Monday, May 07, 2012

Un-freaking-believable: American POW left to languish while Obama gives away Taliban prisoners

An American POW has has been held by a Taliban-affiliated terror group for almost three years. And he is never mentioned while Barack Obama releases high-level Taliban detainees from Gitmo in exchange for... their promises not to commit more acts of terrorism.

...The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks...

...As the United States has unsuccessfully pursued a peace deal with the Taliban, the “strategic release” program has quietly served as a live diplomatic channel, allowing American officials to use prisoners as bargaining chips in restive provinces where military power has reached its limits.

...On June 30, 2009, almost three years ago, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl of Idaho was kidnapped by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network. He is the only prisoner of war currently held by the Taliban and recent video releases seem to indicate that he is being kept alive for ransom by the group.

...In December, The Daily Beast was the only outlet to report on a heroic escape attempt by the sergeant. After working for over two years to gain the trust of his captors, Bergdahl jumped out of a first-story window, running into the wilderness [and evading capture for] three days without food or water—hiding in a shallow trench he had dug with his own hands and covered with leaves.

...Even [after he was discovered], he put up a ferocious fight. The two gunmen who found him first were unable to subdue him. “He fought like a boxer,” Hanif was told. It took five more militants to overpower him. Now back in custody, he is kept shackled at night, and his jailers are taking no chances.

This is the caliber of soldier that the United States and its military produces, the American that the president seems to have forgotten about for almost three years.

...In 2008 it was Barack Obama’s policy not to engage with terrorists under any circumstances. In 2009, his administration was comfortable exchanging American prisoners for British hostages. In 2012, it has become clear it was the long-standing policy of the administration to release American-held terrorist prisoners while asking for nothing in exchange, not even an American POW.

Keep Sergeant Bergdahl in your prayers.

And contact the House Foreign Affairs Committee at (202) 225-5021 to express your outrage.


Hat tip: Bethany. Also see: Ten burning questions for Obama’s secret terrorist release program

Surprise! Key Obama Administration Official Quotes Marx, Speaks of Efficacy of Collectivism

I'm sure he just forgot about the part where 95 million people had to pay the ultimate price for Marx's insane, unworkable and despotic policies.

A senior Obama administration official defended the efficacy of “class warfare” on his personal blog Monday by quoting the political philosopher and communist theorist Karl Marx.

Rick Bookstaber, who currently serves on the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the federal body established under the Dodd-Frank Act to “ensure the stability of our nation’s financial system,” took issue with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s accusations that liberals were engaging in “class warfare” by seeking to blame the nation’s fiscal problems on a small number of wealthy individuals.

"There is little that matches the artfulness of the rich in waving off criticism of the widening income gap as ‘class warfare,’” Bookstaber wrote. “...I believe such a war is justifiable, and indeed ultimately inevitable.”

Bookstaber explained further, citing Marx:

During the industrial revolution class warfare centered on the length of the working day. A tightly defined working day only appeared with the advent of the industrial revolution... regimentation and a dependable workforce became necessary once there was machinery to run and capital invested, and so with industrialization came the an enforced workday. So it is not surprising that Marx stated the central battle of class warfare at the time in terms of the working day:

The capitalist maintains his rights as a purchaser when he tries to make the working-day as long as possible, and to make, whenever possible, two working-days out of one. On the other hand, the peculiar nature of the commodity sold implies a limit to its consumption by the purchaser, and the laborer maintains his right as seller when he wishes to reduce the working-day to one of definite normal duration. There is here, therefore, an antinomy, right against right, both equally bearing the seal of the law of exchanges. Between equal rights force decides. Hence is it that in the history of capitalist production, the determination of what is a working-day, presents itself as the result of a struggle, a struggle between collective capital, i.e., the class of capitalists, and collective labour, i.e., the working-class. – Marx, Das Kapital

Marx’s work was widely appropriated throughout the 20th century by countries such as China and the former Soviet Union. Tens of millions of people were slaughtered under those regimes.

But they just didn't implement Marx's policies correctly, right Bookstaber?

And I'm sure all of the following incidents -- demonstrating Obama's seeming affinity for socialism -- are, eh, simply coincidences:

• "That was fast: Giddy Obama invites new French Socialist BFF to the White House"

Would-be Obama Czar Van Jones turns out to be a Communist Truther

Ex-White House Communications Czar Anita Dunn is a devotee of the mass-murderer Mao

How many more radical leftists like Bookstaber are lurking in this administration, burrowed deeply to influence policy in spite of election results, in spite of the will of the people, and operating counter to American history, traditions and values?

