Wednesday, November 27, 2013

"GRAVITY 3-D" REVIEW: Escape From Soyuz -- and Reality

SPOILER ALERT: There are basically three actors in the entire, two-hour movie: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and a whole buncha scary space.

On a mission into Earth orbit on a space shuttle, a veteran astro-jockey (Clooney) is paired with an attractive scientist (Bullock). Bullock's job is to repair a malfunctioning Hubble-style telescope while Clooney tests a new jet-pack, but their mission is suddenly aborted when a nearby satellite explodes, sending deadly shrapnel hurtling through space.

The resulting storm of debris smashes the shuttle and everything nearby, detaching Bullock from her lifeline and hurtling her into the dark abyss of space.


Bullock's panic attack is becalmed by the soothing voice of Clooney, who appears no more fazed by the catastrophe than he would be by a strong breeze on Earth. Clooney is able, through some unexplained process, to locate Bullock and then retrieve her.

But they return to a shuttle that has been utterly devastated; its other passengers have been shredded in their spacesuits or frozen to death thanks to gaping puncture wounds in the fuselage.

Thankfully, the International Space Station (ISS) is within jet-pack distance and he hauls Bullock that-a-way while playing country music and amusing her with a cornball repartee. As they near ISS, the orbiting debris returns and once again nearly rips the pair apart.

Anchored to ISS only by a single strap and having grasped Clooney's tether, Bullock tries to haul him in. Sensing that she's losing her purchase to ISS, Clooney sacrifices himself to the dark void, severing the tether while reciting gangsta rap from the nineties. Maybe I made that last bit up, playa.

Before he disappears from sight, Clooney is able to direct her to the ISS airlock. With almost no oxygen left, Bullock hauls herself to safety inside the massive space station. ISS has already been abandoned because of the debris, leaving only a single Soyuz docked to it.

The sanctuary is short-lived, however, as a fire has begun to break out. With only seconds to spare, Bullock secures herself in the Soyuz only to find that it, too, is damaged.

Good news: a Chinese orbiter is nearby. Bullock endures a harrowing ride to that vessel and, after a number of near catastrophes, is able to descend to Earth in one of the Chinese capsules.

Exhausted yet? The visual effects are stunning, but if you stop to consider all of the coincidences necessary to pull off the plot-line, you'll probably come to the same conclusion I did. With her luck, Bullock should spend more time at the craps table than in space.

Rating: 14 1/2 stars out of 22 1/3.

100 MILLION "ANECDOTES": Cancer-Stricken Patients Lose Their Insurance Plans and Doctors Thanks to Obamacare

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

CancelCare: Dismissed as anecdotal exceptions, as many as 80 million people with employer health plans, like a Virginia cancer patient, now find their coverage being canceled because it doesn't comply with ObamaCare.

Debra Fishericks, who has been working for the past 10 years at Atkinson Realty in Virginia Beach, has been frantically scouring Healthcare.gov for a plan that fits her.

But she's finding, like so many others, that premiums and plans like the one she had are out of her price range.

Fishericks is battling kidney cancer, and while one of the benefits of ObamaCare was supposed to be that people with pre-existing conditions could not be denied insurance, those who already had it are losing it.

As with Fishericks, the policies they liked and helped to keep them alive have been decreed "substandard" and must be replaced with compliant and more expensive policies the Obama administration considers "better."

White House Uses Taxpayer Funds to Promote Goldman Sachs While Massively Expanding the Welfare State

FOOD STAMP EXPLOSION: The White House is now using taxpayer funds to promote economic illiteracy like this, which it shares with Common Core. The term SNAP refers to food stamps:


Now let's think this through.

1. The government takes $10 from you, which prevents you from spending it on something you want...

2. The government launders that $10 through the federal bureaucracy, which leaves roughly $5 for benefits...

3. The government takes the remaining $5 it hasn't wasted and sends it to those who may or may not need it...

Hold up. My first point is wrong. The government doesn't take $10 from you... it takes $6 from you and borrows the rest by issuing debt.


And that borrowing program is executed by a certain number of "Primary Dealers" -- enormous, powerful banks like Goldman Sachs -- that make billions managing the sale of U.S. debt.

Furthermore, the fraud endemic in the food stamp program is legendary. Billions upon billions of your money is stolen each year, much of it in plain view on sites like Craig's List.

Therefore, in order to believe the collectivist propagandists in the Obama White House, you'd have to ignore all of the fraud, ignore Goldman Sachs, ignore the borrowing, ignore all of the money laundered through the federal bureaucracy, ignore the money confiscated from you... and pretend all of that is more efficient than you spending your money freely on things that you need or want.

You'd have to be completely mad or completely ignorant to believe that -- and it would seem the White House thinks you're either one or the other.


Hat tip: G-Man.

Larwyn's Linx: America’s Enemies Actively Preparing For Nuclear War

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

Nation

America’s Enemies Are Actively Preparing For Nuclear War: NoisyRoom
80 million more ObamaCare insurance cancellations on way: John Hayward
The Magnitude of the Lie: Keith Koffler

Ted Cruz: Geneva deal on Iranian nuclear program is a disaster: Hot Air
NC Senate: Kay Hagan’s approval rating tanks: Jason Pye, UnitedLiberty
Retired generals: “peaceful civil uprising not out of the question”: Allen West

Masking Totalitarianism: Walter Williams
White House Calls Panicky Liberal Obamacare Supporters “Bed-Wetters”: WZ
Hobby Lobby Obamacare exemption to be heard by SCOTUS: Moe Lane

Dem Gun Control Vote to Push 'Broader Filibuster Reform': Craig Millward
"Tea party unscathed in early GOP civil war.": SSI
Attkisson: WH Always Knew Millions Would Lose Insurance: Breitbart

