Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Congratulations, it's another Obama record! Home prices 'down to nearly the same levels as 10 years ago'

Say, I've got an idea! How about another massive, taxpayer-funded rescue package for distressed homeowners? The ninth time is a charm, right?

...national home prices, including distressed sales, declined on a year-over-year basis by 3.1 percent in January 2012 and by 1.0 percent compared to December 2011, the sixth consecutive monthly decline.

...Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.9 percent in January 2012 compared to January 2011, but that same metric posted a month-over-month gain, rising 0.7 percent in January. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

“Although home price declines are slowly improving and not far from the bottom, home prices are down to nearly the same levels as 10 years ago,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

I guess I have to update my Complete List of President Obama's Historic Firsts.


The Vetting of Obama begins: Breitbart reveals video of young Obama embracing racial eliminationist Derrick Bell

The legacy of Andrew Breitbart is manifold and it will begin to be revealed this week. The vetting of Barack Obama begins tonight at 9PM ET on Hannity.

Earlier today, Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith announced on Twitter that video researcher Andrew Kaczynski had released “the mysterious Harvard/Obama/race video that the Breitbart folks have been talking about.” However, the video has been selectively edited...

The video, which Kaczynski says was “licensed from a Boston television station,” shows a young Barack Obama leading a protest at Harvard Law School on behalf of Prof. Derrick Bell, a radical academic tied to Jeremiah Wright--about whom we will be releasing significant information in the coming hours.

However, the video has been selectively edited--either by the Boston television station or by Buzzfeed itself. Over the course of the day, Breitbart.com will be releasing additional footage that has been hidden by Obama's allies in the mainstream media and academia.

Breitbart.com Editor-in-Chief Joel Pollak and Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro will appear on The Sean Hannity Show to discuss the tape. The full tape will be released tonight on Fox News' Hannity.

And just who is Derrick Bell?

Bell was credited with developing “critical race theory,” which suggested that the U.S. legal system was inherently biased against African Americans and other minorities because it was built on an ingrained white point of view. He argued in his many books and lectures that the life experiences of black people and other minorities should be considered in hiring decisions and in applying the law.

In a 1998 review of one of Bell's books, The New York Times' Neil A. Young outlined the racial divisiveness inherent in the former Harvard professor's philosophy.

Bell's long-expressed pessimistic view of racial relations, and the principal pillar of most black critical-race theorists, is that the civil rights movement, with its emphasis on integration, has been largely a failure and that racism has not abated. But to press these arguable positions, Bell sees no need to prove or demonstrate anything; he merely asserts conclusions. In these and previous tales, his truths are simple: black people always behave nobly while white people behave atrociously. In those few instances in which they don't, it is solely because of a cynical if submerged self-interest.

In one section, for instance, Bell recounts how Government leaders are secretly paying for something known as ''the black sedition papers,'' collecting writings to use as evidence that blacks are unfit citizens. The papers will eventually be used to justify the curtailment of rights in order to suppress the black population. Now how exactly is this fable of a Government-underwritten conspiracy to abrogate the Constitution different from, say, ''The Turner Diaries,'' a piece of fiction much favored by the loonies of the militia set?

In another section, Bell explores the issue of the black-Jewish divide by offering a dialogue between himself and a fictionalized Jewish law school colleague, Ben Hirsch. Poor Hirsch, the straw man here, doesn't stand a chance, and Bell, handling both sides of the argument, is quickly victorious.

One of Bell's arguments is that Jews fail to understand why it is so hurtful to blacks when demands are made that they, one and all, denounce Louis Farrakhan for anti-Semitic remarks. After all, Bell tells Hirsch, Jews are not pressed to denounce racist statements by their own prominent members. Which racist statements does he have in mind? Well, he cites attacks on affirmative action in journals like Commentary and The New Republic. Are arguments against affirmative action, however tendentious, equivalent to Farrakhan's remarks?

In short, Bell was a Jeremiah Wright-style kook, who saw only evil, inherent racism in America. Like Wright, he reveled in the luxuries of the country -- the greatest society mankind has ever created -- while fomenting race hatred and defending the likes of Louis Farrakhan.

And Barack Obama was his biggest fan.

Since legacy media long ago abandoned the journalism trade, it's time for citizen journalists to take over. And that, in part, is the Breitbart legacy.


Hat tip: Gateway Pundit.