But there is one balm: November is coming. And we are going to turn these bums out and flick the lights on in the halls of power. And then we will watch these cockroaches head for the hills.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

Good News: First Responders Are Now Receiving Training to Deal With Exploding Chevy Volts

I wonder how much CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere when a Chevy Volt explodes?

The list of required knowledge for first responders gets longer all the time. Now firefighters are being alerted to potential danger during rescue procedures involving hybrid or electric vehicles...

At a conference of in Las Vegas this weekend, the National Fire Protection Association provided a day of training for trainers — firefighters who will return home to share with their ranks practical knowledge about the cars.

Safely disabling the the batteries tops the list. High-voltage batteries that operate the vehicle systems carry enough juice to kill or severely injure a rescuer who incorrectly cuts a cable. Students also spent time sorting out the varying features on hybrid and electric models, including airbag trigger mechanisms.

Silent movement is another hazard for a rescuer who might believe a motionless car is off. The cars are silent when they’re in battery mode, and can begin to move forward when obstacles blocking their paths are removed. The engine in a hybrid model might unexpectedly kick on when the battery has drained...

Although you certainly won't read any of this in legacy media, the Volt has been involved with a total of six separate fires, three while in the hands of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and three with owners who had not been involved in accidents.

Of course, I'm sure all of the modifications GM made to the Volt were strictly coincidental.


Two Charts Illustrating How the Obama Democrats Created a Massive Shadow Welfare State

I'm guessing we won't be seeing either of these two charts in legacy media for, oh, the rest of our lives.

There was a little mentioned tangent to last Friday's very disappointing NFP print of +115,000 (driven by a surge in temp jobs offsetting a collapse in full time positions): as David Rosenberg notes, the jobs number was about half of another far more important number - that of Americans applying for disability, which in April was +225,000...


He continues: "this is the new stealth stimulus program - so far in 2011, nearly one million Americans have applied for disability and year-to-date, 333k have actually enrolled (covering 539k family members). In total, more than five million people have been added to disability coverage since President Obama took over three years ago."

"...either safety standards at work have eroded dramatically or the '99%' have found a creative way to milk the system and turn the economy into a quasi welfare state..."

...Because remember: the BLS assumes that any amount up to the total 53 million people, is not in the labor force as they have other "wefare" based forms of government handouts and see no need at all to look for a job. Is there any wonder why US unemployment is realistically 20% if not much higher? As for the other chart, food stamps, we know that story all too well.

Call it legalized plunder, as Bastiat did, or call it Cloward-Piven Government.

Either way, the end result will be the same: economic ruin.


Hat tip: Gluskin Sheff.

Change: "For Most Graduates, Grueling Job Hunt Awaits"

I'm assuming that any college graduate who complains about the job market must be a racist.

...the class of 2012 faces tougher competition thanks to what Carl Van Horn, director of the Heldrich Center, calls "the recession hangover." Young adults who graduated into the dire labor market of 2008 and 2009 and have been out of work or underemployed since are applying for the same jobs as new grads are. The same goes for earlier grads who were laid off during the recession. Those job candidates, who likely have more experience than new grads, may have an edge, Mr. Van Horn says.

In a better position might be those seniors who took advantage of on-campus recruitment programs. Lauren Martinez, 22 years old, will graduate from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday with an entry-level consulting job in hand. Competition during recruiting season felt "hard but not terrible," says Ms. Martinez, who received two job offers. Her friends who are graduating without full-time jobs, she adds, have mostly lined up volunteer work, internships and temporary research positions while they continue to search for permanent work.

...a debt burden looms. Two-thirds of students from the class of 2010, the latest figures available, graduated with student loans, with an average tab of $25,250—up 5% from the previous year—according to The Institute for College Access & Success, an independent group that promotes higher education affordability.

Tuition isn't getting any cheaper, so loan figures are expected to be even higher for the current crop of graduates. That means a greater share of those starting salaries will go to repaying lenders, rather than to rent, furnishings or a down-payment fund for a house, delaying financial independence for many young adults.