Economy

Obama To Use IRS to Crack Down On His Political Enemies: John Hawkins
CBS: Employers Dropping Coverage Due to Obamacare Costs: Keith Koffler
Woman From Obamacare Ad Cancels Employees' Insurance Plan: WZ

Jobs vs. Employment Analysis Suggests Huge Obamacare Impact: Mish
The Hill: This is Obama’s fifth pivot to the economy in 2013: Hot Air
Big Labor is co-opting worker centers to avoid federal law: Peter Schaumber, The Hill

Scandal Central

Why Obama can’t wave away this scandal: John Podhoretz
Obama in Electoral Freak-Out Mode: Issues Regs to Crush Conservative 501c Groups: AmPower
What We Should Not Be Thankful for This Thanksgiving: John W. Whitehead

Media

Hilarious: Democrats Tweet Link To Obamacare Success Stories, But “Google Can’t Find”: WZ
Fox News anchor loses doctor because of Obamacare: Scoop
New Ad Thanks Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for Trying to Stop ObamaCare – Video: FreeLight

Stephens: Obama’s Geneva deal with Iran is not Munich, it’s worse.: Keith Koffler
Report: Karl Rove has been funding Grover Norquist: Thomas Lifson
WTF!? moment: Obama says he can identify immigrants just by looking at their faces: Twitchy

OMG: Look at What Those Evil Racists Did to Oprah!: LiberalLogic101
Story on elderly St. Louis woman killing knockout game suspect is hoax: Fox-2
Knockout Game: 90 Miles

World

Iran Accuses the Obama Administration of, Get This, Lying About What Their Agreement Says: Ace
Saudi Arabia: Obama “Lied To Us” About Nuke Negotiations With Iran: WZ
Saudis Fed Up With Obama – It’s As If They Were Forced Into Obamacare: iOTW

Now the Twelfth Imam Can Come: Robert Spencer
Chinese Military Expert Says China's ADIZ Doesn't Target Japan: China Confidential
B-52s Ignore China No-Fly Zone: DefTech

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Bank of America Employee Petitions Against Video ATM’s: Jonathan Camhi, BankTech
Nokia loses all its social media points with ‘F*** you’ tweet: NextWeb
Snapchat's Evan Spiegel: Saying no to $3B, and feeling lucky: Jennifer Van Grove, CNet

Cornucopia

Bombshell Obama Vetting: 1979 Newspaper Article By Valerie Jarrett Father-In-Law: Pat Dollard
Thanksgiving 2013: Hopenchange Cartoons
Obamacare Rap: Keith Koffler

Image: Saudis Fed Up With Obama – It’s As If They Were Forced Into Obamacare
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: WANT TO FIRE MITCH McCONNELL? HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP

QOTD: "There’s a term of art that the Obama White House uses to describe its neurotic supporters who instantly race to the worst-case scenario: They are known as “bed-wetters.” Two months into the dysfunctional life of healthcare.gov, however, that seems a perfectly appropriate physiological reaction.

Liberalism has spent the better part of the past century attempting to prove that it could competently and responsibly extend the state into new reaches of American life. With the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, the administration has badly injured that cause, confirming the worst slurs against the federal government. It has stifled bad news and fudged promises; it has failed to translate complex mechanisms of policy into plain English; it can’t even launch a damn website. What’s more, nobody responsible for the debacle has lost a job or suffered a demotion. Over time, the Affordable Care Act’s technical difficulties can be repaired. Reversing the initial impressions of government ineptitude won’t be so easy." --Franklin Foer, The New Republic

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

SURPRISE! Common Core Third Grade Text Book Portrays Obama as God-Like Figure

Gee, who could have predicted this?

On the heels of a controversial children’s book about Barack Obama – which stated “white voters would never vote for a black president” and that “Barack’s former pastor” said “God would damn the United States for mistreating its black citizens” – comes a new lesson that casts America’s 44th president in a messianic light. Literally.

And – surprise – it’s Common Core-aligned.

The lesson plan and accompanying visual presentation were authored by Sherece Bennett, and is for sale on TeachersPayTeachers.com. It’s all based on a book titled, “Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope,” by Nikki Grimes.


...In one passage, a young Obama sees beggars and wonders, “Will I ever be able to help people like these?”

“Hope hung deep inside of him,” the book adds.

Another excerpt from the book reads: “Before dawn each morning, Barry rose – his mother’s voice driving him from dream land. ‘Time for learning English grammar and the Golden Rule. Be honest, be kind, be fair,’ she taught him.”

The story continues: “One morning, he slipped on the name he’d been born with. The name of his father, Barack. For the first time in his life, he wore it proudly – like a coat of many colors...”

Grimes’ book and Bennett’s lesson plan are more fitting for an authoritarian regime in which children are taught to deify and praise their dear leader. One can almost envision teachers in Cuba, Venezuela and Iran using similar books and lessons.

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.


The Democrat Party is lost. And it's high time to flush them out of government, at every level of government, next November.


Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

Rep. Charlie Rangel demands Americans embrace totalitarianism and dictatorship: “Drop the charade of democracy”

Guest post by Allen West

It appears one Democrat member of Congress has decided to drop the mask and reveal who he really is. Unbelievably, Charlie Rangel told NY1 that “President Obama should drop the charade of democracy and rule directly through executive orders.” I mean, why not? After all, Rep. Rangel’s own relationship with following laws is fuzzy at best, given his problems with tax evasion.

