Monday, January 31, 2011

A Panoply of Headlines From the Collapsing Democrat Utopia of California

If Democrats weren't in power, they'd be useful only as comic relief. Consider this panoply of headlines from the last 24 hours that illustrate the complete and abject failure of the Democrat Party's brand of Statism. As an aside, reading these gives me a morbid sense of curiosity, kind of like when there's a wreck on the interstate and everyone slows down to check it out. Because that's what California is: a freaking wreck.

Moody’s begins treating pensions like bond debt - " A leading credit-rating agency, Moody’s, has begun treating unfunded pensions like bond debt, giving California a combined tax-supported debt of $136.9 billion that is well beyond other states but also may be understated... The decision to add pensions to bond debt announced by Moody’s Investors Services last week reflects concern about public employee pension costs, which are growing as state budgets plunge deep into the red..."

Well, that should help borrowing costs.

Pension tsunami has reached shoreline - "There is a scholarly consensus that governments in the U.S. face a $6 trillion shortfall in paying for their employees' retirements. A Stanford University study last year estimated California's potential pension liability makes up one sixth of the nationwide obligation, about $500 billion. That's six times the current state budget..."

Sounds reasonable -- if you spend like a drunken liberal.

California’s Pension Crisis Takes Another Step Toward Populist Revolt as Courts Refuse to Help - "one of the reasons runaway public employee pensions poses such a different problem is because California's courts have steadfastly undone voters’ efforts to make it easier. At least three provisions of the California Constitution, for example, make retroactive pension agreements void ab initio. Yet, the Second District Court of Appeal out of Los Angeles last week brushed aside each of these important citizen taxpayer protections to side instead with the public employee union... California taxpayers have done what they’re supposed to: they enshrined prohibitions in their state constitution to avoid amassing large public debts. It is instead our elected officials—such as Jerry Brown, who empowered public employees to unionize—and our judges who have failed our state. Indeed, despite recently proposing an aggressive budget, Governor Brown still refuses to go after low-hanging fruit when it comes to pension reform."

Stunner.

Fiscal crisis will hang over Brown's speech - "while those close to the governor expect him to at least touch on the need for pension reform - a rallying cry for Republicans - it's doubtful that he'll propose anything too detailed. Brown can't risk alienating the powerful public employee unions he needs to help persuade voters to extend tax increases on a June ballot, a key part of his budget proposal..."

Rock. Hard place.

CalPERS: the opposite of leadership - "The California Public Employees’ Retirement System faces legitimate criticism on many fronts – for a corruption scandal allegedly involving its former CEO and other top officials; for its role in promoting huge retroactive pension increases at all levels of government that are now proving to be unaffordable; for downplaying and obscuring its funding problems; and more... Yet calpensions.org reports that a recent CalPERS board retreat turned into a self-pity fest, with bitter complaints about the unfairness of media coverage of pension issues... CalPERS badly needs a reality check – and an attitude change."

Look up 'dysfunctional' in the dictionary and odds are you'll see a picture of Jerry Brown

Brian Calle nails it when he writes, "To curb union influence and prevent future pension outrages, state lawmakers should begin limiting the role of unions in collective bargaining; change the way unions can collect and spend member dues on political causes, and alter laws to make contract negotiations public. In Indiana, for example, Gov. Daniels decertified unions so they no longer can represent government workers in contract negotiations."

California's Governor Moonbeam is both a product and an enabler of the public sector unions, so it's highly unlikely he will confront the most powerful force in the state. That being the case, unless Brown can coax his pet unicorn into crapping some gold nuggets, events could get decidedly, uhm, dicey.


Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.

Jon Huntsman Resigns, Fueling Speculation Among Politico Reporters That He May Try for GOP Nomination, Though No One Else Knows Who He Is

Let me make this short and sweet: I've got a better shot at the GOP Presidential nomination than Jon Huntsman. Politico is at it again, marketing a McCain-like "maverick" as a realistic Republican candidate.

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the U.S. ambassador to China, sent a resignation letter to President Barack Obama on Monday and now is likely to explore a Republican presidential bid, a close associate told POLITICO... the former Utah governor said that he wants to return to the United States by May

...GOP allies of Huntsman have already begun laying plans for a quick-start campaign should the former Utah governor decide to enter the ill-defined Republican field... Over the holidays, the ex-governor met with Sen. John McCain, whose 2008 presidential run Huntsman backed early on. [Ed.: Perfect, just what we need]

...His ambitions have been very much noted in the West Wing. And for public consumption, Obama and his top aides have responded by poking fun at the possibility... "I couldn’t be happier with the ambassador’s service, and I’m sure he will be very successful in whatever endeavors he chooses in the future," Obama said of Huntsman at a White House press conference earlier this month with Chinese President Hu Jintao and the ambassador himself... At an off-the-record dinner Saturday night, at which Huntsman was also present, White House Chief of Staff William Daley kept up the mockery.