...even when new graduates do find jobs, their starting salaries tend to be lower than those for their counterparts who graduated a decade earlier, adjusted for inflation. With a lower base pay, research shows they may never catch up.

I have the distinct feeling that the youth vote is going to abandon the Democrat Party in November. For what else can they do but punish the Democrats' intellectual vanguard of Debbie Wasserman-Schlitz, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and the rest of the big government miscreants who are enslaving that generation to economic misery?


Larwyn's Linx: The ideologue’s fairy tale

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

The ideologue’s fairy tale: Patterico
Obama: cradle to grave government control: NoisyRm
Racial Preferences: Unfair and Ridiculous: Barone

Credit Where It's Due: Former Spook
The Final Insult of the Qaeda Clowns: Post
Rubio: Obama "Typical Washington Politician": RCP

Allen West gives fiery speech at Lincoln Day Dinner: Scoop
'Positive Bias' May Be Hurting Minority Students: LiveScience
What Does This Sign Mean?: Ace

Economy

Oops: Bomber Signed ‘Occupy’ Group’s Warehouse Lease: Bizzy
“Should student loans be priced according to major?”: Lane
United States: A Budget That Can’t Be Balanced: CDN

Pimco Echoes Heritage on Taxmageddon: Foundry
Europe Opens Down 2% As Sovereign Risk Surges: ZH
Cuts? What Cuts?: NoisyRm

2012 Elections

No longer feeling sorry for Dick Lugar: LI
ObamaCare Repeal Pledge: Mourdock signs, Lugar refuses: FreedomWorks
Muslim Brotherhood invades Tampa to re-elect President Obama!: NoisyRm

Scandal Central

MSM on 'Fast and Furious': Slow and Spurious: Breitbart
Anti-gun group downplays ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ death toll: DC
Tired of 'Fast and Furious' stonewalling: Inside Congress' case for contempt against Attorney General Holder: Greta

Climate & Energy

East Anglia Climatic Research Unit shown to be liars: Watts
Global Warming Hysteria: We Need Another Great Depression: First Things
Renewable Fuel Mandates Drive Up Cost of Electricity: LoneCon

Media

NY Times Goes Hunting for Racist 'Ultraconservatives' in Ohio Who Won't Support Obama: NB
I guess Julia was too busy to attend the Obama Rally: DTG
Mainstream Media Digs Up ANOTHER ‘Angelic’ Trayvon Martin Photo: SHN

James O’Keefe subpoenaed by NH Attorney General: LI
SNL cuts sketch critical of Obama, replaces it with Fox News parody: DC
Bomber Who Has Nothing to do With Occupy Signed Lease for Occupy Warehouse: JWF

Who Is the Real Sarah Palin?: Breitbart
CNN not exactly buying the War on Wimmenses meme: Hot Air
You’ve got fail! Report: Arianna "Zsa Zsa" Huffington has her editoral duties scaled way back by AOL: FAM

World

Navy SEAL hands Obama his arse: ASK
Muslim Anti-semitism and Jew hatred is growing in Malmo: Atlas
Russian opposition leaders arrested as Moscow protest slips into violence: WaPo

The French think they've voted to give themselves more of Germany's money: WyBlog
French Voters Choose the Road to Greece: SDA
Sarkozy Becomes First French President in 30 Years to Be Ousted: Bloomberg

Report: Secret U.S. Program Releasing High-Level Taliban If They Promise Not To Return To Battlefield: WZ
Israel warns Hizbollah over Iran: Telegraph
Many Jews Prepare to Leave France for Israel: Breitbart

Egypt blocks fuel truck from reaching Gaza tunnels: Matzav
USS Cole Bomber Dies of Loneliness and U.S. Drone Strike, But Mostly Drone Strike: BlackFive
Obama Rings New Socialist French President, ‘Looks Forward to Working Closely’ with Hollande: Tatler

Sci-Tech

Promotional Video: Making a Blockbuster on a Budget: WSJ
Twitter plays outsize role in 2012 campaign: WSJ
The Secret Life of Your Cellphone: LAT

Cornucopia

The American Heart: New Andrew Breitbart Tribute Video: CDN
Angry White Dude's 'Blog of Peace' to Behead Libtard Trolls for Blasphemy: AWD
Kentuck Derby Mystery: Body Found, Cops Say There Is Evidence of Foul Play: ABC

A Hoarse of a Different Color: MOTUS
Figures – National Christmas Tree Dies Under Obama: LoneCon
'The Avengers' are box office superheroes, with $200.3 million: LAT

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "Historically speaking, we live in very interesting times. We are probably very close to a civilizational shift of a similar magnitude to the Fall Of Rome. The Western World is going to print money and run up debt until they have no choice other than default. Greece was first, soon it will be Portugal and Spain; eventually Japan, the EU and the USA will default. It isn’t clear what will happen after the great powers default on their debt, but it’s not likely to be pretty.