Larwyn's Linx: Romney and Santorum Win, Tea Party Claims First Scalp

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

Super Tuesday

Romney and Santorum Win, Tea Party Claims First Scalp: RS
Romney can't seal the deal on Super Tuesday: Exam
Post-Super Tuesday Analysis: Hawkins

Where Romney Won in Ohio: Commentary
Jean Schmidt Loses GOP Primary in Big Upset: Roll Call
Ron Paul's Not So Super Tuesday: Reason

Nation

Think Progress: The Stalinists Are Here: Riehl
How Democrats Are Using Women As Pawns: iVillage
Maynard Sez: Obama Wants Civil War: Bruce

Silencing the Right: Erickson
Cardinal: Obama Admin Lectured Bishops on Catholic Teaching: LifeNews
Ex-Obama aide appeals to black voters: USA Today

Obama Ally won't release Alinsky tape: Breitbart
MD handgun permit law unconstitutional, judge rules: Exam
Conservatives' Top Goal Should Be Full GOP Control Of Congress: Will

Economy

State attorneys general report tackles Obama's unprecedented lawbreaking: AT
It Just Ain't So: Williams
Class: MOTR

Transgender Illegal Aliens Will Get 'Hormone Therapy' Courtesy of ICE: CNS
World's richest man getting richer off Obama's free government cell phones: IHTM
Utah on verge of passing bill demanding Feds relinquish public land: Fox

Obama Skips Tornado Destruction, Heads West to Raise Money: Dossier
CBC: Ethics Investigations Against Our Members Are Racist: WZ
We Don't Need No Stinkin' Congress: Union News

Scandal Central

Ripping the lid off of Colorado’s Solyndra: Malkin
Green Firms Get Fed Cash, Give Execs Bonuses, Fail: ABC
Was Boy in K.C. Fire Attack a Victim of His School's Racist Teaching?: AT

Climate & Energy

Gas Prices Have Gone Up 102% Under Obama; Obama Flip Flops - Now He Wants Lower Gas Prices: GWP

Media

Announcing The Carbonite Accountability Project: LI
Who Is James Wolcott? And Why Would Anybody Want to Know? Or Care?: RSM
Limbaugh Radio Show Faces New-Media Backlash as Advertisers Flee: SFGate

Call Them Out By Name: Sandra Fluke, David Gregory and David Friend: Alexa
Silence from Carbonite as its Stock Price Tanks: PJM
No Class: Obama's Super Tuesday news conference: USA Today

The War on Conservative Women: Malkin
Capitol One “drops” Rush, sticks with serial misogynist Alec Baldwin: Malkin
Group sues for Michelle Obama vacation records: Politico

World

Obama makes the case for an Israeli strike on Iran: Glick
China Trying to Influence Obama Administration on Military Build-up: Beacon
Leaked E-mails Suggest bin Laden Not Buried at Sea: NewAm

The Arabs as Seen Fifty Years Ago: Pipes
Ex-CAIR official leads racist, anti-American charge inside Florida capitol: Creeping
Women’s Day: Taking a stand with women in the Middle East: Amnesty International

Barack Obama: From Amateur to Fool in Forty-Eight Hours: Lid
Iran and Obama: Sowell
European Banks Now Face Huge Margin Calls As ECB Collateral Crumbles: ZH

Sci-Tech

Infamous international hacking group LulzSec brought down by own leader: Fox
Verizon Just Figured Out How To Bring Screaming Fast Internet Everywhere: Insider
In China, Apple faces its "Nike moment"?: Reuters

Why Hayek Would Have Hated Software Patents: Cato
Finder of 'Lost Tomb of Jesus' details ancient evidence of Jonah: Fox
The Chinese Are Probably Squatting On Any Trademark You Can Imagine: Insider

Cornucopia

I like to think of this as a 'Power Bayonet': C&S
Hero Mom, Stephanie Decker, Loses Legs Saving Kids From Tornado: ABC
My 25 Favorite Tweets From February: Hawkins

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

QOTD: "The Weekly Standard sent reporter John McCormack to a Target store near the Georgetown campus where he learned that birth control pills are available for nine dollars a month. The same price can be found at Wal-Mart. That would be $324 over the course of three years, not $3,000. CNSNews, in an article that used the words "sex-crazed co-eds" in the headline, pointed out that condoms at CVS Pharmacy are only one dollar, therefore to spend $3,000 in three years Fluke is talking about having sex almost three times a day...

It’s an absurd conclusion but absurd conclusions are what you get when Nancy Pelosi invites phony “experts” to blatantly lie in front of congresscritters, passes the charade off as “testimony,” and releases the video to evening news shows who lap it up with the gullibility of Golden Retriever puppies." --J. P. Travis

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

WARNING: Do not show this chart to a liberal (unless wearing headgear to protect you from a cranium exploding into high-velocity brain-shrapnel)

A couple of observations about this graph:

• The vaunted "Clinton Surplus" was, in fact, the work of a GOP House that was willing to fight for fiscal sanity (current Ohio Governor John Kasich was one of the architects of the surplus); in addition, two events conspired to turbocharge the economy -- in spite of Clinton, not because of him.

• Liberals like to talk about Reagan's deficits, but they ignore the fact that every budget Reagan ever sent to the Democrat-controlled House was declared "dead on arrival". Reagan supported a Balanced Budget Amendment, sought to eliminate useless agencies like the Department of Education, and otherwise believed in the U.S. spending within its means.

• Since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007, they have jammed through the most fiscally irresponsible spending programs in world history (I won't use the word "budget", because they've refused to propose a budget for roughly 1,029 days).