According to Politicker, Rangel said “I’m gonna see why we can’t use executive orders for everything.” Why not Charlie? Because of our pesky Constitution, which states executive orders are only to be used in case of national emergency, not as a means by which the executive branch circumvents the legislative branch, or our established process of checks and balances.

Of course, the House of Representatives, which holds the government purse strings, can simply not fund these imperial edicts as handed down from on high.

Have other American presidents utilized the executive order? Absolutely, but none as prominently as President Obama, and perhaps Rangel clues us in as to why.

It was President Obama who stated to a cheering crowd he would bypass Congress to further his agenda, and I guess that’s one thing he didn’t lie about.

Rangel says a precedent has been established – and it’s a very dangerous one when a president believes himself (or herself) above the rule of law and makes decrees to be obeyed outside the legislative branch. This would indeed represent the end of our beloved Republic and the rise of someone similar to a Caesar – which did not end up so well for ol’ Julius.

Rangel’s comments are a window into the mindset of these liberal progressives. They simply do not believe the rule of law should constrain their intentions to fundamentally transform the United States of America. It’s as if they’re sitting back and daring the American people to defy their will. Sadly, I don’t believe the Republican Party has the intestinal fortitude to fight this ideological war. The mission, as it should, falls squarely upon the shoulders of us, We the People. Are you up for this fight? I sure as heck am.


Read more at AllenBWest.com

Larwyn's Linx: Latest Obama: Sorry, can’t help you because I’m constrained by the Constitution

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

Nation

Latest Obama: Sorry, I’m constrained by the Constitution: Doug Powers
Steyn: Obamacare ‘the greatest act of punitive liberalism’ ever: Jeff Poor
Obama: only two parties now: Democrats and Impediments: Doug Powers

Quotes From 60 Democrats Who Lied About Obamacare: RWN
Nameless Republicans Complain to Liberals About Conservatives: RS
Mitch ‘Mr. Majestic’ McConnell is Melting: Dan Riehl

Obamacare could tip the scale in Iowa Senate race: David Freddoso
Obama To Use Executive Order to Force Gun Control by Fiat: Publius
Knives and the Second Amendment: David Kopel

Economy

It Costs $200B to Manage $500B In Federal Grants: P&F
The Problem With Bubbles: Mish
Top US hospital laying off staff due to Obamacare: DC

States Reject Big Government: RS
After Obamacare, Cities Want Pension Bailout Too: Ashton Ellis
Large employers cite upcoming Obamacare Cadillac tax for reduced benefits: Hot Air

Scandal Central

Hugh Hewitt: State Exchanges are ‘Failing Spectacularly’ (and No One’s Noticing): TruthRevolt
Cover Oregon giving out people’s personal Obamacare information by accident.: Moe Lane
Vermont health-care Web site security breached: Reid Wilson, WaPo

Obama FBI Partners with Left-Wing Extremist Group: Matt Barber
Obamacare website contractor admitted 30 “defects” on day of launch, WH launched anyway: Poor Richard
Obama Has Time for 5 Rounds of Golf, 10 Fundraisers Since Bungled Obamacare Launch: Angle

Media

The only honest article about The Knockout Game I've seen: Taki's Mag
CNN Blasts "Obama Propaganda Machine" : Western
Fighting Back: USA Today Will no Longer Publish Obama Admin’s ‘Official’ Press Photos: TPNN

NYT Admits Iran Deal 'Welcome Change of Subject' from Obamacare: TruthTrevolt
Video: Politifact’s 2009 “Lie Of The Year” Deemed True 4 Years Later: Nice Deb
Time’s Mark Halperin: Death Panels Are 'Built Into' ObamaCare: Noel Sheppard

World

What If Islamists Took Control of the White House?: Howard Rotberg
Eugene McCarthy Erotic Fan Fiction: Erick Erickson
Former Blackwater CEO: ‘Iraq is completely lost’: BPR

Mark Levin interviws Amb. John Bolton on Iran and much more…: Scoop
Obama Administration to CLOSE EMBASSY AT VATICAN – Says It’s Unsafe: GWP
Angola Becomes First Nation To Ban Islam and Dismantle Mosques: RWN

Iran Brags About Playing Obama: Tatler
Hey Harry, you’re not the only guy with a nuclear option: MOTUS
Israel Launches Largest Ever Air Force "Exercise" The Day After Iran Deal: ZH

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Newegg trial: Crypto legend takes the stand, goes for knockout patent punch: Joe Mullin
4 World-Changing Products Dreamed Up by Bill Gates: Cliff Kuang, Wired
Level 3 may have helped the NSA tap Google’s fiber optic cables: Meghan Kelly

Cornucopia

Disappointed: 27b/6
The Hilarious Ingredients and Price of the 'ObamaCare Burger': IJ Review
Because It’s Cute, That’s Why: R.S. McCain

Image: Teaching Children Jihad in Dagestan - Robert Spencer
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: I support the Senate Conservatives Fund.

QOTD: "In short, this [Iran] deal, which turns out to not really be a deal at all, but a lot of hype to distract from the Obamacare mess, would mean Iran can keep building its bomb with minimal inspection, get more money from American and European taxpayers, and keep funding terrorists around the world.

The West is willingly being played the fool by a player elites assume is actually rational, but is not. By the way, it is amazingly pathetic that President Obama won’t let you keep your insurance plan, but he will let the Iranians keep their enriched uranium program. Just what sort of idiot will negotiate with terrorist regimes, but not with Americans?" --Erick Erickson

Monday, November 25, 2013

Iran's Nuclear Suicide Vest


"We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization... we must make use of everything we have at hand to strike at this front by means of our suicide operations or by means of our missiles." -- Hassan Abbasi, "strategic adviser" to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

"We are in the process of an historical war between the World of Arrogance [the West] and the Islamic world, and this war has been going on for hundreds of years... Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism? ...you had best know that this... goal [is] attainable." -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

"We have established a department that will take care of England. England's demise is on our agenda." -- Hassan Abbasi

According to 'Twelver' Shi'a Mulims, Imam Hujjat al-Mahdī ( المهدى) is the twelfth Imam and the Mahdi, the ultimate savior of mankind. Twelver Shi'as believe that Muhammad was born in 868 and has been hidden by God (referred to as occultation) to later emerge to fulfill his mission.