...For all their quips, Obama officials are a tad irritated at the barely-veiled presidential moves of their own ambassador in one of the most important countries in the world.

Rest assured that the Obama administration, Politico and every other left-wing rag west of Manchester England will try to position Huntsman as some kind of legitimate GOP contender.

He's not. No one has ever heard of him, save a few Politico reporters who got downsized from the Washington Post.

Aside from his troubling affiliation with the squishy and inarticulate John McCain, Cubachi accurately observes that the background of Huntsman (Gesundheit!) is distinctly problematic for conservatives.

There’s a reason why the Utah Tea Party booed Huntsman.

I couldn’t care less if he can speak Chinese or was governor of Utah... Huntsman is a progressive republican, and held liberal positions while in office. He is a liberal on social issues, an amnesty shill, and publicly endorsed cap and trade. After Obama’s election to the presidency, Huntsman even called for the republican party to move to the center to attract voters...

A wishy-washy Republican who is indistinguishable on core issues from Democrats can't win in a general election. November's thrashing of Democrats proves that Constitutional conservatism is on the ascendancy. And Huntsman is anything but a true conservative.

No offense to Mike Huckabee fans, but the media engaged in precisely this same form of information warfare in 2008. Huckabee was unelectable in the general election, as many of his prior positions were largely indistinguishable from those of Barack Obama, who was a far stronger campaigner.

Constitutional conservatives could and did take issue with many of Huckabee's prior positions including illegal immigration, global warming, higher taxes, crime and parole. In short, a weak, centrist GOP candidate had no chance against a Democrat without any track record and a distinct proclivity for lying.

If the Republican Party wants to win the presidential election, it had better nominate an articulate conservative who believes, first and foremost, in the United States Constitution.

News flash for the leftist nitwits: letting the Obama administration and Politico pick Republican candidates isn't going to fly.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

A photo from Egypt that makes me extremely skeptical about Egypt's future

Let's just say that this pic doesn't give me warm fuzzies about the future of the country or the region.

It certainly didn't take long for the Islamists to use Israel as a scapegoat for Mubarak's pathetic regime.

In truth, the Muslim Brotherhood is positioning the weak-willed Muhammad ElBaradei as a puppet president who they will control. Ambassador John Bolton says that ElBaradei is a joke on the Arab street; the only folks who take him seriously are the likes of Christiane Amanpour and the typical cadre of dupes in legacy media.

The Muslim Brotherhood has a long history of support for terrorism -- and even sided with the Third Reich during World War II, drawing "symbolism, terminology, and political priorities [from] Nazi fascism."

And to illustrate precisely how feckless the Obama administration has been during this Carter-esque debacle, Sky News reports this comforting news.

Washington has been taken by surprise with the speed of events in Egypt, it was only a few days ago that Mrs Clinton said the government there was 'stable'.

I'm not sure who said it but they were right: we've finally located Jimmy Carter's long-lost second term.


Federal Judge to Nancy Pelosi: "Yeah, Lady, We're Quite Serious"

"Are you serious? Are you serious?" -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, when asked where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance, October 22, 2009

A federal judge savaged the Democrat's health care reform bill today, ruling the contentious 'individual mandate' unconstitutional and invalidating the entire law.

A Florida federal judge on Monday ruled that a key plank of the health overhaul passed last March violates the Constitution, dealing a second judicial blow to the Obama administration's signature legislative achievement.

The case is considered the most high-profile of a series of federal lawsuits against the health overhaul. Attorneys general and governors from 20 states initially filed the lawsuit, and six more got behind it earlier this month. All but four of them are Republicans.

In his ruling, Judge Roger Vinson, a Republican appointee, said that the law's requirement to carry insurance or pay a fee "is outside Congress' Commerce Clause power, and it cannot be otherwise authorized by an assertion of power under the Necessary and Proper Clause. It is not constitutional."

The ruling also said that entire law "must be declared void," because the mandate to carry insurance is "not severable" from the rest of the law.