In short, Democrats never propose less spending than Republicans -- unless we're talking about defense. And now, after four years of Democrat-controlled spending, the federal government is forced to borrow 40 cents for every dollar it spends.

And that, my friends, is bound to end badly since the hard left Democrat Party and the RINOs appear ready to turn the spending on auto-pilot -- right into the tarmac.


Bathroom Remodeling Idea

Spotted at Sunshine State Sarah:

In related news, President Subprime McDowngrade has a message for Congressional Democrats: "You'll get nothin' from me... and you'll like it."


Boycott This! [Dan from NY]

Dan from NY:

I know there are many people on my mailing list who would rather die before they’d purchase an Israeli product. Good. Your opportunity is here.

New blood test offers early cancer detection


The simple new check shows a 90 percent detection rate in clinical tests for multiple types of cancers.

Israeli researchers have developed a simple and cheap blood test that was found to provide early detection for many types of cancer in clinical trials.

The promising new blood test, developed by scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheva, can detect minuscule changes in the blood of a person with a cancerous growth somewhere in the body, even before the disease has spread...


WE are the 99 percent

As James Pethokoukis describes it, "For 99 percent of Americans, the Obama recovery has been no recovery at all."

Liberal economist Emmanuel Saez has updated his much-referenced income inequality research. Here’s how the recovery is going after the Great Recession:

In 2010, average real income per family grew by 2.3%, but the gains were very uneven. Top 1% incomes grew by 11.6% while bottom 99% incomes grew only by 0.2%. Hence, the top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery. Such an uneven recovery can help explain the recent public demonstrations against inequality. It is likely that this uneven recovery has continued in 2011 as the stock market has continued to recover...

1. So this isn’t exactly an endorsement of the Obama recovery is it? I mean, for 99 percent of Americans there has been no recovery, according to Saez...

2. Saez embraces and promotes the back-to-the-1950s nostalgia economics of Obamanomics and modern liberalism: “A number of factors may help explain this increase in inequality, not only underlying technological changes but also the retreat of institutions developed during the New Deal and World War II—such as progressive tax policies, powerful unions, corporate provision of health and retirement benefits, and changing social norms regarding pay inequality.” Indeed, Saez thinks the top marginal tax rate should more than double to 80 percent...

[And j] ust what is the right level of inequality? And how much economic growth is Saez willing to sacrifice to get it? ... Let me repeat this bit from a 2008 study on income inequality from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis:

It is important to understand that income inequality is a byproduct of a well-functioning capitalist economy. Individuals’ earnings are directly related to their productivity. Wealthy people are not wealthy because they have more money; it is because they have greater productivity. Different incomes, thus, reflect different productivity levels. The unconstrained opportunity for individuals to create value for society, which is reflected by their income, encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. Economic research has documented a positive correlation between entrepreneurship/innovation and overall economic growth. A wary eye should be cast on policies that aim to shrink the income distribution by redistributing income from the more productive to the less productive simply for the sake of “fairness.”

The National Social Democrat Party -- and its court jester, Paul Krugman -- hardest hit.


Hilarious Stock Chart o' the Day ( $CARB )

Business. Strategery. At. Its. Finest.

Cake, meet icing: "Announcing The Carbonite Accountability Project."


Larwyn's Linx: Welcome to Total Political War

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

Nation

Welcome to Total Political War: LI
Stand WIth Rush or Lie Down and Die Alone: Riehl
Obama to Dems: You're on your own, chumps: Cove

I Have a Right to A Bacon Sandwich in a Muslim Deli: AllAm
Sorry, I'm arguing with a Frumbag: Ace
Limbaugh, Fluke and the war on women: Ziganto

Advertisers Who Don't Want Your Business...: Rush
Fluke: Mandatory Coverage for Sex-Change Surgery: RSM
Why No Consequences For Lefty Hate Talk?: RE

GOP Primary

Santorum, liberty, morality, and the culture wars: Carney
Green donors bet on Mitt Romney Climate Change flip-flop: Politico
Bubba To Appear With Obama On Big Fundraising Tour: WZ

Economy

10 Questions for Obama's Tue. Press Conference: Foundry
Historic: First Year in Decades No U.S. Bank Created: JWF
Citigroup: Gold At $2,400/oz In 2012, $3,400/oz not long after: ZH

What a Worst-Case Scenario In Iran Would Mean For Oil Prices: Insider
IIF Doomsday Memo: Disorderly Greek Default To Cost €1 Trillion+: ZH
McDonald's new Happy Meals ads to pitch nutrition: ChiBiz

Rush: At the Tip of Liberty’s Spear: DLim
ObamaCare Costs Added to Expired Bush Tax Cuts: 2013 Happy New Year!: MagNote
All the Advertisers Who Are Sticking by Limbaugh: AtlWire

Climate & Energy

The “Times,” It Ain’t A’Changing: Commentary
Awesome. Even At 60 Percent Of The Old Site’s Traffic, I’ll Qualify For Aussie Censorship: Soylent (NSFW)

