Thursday, November 22, 2012

Larwyn's Linx: White House has ignored a dozen Congressional requests for information on Benghazi

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

Nation

W.H. has ignored a dozen Congressional letters on Benghazi: Nice Deb
Democratic Racial Physicists Discover New Racial Code Word: Ace
Boehner's Irony: RS

The Way Forward: Commentary
Los Angeles Following in the Footsteps of Detroit: PJM
We’re Doomed! Again!: Ledeen

Boehner: Hold up, the ObamaCare fight isn’t over yet: Hot Air
A radical suggestion about Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s vacated IL seat: RS
Romney Wasn't the Problem: Coulter

Economy

Let Obama be Obama: Hanson
Happy Thanksgiving! Unions Shut Down Traffic to LAX: Breitbart
The Right Time for a Carbon Tax Is Never: Foundry

Scandal Central

Susan Rice Doubles Down: GWP
The Other Benghazi Scandal: The Media's Performance: Ace
Rice defends comments on Benghazi attack: Fox

Media

The liberal anti-Semitic projection syndrome: Glick
Woman who posted photo of herself giving the finger to fallen heroes at Arlington fired: Twitchy
Obama Mocks Romney In Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon, Won't Comment On Gaza Ceasefire: BuzzFeed

Marco Rubio: A Hispanic Reagan?: Thomas
Dems Have Edge, but Presidency Still in Play: Barone
Republicans, 2016 contenders: Politico

Vogue Editor: Allen West’s “Coon Minstrely Theatre” An “Embarrassment To Blacks”: WZ
Newt was profoundly and fundamentally prophetic: LI
Gripes of a GOP Grunt: CFP

World

Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders admit missiles came from Iran: JihadWatch
Muslim Gang Rape Whitewashed in Britain: GoV
Will change in state pot laws change how drug cartels do business?: Fox

Defeated?: Matzav
Surprise: Obama forced Netanyahu to accept one-sided pro-Hamas 'cease fire': Matzav
Reports: Morsi Planning to Replace Prime Minister with Brotherhood Hardliner: Breitbart

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Hewlett Packard and Autonomy: notes from my Santangels presentation: Bronte Capital
Android tethering apps: 6 excellent options: PC World
Windows 8 — Disappointing Usability for Both Novice and Power Users: Jakob Nielsen

Cornucopia

America’s first experiment with communism: JPA
Loudon on Conservative’s Prospects: Loudon
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – Full Video: Glob

Image: Israel Hayom
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Trevor Loudon

QOTD: "Oh, Zionists, #Netanyahu's government dragging you for hell, you have the choice whether to stay in hell or escape, go back home in Germany.

We told you #IDF that our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are, "You opened the Gates of Hell on Yourselves"" --@AlqassamBrigade

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

HYPOTHETICAL FRONT PAGE: If the New York Times had bothered to report the news in 1943


Hat tips: Ace o' Spades and American Digest.

EVEN IN MASSACHUSETTS: Lawmakers Slam Obama Administration's Hard-Sell of Welfare Benefits for Aliens

The U.S. government is running trillion-dollar deficits every year. And the Obama administration is trying its level best to spend more on food stamps and health care benefits for illegal aliens:

‘Outrage’ over fed EBT push for aliens


Local lawmakers are fuming over an Obama administration policy promoting welfare and EBT benefits for immigrants, with a “welcome” package and promotional website that encourage new arrivals to take advantage of the nation’s generous government largesse.

...The fight over welfare for recent immigrants is unfolding in Washington, where a group of GOP senators has sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack demanding answers as to why food stamps and other welfare benefits are being promoted to new immigrants. The agency’s Welcome toUSA.gov website includes a comprehensive handbook directing immigrants on how to obtain food stamps, Medicare, disability and other taxpayer-funded aid...

“The federal government now is giving packets to people when they come to the United States ... that promote welfare benefits,” said U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican and ranking member of the Senate budget committee. “That is contrary to law and sound policy.”

...Sessions and three other GOP senators sent a letter to top Obama cabinet members in August asking how many people were given visas who are now on public assistance. A follow-up letter sent last month seeks to determine how much federal money is spent annually on food stamps for noncitizens, as well as explanations on why the USDA is actively promoting welfare expansion...

• The USDA signed a pact in 2004 with Mexico requiring 50 U.S.-based consulates to hand out information to Mexican nationals on how to obtain welfare and other benefits.

• The agency created a Spanish-language ad in which an individual is “pressured” into accepting food stamps, even though she says her family is self-sufficient.

• The USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — commonly known as food stamps — has a website that includes a “community outreach partner toolkit” that says local communities “lose out” when eligible people don’t apply for benefits. The site claims that boosting participation will generate billions in “new economic activity.”