Pages 41 and 42 of the ruling make for especially good reading -- the Framers would be proud of Judge Vinson, who eviscerated the administration's argument six ways from Sunday.

...there is a simple and rather obvious reason why the Supreme Court has never distinguished between activity and inactivity before: it has not been called upon to consider the issue because, until now, Congress had never attempted to exercise its Commerce Clause power in such a way before. See CBO Analysis (advising Congress during the previous health care reform efforts in 1994 that “[t]he government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”). In every Supreme Court case decided thus far, Congress was not seeking to regulate under its commerce power something that could even arguably be said to be “passive inactivity.”

It would be a radical departure from existing case law to hold that Congress can regulate inactivity under the Commerce Clause. If it has the power to compel an otherwise passive individual into a commercial transaction with a third party merely by asserting --- as was done in the Act --- that compelling the actual transaction is itself “commercial and economic in nature, and substantially affects interstate commerce” [see Act § 1501(a)(1)], it is not hyperbolizing to suggest that Congress could do almost anything it wanted. It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place. If Congress can penalize a passive individual for failing to engage in commerce, the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain for it would be “difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power” [Lopez, supra, 514 U.S. at 564], and we would have a Constitution in name only.

Surely this is not what the Founding Fathers could have intended. See id. at 592 (quoting Hamilton at the New York Convention that there would be just cause to reject the Constitution if it would allow the federal government to “penetrate the recesses of domestic life, and control, in all respects, the private conduct of individuals”) If some type of already-existing activity or undertaking were not considered to be a prerequisite to the exercise of commerce power, we would go beyond the concern articulated in Lopez for it would be virtually impossible to posit anything that Congress would be without power to regulate.

Vinson's ruling lays out a brief history of the Commerce Clause and its abuse by the Supreme Court; his timeline illustrates the erosion of the Constitution's firewalls by activist judges focused on results, not adjudication.

The Framers meant what they said. And only a morally bankrupt judge could come to the conclusion that our highest law gave carte blanche to an all-powerful central government. Vinson's powerful ruling lays down an intellectual -- and a moral -- framework for pushing back against the Statist Democrats.


Larwyn's Linx: The American Left's Role in Mid-East Regime Change

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Nation

The American Left's Role in Mid-East Regime Change: RedState
It's on: Dem blames SEIU, other leftists for midterm losses: WZ
SF: Pro-Palin Posters Replacing Vile Leftist Ones: HillBuzz

Doing right by DC’s students: Toldjah
Zarelli nails it: slash services to illegal aliens: CCP
Woman who spied on Joe the Plumber gets $145K county job: ABC-22

As Egypt burns, Obama parties and watches b-ball: GWP
SCOTUS Scolds 9th Circuit: Patterico
Axelrod on way out: `We've learned some lessons': AP

Economy

About that School Obama Mentioned in SOTU Speech...: Malkin
Comments About Egypt and The Arab World: P&F
Government unions led to public pension problem: MySanAntonio

In Quotes: Liberals Agree With Conservatives on the Deficit: RWN
Want to Save Real Money in DC?: PJM
HHS Head Sebelius: Government Can Force You to Buy a TV: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

Creationism, AGW, and the Anti-Science Party: Howling
Freeze to Death in Your Volt: Surber
Now We Know… NASA Lied – 2010 Was Not the Hottest Year Ever: GWP

After $535M Stimulus Bailout, California Solar Panel Plant Going 'Bust'!: RWN
Who Could Oppose 'Clean Energy'?: RWN
Obama science advisor John Holdren cites need to 'educate' GOP skeptics about global warming: Hill

Media

Was Bachmann’s SOTU Response Sabotaged?: Big Journalism
MSNBC VP: “MSNBC does not have a political agenda.”: Hot Air
Women, Minorities, Brendan Fraser Hardest Hit: Driscoll

The Media, Reagan and Obama: AT
Media Matters Blames The Egyptian Crisis on Those Foreign Policy-Controlling, Media-Owning Jews: Lid
Olbermann Bashes Vietnam Vet's Letter to the Editor About Him: NewsBusters

Egypt

The Decline of Egypt: NoisyRoom
"Hamas is not merely colluding with the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood": Urban Grounds
The King's Speech: Belmont Club

Muslim Brotherhood Deception: They Say Different Things in English and Arabic: BigPeace
Thad McCotter: "This is not a nostalgic 'anti-colonial uprising' from within": sisu
Middle East: the Dog That Didn't Bark: Greenroom

