Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A Merry Dependent Christmas to You and Yours

An Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card resembles a typical credit or debit card. The EBT system is used to deliver "public assistance benefits", like the old food stamp program. It's ostensibly designed to simplify the delivery of benefits and reduce the stigma associated with using food stamps, but it is rife with fraud and abuse.

In Massachusetts, for example, nearly 90 percent of EBT benefits are withdrawn as cash.

Does it make any difference for the state to ban the use of EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards at tattoo parlors, strip joints or package stores if beneficiaries can use them to get cash from an ATM?

What difference does any kind of control on the use of the actual cards make if the benefit can accessed in cash?

...According to that EBT Commission report, 85% of EBT benefits, or $77 Million in a three month period between October and Dec. 2011, were translated into cash at ATMs.

So what difference does a ban on EBT cards at liquor stores, strip clubs and nail salons make if you can withdraw benefits in the form of cash? If the latest info on Twitter is any indication, none.



But, remember Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer: even though the entire system is collapsing, there's nothing to cut.


Hat tip: Flopping Aces.

Larwyn's Linx: 2012 Lie of the Year: Government is affordable

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

Nation

2012 Lie of the Year: Government is affordable: Hot Air
The March to Liberty: TL in Exile
Massive Response to Petition to Deport Piers Morgan: MB

The importance of prosecuting David Gregory...: LI
Do the coup on Boo-Hoo. Boehner, that's who: AWD
David Gregory's kids' school has 11 armed guards: Breitbart

Economy

Change: 712,000 Americans Fell Into Poverty Last Year: GWP
Spending to Increase 55 Percent Under Obama's Plan: WS
Gun Sales Set Hits Record Of 16.8M Background Checks: Breitbart

FDR policies prolonged Depression by 7 years: UCLA
Congratulations: California named worst "Judicial Hellhole": Exam
American dream fades for Generation Y professionals: Hot Air

Chicago Teachers Union offers class cutting help to members: Marathon
What Millions Want For Christmas: A Job: Mish
Fuzzy Numbers Drive Obama Hurricane Sandy Request: Foundry

Scandal Central

Holder imports more foreign Muslim terrorists to U.S. courts: Creeping
Erik Loomis' Twitter Timeline Available Dating Back to June 2012: AmPower
NY Newspaper Publishes Name, Address Of Every Handgun Owner In Nearby Counties: WZ

Climate & Energy

Yay! I've been included on an eco-terrorist assassination list! They were kind enough to include my address!: Adams
The Message Of Christmas Is Important For Hotcoldwetdry Or Something: Cove

Media

Krugman vs. … Krugman on doomsday cults and the national debt: AEI
More fact-free claims about austerity: Hayek
Sam Donaldson Tells Tea Partiers 'It's Not Your Country Anymore - It's Our Country': NB

Random Thoughts: Sowell
Sandy Clause: Hopenchange Cartoons
Piers Morgan wants ‘amendment to the Bible’ on gay marriage: Twitchy

The NRA plan is so stupid that 1/3rd of all public schools already use it: NRO
AP Cites Only 2.7 Percent Black Friday Weekend Rise After Trumpeting 7 Percent Weeks Ago: BizzyBlog
Getting into the eggnog? Fox Nation at it again, baffles followers with hilarious mistweet: Twitchy

World

Jews should never be without weapons — nor should anyone else: Bookworm
The Islamization of Germany in 2012: Gatestone
13 injured after Chinese man drives car with makeshift-explosives into students: Fox

First rocket launched from Gaza since Pillar of Defense cease-fire: Hayom
Mainstream Media Decides By Defending Itself Israel is Blocking Peace: Lid
Piers Morgan Deportation Petition Reaches 49,000 Signatures, White House Must Respond: Mediaite

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

2012: The year cloud computing took a bite out of IT: InfoWorld
Google's Biggest Hits and Misses of 2012: PC World
Spooks use internet and social media to advertise their skills: smh

Cornucopia

Merry Christmas from Mish and Darlene Love: Mish
Cutting the Cord, Part 1: Content: IMAO
Officials: NY gunman set 'trap' for firefighters: AP

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Announcing the 2012 Fabulous 50 Blog Award Winners

QOTD: "So many violent metaphors from the Apostles Of Nonviolence. And may I note that if teachers are too dumb and undisciplined (“mobs”) to be trusted with guns, then why, exactly, are they to be trusted with our children?" --Glenn Reynolds

Bonus QOTD: "I doubt David Gregory intended to violate D.C.’s ban on the possession or transfer of high capacity ammunition magazines when he waved around such a magazine during his interview of Wayne LaPierre yesterday... But assuming, as Gregory stated, that the magazine was for an AR-15, then why shouldn’t Gregory and the staffers to and from whom the magazine was transferred, be prosecuted? Particularly in light of Gregory’s aggressive demand for more guns laws.