Media

Chasing Andrew: BXX
Want to know why the left hated Andrew Breitbart so much?: DC
We Are at War. Is the Media Scared to Really Cover It?: Erickson

Attention Media: Walmart and Target Have Been Offering $9 Birth Control Since 2007: NB
Obama’s Transgender Ex-Nanny Living in Fear, White House Has No Comment: JWF
Liberals Losing Their Collective Minds Over Rush Comments: Cove

The left’s respect for women: a look back: Treacher
Escaping Carbonite: Bayonet
Rush Limbaugh’s Was Hardly The Most Offensive Comment On The Radio In The Last Week: HayRide

World

Netanyahu to Obama: Israel will decide for itself whether to strike Iran: Beacon
Historic and Unprecedented: Most Well-Spoken President Ever Says “Uhh” 96 Times in Under Five Minutes: JWF
McConnell says US should be ready to use force against Iran: Fox

What a Real War on Women Looks Like: Sundries
Benjamin Netanyahu AIPAC Speech Transcript 3-5-12: MagNote
Quietly, this President Takes Dead Aim at our Troops, Veterans: RedCty (West)

Sci-Tech

Here’s Why the Government Thinks It Can Kill You Overseas: Wired
Look Out, Google -- "Amazon Is Already Doing More Than $1 Billion In Ad Revenue": Insider
'Cheetah bot' sets new world record for legged robots: Telegraph

Cornucopia

Political Theatre and the Fluke Files: Dewey
Cheap Popcorn At The Movie Theater: Your Next “Right?”: Hawkins
Five Leadership Lessons From James T. Kirk: Forbes

Image: The People's Cube
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "How does the far left play this blacklisting game? They exploit race and gender to try and destroy First Amendment protections. People who support a philosophy long on record as supporting every racial gambit from slavery, segregation, lynching and the Ku Klux Klan right on through to the violation of voting rights by the Black Panthers, racial quotas and illegal immigration have no scruples. Genderism, as Sandra Fluke demonstrates anew, is not about individuals, it's about the left's concept of one gender. And, as Ed Schultz's slut comment about Ingraham demonstrated, if you don't fit that profile well -- you're a slut.

No one disputes the right of any would-be sponsor to choose where they place their advertising dollars. That simply isn't the question.

The question is: do these sponsors listed above, all willing participants in this thuggish behavior, understand that they are going out of their way to self-identify with those who have quite effectively demonstrated themselves to be anti-free speech thugs?" --Jeffrey Lord

Monday, March 05, 2012

All you need to know about Sandra Fluke in 30 seconds

Here's the real Sandra Fluke:

Fluke is a liar: during her testimony, she claimed that birth control had cost a stunning $3,000 during her three years of law school. Unfortunately, it turns out that Walmart and a nearby Target have offered $9-a-month birth control since 2007. Not to mention the fact that there appear to be four Planned Parenthood offices within walking distance of Georgetown Law School, where they seem to dispense contraceptives like candy.

Fluke is a kook: among her prior positions (policy positions, that is...), she argued that insurers be required to cover sex-change surgery and other "transgender services".

Fluke is a professional abortion rights activist: and that's her own description of herself - "A Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies major at Cornell, [she] is also a past president of Law Students for Reproductive Justice."

No, Fluke is an activist and a plant.

My only question: what did George Stephanapoulous know and when did he know it?


Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

What Would Breitbart Do? Rally for Rush! #WWBD

Jeffrey Lord's latest must-read in the American Spectator is a call to action to defend free speech, inspired by Andrew Breitbart's example. It traces the advertisers that have abandoned Rush's program, many after decades of support. Lord notes that only a pathetic 21 percent of Americans identify themselves as liberals. And he rightly observes that disenfranchising 79 percent of Americans is a decidedly flawed business strategy.

The time to be bullied is OVER. You hear me? It's OVER.

Here's how we're going to fight back against "The Cowardly Seven", as I like to call the advertisers who abandoned Rush over calling Sandra Fluke a "slut", when a more apt description for her is "a lying plant".

Sleep Train: This gutless company says it has been advertising with Rush for 25 years. They should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely ashamed...
This is the e-mail for Sleep Train's customer service: customerservice@sleeptrain.com. This is the 800 phone number for Sleep Train: 1-800-919-2337. This is the 800 fax number for Sleep Train: 1-866-293-5719.

Legal Zoom: The Co-founders of this company are Brian Liu, Brian Lee, Eddie Hartman & Robert Shapiro... The address for e-mails is here. The Corporate Headquarters phone number is: 1-323-962-8600. The fax number is: 323-962-8300.

Citrix: Mark B. Templeton is the President and CEO... The contact info for the Citrix Corporate Headquarters is... Toll Free Phone: 1-800-424-8749, Phone: 954-267-3000, Fax: 954-267-9319.

