Fisker Doubts Take Down Its Battery Supplier Too?: NLPC
Many Unanswered Questions Surround Fisker Layoffs: NLPC

Media

The Truman Gambit: All About the Headlines: Elephant
Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows: Ricochet
CBS Highlights Catholic Democrat Alienated by Obama Contraception Mandate: NB

Pew: Record High 67% See Political Bias in News Media: NB
CNN Journalist Employee Asks George Soros to Create Super PAC to Help Obama: Ace
Ted Nugent against Piers Morgan is hardly a fair fight : MB

Inside Media Matters: Erratic behavior, close coordination with White House and news organizations: DC
CNN Tilts East, Fires 4 Jewish Journalists in Jerusalem: AT
Barack’s Smug Assault on Freedom of Religion Isn’t Just Anti-American—It’s Unforgivable: CFP

World

Obama: Soldiers in Afghanistan Must Be Fired Upon to Receive Combat Pay: BigPeace
Saudis used Interpol's "red notice" system to track down columnist who insulted Muhammad: JihadWatch
Alabama: Muslim pleads guilty in plot to kill Obama…for Islam: Creeping

Bin Laden Gave Up on Jihad: Mead
It begins: Muslims in Maldives smash Buddhist statues in National Museum: JihadWatch
Greek parliament approves crucial austerity bill after riots rage in Athens: WaPo

‘Insulting’ Mo on Twitter Now Punishable by Death: JWF
Hamas PM Vows To Crowd of 30,000 Iranians: “We Will Never Recognize Israel”: WZ
I think You Forgot About That Internal Popup Window, Delta Interwebs Guy: JTZS

Sci-Tech

New study finds hovering airplanes could become a reality; Military use possible: StateCol
The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde: It’s Evolution, Stupid: Wired
Apple Sues Samsung For 'Slide-To-Unlock' And Other Ludicrous iPhone Patent Violations: Insider

Cornucopia

"Find a Need and Fill It": AmDigest
CPAC 2012 Blog Awards: Capitalist Preservation
Investigation finds cops among Florida's worst speeders: SunSent

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

QOTD: "We need a condom on this administration." --Mark Levin (MP3).

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Highlights: the Cato Institute Eviscerates Obamacare's Individual Mandate

Among many Amici Curiae ("Friend of the Court") briefs filed during the Obamacare fight, the Cato Institute's (PDF) is among the most interesting and powerful. Its highlights are well worth reading.

Question Presented


Can a limited government to whom a free people have delegated only certain enumerated powers commandeer that people into purchasing a product from a private business pursuant to its power to pass laws “necessary and proper for carrying into execution” the authority to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several States”?

Summary of Argument


The individual mandate exceeds Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce under existing doctrine. The outermost bounds of this Court’s Commerce Clause jurisprudence—the “substantial effects” doctrine—stop Congress from reaching intrastate non-economic activity regardless of its effect on the economy. Nor can Congress compel someone to engage in commerce, even if it purports to do so as part of a broader regulatory scheme.

The Constitution does not permit Congress to conscript citizens into economic transactions to remedy the admitted shortcomings—which the government usually terms “necessities”—of a hastily assembled piece of legislation...

...Although the Necessary and Proper Clause allows Congress to execute its regulatory authority over interstate commerce, it is not a blank check permitting Congress to ignore constitutional limits by manufacturing necessities and commandeering citizens to do its bidding... The individual health insurance mandate is not constitutionally warranted simply because it is “necessary” to make other legislation function properly. Indeed, any law “necessary” or otherwise—that purports to compel otherwise inactive citizens to engage in economic activity is unconstitutional.

While the government emphasizes the “uniqueness” of the healthcare market and the wisdom of the legislation, “this case is not about whether the Act is wise or unwise…in fact, it is not really about our healthcare system at all. It is principally about our federalist system, and it raises very important issues regarding the Constitutional role of the federal government.

...Moreover, what Congress is trying to do here is literally unprecedented, as recognized even by the lower courts that ruled for the government. “Congress has never exercised its commerce power in this way, and nothing suggests that this tradition reflects 200 years of self-restraint.” ... “The Government concedes the novelty of the mandate and the lack of any doctrinal limiting principles.”

The Congressional Budget Office agrees: “The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States." Nor has Congress ever before imposed on everyone a civil penalty for declining to participate in the market. And never before have courts had to consider such a breathtaking assertion of power under the Commerce Clause. Even in Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942), the federal government claimed “merely” the power to regulate what farmers grew, not to mandate that people become farmers, much less to force people to purchase farm products. Even if not purchasing health insurance is considered an “economic activity”—which of course would mean that every aspect of human life is economic activity—there is no constitutional warrant for Congress to force Americans to enter the marketplace to buy a particular good or service...