It took more than 1000 years for civilization to get back to where Rome was. How long will it take this time? Is it possible that everyone could agree to write off all debt and just start over? China would be left with a lot of worthless paper, but we bought a lot of worthless products. Unfortunately, I don’t think this has a fairy-tale ending. The politicians will never agree to going back to the way things used to be; when they worked for the people instead of us working for them…" --'Pavan'

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Uproarious: former Carter national security adviser Brzezinski grades Obama's foreign policy between a 'B+ and A-'

Giving The Onion a run for its money, the so-called National Journal -- if that is its real name -- offers up the following laugh-out-loud headline:


Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter, graded Obama’s foreign policy performance “somewhere between B-plus and A-minus,” lauding his achievements with Chinese and Russian relations but criticizing his failure to move forward on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“It would be higher if he had moved more decisively on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, because he had a chance to do so. But admittedly, he was overwhelmed by domestic problems,” he said on CBS’s Face the Nation.

Yep, that was what I was thinking. A good, solid B-plus.

• Obama scorched Egypt's Mubarak after an uprising was squelched, helping hasten the U.S. ally's fall and allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to ascend to power.

• Though tens of thousands were killed, he failed to act during Iran's green revolution, helping the Mullahs continue on the road to nuclear terrorism.

• He remained virtually silent as Syria's Iranian-allied dictator Bashar Assad slaughtered tens of thousands.

• He continues to defy Congress, sending hundreds of millions of dollars to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian authority that has promised to wipe Israel from the face of the Earth.

• He leaked a key military relationship between Azerbaijan and Israel, leading a former Marine strike planner to state that allies should start "viewing this administration as an existential threat to Israel."

As Mark Langfan observes, "Obama’s true foreign policy objective seems to be nothing less than the full nuclear weaponization of Iran."

And the rise of a new Caliphate.

Brzezinski and his ex-boss are both disgraceful, anti-American kooks, but everyone already knew that. Except for the hacks at National Journal.


Hat tip: Weasel Zippers. Related: Crazy conspiracy theory? Or is it so sane that you just blew your mind?

Critical visual aid depicts difference between #OWS and Tea Party

An illustration simple enough for even a progressive to understand.

It’s being reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer that one of the five anarchists suspected of plotting to bomb a bridge in Cleveland was a signatory on the lease of a warehouse associated with Occupy Cleveland. The Plain Dealer writes: One of the five self-described anarchists arrested last week for attempting to blow up a local bridge signed the lease for a West Side warehouse where about a dozen members of the Occupy Cleveland group live... In a one-hour recording of a Friday evening general assembly meeting of the group posted on its website http://occupycleveland.com/live-stream/, occupy leaders expressed concern about Anthony Hayne’s name being on the lease, which strengthens his link to the group.

There you have it. The first definitive piece of evidence of the Occupy movement’s involvement in a terrorist plot. Do you care to revise your statement of praise Minority Leader Pelosi?


I wonder if President Obama has retracted his support for the Occupy movement?

Oh, how I wish we had journalists in this country to ask.


Hilarious: Michigan Democrat Caucus Requires... Voter ID

I'm assuming the fine, upstanding hippies writing "progressive news and commentary" at Eclectablog alerted Eric Holder's Department of Justice.

This Saturday, from 9 a.m. until noon, Michigan Democrats will hold caucuses around the state to choose Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate for president in 2012. While this may seem like a formality, there’s a bit more to it than that so you should plan to attend the caucus in your area on Saturday morning.

The caucuses give Democrats a chance to meet, discuss the election ahead, meet local candidates in an easy, conversational setting and to learn about the various ballot measures for petitions are currently being circulated. At some caucus sites, local candidates will give a brief speech about themselves. You’ll likely have petitions available to sign and you’ll get a chance to connect with other Democrats in your area.