A SNAP pamphlet says Electronic Benefits Cards, which allow welfare recipients to withdraw cash and pay for food and other items, “make it more difficult to commit SNAP fraud.” The ad also states: “Everyone wins when eligible people take advantage of benefits to which they are entitled.”

Another site gives SNAP recruiters tips on how to “overcome the word ‘no’” when seeking to sign up new recipients...

Are there no Democrats with virtue who will decry this madness?


Hat tip: Olli.

DUDE. Scientist invents... self-filling water bottle

Winning:

Inspired by a beetle that draws water from the air, scientist creates self-filling water bottle


The Namib Desert beetle lives in an area that only gets half an inch of rainfall per year, and so it draws 12 percent of its weight in water from the air to quench its thirst. NBD Nano co-founder Deckard Sorensen was inspired by the beetle to the point that he created a self-filling water bottle, which he hopes to bring to the market by 2014.

Every morning, the beetle climbs to the top of a sand dune, faces away from the wind, and ensures that water condenses in hydrophilic areas of its back. Eventually, the water flows to a storage area in the beetle.


To mimic nature, Sorenson layered a surface with hydrophilic and hydrophobic coatings, used a fan to pass air over the surface, and eventually managed to get water to condense. This eventually led to the design of a self-filling water bottle.

“We use nanotechnology to mimic this beetle’s back so that we too can pull water from the air,” Sorenson told PRI. “We see this being applicable to anything from marathon runners to people in third-world countries, because we realize that water is such a large issue in the world today, and we want to try to alleviate those problems with a cost-efficient solution. We are looking to incorporate this in greenhouses or green roofs in the immediate future, and then later on, we’re looking to see how far we can really scale this up to supply maybe farms or larger agricultural goals.”

Arguably the most remarkable part might be that fact that Sorenson insists the technology does not require much energy; he said the company’s showed how solar cells and a rechargeable battery can be enough. This means the device could potentially be attached to vehicles, buildings, or even a running human, and still be able to grab all the power it needs supply to move the air over the specially-coated surface...

Awesome idea.


EXCLUSIVE SPACKLE-VISION PHOTOS: Internal military emails reveal details on bin Laden's burial

Biff Spackle points us to this Fox News report, along with two exclusive photos:

Internal emails among senior U.S. military officers indicate that no sailors watched Usama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the ceremony.

...One email sent on May 2 by a senior Navy officer briefly describes how bin Laden's body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag... According to another message, only a small group of the ship's leadership was informed of the burial.

"Traditional procedures for Islamic burial was followed," the May 2 email from Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette reads. "The deceased's body was washed (ablution) then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body slid into the sea."

The email also included a cryptic reference to the intense secrecy surrounding the mission. "The paucity of documentary evidence in our possession is a reflection of the emphasis placed on operational security during the execution of this phase of the operation," Gaouette's message reads. Recipients of the email included Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. James Mattis, the top officer at U.S. Central Command.

...Although the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the bin Laden raid. In a response to separate requests from the AP for information about the mission, the Defense Department said in March that it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing bin Laden's body. It also said it could not find any images of bin Laden's body on the Vinson.

...The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of bin Laden's body if he were killed.

Fortunately, Biff Spackle also located an elusive photo of Bin Laden's real burial at sea.


Shhh. No one tell the most transparent administration evah.



Larwyn's Linx: CBS Implies James Clapper Lied to Congress About Benghazi Memo

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

Nation

CBS Implies James Clapper Lied to Congress About Memo: Power Line
Report: Contra CBS, Intel Community Didn't Alter Benghazi Memo: NRO
Krauthammer doubts Clapper edited Benghazi Talking Points: Blaze

Obama Campaign Saw Jon Huntsman As A Threat: OTB
West concedes election in spite of 'incredible voting irregularities': Exam
Utah-04 final canvass results (Update – Love loses by 768 votes): LI

Economy

Never Enough: Why the American Left Won’t Stop: CDN
Getting Our Money Back from Fannie and Freddie: Cato
Many Americans unaware of health-care law changes: WaPo

Surprise! GOP Governors Stonewall ObamaCare: Progressives Stunned: Cove
More ObamaCare Layoffs: Medical Providers Now Bracing for Impact: Hideout
Obama Thanksgiving: Food Pantry Sees 400% Increase in Demand: GWP

Scandal Central

There’s Willful Blindness, There’s Willful Stupidity...: Nice Deb
Is The Obama EPA Running Its Own Black-Ops Program?: IBD
Startup electric car company accuses Energy Department of corruption: Fox

Climate & Energy

Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new high in 2011: Behind the Black
Myths and Facts about Global Warming: Watts
Microgrids: a Disaster-Resistant Power Supply?: EmergencyMgmt