Twelver Shi'as cite various references from the Qur'an and reports (Hadith) from Muhammad and the twelve Shi'a Imams. These texts predict the reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi which would, in accordance with God's command, bring justice and peace to the world by establishing Islam throughout the world.

Shi'as believe that Muhammad al-Mahdi will reappear when the world has fallen into chaos and civil war emerges between the human race for no reason. At this time, it is believed, half of the true believers will ride from Yemen carrying white flags to Mecca, while the other half will ride from Karbala, in Iraq, carrying black flags to Mecca. At this time, Muhammad al-Mahdi will come wielding God's Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane, Zulfiqar (Arabic: ذو الفقار, ðū l-fiqār), the Double-Bladed Sword.

As mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reported to have constructed a boulevard to prepare for the Mahdi. A year later, as Iran's president, he budgeted $17 million for a blue-tiled mosque in Jamkaran that is directly tied to the Mahdi's return.

In 2006, The Washington Post reported:

The expansion [of the city of Qom] is driven by an apocalyptic vision: that Shiite Islam's long-hidden 12th Imam, or Mahdi, will soon emerge -- possibly at the mosque of Jamkaran -- to inaugurate the end of the world. The man who provided $20 million to prepare the shrine for that moment, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has reportedly told his cabinet that he expects the Mahdi to arrive within the next two years.

In a speech several years ago, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated, "Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi."

Anton La Guardia, writing in London's Daily Telegraph: "Iran's president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and [possibly] speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam."

In 2007, after an endless series of threatened UN sanctions, Ahmadinejad announced:

As God promised, the oppressors will have their noses rubbed in the dirt. Now they are fulfilling this promise by themselves... Let it be known that in whatever we do, I see the hand of God and the hidden imam at every moment.

Princeton professor Bernard Lewis observes, "There is a radical difference between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the apocalyptic worldview of Iran’s present rulers."

On the holy topic of suicide bombing (martyrdom), Ahmadinejad recently asked: "Is there art that is more beautiful, more divine, and more eternal than the art of martyrdom? A nation with martyrdom knows no captivity."

Iran doesn’t fear retaliation if they attack Israel or the United States because a final global struggle against an evil enemy will present them with the privileges of martyrdom as taught in Islam, Lewis wrote. Death is not a deterrent, it is a reward.

The most dangerous leaders in history are those like Hitler, Hirohito and Ahmadinejad, fueled by a totalitarian ideology and a mystical belief system. Ahmadinejad accepts that the return of the 12th Imam is imminent. Furthermore, he is certain of his own duty to hasten the Mahdi's return. This explains the many years of hidden preparation as Iran built its nuclear weapons, which are designed to both mete out punishment to the non-believers and pave the way for the apocalypse.

Given the Obama administration's willing assistance, their allies in the UN and the IAEA, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons has continued unchecked.

They are very close now to achieving their goal..


PERFECT: California May Ban Toy Guns

When I was a kid, a dozen or so of us would go running through the woods with pellet guns designed specifically to look like M-1 Garands, complete with wood stocks.

What would the crackpots in California say if they saw that in their neighborhood?

Toy guns made to look like the real thing would be banned in California under legislation announced Friday in Sonoma County, where a sheriff's deputy last month shot and killed a 13 year old boy after mistaking his replica AK 47 pellet gun for an assault rifle.

The bill, to be introduced by five lawmakers, would require pellet and other toy guns to be brightly colored or translucent so they are easily recognized. Federal law requires the replica guns only to have an orange mark on the tip of the barrel.

Look, that's a horrible, horrible tragedy. I can't imagine the pain the parents must be feeling.

At the same time, let's think for a moment: a 13-year old carrying a toy AK? Instead of determining whether the deputy was at fault, the state wants to ban all toy guns?

When I was in first grade, I was green with envy over a single toy owned by my next-door neighbor and best friend. His parents had bought him a Johnny Seven OMA.

In the sixties, the Johnny Seven OMA (One Man Army) was the ultimate toy firearm. It integrated seven distinct weapons (thus the Johnny Seven) into a single chassis:

* Grenade
* Anti-Tank Rocket
* Armor-Piercing Shell
* Anti-Bunker Rocket
* Repeating Rifle
* Tommy Gun
* Automatic Pistol
All of the firing mechanisms were attached to the main rifle assembly - the pistol inserted from the bottom to provide the rifle grip (the pistol also held caps for authentic firing sounds). The main ammunition included various sized white bullets that would "shoot" from the barrels via spring-action. The rockets and grenade also fired via spring-action. The weapon featured a working bipod that provided stability for the various rockets and grenade. The stock could be removed to shorten the weapon while in Tommy Gun mode. The toy when fully assembled is over three feet long.

Decades later, I still remember the Johnny Seven and how my parents would never spring for one.

But I'm not bitter.

Honestly, though, if a kid was walking around with a Johnny Seven these days, they would call in a SWAT team and a hostage negotiator. And Chuck Schumer would hold a press conference to get more face time on TV.

Man, how times have changed.



Update: More Toys That Would Be Completely Illegal Today.