....You will be asked to sign a statement saying your are participating as a Democrat. Please bring an id (photo id is not required.)

...NOTE: YOU MUST GO TO THE SPECIFIC CAUCUS FOR YOUR AREA ONLY! You can find the caucus locations for every Congressional District (CD) in Michigan HERE. There are around 200 caucus sites around Michigan.

Can you believe all of the rules and procedures required to participate in the Democrat caucus?

Haven't these racists heard that requiring ID and prior registration prevents minorities, illegal immigrants and the dead from voting?

I suggest rallying Al Sharpton and the New Black Panthers to protest this madness.


Hat tip: MOTUS.

Pie Chart: Complete Demographic Makeup of a Typical Obama Voter

Don't try to debate the merits of this chart, because the science is settled.



Obama and His Ilk Are Experts in Only One Area: Legalized Plunder

President Obama's erstwhile pal, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, "may well be the worst and most destructive American of his generation" according to Walter Russell Mead.

The latest [Detroit] scandal, which leaves even hardened observers of the abysmal Democratic machine that has run the city into the ground bemused, involves a real estate firm which gave the felonious mayor massages, golf outings, trips in chartered jets and other perks as this enemy of the people went about his hypocritical business of pretending to care about the poor while robbing them blind. The firm, apparently run by a sleazy low class crook named by the reprehensible Kilpatrick to be the Treasurer of what was left of Detroit’s finances, used Detroit pension funds to buy a couple of California strip malls. Title to the properties was never transferred to the pension funds, and they seem to be out $3.1 million.

Kilpatrick’s partner in slime is his ex-college frat brother Jeffrey Beasley, who is accused of taking bribes and kickbacks as he made bad investments that cost pension funds $84 million. Overall, a Detroit Free Press investigation estimates that corrupt and incompetent trustees appointed by Democratic officials over many years in Detroit are responsible for almost half a billion dollars in investments gone wrong.

I honestly don’t know why there is so little national outrage about this despicable crew and the terrible damage they have done. The ultimate victims of the crime are Detroit’s poor and the middle class and lower middle class, mostly African-American municipal workers who may face serious financial losses in old age.

The 41 year old Kwame Kilpatrick may well be the worst and most destructive American of his generation; his two terms as Mayor of Detroit are among the most sordid and stomach churning episodes in the storied history of American municipal corruption. Now under federal indictment for, essentially, running Detroit City Hall as a criminal enterprise, Kilpatrick reportedly turned down a plea bargain that included a 15 year prison term. Insiders say that since the maximum time for the charges he faces was 18 years, the offer from the prosecutors indicates strong confidence in their case. Indicted with him was his father; it’s nice to think that father and son will have some quality time in the can.

The Kilpatrick case is typical of Obama's friends and colleagues. Among the president's advisers, Valerie Jarrett stands out as perhaps his closest confidante. And Jarrett's history is equally troubling, having managed thousands of federally subsidized housing units until they were finally shuttered as "uninhabitable".

In 2008 The Boston Globe reported on the stunning failures of Jarrett's companies. "Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this [past] winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems."

Problems including the fact that many of the approximately one thousand housing units were "uninhabitable" and were condemned by federal authorities. Grove Parc Plaza, one of the largest residential housing complexes in Barack Obama's state senatorial district, has been at the center of a variety of scandals.


A few months after the Globe's report, a non-partisan watchdog group -- Judicial Watch -- announced that it had secured documents linking Jarrett to a variety of real estate scandals including failed housing developments operated by Obama fundraiser Tony Rezko... "Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers and Obama financial backers Rezko and Allison Davis. (Davis is also Obama's former boss.)

In short, taxpayers had millions looted by corrupt developers and real estate managers; Jarrett's involvement with this skulduggery was never exposed to the American public by national media.

Under this administration, Legalized Plunder has become an art form.

Social Security disability fraud has exploded since 2010.

Obama's IRS is refunding billions to illegals who are claiming kids and other dependents... in Mexico.

Federal inspectors have discovered billions in Stimulus fraud, from Solyndra to a "tree census".

The USDA's food stamp program has suffered billions in fraudulent payments annually.

Medicare fraud is estimated at between $60 and $80 billion a year.

And the failures of the $800 billion Democrat Stimulus package are well-documented; huge chunks of the money went not to construction, but to prop up public sector union employment in order to recycle dues into Democrat campaign coffers.