Media

Press Virtually Ignoring Lisa Jackson’s Illegal Use of ‘Alias’ Email Accounts for Official Business: BizzyBlog
How The Press Helped Obama Over The Finish Line: IBD
No, conservative media did not lose the election: LI

AP Story on Bridge Bomb Plotters' Sentencing Fails to Note Their Occupy Cleveland Ties, OWS Support: NB
Susan Estrich: I Voted for Obama, But I Didn’t Know He Was Gonna Raise My Taxes!: Powers
All about him: Obama’s birthday tweet to Biden is a pic of himself: Twitchy

Why I Post Non-Political Stuff (And Why The Right Should Engage the Culture In Non-Explicitly Political Ways): Ace
Report: Chris Christie surprised to find people not happy that he lavished Obama with praise before election: Hot Air
Levin blasts James Clyburn and Marcia Fudge for race baiting over Susan Rice opposition: Scoop

World

Has the US Administration Decided to Get Rid of Jordan's King Abdullah?: Gatestone
Reporter admits Hamas fired Fajr-5 at Jerusalem from right outside Shifa Hospital : Matzav
Meet Lindsey Stone, Self-Professed Douchebag: Wizbang

Is A Bigger War On The Horizon?: MagNote
Savages: Six Israeli "Collaborators" Executed, Dragged Through Streets in Gaza City: Atlas
Report: French officials accuse US of hacking Sarkozy's computers: Hill

Terrorist blows up bus in central Tel Aviv; 16 injured: JPost
PROGRESSIVE: Man being dragged behind motorcycle in Gaza for being an accused Israeli spy: Scoop
Chicago anti-Israel protesters cheer Iran’s example of “democracy and justice”: LI

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

HP says that it overpaid for Autonomy after management lied about its finances: NextWeb
Daily Download: Obama Spent 10 Times as Much on Social Media as Romney: PBS
Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now: NPR

Cornucopia

They Cracked This 250-Year-Old Code, and Found a Secret Society Inside: Wired
Bizarre muppet-like beast discovered: DailyTelegraph
Former boxing champion Hector 'Macho' Camacho shot in Puerto Rico; in serious condition: Fox

Image: Many Americans unaware of health-care law changes (WaPo)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: American Elephant

QOTD: "The current modus operandi by central banks and sovereign governments threatens to take us down Friedrich von Hayek's “Road to Serfdom”. Published in 1944, its message, that all forms of socialism and economic planning lead inescapably to tyranny, might prove to have been prescient. In the 1970s, when Keynesianism was brought to crisis, politicians were vociferously declaring that attempting to maintain employment through inflationary means would inevitably destroy the market economy and replace itwith a communist or some other totalitarian system which is the “perilous road” to be avoided “at any price". The genius in the book was the argument that serfdom would not be brought about by evil men like Stalin or Hitler, but by the cumulative effect of the wishes and actions of good men and women, each of whose interventions could be easily justified by immediate needs. We advocate social liberalism,but we also need to get there through fiscal responsibility. Pushing for inflation at this moment in time will wreak havoc on those countries whose cumulative debt stocks represent multiples of central government tax revenue..." --Kyle Bass

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

IT'S COME TO THIS: App Converts Any Photo Into Awesome Censored Nude Version, 60 Minutes-Style

And the four horsemen of the apocalypse were just spotted a couple miles south of town:

Nudifier: Turn Any Photo Into a Hilarious Censored Nude


The old cliche trick for getting over stage fright is to imagine the audience naked. We like to imagine everyone naked. That's what this app is for—except it censors out all the dirty bits and pieces.

What does it do?

Nudifier turns a photo of a fully clothed (or not) person (or animal) into a nude with TV-like pixel censorship around their private parts. Simply use the app's eyedropper to select the person's skin color, draw that color over their loins, and let the app turn that region into pixelation. Now share it with all your friends to the chagrin of the subject...

I can not confirm the Beltway scuttlebutt; i.e., that Joe Biden is the most prolific user of Nudifier.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com/Tech.

DEAR LEADER: His Philosophy on Creating Prosperity

The President explains his philosophy on creating jobs:


Yes, I know that zero-sum economics runs counter to all of human history. But these are Democrats we're talking about.


KYLE BASS ON THE COMING GLOBAL COLLAPSE: "Potemkin villages on a Jurassic scale"

Investor Kyle Bass made his first billion shorting the housing market just before the 2008 collapse. And his warnings about the current sovereign debt crisis appear just as prescient. The mathematics -- and his logic -- are unassailable.

In a nutshell: we are very close to the endgame of Keynesian can-kicking. Which means: the real crisis has yet to begin`.

...Converting all balances to USD, central bankers around the world have expanded their balance sheets beyond$13 trillion, from only $3 trillion ten years ago. Global central banks’ assets now comprise at least a quarter of all global GDP – up from only 10% in 2002...