...Why should NBC News and its star be above the law? There’s another lesson here.

Gregory’s possible violation of the law was exposed by the conservative blogosphere, which also pointed out that Gregory sends his kids to a school with armed security at the same time he was mocking the NRA suggestion of armed security in schools." --William Jacobson

Monday, December 24, 2012

THE CHUCKLEHEAD FACTOR: Whatever you do, don't blame Boehner, Cantor, or LaTourette for the demise of "Plan B"

Guess who's to blame for the embarrassing failure of John Boehner's "Plan B" to avoid the fiscal cliff?

You are. The Constitutional Conservatives and the Tea Party movement that brought Boehner into power:

Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette said that Boehner is not to blame for the stalemate, the Tea Party is.

“I don’t know what the number is but say the number is 40 out of 240 – that’s not a repudiation of his leadership. That’s the same 40, 50 chuckleheads that all year … have screwed this place up. And he has done everything in his power to make nice to them, to bring them along, to make them feel included, but it hasn’t mattered,” he said.

It's not because of Boehner's secret negotiations with Obama, bypassing the traditional committee process in formulating a deal:

House Speaker John Boehner reportedly had another secret meeting with President Barack Obama on fiscal cliff negotiations on Monday. This is the latest in a series of behind-closed-doors talks between the two.

On Friday and over the weekend, Boehner caved on the debt ceiling and on taxes enraging conservatives while failing to delight the president enough to cut a deal...

[This] was “their third conversation in the last five days.”

It's not because Boehner jammed a secret plan down the throats of the majority without even soliciting other opinions from Republicans:

...Leadership never worked with members in crafting Plan B. "We walked into conference" on Monday, one Republican member told me, "and we were told, 'Here it is. Here's what we're going to do.' "

"I don't think they ever really gave members an opportunity to weigh in," one House chief of staff told me. One Boehner ally suggested that rather than reach out to the rank and file, Boehner used Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as "proxies," to gauge conservative sentiment.

The conservative Republican Study Committee wanted a floor vote, during consideration of Plan B, on an amendment to permanently extend all Bush tax rates. Boehner quashed that idea...

It's not because Boehner purged fiscal conservatives from all positions of power a few weeks ago:

In a discouraging sign for conservatives hoping the GOP will stay true to the fiscally conservative Tea Party message that won in 2010, House Speaker John Boehner has reportedly removed several of Congress’s most outspoken fiscal hawks from committees dealing with fiscal matters, citing their unwillingness to be “team players.”

...With fiscal cliff negotiations at a stark impasse, this could signal that Speaker John Boehner believes he will be forced to accept a deal that contradicts fiscally conservative principles, possibly to a degree that the grassroots would see as problematic.

It's not because of an intransigent president who has no interest in negotiating in good faith.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal provides a detailed account of how the fiscal cliff talks “hit the wall.” The entire article is a must read, but one blurb really jumps out:

At one point, according to notes taken by a participant, Mr. Boehner told the president, “I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?”

“You get nothing,” the president said. “I get that for free.”


We’ve said all along that President Obama’s offers on the fiscal cliff were outrageous. That may have been an understatement.

No, it's not John Boehner's fault. It's the fault of the chuckleheads.

And what chucklehead got us into this mess in the first place? Oh, that's right: John Boehner, who squandered the historic Tea Party victories in the midterm elections of 2010. He rushed into a deal without even waiting for the new Congress to assemble, as then reported by The New York Times.


In every way, John Boehner has demonstrated a complete lack of vision, will and strategic thinking when it comes to facing the true economic cliff that this country faces.

But whatever you do, don't blame Boehner. Blame the chuckleheads.



Private Message to Steven LaTourette: You're a disgrace. We have an acolyte of Saul Alinsky who is trying to destroy the economy and you're talking about a tax increase that won't do anything to address the deficit nor save this Republic. Get your nose out of Boehner's kiester and think of your country for once, you hack.


CHANGE: In 2012, Generation Y voted to impoverish themselves

Good work, kids!