GOHMERT: Obama Has Repeatedly Betrayed Our Ally Israel

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is the man:

I haven’t heard anybody else make a connection; maybe there isn’t any. But two days after we voted with all of Israel’s enemies against Israel, something called a flotilla left and moved to challenge the blockade, the lawful blockade, at the Gaza Strip. I don’t think it’s an accident. People notice when distance comes between a strong ally and the nation they’re against. That’s why we got to be so careful with what we’re doing.

And I’ve got this article, and I’ll just quote briefly. This is from February 2012, from the Washington Post; not one of my biggest fans — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a lot on his mind these days, from cutting the defense budget to managing drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan. But his biggest worry is the growing possibility that Israel will attack Iran over the next few months. Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike in April, May or June.

Folks, that is a betrayal of your ally. It was intentional, and they had been putting pressure on Israel not to defend themselves. I’m told by people in Israel, friends there, that you wouldn’t believe the pressure that this administration has brought to bear on Israel not to defend itself. And that’s a betrayal.

...Because another thing we did – we don’t know who, we know Panetta did that in the Washington Post. But the story came out in March of 2012. And this is from ABC News, also not one of my biggest fans — Israelis suspect Obama media leaks to prevent strike on Iran. And then it talks about — reports today about Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of an Israeli strike. And what they did was they outed that Israel was going to use Azerbaijan in order to attack. Why in the world would an ally do that to another ally? That is a betrayal of incredible proportions, and Israel knew it.

And again this fall, we have betrayed them yet again, when the United States leaked that it was Israel that had an attack in Syria. If any of what is — there are some that believe that the negotiations with Iran were stepped up by this administration because they know — Israel knows they’ve got to defend themselves. And as I told Prime Minister Netanyahu two years ago – I’m really sorry we’ve put you in a position of not only defending yourself but defending us. You shouldn’t have to do that. We ought to be defending ourselves, not you.

But this administration, I believe, knew that they would jam Israel so badly if they were negotiating with Iran, as Iran moved very close, or perhaps developed their nuclear bombs. How could Israel attack while the United States is negotiating for peace?

Because Iran says — look, we’re not going to let you come into our facilities. But we’ll agree not to be developing nuclear weapons, you know.

(Laughter)

Now, if that sounds familiar – I knew it sounded familiar to me. And as Steve King and Scott Garrett tell me — you’ve got a phenomenal memory for minutia. Sometimes it’s helpful, sometimes it’s not.

This is from the New York Times. Now, they love me.

(Laughter)

UN Agency Doubtful on Deal — under the agreement reached earlier this week – wasn’t Iran — North Korea – this is October 21st, 1994 – North Korea agreed to in-place storage the fuel it removed last spring from a five-megawatt graphite reactor containing enough plutonium for four or five nuclear bombs. And the article goes on and talks about how Clinton and Madeleine Albright – you remember them?

(Laughter)

Yeah, they’re giving a lot of good advice these days. They felt like – and so they cut this tough deal with North Korea that we will give them nuclear power plants if they’ll promise not to use them to develop nukes. It reminded me of when Jeff Foxworthy said, you know, he had no money. And the guy comes to the door and says — I got to repossess your car. And he says — I’m sorry, could you just give me another month? He said — I’m told to either leave with the car, or cash, or a check. He said — a check? You’ll take a check? Oh, I got a check.

(Laughter)

That’s where North Korea and Iran are. Oh, you’ll take an agreement? Okay. This says in exchange North Korea will abandon its existing nuclear facilities and renounce any plans to build nuclear weapons. Only once the nuclear installations are substantially completed, however, will North Korea allow agency experts to inspect its sites. That could be five years or more, according to agencies in Vienna. That deal allowed North Korea to develop nukes. And they’re working with Iran.

Folks, elections do have consequences, and we’re living with some. But it doesn’t mean we have to multiply those. It is true what is said in Washington – no matter how cynical you get, it’s never enough to catch up.

Keep the faith. We can make a difference.

That, my brothers and sisters, is called speaking truth to power. Read the whole damn thing.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

DEMOCRAT DEADBEATS: Illinois Now a Paltry $9 Billion Behind on Payments to Suppliers

Hey, I've got an idea! Let's give the keys to the nation's economy to a bunch of mental midgets from Chicago!

...The backlog of bills waiting to be paid in the [Illinois] comptroller’s office has grown by $3 billion since the spring, when the state was flush with tax revenue... “As the numbers grow, so too do payment delays to vendors throughout the state,” said Brad Hahn, spokesman for Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.

...At the start of April, the bill backlog in Topinka’s office stood at $8.5 billion. That number included bills on hand and the office’s best estimate of bills held in state agencies.

...In early April, Hahn said, vendors were waiting at least four months for payments from the state, although some bills took longer than that to be paid... A strong tax season this year allowed the office to “aggressively pay down bills” in April and May. By the end of May, the backlog was down to $5.8 billion and vendors were waiting a minimum of two months to be paid, half what they were waiting at the start of April.

That was, however, the high-water mark in the state’s efforts to pay bills on time. By the end of June, also the end of the state’s fiscal year, the backlog was sitting at $6.1 billion.

By Oct. 1, the backlog was up to $7.5 billion, including bills that hadn’t been turned in for payment. And as of late last week, the total was at $8.8 billion.

Hahn said the office believes the total will hit $9 billion by the end of December, exactly where Topinka predicted it would be last summer. It is the second year the backlog will sit at $9 billion at the end of the calendar year...

Hahn claims the state is "treading water", which would mean they're staying afloat.

Gee, didn't I just read that Illinois state pensions are also underfunded by roughly $100 billion?

Uh, yeah, I did.


Hat tip: BadBlue Money.