...As investors, what do we think about the quadrupling of central bank balance sheets to over $13 trillionin the last ten years? It certainly doesn't make me feel any better to say it fast or forget that we moved ever so quickly from million to billion to trillion dollar problems. It has become increasingly clear over the last four years that the common denominator in policy response to financial crises is, and will continue to be, more central bank easing (printing money) to finance fiscal deficits. Let us recap the actions of three of the four most prominent, powerful and influential central banks in the world over the course of the last several weeks...


...Central bankers are feverishly attempting to create their own new world: a utopia in which debts are never restructured, and there are no consequences for fiscal profligacy, i.e. no atonement for prior sins.They have created Potemkin villages on a Jurassic scale. The sum total of the volatility they are attempting to suppress will be less than the eventual volatility encountered when their schemes stop working. Most refer to comments like this as heresy against the orthodoxy of economic thought. We have a hard time understanding how the current situation ends any way other than a massive loss of wealth and purchasing power through default, inflation or both...

...As each 100 basis points in cost of capital costs the US federal government over $150 billion, the US simply cannot afford for another Paul Volcker to raise rates and contain inflation once it begins...


...It took the United States 193 years (1789-1981) to aggregate $1 trillion of government debt. It then took 20 years (1981-2001) to add an additional $4.8 trillion and, in the last 10 years (2001-2011), a whopping $9.8 trillion has been added to the federal debt. Since 1981, the US increased its sovereign debt by 1,560% while its population increased by only 35%...


...Our belief is that markets will eventually take these matters out of the hands of the central bankers. These events will happen with such rapidity that policy makers won’t be able to react fast enough.

The fallacy of the belief that countries that print their own currency are immune to sovereign crisis will be disproven in the coming months and years. Those that treat this belief as axiomatic will most likely bethe biggest losers. A handful of investors and asset managers have recently discussed an emerging school of thought, which postulates that countries, as the sole manufacturer of their currency, can never become insolvent, and in this sense, governments are not dependent on credit markets to remain fiscally operational. It is precisely this line of thinking which will ultimately lead the sheep to slaughter...


...How many Japanese have questioned how (if ever) a quadrillion yen of debt will ever be repaid when it represents over 20X central government revenues? (Answer: it can't be)

Very few participants are aware of the enormity and severity of the problems the developed world faces. Those that are aware are frantically trying to come up with the next “solution” to the debt problems. In our opinion (which hasn't changed since 2008), the only long-term solution is to continue to expand program after program until the only path left is a full restructuring (read: default) of most sovereign debts of the developed nations of the world (a la late 1930s and early 1940s when 48% of the world’s countries restructured their debts)...

Sadly, looking back through economic history, all too often war is the manifestation of simple economic entropy played to its logical conclusion. We believe that war is an inevitable consequence of the current global economic situation...

Read the whole damn thing. Bass could be wrong, but I wouldn't bank on it.



HAMAS AND THE NAZIS: The Real History

The terror group Hamas has been making headlines for its thousands of missile attacks on Israeli cities over the last several months. Its parent group, according to NBC News, is the Muslim Brotherhood, the very same extremists currently governing Egypt. What the media fail to tell the American public is that the roots of Hamas and the Brotherhood lie with Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party, and the Third Reich.

The Brotherhood, too, has been in the news, most recently for its takeover of the Egyptian government, its invitation to the White House, and its shadowy ties to the State Department through longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. But what exactly is The Muslim Brotherhood?

Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has refused to use the word "terror", let alone "Islamic terrorism", when it comes to describing the unceasing series of attacks launched at the behest of a fanatical ideology.

In October 2005 President George W. Bush used the term “Islamic fascist” for the first time to describe the Muslim barbarians at war with the West. He denounced them as movements that have a “violent and political vision”, and call for “the establishment... of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.”

The Muslim groups which today seek to bring about a global totalitarian empire are not only fascists, but can trace their origins to Nazism and its genocidal ambitions.

The ideology of the Islamists whose ranks today include not only al-Qaeda but also Hamas and Hezbollah -- originated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. And the Muslim Brotherhood finds not just its roots, but much of its symbolism, terminology, and common cause deep within the origins of Nazism.

Hassan al-Banna (1906 - 1949) was born into the family of a poor watchmaker in southern Egypt. As a child, he was attracted to the extremist aspects of Islam, which were hostile to Western secularism and to its system of rights, particularly women's rights.

While still in his teens, the young al-Banna and friends (they referred to each other as ‘brethren’) met frequently to discuss the situation in the Middle East, to argue about the ills of Arab society, and to lament the decline of Islam. Their angst was in large part a reaction to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the end of the Muslim Caliphate, the British occupation of Egypt, and the resulting exposure of Arab society to Western values.