Generation Y professionals entering the workforce are finding careers that once were gateways to high pay and upwardly mobile lives turning into detours and dead ends. Average incomes for individuals ages 25 to 34 have fallen 8 percent, double the adult population’s total drop, since the recession began in December 2007. Their unemployment rate remains stuck one-half to 1 percentage point above the national figure.

Three and a half years after the worst recession since the Great Depression, the earnings and employment gap between those in the under-35 population and their parents and grandparents threatens to unravel the American dream of each generation doing better than the last. The nation’s younger workers have benefited least from an economic recovery that has been the most uneven in recent history.

This generation will be permanently depressed and will be on a lower path of income for probably all of their life — and at least the next 10 years,” says Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin, a senior research fellow at the university’s John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development...

Only one-fifth of those who graduated college since 2006 expect greater success than their parents, a Rutgers survey found earlier this year. Little more than half were working full time. Just one in five said their job put them on a career path...

Just one in five college graduates are on a legitimate career path?

Glad we found all of this out before the election.

Unless and until this country decides to vote for fiscal sanity, Generation Y -- and every subsequent generation -- faces a future that is decidedly bleak.

The endless class warfare, the untenable deficit spending, and the lack of leadership from the president all mean that the U.S. is destined to suffer a financial catastrophe the likes of which we haven't seen since the Thirties. We can look to Argentina for a recent example of a debt-fueled societal crisis.

Sorry, kids: it ain't gonna be pretty.


The Most Terrifying Photo You Will See This Fortnight

Your eyes are not deceiving you.


The topmost selection is a vending machine burrito that could very well be consumed this Christmas Eve.


Larwyn's Linx: The Perfect Prison

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

Nation

The Perfect Prison: Sultan Knish
Moving from an Emboldened Left in 2012 to a Legal Insurrection in 2013: LI
Avoiding Reality in the Gun Control Debate: Breitbart

Jazz Shaw’s The New Horizon on Gun Control: PatriotPerspective
Democrat Think-Tank: We Should Confiscate Guns: Loudon
The NR-F Minus: Six Meat Buffet

It's Time for Media Control: RWN
Cory Booker: “Criminals... killing people. Not [the] law-abiding”: JWF
California lawmakers train sights on gun ownership: Greenhut

Economy

Top GOP Senator: the "President Is Eager to Go Over the Cliff": GWP
How much did taxpayers lose in Obama’s GM bailout?: Knight
Worst of all worlds — all debt, no degree: CI

Here Comes the Cliff: Barone
Obama Gives Amnesty to Criminal Illegals and Illegals Under 30: Sentinel
The NLRB's Union Bonus: WSJ

Scandal Central

Hanoi John Kerry, Tax Evader: MB
Democrat Officials in MD, NJ, NY and MA Face Prison Time for Voter Fraud: GWP
The coming drone attack on America: Guardian (Naomi Wolf)

Climate & Energy

EPA offers hints on fracking’s future: Times

Media

Why Does Anyone Need An Assault Rifle?: PatriotPerspective
‘How Dare You Let Your Mental Illness Disturb My Gun-Control Narrative?’: RSM
Wall Street Journal columnist explains on Twitter how to deport Piers Morgan: DC

Gregory Mocks LaPierre for Proposing Armed Guards, but Sends Kids to High-Security School: WS
Kwanzaa Is A Fraud of A "Holiday" Created With A Fascist Goal: Lid
Obama Saves Earth From Apocalypse: What's Next?: Cube

Scenery chewing in the Theater of Outrage over Wayne LaPierre's unremarkable news conference.: Althouse
Tagg Romney: My Father Wanted To Be President Less Than Anyone: Breitbart
Meet the woman who got fired for being irresistible: Greenroom

World

Netanyahu: On Jerusalem, I don't care what the UN says: Hayom
U.S. Press Won't Report That Egypt's Constitution Is Sharia-Based -- And Socialist: Blumer
Barack Obama wimping out on Chuck Hagel?: Moe Lane

More statistics that prove gun homicides haven’t gone down in Britain: Scoop
What Happened When Guns Banned in Australia: MagNote
Yen Declines Following Shinzo Abe's Threat to Change Japanese Law; An Idle Threat?: Mish

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

NYPD to probe internet to detect future shooters: IT News Australia
World's Oldest Wooden Water Wells Discovered: NatureWorldNews
The Truth About Psych Drugs: WheelGun

Cornucopia

Thoughts On Gun Control From The Late Paul Harvey: Wolf Howling
Sweets, Treats and Tweets: MOTUS
Meet 1912’s Perfect Woman: Pear-Shaped, 171 Lbs, Doesn’t Know Fear: Jezebel

Image: This Is Why Launching Fireworks From a Hot-Air Balloon Isn’t the Best Idea
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Happy Post-Non-Apocalypse!