So who wants Mubarak?: Surber
Putting the Cart Before the Strong Horse: Driscoll
Egypt protesters call strike, 'million man march': Maktoob

What's the Matter With Egypt?: Hanson
Cold Water on the Frenzy: Cautions about Egypt: NRO
Tunisia, Egypt, and the Suez: Mullings

World

New Ground Zero Imam says People who Leave the Muslim Faith Should be Jailed: FoxNation
How Al Gore Could Save the World: TAB
French increasingly anxious about Muslims: Standard

Why Territory Still Matters for Israel: LegalIns
Tunisian Women Stage Burqa Rebellion as Radical Imam Returns from Exile: RWN
Jordan May Be Next Arab Domino To Fall: MyWay

SciTech

Asteroid Deflection Should Be Next 'Sputnik Moment': Discovery
The 260 mpg car that might actually be cool: CNet
Stuxnet Autopsy Fascinates And Frightens: StrategyPage

Cornucopia

Chris Monson: 1948 - 2011: SIGIS
Joe Biden Weighs In On Unrest in the Mideast: Diogenes
Mike Brown and the Bengals Explained: Virtuous

'Wear What You Love': MOTUS
Princeton in the Snow: TigerHawk
In memory of Jack LaLanne -- Jimbo and Da Juicer: PRS

Image: Cagle Cartoons
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Waznmentobe

QOTD: "If I haven't made my position clear enough in the past, let me restate it: If you are here illegally, then you deserve nothing in the way of state services except arrest and transport into federal custody... The most deserving illegal alien is not as deserving as the least deserving citizen. Any program providing any service to any illegal must be eliminated at every level. Why any level of state or local government PROVIDES any service to illegals, save assisting in their deportation, is simply beyond my comprehension." -- Clark County Politics

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The most frightening sentence you will read today

Consider this missive published in today's Toledo Blade:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, reported this month that states used $158 billion in stimulus funds to balance their budgets for the last three fiscal years, to end June 30.

In other words, a massive chunk of the Obama 'Stimulus' package was used to keep dues flowing into the coffers of the states' public sector unions.

Those dues, in turn, were contributed to the campaign funds of Democrats who had passed the Stimulus package.

A more nefarious and disgusting misuse of taxpayer funds you'd be hard-pressed to imagine.

Late in 2010 President Obama went on the record (with The New York Times no less), admitting that there's no such thing as a 'shovel-ready project'.

In short, Democrats allowed states to kick the can down the road rather than to begin the necessary, painful steps of reining in spending. And now the piper must be paid.

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life -- but that is precisely how Democrats behave, no matter how much experience, history, logic, facts and reason tell them otherwise.


Top 10 Progressive Proverbs

10. The early bird gets to redistribute the worm

9. There is such a thing as a free lunch

8. Inaction speaks louder than work

7. Don't cross the bridge if you're being driven by a Kennedy *

6. All good things come to those who register dead voters

5. A stimulus in time, saves or creates nine of something or other.**

4. Slothfulness is golden

3. What's good for the goose should be good for all the damn geese, m*****f*****!

2. A penny saved is a penny which needs to be taxed and redistributed those not fortunate enough to win life's lottery. **

1. If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie again. **

* * *

Let me know if I missed any.

Update: A Mr. H. Reid suggests, "Never judge a book by its cover so long as it is clean, articulate, with light skin and have no Negro dialect, unless it wanted to have one."

* Hat tip: The Bad.
** Hat tip: Magical Pat.

 

This Week With Christiane Amanpour in 90 Seconds [Biff Spackle]

Biff Spackle transcribed the digest version of ABC's rollicking Sunday talk show after waxing the lobby floors this morning at our world headquarters building.

AMANPOUR: This morning, a special "This Week." Egypt, a possible home to the Lost Ark of the Covenant and land of the pyramids, is now swept up in a political uprising with uncertain consequences. Uncertain that is, to everyone except Barack Obama, whose intellectual capacity is unparalleled, as we all know.

OBAMA: The United States will continue to talk about the rights of the Egyptian people while doing nothing. Let's sort it out after the dust settles.

AMANPOUR: We get the very latest from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is following events closely from her den in Chappaqua. But first, a television appearance by Egypt's President Mubarak.

MUBARAK (through translator): The journey will be difficult. But someday we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal...

AMANPOUR: Perhaps the only one watching this situation as closely as ABC is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who joins us from her bunker in Chappaqua New York. Hillary, what steps you have taken to either assist President Mubarak or to promote Democrat freedoms in Egypt?