Larwyn's Linx: Iran Deal Represents Another Historic Mistake By Obama Administration

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

Nation

Iran Deal Another Historic Mistake By Obama Administration: Nice Deb
‘Checks and balances’ is now called ‘obstructionism’: Renee Nal
Bill Frist on ‘unprecedented obstructionism’ and the nuclear option: Renee Nal

WH, Get This, Lied About Last-Minute Changes to Healthcare.gov: Ace
White House refuses to rule out nuking filibuster rules altogether: Hot Air
12-Year-Old Jewish Boy Victim of Racists In “Knockout Game” Attack: WZ

Forbes: The Impeachment Option Would Be Well-Deserved: Bob Allen
The "Knockout Game": Freedom's Torch
Obama DOJ memo: gun ban to require registration, confiscation: Bob Owens

Destructive Totalitarian ‘Equality’: R.S. McCain
Oh My, Obama Enrages Media With A “Screw You” Pic: WZ
Obama calls GOP an 'impediment' at Seattle fundraiser: Fox

Economy

Bailouts for Cities?: Steven Malanga
Healthcare.gov and the Gulf Between Planning and Reality: Clay Shirky
Despite administration’s claim, Common Core IS curriculum: Poor Richard

Scandal Central

Tick-Tock: Sharyl Attkisson Documents Panicked Pre-Launch CMS: Ace
Nuclear Option Now Gives Obama Unchecked Appointments To IPAB (The “Death Panel”): WZ
Every Legal Gun Owner In DC Must Submit For Fingerprints Or Face Felony Charges: RWN

Climate & Energy

Prominent Yale warmist admits global warming impact is ‘invisible’: Steve Milloy
General Electric’s Crony Capitalism: Hunter Lewis
COP19 “Climate Change” Conference Ends With Typical Failure: RWN

Media

Mark Halperin Makes a Complete Fool of Himself, Chapter 3,054: Ace
What Bias? CNN: Come on, all good presidents lie: Poor Richard
Making Himself the Focus of a Picture Supposedly Intended to Celebrate JFK: Ace

Analysis: Melissa Bachman and online misogyny: Rebecca Davis, Daily Maverick
Zeke Emanuel and me, ethicists ... qualifications compared ...: John Jay
Signs of Change in News Mission at Bloomberg: NYT

NBC: Here It Comes...: Ace
Wa Po Op-Ed: Thanksgiving Turkey is 'Un-American': TruthRevolt
MSNBC’s Disgusting Attack; Hoping Grateful Americans Forgive Obama’s Health Care Lie: MRC

World

Abject Surrender by the United States: John Bolton
John Kerry’s optimism about the Iran nuke deal has a distinct Neville Chamberlain feel to it: Doug Powers
At Least Syria Is Happy: Ace

Kerry Lies About Agreement with Israel Over Iran Deal: TruthRevolt
Let us Raise a Flag of Truth and Liberation: Geert Wilders
Che Guevara in 10 (Not So) Great Quotes: Minority Report

Obama, Iran & Peace In Our Time: Wolf Howling
Obama Chose Dishonor: Shoula Romano Horing
Senator: Iran 'Spiking the Football' on 'Weak' White House: Breitbart

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Tools of the Trade: SWAT: Fred Mastison
See the very first (surprisingly handsome) selfie... from 1839: Eric Mack, CNet
From email newsletters and online forms to $25k in three months (no coding required): Mikael Cho

Cornucopia

A Special Right Wing News Poll On Tactics To Use Against Obamacare: RWN
Send Out the Clowns: AWD
Keeping an eye on Iran...: Blue's Blog

Image: Nuclear Option: We Were “Againts” (sic) It Before We Were For It.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: I support the Senate Conservatives Fund. Will you help too?

QOTD: "Here’s an example of the Gates-funded[, Common Core] curriculum’s math that’s actually being used in New York public schools:

3. Sally did some counting. Look at her work. Explain why you think Sally counted this way.

177, 178,179,180, 190,200, 210, 211,212,213,214.


Ummm…the only answer I can come up with is because Sally learned to count from Common Core." --Poor Richard

Sunday, November 24, 2013

My Heartfelt Tribute to President Obama's Tribute to John F. Kennedy

This:



Here's my original canvas:


Thanks to Twitchy for the thread.


The Iran Smart Power Reset Wrapup

Ambassador John Bolton calls it an "Abject Surrender by the United States":

This interim agreement is badly skewed from America’s perspective. Iran retains its full capacity to enrich uranium, thus abandoning a decade of Western insistence and Security Council resolutions that Iran stop all uranium-enrichment activities. Allowing Iran to continue enriching, and despite modest (indeed, utterly inadequate) measures to prevent it from increasing its enriched-uranium stockpiles and its overall nuclear infrastructure, lays the predicate for Iran fully enjoying its “right” to enrichment in any “final” agreement...

...Indeed, the interim agreement itself acknowledges that a “comprehensive solution” will “involve a mutually defined enrichment program.” This is not, as the Obama administration leaked before the deal became public, a “compromise” on Iran’s claimed “right” to enrichment. This is abject surrender by the United States.

...A nuclear Iran would also be essentially invulnerable, providing a refuge that al Qaeda leaders hiding in Afghan and Pakistani caves could only dream of...

So in truth, an Israeli military strike is the only way to avoid Tehran’s otherwise inevitable march to nuclear weapons, and the proliferation that will surely follow. Making the case for Israel’s exercise of its legitimate right of self-defense has therefore never been more politically important...

Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei welcomes nuclear deal:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday the deal reached with world powers in Geneva was the basis for further progress, and the prayers of the Iranian nation had contributed towards its success.