QOTD: "Senate Democrats have been avoiding tough votes on fiscal issues for some time. They haven’t passed a budget resolution for three years, though the budget act requires them to do so.

That likely reflects a reluctance to make their policies clear to the public and, perhaps, differences in their caucus making it as hard for them to muster a majority as it was for Boehner Thursday night.

Are we going over the cliff? Looks like it to me." --Michael Barone

Sunday, December 23, 2012

10 DIABOLICAL FISCAL FACTS: What the Talking Heads Refuse to Discuss

I simply cannot comprehend the malfeasance of the media in discussing America's fiscal situation.

This includes the entire spectrum of commentary, from the usual suspects on MSNBC to Fox News Sunday.

10. The President's desired tax hikes -- raising taxes on "the rich", those with an income over $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples) -- would pay for just 8 days of the federal government's operation.

9. The President's one-time, emergency Stimulus package of around $900 billion, passed in 2009, became part of the baseline federal budget and has been spent every year since.

8. According to The Wharton School, "The federal government ran annual deficits well above $1 trillion in 2009, 2010 and 2011... the largest deficits since World War II" as a percentage of GDP.

7. The federal government is spending so much more than it takes in that it is now forced to borrow 42 cents of every dollar it spends. This is an unsustainable rate -- and higher taxes do nothing to limit spending.

6. The Federal Reserve is now buying nearly all (90 percent-plus) of the United States' newly issued debt in order to keep interest rates artificially low. In other words, the federal government is essentially loaning itself money by printing what it needs.

5. Again, according to Wharton, "Rising rates would cause severe problems for the U.S. government. The bulk of Treasury bonds in circulation have maturities of less than five years, which will require existing debt to be refinanced with new debt at higher interest rates. That will increase the government's debt-service costs."

4. Even under a best case scenario -- one in which interest rates gently rise to historically normative levels -- the U.S. will be forced to pay $5 trillion in interest payments alone over the next decade. Under other scenarios, the federal government would simply have to default on its obligations.

3. A recent conference of experts explored the ramifications of a federal default. In short:

Trillions of dollars of losses would roar through the world economy like a tsunami, damaging Treasury investors, including governments, corporations, pension and insurance funds, individual investors and people who own mutual funds. Panic would undoubtedly harm other types of investments as well, including stocks and real estate. And if the government wanted to borrow in the future, as it most likely would at some point, it would have to pay much higher yields to attract investors. As higher rates worked through the markets, state and local governments, corporations, homebuyers and other consumers would face higher rates as well.

2. A Treasury default would be so devastating that the entire financial sector could well be obliterated.

1. In the words of investor Kyle Bass, "The developed world faces a day of reckoning. It is time to act."

Where are the adults?

We face a real fiscal cliff; not the one you hear about from the talking heads, but a collapse that will devastate seniors, the poor and urban centers most of all.

And there doesn't appear to be a single pundit or politician capable of explaining this impending disaster.


Infographic: Addogram.

Progressive Follies [Big Fur Hat]

Two posters from Big Fur Hat at iOwnTheWorld:


Click here to see both.


Hat tips: iHateTheMedia and BadBlue News.

WHAT, ME WORRY? White House Chef Travels to Hawaii to Help Cater Presidential Vacation

When details of the Obama family's 20-day, $4 million vacation were recently revealed, one crucial aspect was omitted: the President is flying the White House chef to Hawaii.

President Obama’s vacation in paradise includes an element that may be making his time there even more fulfilling: the White House chef.

Sam Kass, the tasty-health-food guru the Obamas added to the White House kitchen in 2009 – they didn’t fire the old chef, just added a second – revealed his presence in Hawaii Saturday when he showed up on the golf course with the president.

It’s not clear if Kass hopped a ride aboard Air Force One or if he is staying with the Obamas and cooking for them. But it wouldn’t be surprising, given that he was their personal chef in Chicago for two years before moving to Washington to continue preparing their meals.

Nevertheless, the Obamas dined out with friends last night, heading to one of their favorite hangouts, the high-end Japanese fusion restaurant Morimoto.

Fortunately, there are no pressing matters of concern that need to be resolved before the end of the year, certainly none that would require the President's presence in Washington.