...The explicit purpose of Article I is to grant Congress certain enumerated powers and then strictly limit them. James Madison, the architect of our system of government, famously observed that “[i]n framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

...Thus, Article I gives Congress only certain legislative powers “herein granted,” Articles II and III check those powers, and the Tenth Amendment emphasizes that all other powers remain with those who breathed life into the new government in the first place: the sovereign “people of the United States.” The Framers believed that limiting federal power, and reserving the “residual” power in the hands of the states and the people would help “ensure protection of our fundamental liberties” and “reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse.”

...Given the Framers’ clear intent to establish a limited government of enumerated powers, it is unsurprising that this Court has consistently reaffirmed that the federal government does not enjoy a general police power. ... The Court should not now break with this well established and foundational American principle.

It is both telling and tragic that our hopes for individual sovereignty in this country now rest in the hands of one or two individuals on the Supreme Court.

And if Obama is reelected, he will likely have the chance to further stuff the court with doctrinaire radicals like Elena Kagan. And this Republic would be doomed.


Under what authority does the EPA now regulate family farms?

If you have a farm and store fuel for your equipment on the premises, well, you've got a new partner for your business. It's called the EPA. Please consider this delightful warning from The Billings Gazette:

EPA moves to prevent fuel spills on farms


At Nedens farms, the price of fuel is no small matter. The family business north of Hardin burns through more than 60,000 gallons of diesel a year.

So, when the opportunity arises to save a few pennies a gallon, the Nedens pounce, usually by buying an entire fuel truck's worth of diesel at a time.

"Obviously, if you buy a whole tanker load of fuel, it's going to be substantially lower," Brett Nedens said of the price. "I think I can save about 20 cents a gallon. Obviously if you can load it at the refinery, it costs a lot less."

The savings add up for Nedens and other farmers, who save about $20,000 a year buying bulk. But now they'll have to weigh that savings against the costs of complying with federal regulations...

The Natural Resources and Conservation Service also has begun offering Montana farmers help both with the costs of designing the plan and also construction costs, said Tim Ouellette of NRCS in Bozeman. NRCS is getting involved because it would like plans that not only address risks to rivers and streams, but also groundwater.

Is there anything that this federal monstrosity doesn't have their claws in? Light bulbs, toilet tanks, shower heads, fuel tanks, fuel mileage, health care, soft drinks, alcohol, water... anything and everything you could possibly imagine.

This nation's founders would be sickened by how thoroughly disconnected this Beltway Leviathan is from our nation's highest law, the Constitution. And just about every government failure you can think of -- from the deficit to Obamacare -- has its roots in the Democrats' 100-year war on the Constitution.


Good news: 1 in 5 Americans now dependent on government assistance (not including public sector employees)

Hey, check it out, kids: it's another Obama record!

The number of Americans dependent on the federal government has exploded over the past five years, reaching a record 67.3 million people, according to Heritage’s annual Index of Dependence on Government. That means 1 in 5 Americans (21.8 percent) today receive some level of assistance from the federal government.

This week’s chart — one of 15 featured in this year’s report — depicts the percentage of the U.S. population who receive government assistance and the total number of individuals who are dependent on the federal government.

Fifty years ago, before President Lyndon Johnson created the Great Society programs, some 21.7 million people (or 11.7 percent of the population) received assistance through government programs that existed at the time. The number increased sharply in the 1960s and 1970s before falling in the 1990s. Recently, however, it has skyrocketed.

I think this chart must be racist or something.

Or it could just be that this country is headed for fiscal collapse unless we reverse course ASAP.


If Obama gets reelected, "the Second Amendment is finished"

Facts, history and logic never get in the way of a liberal:

While 49 other states have ratified Concealed Carry laws, Illinois is diligently working to track and punish their own citizens for exercising their Constitutional rights. If Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has his way, gun owners will not only be tracked in the same manner as sex offenders, but will be slapped with a repeating $65 fee…for each gun.

According to the Chicago Sun Times,

Emanuel’s proposal would require all handgun owners to obtain a certificate of registration from the State Police for every handgun they own — at a cost of $65-per-weapon — and to renew that registration every five years.

They would be required to provide: their name, address and telephone number; the manufacturer of the gun, its model type and serial number; and the date and source of the purchase.

Whenever a handgun is sold, the seller would be required to report the sale to the State Police “no less than 48 hours prior to delivery.” Handgun buyers would have 20 days to file for a new certificate of registration. Anyone caught carrying or possessing an unregistered handgun would face a Class 2 felony.

If gun owners cannot afford to pay the $65 fee for each gun they must turn their guns in to local law enforcement for destruction. Punishment for not complying is a Class 2 Felony. How unfortunate for the rest of the good people of Illinois to have the scourge of Chicago in their state. And this fresh on the heels of signing a check for $399,950 to the Second Amendment Foundation after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chicago’s ban on handguns…because it was unconstitutional.