"This can be the basis for further intelligent actions. Without a doubt the grace of God and the prayers of the Iranian nation were a factor in this success," Khamenei wrote in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani published by the IRNA state news agency.

The Secret Goal of the Obamacare Ruse

In drawing attention to Andrew C. McCarthy's seminal deconstruction of Obamacare, Robert Stacy McCain describes the program as "a river of lies, with headwaters in hell."

McCarthy and other Constitutionalists grasp what few in the Republican establishment seem to: Obamacare is a ruse.

Fraud can be so brazen it takes people’s breath away. But for a prosecutor tasked with proving a swindle — or what federal law describes as a “scheme to defraud” — the crucial thing is not so much the fraud. It is the scheme.

To be sure, it is the fraud — the individual false statements, sneaky omissions, and deceptive practices — that grabs our attention. As I’ve recounted in this space, President Obama repeatedly and emphatically vowed, “If you like your health-insurance plan, you can keep your health-insurance plan, period.” The incontrovertible record — disclosures by the Obama administration in the Federal Register, representations by the Obama Justice Department in federal court — proves that Obama’s promises were systematically deceitful...

Still, to show that politicians lie is like pointing out that it gets dark at night. The lie, the fraud, does not tell us why they lied in this instance. The fraud does not tell us what the stakes are. To know that, we must understand the scheme — the design.

The point of showing that Obama is carrying out a massive scheme to defraud — one that certainly would be prosecuted if committed in the private sector — is not to agitate for a prosecution that is never going to happen. It is to demonstrate that there is logic to the lies. There is an objective that the fraud aims to achieve. The scheme is the framework within which the myriad deceptions are peddled. Once you understand the scheme, once you can put the lies in a rational context, you understand why fraud was the president’s only option — and why “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” barely scratches the surface of Obamacare’s deceit.


McCarthy notes that in 2003 Illinois state Senator and perennial back-bencher Barack Obama was plain-spoken about health care for all. He was a noted fan of single-payer, a completely centralized, Soviet-style form of health care, and there is no reason to doubt that was always his endgame.

That is the Obamacare scheme.

It is a Fabian plan to move an unwilling nation, rooted in free enterprise, into Washington-controlled, fully socialized medicine. As its tentacles spread over time, the scheme (a) pushes all Americans into government markets (a metastasizing blend of Medicare, Medicaid, and “exchanges” run by state and federal agencies); (b) dictates the content of the “private” insurance product; (c) sets the price; (d) micromanages the patient access, business practices, and fees of doctors; and (e) rations medical care. Concurrently, the scheme purposely sows a financing crisis into the system, designed to explode after Leviathan has so enveloped health care, and so decimated the private medical sector, that a British- or Canadian-style “free” system — formerly unthinkable for the United States — becomes the inexorable solution.


Single-payer was always Obama's goal and that is why he had to lie. As McCarthy notes, his are the tactics of Alinsky.

...He stressed pragmatism: a gradual campaign that kept the ultimate prize in sight. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately,” he told his hard-Left base at a 2007 SEIU health-care forum. “There’s going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years or 20 years out.”

There’s that word: transition. It’s the route “change” takes to reach its final destination: “fundamental transformation.” If you’re paying attention, you’ll hear the word transition a lot in Obama’s health-care speeches. You’ll also find it in that Justice Department brief the administration no doubt wishes Eric Holder’s minions had edited more furtively:

The [Affordable Care Act’s] grandfathering provision’s incremental transition does not undermine the government’s interests in a significant way. Even under the grandfathering provision, it is projected that more group health plans will transition to the requirements under the regulations as time goes on. [Officials of the Department of Health and Human Services] have estimated that a majority of group health plans will have lost their grandfather status by the end of 2013 [emphasis added].

Understand what this studiously unthreatening, gradualist gobbledygook means. A “group health plan” is employer-provided insurance; the phrase thus blithely refers to the “transition” of 156 million Americans who get health insurance for themselves and their families through work...


It is clear that well over 100 million Americans will lose their health insurance in pursuit of a Utopian fantasy that centralizes the entire health care industry into a labyrinth of government agencies. Legions of bureaucrats -- unelected, unaccountable and uncontrollable -- will mestastasize into the medical analogue of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Socialized medicine has been the Holy Grail for the progressive, Fabian socialists for 100 years. Now that it has been cemented into place -- with establishment Republicans unwilling or unable to fight it -- the death of the Republic is all but certain.

OH, MY: Even California Tells Obama to Pound Sand Over His Costly and Illegal Obamacare "Fix"

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

ObamaCare: California's health insurance exchange has decided not to allow insurance plans that do not meet the law's standards, rejecting the president's attempt to rewrite the law through executive action.

Recognizing the impracticality and illegality of President Obama's proposed "fix" for insurance policies canceled due to the Affordable Care Act's coverage mandates, the board of Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, voted 5-0 against extending the 1 million California health care plans that were dropped under the law.

The Golden State follows several other blue states — including New York, Washington, Rhode Island and Minnesota — that announced they won't go along with the administration's proposed solution. State insurance commissioners make it clear that just in practical terms the fix is unworkable in the time available.

Reality bites, as they say, and the reality is insurance companies that altered insurance plans and computer software in a long, Herculean effort to comply with the law can't restore the status quo in weeks just because the president pulls an Emily Litella and says "never mind," without a constitutional or legal leg to stand on.

Obama's fix allegedly lets insurance companies continue selling the same individual health insurance plans they sold before the law, but only to those who currently own such policies, and only for another year.

"There's no way to make the federal law work without this transition to ACA-compliant plans," Covered California board member Susan Kennedy said. "Delaying the transition isn't going to help anyone; it just delays the problems. I actually think that it's going to make a bad situation worse if we complicate it further."