USEFUL IDIOT DAVID GREGORY: Faces a Year in Prison for Waving Around a High-Cap Magazine on "Meet the Democrat Press"

Your Honor, in the matter of District of Columbia versus David Gregory, I would like to submit into evidence Exhibit A for the prosecution.

Meet the Press’s studios are located in Washington DC. This morning on “Meet the Press”, David Gregory decided to wave around a 30-round AR-15 magazine.

From DC’s gun laws:

DC High Capacity Ammunition Magazines – D.C. Official Code 7-2506.01:

(b) No person in the District shall possess, sell, or transfer any large capacity ammunition feeding device regardless of whether the device is attached to a firearm. For the purposes of this subsection, the term large capacity ammunition feeding device means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition...

Penalties:

It is also illegal to possess, sell or transfer any “large capacity ammunition feeding device.” A person guilty of this charge can be sentenced to a maximum fine of $1000 and/or up to a year imprisonment. D.C. Criminal Code 7-2506.01.

The incident was all part of David Gregory's blatant advocacy journalism, designed to advance the totalitarian and unconstitutional agenda of restricting access to firearms by law-abiding citizens.


The best response to Gregory's biased idiocy?



To paraphrase someone on Twitter, if it's Sunday, David Gregory's doing a crappy job on Meet the Democrat Press.


Hat tips: Twitchy and Katie Pavlich.

#Fab50: Announcing the 2012 Fabulous 50 Blog Award Winners

The moment you've been waiting for is here.

The votes are in. The anxious nominees' fingernails have been chewed down to the quick.

Winner - 2012 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards And at least one blogger just excused himself to go to the bathroom (number two, apparently, based upon the length of time he's been gone).

So we're more than pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards, the most prestigious new media awards in the conservative blogosphere.

Or, at the very least, in the 993 area code.

These awards recognize a variety of blogs and websites operating in the conservative hemisphere of the Internet, all of which have worked tirelessly to protect America from Statism -- some in very unique ways.

So, without further ado, may I have the envelopes, please?


Larwyn's Linx: Confirmed: John Boehner Is In Over His Head. Way Over His Head

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

Nation

Confirmed: John Boehner Is In Over His Head. Way Over His Head: Ace
World Still Here, But Obama Isn’t: Tatler
House GOP Circulates Plan to Oust Boehner: Breitbart

The Art of the Left Hook: Guns, Humanity, and Politics: BlackFive
Vain search for meaning in massacre: Steyn
The Climate of Fear and Powerlessness: CDN

How They Disarmed Our British Cousins: RWN
Obama Uses Funeral Service to Talk About Himself: WS
Reagan warned us about Obama: MB

Economy

2012 US economic year in review: 75 statistics of futility: PolFi
“The 10 Things In Economics That Everybody Should Know”: RWN
American History Not Required: CI

Federal Budget Process is Broken: Foundry
Big Business and Marxist Collusion – Bourgeois Socialism: Loudon
“The Collapse of Startups in Job Creation”: RWN

Scandal Central

Benghazi Questions, State Department Answers: RWN
East St. Louis Councilwoman, Boyfriend Charged in Beating of Elderly Best Buy Employee: GWP
Obama Golfing in Hawaii With Pal Arrested in Prostitution Sting: ABC

Climate & Energy

Obama releases first part of new regulatory agenda, drawing criticism from supporters, critics: Fox
I send Michael Mann a free WUWT calendar as a Christmas gift, and he goes full conspiracy theory: Watts
EPA issues air pollution standards for boilers and cement plants: LAT

Media

New York Times: GOP Unwilling to Acknowledge Obama’s Godhood: Moran
Herman Cain: The New York Times Is a "Racist Newspaper": Breitbart
Left Ridicules Democrat President's Cops in Schools Idea: MenRec

Celebs in Industry That Glorifies Violence Demands a Government Plan to Fight ‘Gun Culture’: Powers
Time Managing Editor Admits ‘Low Information’ ‘Morons’ Reelected Obama: Black & Right
How gun control "progresses" in Oregon.... AR-15 sale by AR-15 sale, that's how...: WinterSoldier

NY Times Really Upset Over Concealed Carry Laws: RWN
Nugent to Piers Morgan: Suck on my machine gun: Kenn's Videos
‘Three Strike’ Mental Illness Violence Law May Have Prevented Adam Lanza Slaughter: CDN