How does this apply to the rest of the country? As the NRA's Wayne LaPierre warned last week, Obama's former chief of staff Emanuel is simply setting a template for the president should he be reelected.

A top official with the National Rifle Association said Friday that President Obama will move to "destroy" gun rights and "erase" the Second Amendment if he is re-elected in November...

..."We see the president's strategy crystal clear: Get re-elected and, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms' freedom, erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the U.S. Constitution."

Mr. LaPierre said the president's two Supreme Court appointees — Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan— are "two of the most rabid anti-gun justices in history." He also accused Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of being a foe of gun rights.

And with the possibility of two or more Supreme Court justice positions opening during the next four years, the NRA official warned that gun ownership would be in jeopardy if Mr. Obama stays in office... "If we get one more like those three, the Second Amendment is finished..."

As Jim Hoft reminds us, gun control has failed: "During the years in which the D.C. handgun ban and trigger lock law was in effect, the Washington, D.C. murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law, while the U.S. murder rate averaged 11% lower."

It's not about gun control, it's about government control over you, the individual.


Shhh. No one tell legacy media that a huge battle is raging in Britain to privatize the National Health Service

The failures of England's National Health Service (NHS) are well known throughout Europe. Of course, as Congressional Democrats and President Obama rammed through their own takeover of the health care industry here in the U.S., legacy media was careful to ignore all of the headlines from abroad.

The often-horrific levels of health care delivered by the NHS became so controversial that the current debate is over how much should be privatized. That's right: the DMV-like NHS will inevitably be dismantled in favor of private health care.

Because government-run health care can't work, won't work and hasn't ever worked in all of human history.

Almost two years in the making, the once eye-catching plan to take the axe to the NHS's bloated bureaucracy and hand power to family doctors has become a metaphor for Mr Cameron's worst failings as Prime Minister – lack of attention to detail, a hands-off management style, misplaced loyalty to old friends and a deep-rooted belief that shouting at the Despatch Box will silence one's critics.

...There has also been the lack of consistency; where once ministers boasted of having the professional bodies signed up and on board, they now claim angry and almost universal opposition is an inevitable outcome of radical reform. What was once hailed as the biggest change in the NHS for 60 years is now being represented as a logical, small-scale continuation of Blairite reforms. In July 2010, Mr Lansley boldly declared that "people voted for change" – which doesn't sit well with his pre-election promise of no more top-down reorganisations.

...In a sign of the fiasco at the heart of the Government, it is now the Liberal Democrats who speak most warmly about the legislation, having rewritten large passages in a coup led by Baroness Williams. The Lib Dems are furious after working hard behind the scenes to be constructive. "The Tories are flip-flopping all over the place," says one. "Cameron is panicking about local elections in May," says another, adding pointedly: "It is very much their Bill."

This, my friends, is the future of health care here in the U.S.

No lack of coverage, but deadly lack of health care. Rationing. Horror stories. Begging your representatives for treatment for yourself or your family members.

Until it all finally collapses. Just like the NHS.


Related: State-run Health Care, By the Numbers.

Larwyn's Linx: Rick Santorum Takes National Lead In PPP Poll By 15

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

GOP Primary

Rick Santorum Takes National Lead In PPP Poll By 15: Ace
Romney Wins CPAC Straw Poll: WZ
Santorum takes national lead over Romney: Politico

Consultant in Chief: Reason
Marco Rubio wins CPAC 2012 Vice President straw poll: FAM
Romney beats Paul to win the Maine Caucuses: Scoop

Nation

Gutting the Bill of Rights, one Amendment at a time: AT
Good. And. Hard: Cold Fury
New Yorkers paid to commit vote fraud: Publius

Barack Obama, Money Machine: Power Line
Muslims Exempt From ObamaCare?: MB
Allen West Responds to Being Called a ‘Coward’: Shark

The Church Rejects Obama’s Birth Control Deal: Dossier
Washington Still Flunks Education After So Many Years: IBD
Rahm Exposes Obama's Intentions: Radical Gun Control: GWP

Economy

Democrats Failure To Pass Budget Is Illegal: IBD
Do These Numbers Make My Deficit Look Fat?: Mead
Obama economic plan making more people move back in with their parents: NakedDC

Walker's courageous conservatism: Exam
Poll: Minnesota voters support right to work… 55/24: Hot Air
Obama To Pitch Lower Corporate Tax Rate Sometime In The Future: Cove

Scandal Central

Friday Night "Fast & Furious" Document Dump, and Obama's Great Compromise: Ace
Sheriff Paul Babeau: Fast and Furious scandal is far from over: Hot Air
Half of illegal-immigrant arrests in Frederick for traffic offenses: Exam