CLINTON: Absolutely nothing. We're carefully monitoring what's going on -- by the way, could your news broadcasts lighten up on the the E.D. commercials? And why are the people in these ads always in bathtubs outside --

AMANPOUR: Madam Secretary, do you believe that what Mubarak has done constitutes sufficient reform? Naming a VP, firing his cabinet?

CLINTON: We don't know. We just want to convey a very clear message of weakness. That we will do nothing either way. We'll talk out of both sides of our mouth and really won't encourage anyone, because we could take the wrong side.

AMANPOUR: A lot of the people here on the streets are telling us that they're angry, they think the U.S. is hedging its bets.

CLINTON: Damn straight. When President Obama visited Cairo early in his presidency, he alluded to the fact that he is going to vote 'present' on any issue of substance. We really don't want to be a superpower anymore. That's China's job now.

So, no -- we won't stand up to Iran, or Hezbollah's takeover of Lebanon, or the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia and Egypt, Hamas in Gaza, the terror-supporting nuts in Syria, or anyone else for that matter. Except Israel. They're easy to push around.

AMANPOUR: Thank you, Madame Secretary. And I'll email our producer about the E.D. ads.

Now -- you all know him. He used to be head of the feckless U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood. His combination of skills got us a nuclearized Iran, so please put your hands together for... Mohamed ElBaradei!

[Applause]

AMANPOUR: Mr. ElBaradei, are the latest moves by President Mubarak sufficient, appointing a vice president, a prime minister?

ELBARADEI: Christiane, it doesn't even begin to address people's concerns. We need a new Constitution so we can move toward what I like to call an Islamic democracy. So we can get the hard-line Islamic government that all Democrat societies need and demand.

AMANPOUR: How do you assess the reaction of the U.S. administration?

ELBARADEI: What reaction?

AMANPOUR: But President Obama is saying that the rights of the people need to be protected and reforms need to happen.

ELBARADEI: But he's also saying that the government should remain in control. C'mon Christiane, here's a dollar -- buy a freaking clue. The guy wouldn't take a stand in the Illinois Senate over dollar slots at the racetrack. You think he's going to make a call on [BEEP]ing Egypt?

AMANPOUR: As you know, the world is concerned that if Mubarak falls that the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that once sided with the Nazis in World War II, would take control.

ELBARADEI: That's bogus, dude! The Brotherhood is religious, but very, very peaceful. It's true that they've spawned and funded terror groups all over the world and been linked to Al Qaeda, but I can assure you that all they would like is a worldwide Caliphate and peace. But mostly a worldwide Caliphate.

AMANPOUR: Are the Islamists behind this uprising?

ELBARADEI: Uhm, no. No. Why not at all. Of course not. Why would you ask?

AMANPOUR: How do you think this is going to end?

ELBARADEI: Geez, Christiane. It's not exactly difficult to puzzle it out. We've got a revolution like Iran's, a Carter-like President who won't lift a finger to help a Shah-like figure, and lots of Islamic patriots flowing in from all over the world to help out. What do you think is going to happen?

AMANPOUR: Mr. ElBaradei, I wish I knew. Thank you for joining us.

ELBARADEI: Thank you very much, Christiane, for having me. Allah Akbar!

AMANPOUR: Well that's all the time we have. Please join us next week when we lob more softballs at incompetents and dupes both in the Democrat Party and abroad.


Iowa Football: Coming Clean on Creatine

There's a lot of misinformation flying around the Intertubes concerning the hospitalization of more than a dozen Iowa football players after a strenuous workout. The players suffered from a condition known as rhabdomyolysis -- which literally means the destruction of their muscle tissue.

Imagine a muscle cramp in your leg that's 20 times more painful than a normal cramp; that's pretty much what rhabdomyolysis is. Muscle cells become so strained that they literally burst inside the body. The results can shut down a person's kidneys and possibly even lead to a heart attack.

In the case of the Iowa players, they had been undergoing a particularly grueling workout -- but one that had reportedly been performed by players for a decade. They were said to have been doing sets of squats consisting of 100 reps each, which -- if you've never done it -- is truly a mind-bender. So why did their bodies melt down? WKRG publishes some speculation from a teammate.

[Defensive Lineman Christian] Ballard said, "I think its just a matter of people not re-hydrating: probably taking some supplements that are legal, but, at the same time, probably aren't very good for you."