Quicken Loans: Quicken, under the leadership of its Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert.... has gone the extra mile to antagonize the 40 percent. It has this statement on its website: Due to Rush Limbaugh's continued inflammatory comments -- along with the valued feedback we have received from our clients and team members -- Quicken Loans has suspended all advertising on the Rush Limbaugh radio program.

Note: Quicken is so skittish the above message appears for mere seconds before vanishing. It took repeated tries to copy verbatim the simple, highly provocative message above.

The Quicken contact info is found on this page of their website. Note: The company has an online chat function on this page. Also: Phone, Client Relations: 1-800-863-4332.

Pro-Flowers: Their contact info is here.

Carbonite: ...contact info here...

...DO YOU GET the picture? The American Left -- whether it pops up in the form of Media Matters, Color of Change, MoveOn.org, Texans for Truth or other groups -- is determined to shut off conservative dissent from their agenda by whatever means necessary. Fueled in part by money like that they received from David Friend of Carbonite. To do this they are quite specifically going after conservative talk radio hosts and television commentators one by one by one. The fact that David Friend of MoveOn.org/Carbonite is there to stick it to Rush is all the better. The fact that Ed Schulz called Laura Ingraham a slut is one big no-big-deal to Sandra Fluke herself when she wants air time on with Mr. Ed. Why should David Friend care if Ms. Fluke doesn't? So, Carbonite continues as Mr. Ed's sponsor, sluts be damned.

As noted earlier, what began with Don Imus, Lou Dobbs, and Glenn Beck has just hit Pat Buchanan... Now, they want Rush's scalp...

In his last speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) just weeks ago, Andrew Breitbart stood at the podium and said: "Conservatives used to take it and we're not taking it anymore."

...By doing what they have now done, these one-time sponsors of Rush Limbaugh's show have now startlingly indicated that they are signing on with anti-First Amendment thugs.

We've got work to do, friends. It's time to Rally for Rush.

And, please: pass it on.


Hat tip: R.L.

Photo: Gas Pump Sticky Note Campaign Makes a Comeback

Wanda:

If you're having trouble reading the note, here's what it says:

Hey there voter!

Do you remember that on Inauguration Day (Jan. 20th) 2009, the national average for a gallon of gasoline was about $1.78? How's that "Hope & Change" working out for you?

Anyone but Obama
Nov. 2012

I would have added: "Can you imagine what another four years of Obama will mean for gas prices?"


Related: Gas Pump Sticky Note Campaign Makes Its Way to Grocery Stores

List of words monitored by DHS on social media

According to AllGov, the Department of Homeland Security -- led by the beloved baritone, Janet Napolitano -- is monitoring a range of words and phrases on social networks.

• Soetero     • AttackWatch     • Vera Baker     • Alinsky     • Larry Sinclair

Just kidding. Here's the real list. As far as you know.

If not getting enough attention in your life is a problem, there’s one surefire way to get the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to notice you: Use any of its proscribed watch words on social media sites.

According to a DHS document, the agency is maintaining a lengthy list of “Items of Interest”—in other words, words. The words are categorized by subject, such as those falling under “Domestic Security,” “Southwest Border Violence,” “Health Concern + H1N1,” “Terrorism” and more.

Besides the obvious ones like “Al Qaeda (all spellings),” “weapons cache,” “meth lab” and “jihad,” the words being monitored on Facebook and Twitter include:

    • airport     • sick     • gas     • cloud     • mud slide or mudslide     • canceled     • interstate     • recovery     • home grown     • marijuana     • incident     • police     • infection     • symptoms     • North Korea     • China     • Tucson     • San Diego     • pork     • help

By the way, if you -- in your personal lives -- detect any discontent with administration policies among friends, family and colleagues, be sure and notify AttackWatch.com or one of your local Obama "Truth Teams". Even if it means turning in your parents.


Larwyn's Linx: Wikileaks: Obama secretly took Russian money for his campaign

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

Nation

Wikileaks: Obama secretly took Russian money for his campaign: NoisyRm
The Vetting, Part I - Barack's Love Song to Alinsky: Breitbart
David Axelrod’s Red Roots: Obama Adviser’s Communist Ties Exposed: RSM

Can we tell the truth about Barack Obama?: Protein Wisdom
Malice in Wonderland as Barack’s Presidency Finally Runs Out of Gas: CFP
Obama Invites Self to Deliver Commencement Address: Malkin

Never Give Up the Ball: Sultan Knish
Let’s Fight Back on the Left’s Ridiculous Birth Control Narrative: VS
Karen Harrington Lands Major Tea Party PAC Endorsement: Shark Tank

Economy

ObamaCare and RomneyCare Will Hurt Ohio Families: Santorum
Obama’s Texas “Truth” Team Unveiled: MNR
Are You Willing to Pay the Moral Price for the Welfare State?: CDN

GOP Primary

2009 Romney glad to hear Obama copying RomneyCare: Scoop
Rasmussen OH: Santorum 33%, Romney 31%, Gingrich 15%: FAM
Santorum Maintains Lead in Tennessee: PolWire