World

Lucky Man: Former Spook
CAIR Leader Calls For Destruction Of Israel: WZ
Egypt Opposition Alleges Vote Fraud in Referendum: ABC

Top House Dem Engel: Hagel has 'endemic hostility' toward Israel: Matzav
North Korea could have U.S. within missile range, says South: Reuters
Tipping point in Syria edges closer as West sees signs of Assad's demise: Haaretz

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Facebook Recruiting Feedback: FRF Blog
Illegal Social Networking Parties On The Rise Around Southland: CBS LA
Turn your Raspberry Pi into a tiny Linux laptop: PC World

Cornucopia

The Creche by the Side of the Road: American Digest
Firing Workers For Being Too Sexy Approved By Iowa Supreme Court: OTB
“I’ll have what she’s having!”: iOTW

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: COMING SOON: The 2012 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards... #fab50

QOTD: "Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn't reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were at fault.
At one point, according to notes taken by a participant, Mr. Boehner told the president, "I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?"

"You get nothing," the president said. "I get that for free." --WSJ via Ace

Saturday, December 22, 2012

NOSTALGIA: My Favorite Food Stamp Tweets of December

But there's nothing to cut.



But, hey: let's get a few more trillion in debt. What could go wrong?


S*** JUST GOT REAL: The 10 Most Terrifying Economic Numbers

The modern progressive movement has no understanding -- zero comprehension -- of how bad things are going to get when the inevitable federal default occurs. Borrowing 42 cents of every dollar you spend only works for so long.

And when interest rates climb, as they inevitably will, a default on the federal debt is all but certain. After the subsequent financial reckoning, the deep blue cities that blithely support economic illiteracy will be among the hardest hit.

Tyler Durden, one of the few voices for sanity in a world headed for economic suicide, lists 75 ominous economic stats. My personal top ten:

10. In December 2008, 31.6 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, a new all-time record of 47.7 million Americans are on food stamps. That number has increased by more than 50 percent over the past four years, and yet the mainstream media still has the gall to insist that “things are getting better”.

9. Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today, about one out of every 6.5 Americans is on food stamps.

8. Median household income in the U.S. has fallen for four consecutive years. Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.

7. When you total up all working age Americans that do not have a job in America today, it comes to more than 100 million.

6. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be either “low income” or impoverished.

5. Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percentof all men in the United States have jobs.

4. The average amount of time that an unemployed worker stays out of work in the United States is 40 weeks.

3. An all-time record 49 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives financial assistance from the federal government. Back in 1983, that number was less than 30 percent.

2. When you account for all government transfer payments and all forms of government employment, more than half of all Americans are now at least partially financially dependent on the government.

1. It is being projected that half of all American children will be on food stamps at least once before they turn 18 years of age.

But we're in a recovery! The people have spoken! Forward!


Image: @NF3L.

UTOPIA: Government-Run Health Care At Its Finest

Here's tomorrow's front page of London's Sunday Telegraph:


This kind of tragedy is the inevitable result of massive, unaccountable, unelected, bureaucracies that brook no competition and shield the incompetent and inattentive worker.

Sadly, the destiny of our health care system under Obamacare is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow morning.


FINALLY: House GOP Circulates a Plan to Oust Boehner

Matthew Boyle, writing at Breitbart, offers the best description I've ever seen on the inner workings of the House.

A coup appears to be in the works after John Boehner's two-year track record of failed leadership: repudiating the conservative base that brought him the Speakership; punishing Tea Party Republicans; abandoning first principles; and failing to address America's catastrophic spending problem.

[House s]taffers have compiled a detailed action plan that, if executed, could make this a reality.

The Republicans, both conservatives and more establishment members alike, are emboldened after the failure of Boehner’s fiscal cliff “Plan B” on Thursday evening. Dissatisfaction with Boehner is growing in the House Republican conference, but until now there hasn’t been a clear path forward...

...[T]he first step is to re-establish the election of the Speaker of the House by secret ballot, rather than by a public roll call vote. That’s because the members who would oppose Boehner, if there ended up not being enough votes to achieve their desired result or if Boehner scared via threat or coaxed via prize some of the opposition into voting for him, would be sitting ducks for retaliation in the near future.

...To establish a secret ballot election for Speaker of the House, one Republican member will need to step forward and introduce a resolution on the House floor on the morning of January 3, 2013, before any other business takes place. Those close to this plan are convinced that a member will step forward and introduce this resolution... the first order of business is for the House to elect a Speaker...