In the world of Obama's Democrats, government exists only to plunder your money. This is precisely as Bastiat described in his seminal work, The Law:

Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame, danger, and scruple which their acts would otherwise involve. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons, and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim — when he defends himself — as a criminal. In short, there is a legal plunder...

...But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

...Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on. All these plans as a whole — with their common aim of legal plunder — constitute socialism.

The Democrat Party, now dominated by the far-Left progressive movement, is a party with only one plank: Legalized Plunder.

In November, I urge you to vote against every single Democrat. Republicans aren't perfect, to be sure, but we have a chance of salvaging that party. The Democrat Party, subsumed by the radical, sixties-retread leftists, must be politically obliterated and reconstituted from scratch. It's the only way to be sure.


Larwyn's Linx: Ten Reasons to Impeach Eric Holder

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Ten Reasons to Impeach Eric Holder: FPM
Rogue Democrats Loot Detroit As Nation Sleeps: Mead
The More Precise Life of Julia: Frank J.

Anarchy 101: Wisconsin's Leftists Embrace Violence, Chaos: GWP
Occupiers Storm Boston Tea Party Rally: Loudon
Michelle Says We Are "Blessed" to Have Barack: RWN

Economy

CME The Most Powerful Company in the World: P&F
Romney: Welcome To Ohio, Champ. Where Are The Jobs?: Cove
Obama 2008 battles Obama 2012: WZ

Rampant Fraud: 2.2MM Claim Disability Since 2010: Mish
How the Public School Creates Big Government Democrats: C4P
A Better Life for Julia: Foundry

2012 Elections

Dems Unworried About Drop in Latino Voter Registration: Sooper
British Media Does the Job U.S. Journalists Refuse to Do: Breitbart
“Julia”: Obama marketing machine fail: LI

Not #ReadyToGo? Hashtag Doesn't Fill OH Arena for Obama: RSM
Obama may release dead Bin-Laden photos to help his re-election bid: FAM
Obama’s auditorium so empty that ushers moved people at the rally ‘in order for seats to look full for TV': WZ

Scandal Central

Few actions, minimal compliance from Holder on Fast and Furious subpoena: DC
Is Fast and Furious the Next Watergate?: Caruba
This Congressman Thinks Solyndra Makes Cars: Fox Nation

Climate & Energy

Only Obama Stands in the Way: TransCanada Reapplies For Presidential Permit to Build Keystone: GWP
Inhofe: Panetta Global Warming Remarks Show Need for More Congressional Oversight: CFP
About Those Heartland Billboards That Made The Warmists Insane.: Cove

Media

Bill Maher: Real Comedian: Powers
It’s rather strange that Obama’s composite girlfriend matches Bill Ayers’s real one: Bookworm Room
Think Progress Ridiculous Soft Focus Pics Hide Low Obama Turnout: Sooper

The New York Times prepares its readers for the loss of Ohio.: Moe Lane
Real time center-right news – it’s Bad Blue!: Radio Patriot
The Life Of Peter, Julia’s Sperm Donor: RWN

World

Top General: Obama Knew About OBL's Hideout in Mid-2010 – Refused to Act Until May 2011: GWP
Former AG: Obama had memo drafted to blame military if Bin Laden assassination failed: Matzav
Obama’s Afghan War Unhindered by Partisan Fights: RWN

Reset: Russia Considers Preemptive Strike Against U.S.-Led Missile System in Europe: AmPower
Nashville: 3 convicted, 6 acquitted in Somali sex trafficking case: Creeping
Sarkozy faces defeat as France heads to polls: Reuters

Lawmaker Questions FBI Materials Purge: IPT
Terror-linked ISNA invades Tampa to re-elect Obama: Creeping
So, the UN Wants the U.S. to Return Land to Indian Tribes…: Rosett

IKEA scandal only one of many examples of slave labor in Cuba: Babalu
China's Population Poised to Crash in Perfect Demographic Storm: Mish
Anonymous lashes out at Activision following Call of Duty trailer: GlobPost

Sci-Tech

Everyone Has Been Hacked. Now What?: Wired
Here's A Clever Way To Make The iPad Keyboard Better: Insider
BMW shows, prices four-door version of 6 Series coupe: USA Today

Cornucopia

OHHHHHH, YEAAAHHHHHHHH...: News From Doswell
Batman Takes on Occucommies: MB
Barack Obama participates in Horse Race: Morlock

Image: Occupy Seattle Protest Photos by Foolish Reporter
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Thank You, Wisconsin!