Scandal Central

America Has “No Confidence” in Holder: CDN
Grassley: Where’s report on ‘Fast and Furious’?: Times
Is Abound Another Solyndra?: NRO

Climate & Energy

This Was the Moment: SDA
Another solar study: this one suggests no significant solar influence: Watts

Media

Make an example of Carbonite (Update: ProFlowers joins Rush boycott): LI
Carbonite Drops Ads from Rush Limbaugh but Not Ed Schultz?: RS
Another lesson in how the Dems run circles around the GOP with "progressive" issue framing: York

Rush Limbaugh Isn’t the Only Media Misogynist: Daily Beast (Kirsten Powers)
Wasserman Schultz Says Calling Women Sluts Isn't Funny - Two Months After Doing Maher's Show: NB
'Rush'ing away: 7th company yanks ads from Limbaugh show: Post

White House Launches Hamfisted Campaign to Silence Iran Critics: Commentary
Since We Can’t Call Sandra Fluke a ‘Slut,’ Would ‘Lying Liberal Bitch’ Be OK?: RSM
Whom do you believe, HBO or the Secret Service?: Breitbart

World

Daylight - The Story of Obama and Israel: Glick
The Deceits of Seymour Hersh: Commentary
Saudi Arabia raises Arab light oil price to Asia: Reuters

Obama's Lie-Filled "Jews Please Love Me" Speech at AIPAC: Lid
Bob Graham and Bob Kerrey on a Saudi Link to 9/11: Atlantic
Now That's a Welcome: Israpundit

Nigeria: Boko Haram planning "war on Christians" in coming weeks: JihadWatch
Border Patrol Agents Engage in Cross-Border Gunfight: KRIS-TV
Prayer for Iraq: Modicum

Sci-Tech

Giving Up Your iPhone: NetworkWorld
Has the Time Come to Start Taxing Online Game Currency?: AllGov
Teachers embrace social media in class: USA Today

Cornucopia

One year later: Marizela is still missing; Plus: A public appeal to Google: Malkin
The Weekly Address and Fractured Fairy Tale: MOTUS
The OWSers Are Making A Movie!: Spew

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

QOTD: "The reason that Obama's Alinskyite past, and his many appearances in political photography and video from the 1990s, are conspicuously missing from the national dialogue is that State Senator Barack Obama's reinvention as a reasonable and moderate Democratic politician could not withstand scrutiny of his political life.

Because the mainstream media did not explore his roots, the American public remains largely ignorant of the degree to which Obama’s work with ACORN and his love of Alinsky were symbolic of his true political will.

If any of the candidates can resist the media, and parlay Newt’s strategy into a nomination, we’ll have the choice between an imperfect but well-known Republican and the real “Baraka” Obama, not the manufactured one the media prefers." --Andrew Breitbart

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Carbonite caves in to the Left's efforts to silence Rush Limbaugh $CARB

William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection is closely following the Left's efforts to silence Rush Limbaugh through advertiser boycotts.

Liberal groups have seized on a strategy I didn’t think would be effective, but has had some success, to go after advertisers of prominent conservative media personalities. ... ...Media Matters explicitly seeks to bring down Fox News and investigate its executives, and Fox News advertisers have been targeted by groups like Color of Change, which has targeted Glenn Beck, Eric Bolling, Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan and Andrew Breitbart.

Now Rush Limbaugh advertisers are the target because of an analogy he used... [and the controversy] distracted from the attack on religious freedom which is the heart of the controversy.

As has become the pattern, Rush’s advertisers immediately were attacked and threatened, and several gave in quickly, like Quicken Loans and Sleep Number, pulling their advertising.

No advertiser was more associated with Rush than Carbonite, an online computer back up company. Rush often would read Carbonite’s ads himself, and would tout their service.

Carbonite initially took a principled position, asserting that it advertises on both conservative and liberal shows, and that its advertising does not constitute an endorsement of what any particular host says... Indeed, Carbonite still advertises on the show of Ed Schultz, who makes unhinged attacks on the Tea Party and conservatives daily, and called conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham a slut (for which he later apologized).

...Saturday night, the CEO of Carbonite issued a statement withdrawing advertising from Rush’s show notwithstanding that earlier in the day Rush has issued an apology... This is an attempt find something, anything, to force Rush off the air. Ms. Magazine has launched a campaign do do just that by going after Clear Channel Communications, whose stations carry Rush’s program.

Today's Leftists have a totalitarian mindset. They despise free speech.

Unable to win in the marketplace of ideas (remember Air America?), the would-be despots of the hard Left instead try to silence the voices of those with whom they disagree.

The Statists, the Marxists, the progressives -- what ever name you prefer to call the hard Left kooks that now dominate the Democrat Party -- would be at home in the Soviet Union, or North Korea, or Venezuela. They are an appendage of centralized government and bent on retaining their white-knuckled death-grip on power.