Larwyn's Linx: Obama personally ordered Reid to change filibuster rule

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

Nation

Obama personally ordered Reid to change filibuster rule: Mandy Nagy
Progressives Are Realizing the Dream – Limitless Executive Power: Sara Noble
Obama To Israel: F@%k You!: MagNote

“Race Card” Not Enough to Protect Obama from His Lies: Derryck Green
The 'law of the land' that President Obama keeps changing: Silvio Canto, Jr.
Police State: Own it...: III Percent

Sources: U.S. has been conducting secret dialogue with Hizbullah: WorldTrib
DISTURBING: The List of Purged Military High Officers Under Obama: Angle
Army thinks about classifying Fort Hood shooting as “terror”: This Ain't Hell

Is this the ‘single most narcissistic photo in history of WH’?: BPR
Obama Schedule: 7 Fundraisers in 3 days: Politisite
Children Now Victims of "Knockout Game": Breitbart

Economy

CA High-Speed Rail Fail: $600MM spent, not a mile of track laid: Sister Toldjah
President Obama Sees ‘Silver Linings’ in Economic Clouds: Rick Moran
Mexican Studies in Lone Star Classrooms?: Sophie Quinton, Jody Brannon

Scandal Central

White House Muzzling All Who Worked on Healthcare.gov: Keith Koffler
Wisconsin Probe Targets Conservative Donors: Realities
Irvington, NJ will use Eminent Domain to seize mortgages: WyBlog

Climate & Energy

Under Obama, Your Electricity Costs Have Already Necessarily Skyrocketed: NoisyRm
EPA trying to ‘cheat’ on fracking rules, says GOP: Michael Bastasch

Media

Now that Obamacare taking hits in media, Rahm says First Amendment 'overrated': Thomas Lifson
Weird NY Times Column: Not Supporting ObamaCare Is Slavery or Something: R.S. McCain
Dana Carvey Tweets Hilarious Picture Of Obamacare 'Tech Team' Arrival!: IJ Review

NY Times botches details of Iran deal in deceptive headline.: Poor Richard
Remembering Stanley Ann Dunham Obama: Mona Charen
Fixed, Alright: LiberalLogic

World

The Geneva Agreement with Iran: A Foreign Policy Disaster: Daniel Pipes
The ‘Freeze’ That Wasn’t: U.S. Says There’s No Right to Enrich, Iran Says There Is: Bridget Johnson
Israeli Ministers Line Up to Lambast Iran Nuclear Deal; Choice Was Between ‘Plague and Cholera’: Dovid Efune

John Kerry Trying To Convince Senators To “Stop Listening To Israelis” On Iran: WZ
Israeli ministers lambaste ‘delusional’ Iran nuclear deal: Times of Israel
The Bad Deal: Ted Belman

The Cost of America’s Abdication of Power: David P. Goldman
Air Defense: Iran Scrapes And Scrounges Up A New SAM: StrategyPage
U.S., Japan slam China's 'destabilizing' move on East China Sea airspace: Reuters

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Antarctica looks so incredibly huge from space: Jesus Diaz
Teens are still poking around on Facebook, COO Sandberg says: Sharon Gaudin
700,000-Year-Old Horse Found in Yukon Permafrost Yields Oldest DNA Ever Decoded: Blake de Pastino

Cornucopia

Post-Nuclear Option Holocaust Dinner: Rack of Lamb Anyone?: MOTUS
Army Ranger Michael Behenna Sentenced to 25 Years for Killing Known Terrorist in Self-Defense: FreePost
Where Are You?: 90 Miles From Tyranny

Image: Is this the ‘single most narcissistic photo in history of WH’?
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: It's Time to Bypass Washington and Restore Our Republic

QOTD: "'For the first time in nearly a decade we have halted parts of Iran's nuclear program' announced a jubilant Barack Obama after the news of the just-signed Geneva six-month interim agreement with Iran.

But the American goal for the accord was that the Iranians not "advance their program" of building a uranium nuclear bomb (and perhaps a plutonium bomb too); the apparent deal exactly permits such advancement, plus sanctions relief to Tehran worth about US$9 billion.

This wretched deal offers one occasion when comparison with Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 is valid. An overeager Western government, blind to the evil cunning of the regime it so much wants to work with, appeases it with concessions that will come back to haunt it. Geneva and Nov. 24 will be remembered along with Munich and Sep. 29." --Daniel Pipes

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Fraudulent Unemployment Numbers and 5 Other Huge Lies the Obama White House Is Telling You

Guest post by Michael Snyder


According to a whistleblower that has recently come forward, Census employees have been faking and manipulating U.S. employment numbers for years. In fact, it is being alleged that this manipulation was a significant reason for why the official unemployment rate dipped sharply just before the last presidential election.

What you are about to read is incredibly disturbing. The numbers that the American people depend upon to make important decisions are being faked. But should we be surprised by this? After all, Barack Obama has been caught telling dozens of major lies over the past five years. At this point it is incredible that there are any Americans that still trust anything that comes out of his mouth. And of course it is not just Obama that has been lying to us. Corruption and deception are rampant throughout the entire federal government, and this has been the case for years. Now that some light is being shed on this, hopefully the American people will respond with overwhelming outrage and disgust.

The whistleblower that I mentioned above has been speaking to John Crudele of the New York Post. In his new article entitled "Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report", he says that the huge decline in the unemployment rate in September 2012 was "manipulated"...

In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.
The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated.
Two years earlier, the Census had actually caught an employee "fabricating data", but according to this whistleblower the corruption at the Census Bureau goes much deeper than that...