QOTD: "Asked about the arrival of “The Dictator” on the heels of a bad year for tyrants, with the Arab Spring and the death of Kim Jong-il, Mr. Baron Cohen, as Aladeen, responded forcefully by e-mail: “Some would say that an age of print media is passing, but you don’t see me throwing that in your face do you, New York Times? And what’s up with this pay wall of yours? Only 10 free articles a month? And you call me the tyrant!? But to answer your question, no, I do not think that an age of tyranny is passing. We are merely in the eye of the storm. The Arab Spring is just a silly fad, like ‘mood rings’ or ‘human rights.’ And I don’t worry about it happening in Wadiya, because my people love me so greatly. However, just to be safe, I have removed all the spring months from the calendar and made February 128 days long.”

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Smart Power: Iranian Students Jailed for Speaking Out

Almost three years ago to the day, Iran's citizens erupted to protest the Mullahs' fixed elections.

Egypt's Mubarak is gone, but somehow Iran's Mullahs live on, slaughtering dissidents and crushing the pro-Western rebellion

...[Human Rights Watch] called for the unconditional and immediate release of the 32 students in prison on various national security-related charges. Authorities rounded up many of these students after the disputed June 2009 presidential election, and revolutionary courts convicted and sentenced them on charges such as “propaganda against the system,” “participating in illegal gatherings,” and “insulting the president.”


...Therefore all were convicted specifically for exercising their rights under international law to freedom of speech, of association, and of peaceful assembly. Security, intelligence, and university officials have disciplined, suspended, or expelled hundreds of other students who criticized the government during the past few years.

Egypt's Mubarak is gone, but Iran's Mullahs live on, building nukes and planning for the apocalypse.

Heritage: A Better Life for Julia

Brilliance from the invaluable Heritage Foundation:




Read the rest


Obama Campaign In Disarray: Critical Mistakes, Zero Excitement

Today was the "official" kickoff of the Obama reelection campaign and, judging by the activity on the official Obama 2012 website, there's a serious, serious problem.

No one cares. Check out the number of Twitter retweets and Facebook likes for today's events.


Even the photos on the website were carefully manipulated to make it appear that Ohio State's Schottenstein Arena was filled. Only it wasn't.



As Professor William Jacobson observes, disastrous marketing efforts like "#Julia" and horrible turnout for major campaign events are all signs of a campaign in disarray.

Even BuzzFeed noticed Obama 2012's bizarre response to a horrific unemployment report: "Obama Campaign Celebrates Disappointing April Jobs Report."

Houston: it would appear that President Subprime McDowngrade has a problem.


Excellent news: 23 bodies discovered either hanging from bridges or decapitated in "secure as it's ever been" border area

Remember how Janet Napolitano, our beloved baritone DHS secretary, claimed that the border area was "as secure as it's ever been", even though the Obama administration halted construction of a security fence?

Well, citizens, don't worry when you read about the complete breakdown of society right on the border, as our ultra-secure, but non-existent, border fence will protect us. Somehow. Because Nappy's on the case.

The bodies of 23 people were found hanging from a bridge or decapitated and dumped near city hall Friday in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, where drug cartels are fighting a bloody and escalating turf war.

Authorities found nine of the victims, including four women, hanging from an overpass leading to a main highway, said a Tamaulipas state official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide information on the case.

Hours later, police found 14 human heads inside coolers outside city hall along with a threatening note. The 14 bodies were found in black plastic bags inside a car abandoned near an international bridge, the official said.

...Local media published photos of the nine bloodied bodies, some with duct tape wrapped around their faces, hanging from the overpass along with a message threatening the Gulf cartel...

...[In 2003, k]illings and police corruption became so brazen that then President Vicente Fox was forced to send in hundreds of troops and federal agents, and the only man brave enough to take the job of police chief was gunned down hours after he was sworn in... The Zetas won that fight and have since ruled the city with fear, threatening police, reporters and city officials and extorting money from businesses. They broke off their alliance with the Gulf cartel in 2010, worsening the violence across northeast Mexico.