In order to strike back against these evils, al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. Among the perspectives he drew on to address these issues were the anti-capitalist doctrines of European Marxism and especially fascism.

The group expanded during the 1930’s as Al-Banna would describe, in inflammatory speeches, the horrors of hell expected for heretics, and consequently, the need for Muslims to return to their purest religious roots, re-establish the Caliphate, and resume the great and final holy war, or jihad, against the non-Muslim world.

...Read the Rest...

Larwyn's Linx: House Intelligence Chair: CIA Talking Points Were Changed By the White House

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

Nation

House Intel Chair: CIA Talking Points Changed By White House: Ace
Whodunnit? Benghazi Talking Points Mysteriously Changed: JOM
Benghazi-gate: Grounds for Impeachment: AT

E-Mail Security in the Wake of Petraeus: Schneier
Killing the Goose: Sowell
The GOP: A Most Unpopular Majority Party: DLim

GOP followed Rove off the cliff yet again: Beast
On the Ground in Philly: Dems Out-Hustled the GOP: Dossier
Liberals Begin Their War on Marco Rubio: Lid

Economy

Never Has Less Cost More: AmSpec
More Big Labor-induced misery: The looming port strike: Malkin
Obama Quickly Crushing the Hopes of Small Business: FreeWorks

“New study shows why heavily taxing the rich won’t work”: ProWis
The illusion of a recovery: Obamanomics in one graph: WyBlog
On Surviving The Monetary Meltdown: ZH

Europe is Now Sinking Fast: Martenson
2013 Looks a Lot Like 1937 in Four Fearsome Ways: Shlaes
How Students Are Forced to Prop Up the Education Bubble: Malcolm Harris

Scandal Central

GOP Urges Obama to avoid Rice nod for State – Call for Select Committee to Investigate Cover-up: Nice Deb
DHS Hides Records of Failed $1 Bil System from Congress: JW
Christie's Lt. Gov. embroiled in records scandal: Watchdog

Climate & Energy

Dirty Secrets at the EPA: Elephant
Cooling in the Near Future?: Watts
2013 Chevrolet Volt - Not Quite Electrifying: Forbes

Media

How the New York Times Covers Evil: Prager
Paul Krugman's Nostalgianomics, again: Cato
New York Times: Where FEMA Fell Short, Occupy Sandy Was There: Glob

Reporters Without Borders Shields Terrorists: Kesler
Obama Laments Not Having Dictator-Like Powers: WZ
Petraeus Biographer Regrets Damage Done by Affair: ABC

World

Operation Pillar of Defense (Day Six): BermanPost
One little reason Hamas deserves a lot more than the 200 tons of bombs they got today: JOdysseus
Hamas is wrecking Gaza with ‘friendly fire’: Twitchy

The real news: Melanie Phillips
Well, this is sure to help: Turkey calls Israel a “terrorist state”: Q&O
Islam creeping in Georgia: Creeping

Barack Obama blunders again on the world stage: Telegraph
Israel Defends Against Annihilation, World Tells Them To Use “Restraint”: Zilla
South pounded by rockets, but Israel to hold off on land war: Times of Israel

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Scientists estimate at least one third of marine species remain unknown to humans: Engadget
The legendary pivot: How Twitter flipped from failure to success: VenBeat
Windows Phone 8 Users Reporting Random Reboots, Freezing; Nokia, HTC Handsets Affected: Crunch

Cornucopia

We’re all Thai/Burmese/Myanmar Now: MOTUS
Bad News: The Human Race Has Been Getting Stupider For 10,000 Years: Ace
TEA Party to Gee-O-Pee Establishment: 'Yeah, It's a War- and You're Going to Lose It': Reaganite

Image: Israeli aircraft hit Hamas bank headquarters in Gaza
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Breitbart Children's Trust

QOTD: "Since the beginning of Israel’s operation Pillar of Defence last Wednesday against Hamas rocket attacks, there have been more than 1000 Israeli air strikes. At time of writing, the Palestinian death toll is 69. That is a staggeringly small number of fatalities for more than 1000 bombing raids.

It shows beyond doubt that the Israelis are not only doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties, but have achieved a degree of precision in doing so which no other army can match. For sure, every civilian casualty is regrettable, and the deaths of children are always tragic -- today’s apparently heavy toll particularly so, including at what appears to have been a mistaken target. Such mistakes inevitably happen in war.

But consider this: the very low casualty rate among Israelis from the thousands of rockets that have rained down on them from Gaza is largely due to the fact that Israel has provided its citizens with shelters to save their lives. In Gaza, by horrific contrast, the Hamas leadership has deliberately exposed its citizens to attack by siting its rocket arsenals among them in order to maximise the number of civilian men, women and children who will be killed." --Melanie Phillips

Monday, November 19, 2012

A Brief, Illustrated History of the Public Sector Unions That, Together With The Democrat Party, Are Waging War on the Taxpayer

Throughout American history -- and as recently as the 1950s -- there were no unions for government workers. Public-sector employees were expected to earn a bit less than their private-sector equivalents. The reasons they did so included an interest in public service, job security and reasonable benefits.