...[I]f a member introduces that resolution for a secret ballot, the whole House will vote on that first. That vote will need to have a public roll call, meaning the American people, the press, and Boehner will know who voted which way. Even so, those who are considering this path forward to unseat Boehner know that Boehner and other establishment Republicans can’t legitimately oppose the concept of a secret ballot election for a leader of a political body [because of widespread GOP opposition to union "card check" tactics].

...If a secret ballot election for House Speaker is established, step one of this plan against Boehner is complete.

...The second step of the circulated plan would require enough GOP members to band together and vote for somebody other than Boehner as Speaker... [for] someone to win the Speaker election, they’d need to secure 217 votes – or a majority of everyone voting... The House would continue having multiple elections throughout the day on January 3 until it agreed upon a new Speaker.

Republicans need not worry about handing the Speakership over to Nancy Pelosi or some other Democrat in this process, either. “Don’t worry about Speaker Boehner losing GOP votes in a secret ballot..."

It is still not possible for Pelosi to become Speaker even with 100 % of Democrats united behind her and a split GOP vote. The reason is to become Speaker it is not enough to win a plurality. One must win an absolute majority of all votes cast for an individual.

...even if all 201 Democrats vote Pelosi, Boehner gets 1 vote, and the remaining 233 Republicans each vote for a different individual, Pelosi does not win. Pelosi would need 218 to reach a majority of the 435 votes cast for an individual. Since Republicans have a 33 vote advantage in the House, the only way Pelosi wins is if 17 Boehner opponents affirmatively vote Pelosi or abstain rather than simply vote for an alternative candidate. Both these scenarios are easily avoided...

Rumor has it that Paul Ryan's name is being circulated. I believe he is one man who gets it; and who could unite the conservative base as well as the establishment.


Larwyn's Linx: Boehner Must Resign

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

Nation

Boehner Must Resign: RS
Why Republicans Failed: P&F
How to downsize the federal government: AT

No agreement short of a complete sellout can be reached by year-end: LI
Leaders are people with followers: RSM
Just How Badly John Boehner Played His Hand: RS

An opinion on gun control: Correia
Andrew Cuomo: Gun Confiscation ‘Could be an Option’: JWF
Is it True Armed Civilians Have Never Stopped a Mass Shooting?: WS

Just How Badly John Boehner Played His Hand: RS
In 2000 Bill Clinton Wanted Cops in Schools Because of Columbine: Lid
Truism: WZ

Economy

If You Need Further Proof That Unions Control The Democratic Party: Glob
Disability growth outpaced job growth under Obama by 4 to 1: IBD
OOPS: Clinton implemented armed cops at schools in 2000: Tatler

What, me worry? Obama jets off to Hawaii for 20 days: GWP
Terrorist Bill Ayers: Left Must Use Education Monopoly: Blaze
The Smutty Professor: College Insurrection

Scandal Central

EPA Under Investigation for Using Fake Emails to Hide Info: JW
Quick dirty review of 2012 election fraud: JPA
Rubio Grills Deputy Secretary of State During Senate Hearing: Shark

Climate & Energy

The Domino Effect of Green Energy Failure: Beacon

Media

Two Possible Futures for the Ancien Regime: Driscoll
Obama’s Media Parrot Demolished on CNN: AIM
Mark Levin: Conservatives saved the Republican Party from itself: Scoop

Your Scary-Ass Chart of the Day: Driscoll
Laura Ingraham: Sources Say Paul Ryan to Replace John Boehner as Speaker: GWP
Obama’s Dangerous Record on Gun Control: Lubbock

Hot Mic: Reporters caught mocking NRA press conference but praising Code Pink demonstrations: Scoop
Gutfeld Hammers NYT’s Adolph Reed: RSM
Breitbart.com Star Dana Loesch Sues Site: BuzzFeed

World

More Than Just Another Cartoon: AmSpec
Soviet Accident Prevention Posters: The Back Story: Cube
Antisemitic Iranian Articles On Connecticut Shooting: Victims and Shooter Were All Jews: MEMRI

Defense Budget Priorities: Opting for American Decline: Foundry
Iran Gets Missile Shield: CDN
Marines’ new alcohol policy strictest in U.S. military: ArmyTimes

Court: Illegal Aliens Don’t Have 2nd Amendment Rights: JW
Sacre Bleu! The Collapse of French Pensions: Mead
Ex-Marine Jon Hammar back on US soil after release from Mexico prison: Fox

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Hollywood’s culture of murder and death: Flopping Aces
UK Could get Compulsory Porn Filters: Zeropaid
How 10,000 Contracts Crashed The Market: Last Night's E-Mini Flash Crash: ZH

Cornucopia

Above and Beyond: C&S
Christmas “Gouls” and Goulash: MOTUS
Reader reactions to 'Jack Reacher': The fans are furious: LAT

Image: NASA Johnson Style
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Larry Correia

QOTD: "Gun Free Zones are hunting preserves for innocent people. Period.