But last month, 14 mutilated bodies were found in a vehicle left in the city center. Some media outlets reported that the Sinaloa cartel took responsibility for those bodies and in a message allegedly signed by its leader, Guzman, said the group was now back in Nuevo Laredo "to clean" the city.

The Democrat Party's quest to buy votes among illegal aliens trumps any concern over the security of American citizens.


And that, my friends, is why the border area is wide open, despite the ongoing, narco-fueled civil war occurring just a few dozen yards south of our border.


Bridge photo: Borderland Beat (Caution: graphic photos).


The Quintessential #Not2008Anymore Photo

Ouch:

This photo of the Obama’s big campaign kickoff rally in Ohio is making the rounds on Twitter.


#not2008anymore indeed.

Aside from the fact that the president has tried to divide Americans by class, ethnicity, religion, income, gender and other arbitrary segments, the critical factor in his political meltdown is clear.

He is an epic failure, from the economy to the "Arab Spring". Jimmy Carter breathes a little easier each night, knowing that he's only the second worst president in history.


And you want to be the guy to convince people that Republicans are waging a "War on Women"?

President Obama deplaned Air Force One to open his campaign today in Ohio and made a little "oopsie".


Oh, I forgot my wife!

But he's not self-absorbed or anything.


Scientific-like Analysis Reveals Elizabeth Warren's Complete Racial Background In an Easy-to-read Chart

SooperMexican's exquisitely detailed DNA analysis of Massachusetts Senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren makes for a fascinating illustration.


Looks like a rock-solid analysis to me.

It's a pity that legacy media can't use a similar approach to research George Zimmerman's racial background.

Oh, wait.


Shockingly, grassroots support for RINOs evaporates, leaving Dick Lugar grasping at straws (and Leftists)

Four days before the GOP primary, six-term incumbent Dick Lugar (R-IN) is in serious trouble, trailing Tea Party favorite Richard Mourdock by 10 points. Lugar, in his desperation to cling to power, has now turned to insulting Republicans and begging Democrats for support.

But, if he loses the primary, perhaps Lugar can run in the general as a Democrat:

The leftward drift of Democrats in the past couple of decades makes compromise increasingly untenable. Whatever basis there remained for genuine bipartisanship in Congress died during the second Bush term. The 2006 election brought into office a crowd of Democrats beholden to the far left, demanding radical measures on every issue from gay rights to global warming to health care. This was bad news for the Arlen Specter/Mike Castle type of “centrist” Republicans, just as it was for the Rick Boucher/Barron Hill type of “Blue Dog” Democrats, who were all but wiped out in 2010.

Liberal media types, always sympathetic to GOP moderates, like to portray the primary defeats of guys like Lugar as indicative of right-wing extremism among the Republican electorate, but the exact opposite it true: The problem is that the Democratic Party’s agenda is now so extreme that any Republican who tries to compromise with the opposition ends up embracing policies rejected by common-sense GOP primary voters.

Worse still, the establishment GOP -- the pretend conservatives like Eric Cantor -- have spent significant dollars trying to shore up Lugar's support. Why? Because they appear to be so out-of-touch with mainstream America and so addicted to power, that they have become infected with the same disease that has poisoned so many politicians.

They are in love with power, not serving the will of the people.

The questions Cantor and Boehner have to ask themselves are obvious:

• Is there some mystical grassroots support for RINOism that I've somehow missed all of these years?

• Has RINOism worked to stop the insane deficit spending of the radical Left?

• Is RINOism going to attract the base that helped orchestrate the 2010 wipeout of the Statist Left?

• Does RINOism address America's most crippling problems, from entitlement reform to a mandatory overhaul of the tax code?

No. No. No. And. No.

Compromise with people who want to "fundamentally transform" America -- i.e., destroy it -- is impossible if we are to honor our highest law, our institutions and traditions.

We must be resolute. We must continue to overthrow the RINOs in the Republican Party and to return the GOP -- and the country -- to its lawful roots. We must force this government to revere the Constitution, above their own petty whims. We must force this government to serve the people, not the other way around.

In November, Messrs. Cantor, Boehner, McConnell and the rest of the RINO panty-waists must be relegated to the back-bencher status they so richly deserve. Their foolhardy maneuvers, cowardice in the face of radical Leftists, and attacks on conservatives are all worthy of utter disdain by Republican voters.