But that changed in the late fifties with New York City Mayor Robert Wagner's cynical appeal to the votes of city workers. He signed an executive order authorizing them to unionize, and soon other local and state Democrat legislators around the country followed his lead.

These efforts culminated in 1962, when President John F. Kennedy granted federal employees the right to collectively bargain. Since then, public sector union membership has skyrocketed while, in the private sector, unions have fallen out of favor.

In 2009, private sector union members were outnumbered for the first time by their public sector counterparts.

The historical basis of unions revolved around workers receiving a reasonable share of a company's profits. But that tenet is nonsensical when applied to public service. Governments don't make profits; they simply assess taxes.

The aims of public sector unions conflict directly with the interests of taxpayers.

And because it has been exceedingly hard to fight public sector unions, the salaries and benefits of public employees have skyrocketed in recent years. Since the election of Barack Obama, the number of federal employees making over $150,000 a year has more than doubled to over 10,000.

In 2009 government salaries jumped 2.4%, approximately twice the increase earned by private sector employees. In fact, the average salary of a federal worker is now $71,000, about $22,000 more than the average private sector employee.

Worst of all, public sector unions have negotiated pension plans that are proving financially untenable. Many allow workers to retire at age 55 at around their full salary in their final years of employment. These pensions often include inflation adjustments as well as lifetime free health care.

These plans are so outrageous that state retirement systems, for example, are currently underfunded by about a trillion dollars.

So how have public sector unions achieved these amazing results? The answer is the hundreds of millions of dollars that unions have donated to federal campaigns since 1990. Almost every single dollar went to Democrats or Democrat causes. In the 2008 election alone, some estimates put public sector union contributions to Democrats at $60 million.

These unions are also astroturfing for Democrats, providing slush funds to help liberal causes. An example is ThePartyIsOver.org, a faux populist website designed to discredit TEA Party activists.

The Democrats' health care bill, the 'Employee Free Choice Act' and the $800+ billion stimulus bill all contained payoffs to public sector unions. In fact, while the private sector has shed 8,000,000 jobs since the recession began, the number of public sector jobs has risen nearly every month -- led by President Obama's various spending programs at the federal level.

Public sector unions are killing our economic system and the American taxpayer. The debt unleashed by their outrageous benefits plans simply cannot be paid. The union bosses have lied to their members about lifetime benefits and they have betrayed the American people. Public sector unions must be disbanded and outlawed before more of our country begins to resemble Greece, Spain and other European countries.

Those countries are teetering on the brink of economic calamity, thanks to unions just like ours. And please observe that the union bosses and the Democrat Party could give a rat's behind about American taxpayers -- 20 percent of whom are currently unemployed or underemployed. They still want theirs.


Based upon: Amy H. Laff, StateBrief. Linked by: Mark Levin, The Washington Examiner, Ace o' Spades and TigerHawk. Thanks!

CHART: America's Road to Collapse

Suffice it to say that no country in history has ever survived a 195% debt-to-GDP ratio without devastating economic repercussions.

Yet that is the course Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi -- and the entire Democrat Party -- have charted for America.

A letter from 232 multi-industry organizations, in conjunction with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is calling on President Obama and Congress to restructure the nation’s entitlement programs and put them on a path toward financial sustainability...


...This year,federal government spending outlays totaled $3.6 trillion, while total revenue fell short at about $2.5 trillion. Mandatory spending—on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other social programs—accounted for 62 percent of total spending in 2012, and it is expected to rise to 67 percent of spending over the next 10 years. The letter links the rising costs of entitlement programs tochanging demographics, noting that “unlike other aspects of the entitlement debates, demographics are facts.”

...As the letter states, these indisputable demographics make it quite clear that Congress and the President have a job to do: fundamentally restructure the entitlement programs to ensure they are a true safety net for Americans today, as well as for future generations of Americans.

Suffice it to say that these cries for sanity and reform will go unanswered by Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

On this road lies ruin. And the Democrat Party has no concern for the children who will be sentenced to an economic catastrophe.

Is there no Democrat with virtue who will decry this madness?



YOU MOST LIKELY KNOW IT AS MYANMAR, BUT IT'LL ALWAYS BE BURMA TO ME: Creepiest Mural Ever Greets Obama

It looks more like a movie poster for Barack Obama, Vampire Hunter:

Oh, dear. The beautiful child farthest from the mural looks to be pointedly staring ahead. “Don’t make me look, don’t make me look, I can’t see you.”

Creepy seems to be the operative word here.