Their anti-American efforts must be stopped. And Carbonite is as good a place to start resisting these regressives as any.


Update: Dan Riehl has more details on Carbonite's P.R. debacle (hat tip: BadBlue.com).

Funniest article I've seen in years: a mystified Washington Post wonders 'What's ailing the Chevy Volt?'

No, I'm serious.

What’s ailing the Chevy Volt?


On Friday, GM announced it was halting production of the Chevrolet Volt until April, so as to maintain “proper inventory levels.” Sales of the electric vehicle have been disappointing, with the company missing its target of 10,000 Volts sold last year. Why hasn’t the car caught on?

Might I venture a few answers?

• The Volt has an annoying habit of sometimes blowing up

• It's incredibly expensive

• It's a coal-powered car

• It's the result of central planning, as opposed to actual market demands

The whole focus on electric cars is, in my opinion, borderline insane. Battery technologies are decades away from real suitability in automobiles. And, even more concerning, the Obama administration is waging a war on America's electric generation, thanks to an out-of-control EPA:

GenOn Energy just announced it will be shuttering eight power plants over the next couple of years, taking about 15% of its total generating capacity offline

Two Chicago-area power plants are slated to close

Three midwest power plants owned by FirstEnergy will be forced to close

And the list goes on and on and on. Obama's war to de-industrialize America continues apace.


Exclusive Photo: Lost Jonas Brother Wants Free Contraceptives

The entire handling of this affair is deserving of severe mockery.

As an aside, Newt Gingrich obliterated David Gregory on Meet the Depressed this morning.


For those voting on Tuesday: we have a country to save

If Constitutional Conservatives and Tea Party Activists are to stop Mitt Romney in Ohio, it's imperative they support Rick Santorum.

NBC/Marist Poll: Santorum Has Small Edge in Ohio


A new NBC News/Marist poll in Ohio shows Rick Santorum just ahead of Mitt Romney among GOP primary voters, 34% to 32%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 15% and Ron Paul at 13%.

"A Romney win, following his victories last week in Michigan and Arizona, would cement his front-runner status and keep him on his path (no matter how rocky it's been) toward capturing the GOP presidential nomination. But a Santorum win would signal that his close second-place finish in Romney's native state of Michigan wasn't a fluke, and it would likely ensure that this Republican nomination battle remains competitive -- perhaps through April and maybe even June."

To be clear, I will walk on broken glass to vote for Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or a Mall Santa in order to defeat Barack Obama in the general election.

That said, did the Tea Party go away? Did it disappear into the ether after the GOP's crushing victories in the 2010 midterms? Did it shatter after a million internecine battles?

Or is it merely simmering at a low boil while grassroots groups canvas for its primary favorites?

To my friends voting on Super Tuesday...

The time for action is now. The situation our country faces is too dire and the stakes too high to sit on the sidelines. You may, as I do, feel the fatigue of negative attacks, experience anger at the proctological scrutiny of your favorite candidates, or disgust at the blatant bias of the Democrat-media complex.

But you must, like an Olympic athlete, put all of that aside and vote on Tuesday.

If I could vote in one of your states, I would be casting my vote for Rick Santorum. Praised by no less a set of conservative luminaries like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sarah Palin, Santorum has been a consistent conservative throughout his career.

Architect of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, a proponent of the original Balanced Budget Amendment and an expert at national defense issues, Santorum's appeal is far wider than legacy media would have you believe.

This election will be about the future of America

Do Americans want a nation flooded with food-stamps and welfare payments, a European-style decline, and an out-of-control president who flouts the very Constitution upon which he took an oath to uphold?

Or do they want a return to founding principles, fiscal discipline and respect for the rule of law?

This election will be about founding principles, the most important of which are faith, family, private property rights and individual liberty. Those tenets were foundational to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Our rights are God-given, not offered in a bill by some bureaucrat in Washington. How can someone articulate the nature of American exceptionalism without a grounding in our founding document and our highest law?

The "Great Society" proved the defective nature of the Democrats' philosophy. Even if they were inspired by altruistic desires, Democrats have utterly destroyed the two-parent family, especially in the urban core.

Dozens of studies have proven that easy access to food stamps and welfare payments inflate the percentage of single-parent families. And single-parent families are linked directly to violent crime: in fact, no matter what race you are, you have the same chance of going to prison if you are raised in a single-parent household.

As for private property rights and the rule of law: the Constitution means what it says. To the extent that temporary politicians dismiss the genius of the Framers; strip away the bonds on the federal government placed explicitly upon it; and confiscate more and more private property in pursuit of a Utopian, benificent state that can't be and never was; they are corrupt and lawless. A government that takes your private property for purposes other than those specifically enunciated in the Constitution is operating outside of the law.

These lines are crystal clear and it will take an articulate conservative grounded in the founding principles to draw the sharpest contrast between the European nanny state that Obama seeks and the kind of government our Framers created.