Climate & Energy

Keystone XL oil going to China: IBD
Why is GM Spending Millions to Re-Hype the Chevy Volt?: NLPC
UN Bosses Secretly Plot Global Govt Through “Green Economy" for Rio+20: NewAm

Thanks Barack… Three West Virginia Coal Plants to Close: GWP
Obama-Volt 2012!
Pseudo-Science Laid Bare: Cold Fury

Media

Hating Breitbart: ConTreehouse
Picture of Obama and his Ex: Blogmocracy
Top Leftist Blog: Obama Must Quash Religious Freedom to Save Earth From Global Warming: GWP

Krauthammer: Israel ‘will strike’ Iran to ‘prevent a second holocaust’: DC
Pew: Record High 67% See Political Bias in News Media: NB
Santorum Nomination ‘Completely Terrifies’ Economist Magazine’s Economics Editor: NB

Drip, drip, drip…the sound of our liberty leaking away: Dewey
Great Minds Must Think Alike?: HyScience
The Hot Air Santorum interview: Hot Air

World

Report: Interpol Helps Saudis Arrest Journalist in Malaysia for Insulting Mohammed: McCarthy
The firm that hijacked the NHS: DailyMail
Schaeuble warns Greek promises no longer suffice: Reuters

Sci-Tech

Instead of Marketing, Businesses Should Use Social Media for Customer Support: Insider
Using iPad as...: The Cleverest
Apple seeks U.S. ban on Galaxy Nexus: CNet

Cornucopia

Historic Facepalm: The Tacky O’s Tour of the White House: MB
Earliest manuscript of the New Testament discovered?: Wintery Knight
What Fresh Hell is This?: MOTUS

Whitney Houston Dead at 48... Last Known Photos of Whitney... Bobby Brown Sobs on Stage: GWP
Wasted Youth: BS Footprint
"Facebook Parenting:" 3 Days, 15 Million Views, 100,000 Comments: AmDigest

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

QOTD: "From running up trillions in debt and deficit, to the vast expansion of the size and scope of federal bureaucracy, Mr. Obama has done more in three years to supplant our 236 year-old Constitutional Republic with a Euro-style socialist autocracy – than a lesser Marxist could have accomplished in a lifetime.

But controlling the purse strings is not nearly enough. A central element of full-blown secular-socialism is the suppression of religious liberty – principally, freedom of conscience.

Karl Marx once said: “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.”

When Karl Marx speaks, Barack Obama listens." --J. Matt Barber

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Chinese Plutocrats Hire Migrant Workers to Wait in Line for New iPhone 4; Thomas Friedman Hardest Hit

Thomas Friedman (pronounced: fried - man) is a Marxist New York Times hack who simply loves China's form of government.

"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." --Thomas Friedman

Yep, that's right: Friedman's pining for a totalitarian form of fascism.

To put it in the kindest terms.

So I'm sure this despicable human being will be ecstatic to hear how China's plutocrats are spending their money:

On January 13th, Apple’s new iPhone 4S was finally made available for purchase in China。By 7PM, over one thousands eager customers were lined up outside Beijing’s two official Apple Inc. retail stores, in Sanlitun and Xidan. The crowd was made up of a large number of migrant workers from Hebei province and Beijing’s Daxing...

...By 7pm, the crowd outside of the Xidan location had surpassed 1,000 people. This number includes the Apple store’s staff as well as police officers that were dispatched by the city government to maintain order at the scene.

...As the day went on, the crowd grew. Tensions rose when the clock struck 8pm and the promised dinner was still nowhere to be seen. Around the same time, it became evident that the number of Apple employees was insufficient to provide for the needs of the hundreds waiting in line. Some began to worry that after already waiting in line for a full day, they would still be unable to get their hands on the new cell phone.

The situation further intensified when those hired to wait in line began to worry that they would not be compensated for their hours of waiting, knowing that their pay was conditional upon whether or not they produced the iPhone 4s. Some began to abort the plan and headed home, still leaving several hundreds committed to waiting in line...

Someday I hope that Friedman, Sean Penn, Samuel L. Jackson -- and the rest of the clueless, incredibly wealthy freaks who take America for granted -- will get to experience life as a migrant in China.

Just for a couple of years. Or ten.

Such a lesson might help them better appreciate America, because they obviously don't have a semblance of a clue right now. They take their stunning wealth for granted, when the default condition for man is poverty, misery and an all-powerful government that suppresses individual liberty and expression. Kind of like being a migrant in the PRC.

Friedman and his ilk are disgraceful schmucks.


Related: Thomas Friedman Has a Plan for Managing the Climate, the Economy and More!.