Creepier than Jim Messina, Axelrod’s creep-stache, the Obama #ForAll cult or Biden’s woman-handling and lap-sitting biker babe?

You decide.

The only thing I can figure is that it's satirical.


IT'S 1937 ALL OVER AGAIN: The Ongoing Obama Depression Will Continue Until Further Notice

When George Santayana said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it," he was describing ideologues like Barack Obama.

How else can one explain his desire to replay the Great Depression? Based upon Obama's policies, we're replaying the year 1937, just months after FDR's reelection to a second term. In short, FDR's incessant interference with the private sector and his commitment to the socialist-progressive principles of Stuart Chase turned out to be abject failures.

But Obama is replaying FDR's failed strategies to a tee.

...According to the BLS, real weekly earnings adjusted for inflation for Q3 2012 are the same as Q4 2007. Even worse, seasonally adjusted real weekly earnings for full time workers, all occupations, are at similar levels to the mid 1980's.


Overall, weekly earnings dropped -0.2% in October and since October 2010 have fallen by -1.8%. The above graph means 50% of workers are earning less than $332 per week in real purchasing power, accounting for inflation since 1982-194. Not adjusted for inflation, the median weekly earnings for all occupations was $765 in Q3 2012. Now think about rents of $1500+ a month in many cities and how 50% of all earners are making less than $765 per week, before taxes...


...[Above] is the real hourly wage, or adjusted for inflation since 1980. Again we see in terms of real dollars, workers aren't really getting ahead...

If Obama truly cared about "the middle class", he'd abandon his destructive policies that are literally crushing American families.

Individual taxes must be lowered, especially in the highest brackets, because business owners need the funds to hire more workers. Corporate taxes must be slashed and "double jeopardy" foreign profits taxes eliminated to attract money to our shores. The vast regulatory bureaucracy must be scaled back. And the out-of-control labor unions need to be brought to heel.

And government must spend less. Much, much less.

But the president won't change his disastrous progressive course and will instead continue on the road to economic misery. He is an ideologue who believes he has a "mandate" (51-49, mind you) to continue the Depression that will forever bear his name.


Update: Historian Amity Shlaes agrees: "2013 Looks a Lot Like 1937 in Four Fearsome Ways."

Larwyn's Linx: The Demographic That Matters

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Nation

The Demographic That Matters: AT
White House: We didn’t edit talking points given to Susan Rice: Malkin
Graham: ‘I Blame the President for Making this a Death Trap’: NRO

Susan Rice's Talking Points: WS
"Occupy" Bigwig Busted With Bomb Chemicals and Assault Rifles: GWP
National Suicide Hotline Was Busy: Six Meat Buffet

Who is ‘Richard Windsor’?: NRO
In Petraeus case, FBI detoured from usual path: ArmyTimes
The Party's Problem: Ponnuru

Economy

75% of Obamacare's costs will hit poor and middle-class: Knight
Ironic: Teamsters Called For Secret-Ballot At Hostess: RS
Oklahoma Doctors Versus ObamaCare: MB

Going Galt and the Neo-Comms: NoisyRm
The War on Women: R&R
Obama’s Failed Recovery: This Graph Should Scare You: Publius

Scandal Central

West Recount: 7 Registered Voters, 900 Ballots Cast: MinorityReport
Dem Party boss has 15 family members on gov't payroll: Marathon
Rep. Trey Gowdy Explodes At Libya Hearing: 'I Want To Know Why We Were Lied To': NewPoliticsNow3

Climate & Energy

Has the Government Gone Completely Nuts?: Elephant
House Republicans question EPA over secret email accounts: Hill
EPA refuses to waive ethanol mandate: Hill

Media

Bloggers Spot More Dead Child Fakery by Hamas; CNN Fooled: Breitbart
More Fake Photos From Hamas: Matzav
Dead Child Used for Terrorist Propaganda Was Killed By Hamas – Not Israel: GWP

Obama Three Days Ago vs. Obama Today: Ace
Mainstream Media Uncovers Looming “Fiscal Cliff,” Overlooks “Fiscal Abyss”: CDN
Time to begin our active battle with islamic terror, and against the leftists who support and finance it: WinterSoldier

World

It’s jihad against the Jews, stupid: Hayom (Blume)
Operation Pillar of Defense (Day Five): BermanPost
IDF assassinates head of Hamas rocket program: Matzav

Dismissing the Chinese fighter threat is dangerous and wrong: CDN
America, Israel, Gaza, the World: Mead
ABC reporter tells Israel Television about Gaza rocket fire from populated areas: Matzav

Pallywood Body Double: Steyn
A decisive conclusion is necessary: Gilad Sharon
IDF: Hey Ismail, we know where you're hiding: Matzav