You can cherry-pick the man's record all you want, but Santorum's record is one of consistency.

Santorum has a legislative record...

Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)
Voted YES on $40B in reduced federal overall spending. (Dec 2005)
Voted YES on prioritizing national debt reduction below tax cuts. (Apr 2000)
Voted YES on 1998 GOP budget. (May 1997)
Voted YES on Balanced-budget constitutional amendment. (Mar 1997)

Rated 25% by CURE, indicating anti-rehabilitation crime votes. (Dec 2000)
Rated 27% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 0% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 100% by CATO, indicating a pro-free trade voting record. (Dec 2002)
Rated 0% by APHA, indicating a anti-public health voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 0% by the AFL-CIO, indicating an anti-union voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 81% by NTU, indicating a “Taxpayer’s Friend” on tax votes. (Dec 2003)

--Source: Issues 2000 Legislation Tracker

Rick Santorum is a true, God-fearing, Constitutional conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan. If we are to begin repairing this country, we need him or someone like him as President.

This election won't be about access to condoms. It's going to be about freedom. What it means to be an American. And Rick Santorum would be an outstanding choice as president.

So, to my friends voting on Tuesday: I urge you to consider supporting Rick Santorum for president. Send a message to Washington: the era of big government is over. The time for action is now.

We have a country to save.


Exclusive: Full Schematic of Chevy Volt



Hat tip: Whited Speulchre.

Larwyn's Linx: After Calling Citizens 'Tea-Baggers,' Obama Sensitive to 'Slut'

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

Nation

After Calling Citizens 'Tea-Baggers,' Obama Sensitive to 'Slut': AT
Rush Limbaugh Is Not The Problem: RWN
SlutGate: Obama’s Manufactured Media Tactic: BigJourn

Cartonite Drops Rush: LI
Obama’s Intimidation Tactics Continue: Publius
Air America Host Urged Bachmann To Kill Herself: FAM (2009)

Economy

Truth Behind America's Fiscal, Employment Picture: Durden
White House Memo: Plans to Raise Taxes on All: LoneCon
Dems Threaten Tax Retaliation Over GOP Donations: Townhall

Obama bundler Corzine unlikely to face charges: WyBlog
White House using taxpayer cash to pay for media spin: Times
Mostly peaceful Occupy Oakland urged to arm itself: Marathon

GOP Primary

Santorum Could Be Ineligible For 18 Ohio District Delegates?: NatlJrnl
Romney notches fifth straight win with Washington state caucuses: Fox
GOP Headwinds: Charlie Cook

Climate & Energy

Strategic Petroleum Reserve is for emergencies - not political disasters: Barrasso
Activists: Birth control can fight global warming: DC
New Study Shows A Clear Millennial Solar Impact Throughout Holocene: Watts

Media

Levin rallies for embattled Limbaugh, tells media ‘you can go to hell’: DC
It's Time to Fix the Bill of Rights: Post
The Girl With the Dead Eyes: Misfit Politics

NOW Forced To Respond To Slur On Palin: S&L
Sandra Fluke is not a “slut.” She’s a femme-agogue tool; DCCC, Emily’s list fund-raise off of Rush: Malkin
Consequences of Voting for Obama: MB

Something missing from Georgetown Law’s condemnation: LI
Now, This Is Just Mean: ConCom
Sandra Fluke: D.A.M. Member, Political Activist, Phony Victim: CDN

Newt faults media for Limbaugh 'slut' focus: Politico
Sarah Palin: Allen West should be considered for VP: Scoop
With Breitbart gone, what becomes of his empire?: MyWay

World

Taliban Defense Attorney now No. 3 at Obama DOJ: Creeping
Obama's AIPAC speech pivotal for holding Jewish voters in 2012: Hill
'Five pillars of Islam' taught in public school: JihadWatch

North Korea Has Allegedly Tested Nuclear Warheads For Iran: ZH
France: Sarkozy nixes halal meat in schools for Muslims: IIE
Swine flu kills nearly 200 in Mexico already in 2012: Global Post

Youcef Nadarkhani Executed: Christian Pastor Hanged in Iran for Being Christian: BlueStar
The thing about Vladimir Putin is that he doesn’t give a damn: Spectator
Fury over attack on British war graves in Benghazi: BBC

Sci-Tech

Highlight, the people discovery app that could change the world: CNet
Anonymous Supporters Tricked into Installing Zeus Trojan: Symantec
The guru who surfs the web to make a fast buck: smh

Cornucopia

Breitbart Is Here: iOTW
MOTUS: It's a Slam Dunk!
Black Republican History: NBRA

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

QOTD: "During a discussion series on Monday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., speaker and activist Kavita Ramdas argued that contraceptives should be part of a strategy to save the planet, calling lower birth rates a “common sense” part of a climate-change reduction strategy... Ramdas told The Daily Caller that the research shows “empowering women to time their pregnancies” and avoid unwanted births would reduce carbon emissions between 8 to 15 percent globally." --Jason Howerton