Think about it. You are a violent, homicidal madman, looking to make a statement and hoping to go from disaffected loser to most famous person in the world. The best way to accomplish your goals is to kill a whole bunch of people. So where’s the best place to go shoot all these people? Obviously, it is someplace where nobody can shoot back.

In all honesty I have no respect for anybody who believes Gun Free Zones actually work. You are going to commit several hundred felonies, up to and including mass murder, and you are going to refrain because there is a sign? That No Guns Allowed sign is not a cross that wards off vampires. It is wishful thinking, and really pathetic wishful thinking at that." --Larry Correia

Friday, December 21, 2012

OH, IT'S ON: How to have Santa send personalized messages to your friends and family members

What could be cooler than getting a personal call from Santa?

It's that time of year again: Time to send someone a personalized holiday call from Santa Claus. The jovial St. Nick (or, well, Google) asks you a few questions then creates a customized message you can send by phone, email, or Google+.


It's a fun little holiday tool that you can send to anyone, seeing as some choices for your recipient's occupation include "accountant," "IT guy," and "Sith master." Besides Christmas, you can choose the celebration to be "winter," "the season," and "staying warm," among others. (I'm fond of the nickname suggestions, such as "home skillet" and "schmoopie.")

Note that personal phone calls are available to North American phone numbers only and during the day

Click here to have Santa place a call.


SHANNON WATTS, FOUNDER OF "MOMS FOR GUN CONTROL", SLAMS BILL CLINTON: Sent Armed Guards into Schools in 2000

The hypocrisy of the would-be tyrants on the Left never fails to amaze. Case in point: one Shannon Watts, founder of "One Million Moms for Gun Control".

Gun-control advocates reacted with incredulity at the statements by Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, at his Friday press conference. LaPierre called for armed guards in every school in the nation and blamed violent media, video games, films and music videos, not guns, for violence in society.

"It was absolutely outrageous,' said Shannon Watts, who founded One Million Moms for Gun Control just five days ago. "They are about to see a tsunami of 84 million angry moms coming out at them. Angry moms like they have never seen before. We are going to do for gun control what Mothers Against Drunk Driving did for drunk drivers...

...We understand about the Second Amendment, but it was written in 1791, before AK47s." America needs common sense, she said.

In response, George Washington commented from the afterlife:

Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth... from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable... the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.

Shannon Watts is a nincompoop, who must ignore the hundreds of millions of innocent civilians killed by their own governments in the 20th century alone in her inane quest to trade liberty for security, which will secure neither.

Actually, I made that last sentence up. The rest was all George.

Now, among the multitude of reasons that Shannon Watts is a nincompoop, is the fact that Bill Clinton actually implemented armed cops at at schools in 2000.

Only Barack Obama cut the funding for it. Oops.

The NRA came out with a proposal to post armed police officers at schools to prevent or at least minimize the next school shooting. The left promptly called the idea nuts.

Turns out, it wasn’t a new idea. President Bill Clinton proposed the same idea in April 2000. He implemented it, too, only to see Barack Obama cut the funding for it.

So, if you’re keeping score, the NRA agrees with a 12-year old Bill Clinton position on school security. The left just called a former Democrat president “crazy.”

...The NRA today proposed protecting our children to a level similar to the way we protect our banks and many public buildings: With armed security. As we’ve established, this idea has been around for more than 12 years and was once proposed by a Democratic president. Many on the anti-gun left responded to today’s proposal not with a thoughtful rejoinder, but with calls to shoot Wayne LaPierre.

For students of history, I wonder whose counsel is more valuable: Shannon Watts -- or America's founders?


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

THE NEW MAGAZINES ARE HERE! THE NEW MAGAZINES ARE HERE!

The feckless platitudes of politicians and pseudo-pundits have kicked off the greatest gun-buying frenzy in recent American history.

On Saturday, anticipating the idiocy, I ordered a half-dozen magazines only two of which arrived today.


Of course, the real reasons for these tragic massacres won't be discussed inside the Beltway.