Running for Shelter — On the Ground in Israel: RedAlert
LGF New Tune: Hurray for Pallywood!: RSM
Saudi Arabia Orders Entire Family to be Lashed: FPM

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Open Letter to fellow ex-Microsoftie Steven Sinofsky: KeithCU
Hounded By Recruiters, Coders Put Themselves Up For Auction: Forbes
Here is why Cisco bought Meraki for $1.2 billion in cash: GigaOm

Cornucopia

Maybe We Really Can’t All Just Get Along: RWN
Everybody Knows: MOTUS
Billions in bearer bonds could be lost due to Hurricane Sandy: Post

Image: MOTUS
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Day by Day Cartoon

QOTD: "In order to protect densely populated cities like Tel Aviv, Israel’s fifth iron dome battery was deployed two months ahead of schedule today — and it’s a good thing too. Sometime this afternoon while I was sitting in my room trying to write a paper for school (but really reading about incoming rocket attacks) the sirens in Tel Aviv went off.

My first thought? I don’t remember just clicking on a YouTube video of rockets, did I? My second: Oh my God that’s coming from outside! I immediately grabbed my keys and phone and ran out the door to the concrete stairwell where most of my neighbors were already standing.

“Is this real?!” I said to my neighbor.

“Yep, just stand right here and wait,” he said.

I don’t have a bomb shelter in my apartment, so we were told by the government to go to the stairwells that are often built similarly. I waited with shaky hands for the sirens to stop going off, and we all waited for the boom — whether it be a hit or the iron dome striking down the Iranian made Fajr-5 missile. I don’t think my heart has ever beat so quickly.

The whole time I was standing there I was trying to send live updates to my Twitter but found it challenging because of my shaking hands. After about two minutes, we heard a loud BOOM!" --Emily Schrader

Sunday, November 18, 2012

IT'S OFFICIAL: Nancy Pelosi Demands That American Small Businesses Fire 710,000 Workers

It's increasingly clear that Nancy Pelosi is suffering from a serious medical condition. My diagnosis is a catastrophic loss of brain cells caused by a plastic surgeon winding her skin ever tighter around her head like a noose.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she’s hopeful lawmakers can come to a deal to avoid a year-end “fiscal cliff” but any agreement has to include tax rate increases for the wealthy...


...The California Democrat says “just to close loopholes is far too little money” and other ideas have to be considered. Republicans have suggested they are open to finding more revenues.

And precisely what would such a tax hike "for the wealthy" mean?

According to the accounting firm Ernst & Young, the Obama tax hikes for incomes over $200,000 ($250,000 for married filers) would drain funds from the most successful small-business employers, who employ 54 percent of the private workforce...

Unemployment would rise 0.5 percent, which translates to 710,000 fewer jobs...

• Real after-tax wages would fall by 1.8 percent...

• GDP would fall by 1.3 percent...

• Capital stock and investment would drop by 1.4 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively

Pelosi and Obama are students of Alinsky. They want to "fundamentally transform" America. And the easiest way to accomplish this task is to repeat the failed Democrat policies of the Great Depression, over and over again.


Rep. Adam Kinzinger tries to teach Bill Kristol about conservatism, fails

Kinzinger makes a valiant effort, but explaining conservatism to a Beltway hack like Kristol is akin to teaching calculus to a cow:

Bill,

All this haggling over a tax rate made me realize one thing... We have failed to explain what conservatism really means.

Immigrants who have come here since Reagan have never had a strong spokesman for conservatism, and in a world where the prevailing worldview is through a spectrum of government, this concept is insanely foreign.

I don't care what tax rates are, they are all random number[s] derived from haggling and negotiations. What I want is a small government with a strong and fierce military that can kill our enemies and break their toys, legitimate safety nets that provide food and not a way of life, and some roads and bridges. Put that vision into action and set the tax rates at a percent that covers those costs. And once you have our payment, leave us the hell alone. That my friend, is conservatism.

The musings of a soon to be sophomore congressman.

Adam Kinzinger

Sent from my iPhone

Kristol's shrill cry to raise taxes on the businesses that employ more than half of the private sector proves that he is both an economic illiterate and an intellectual lightweight.

Kristol isn't a conservative: he's an entertainer -- and a piss-poor one at that.


CHART: The Top 10 Union Fat-Cats Who Destroyed 18,500 Jobs

No Twinkies for you:

These union boss salaries explain how the AFL-CIO–affiliated Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International got so carried away as to bleed Hostess Brands literally to death, throwing 18,500 people out of work and putting an end to the iconic Twinkie:


You can make a nice living as a parasite. On the down side, it only lasts until you have killed off your hosts.

Or, in this case, Hostess.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

And The Award For Best Gun Camera Footage Goes To...

The IDF!


The other nominees in the best gun camera footage category are here and here.


Hat tip: Dan from New York.