..."A lot of supplements, you're not going to be able to catch on a drug test. Some of them are just like creatine, that de-hydrates you when you are taking it. And, I know a lot of guys who were kind of buying that stuff, and probably just having a weekend span. A lot of them probably went out drinking, and probably not re-hydrating."

Iowa has been open about its use of creatine as a supplement in the past.

And creatine is safely used by tens of thousands of athletes every year. It's naturally found in meat and fish. So what happened? Here's my theory: they took way too much: the recommended dose is generally a teaspoon per day. So it's not hard to imagine a a dozen guys taking, say, four teaspoons a couple of times per day instead. And a study published in 2000 would tend to align with that theory.

The case report by Robinson in this issue of The Journal represents the most serious published report to date of an adverse effect in a person taking oral creatine supplements. In light of its severity, it is prudent to speculate on the likelihood that this man’s creatine consumption contributed to his rhabdomyolysis.

Rhabdomyolysis results from a breakdown of the muscle cell wall, which leads to cell necrosis. It is thought to be the result of a plasma membrane defect or a disturbance in the sodium-potassium pump that allows an influx of calcium into the cell, which triggers a cascade of events leading to cell necrosis... Robinson speculates that intracellular water retention led to increased skeletal muscle compartment pressures, which placed the patient at risk for cellular wall breakdown...

...First, as do many athletes who believe more is better, this patient was taking a very high dose for an extended time. Such high doses and long periods are not only contrary to recommendations, but they are also unstudied... [he was also healthy and] was not taking any other supplement that could be a contributing factor.

If I had to bet, this is precisely what occurred with Iowa's players. Lots of creatine, too little fluid consumption and a heavy-duty workout.

For those who say creatine doesn't work: they're wrong. It does and it can be used safely. Perhaps a dozen years ago, I decided to really get my level of body-fat down. At that time, I used no supplements whatsoever. What I found is that as I lost weight, I also lost a good deal of strength.

At a body weight of 178, which was down 25 pounds in a matter of a couple of months, I could bench press 225 12 times -- that represented a significant and disappointing drop from the time when I carried more weight. Someone suggested creatine and, after reading plenty of research on MedLine, determined that for short-term use, it appeared relatively safe.

Fact is, creatine is found in meat and fish and is produced naturally in your body as well. I have always tried to lift twice a week and would consume a teaspoon of creatine the day before and the day of each resistance workout. In other words, just four teaspoons a week.

Within a few months, I was able to bench 225 for 21 reps with almost no weight gain (perhaps at 183 lbs.). Creatine makes you feel like a hydraulic machine; much stronger in terms of repetitions (but not maxing out).

When I get my annual checkup, my blood-work shows slightly elevated creatinine levels, common among anyone who works out regularly and not atypical (according to my doctor) for minor creatine consumption.

Bottom line is that the supplement does work and you don't need very much of it. I'm betting Iowa's players overdid the creatine and under-hydrated. Fortunately, they all appear to be okay and were released from the hospital on Friday.

If you are someone who likes to train, I would definitely encourage you to do your own research first. Don't trust me -- follow your doctor's orders and the dosing information you're given. But if you're cleared to use it, I suspect you'll appreciate the additional strength.


President Present Weighs in on Egyptian Crisis: U.S. Will 'Review Mideast Policy After ... Protests' End

The always enlightening Richard Fernandez points us to this delightful news report from the San Francisco Chronicle: 'Obama to Review Mideast Policy After Egyptian Protests'.

...the U.S. faces an urgent challenge as popular uprisings sweep the region: how to defend U.S. economic and security interests while supporting democratic values... While the U.S. president was careful not to side with the demonstrators over the Egyptian government, the White House also announced it would review assistance to Egypt, the fourth- largest recipient of U.S. aid in 2011...

...Farah Pandith, Obama's special representative to Muslim communities, said the administration has tried to reach out to the street as well as the rulers in the Middle East... [but some] democracy advocates in the region say Obama has recognized the movement too little, too late.

...The Obama administration's calls for reform in Egypt now are hopelessly behind the curve and may be interpreted in the region as "implicit American endorsement" of the regime, said Steven Cook, fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington...

President Obama's response to the crisis was exactly what we've come to expect: he grabs a pair of teleprompters, makes a few speeches without saying anything of substance, and then sits around eating popcorn while watching events unfold.


Larwyn's Linx: The Palin Conundrum

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Nation

The Palin Conundrum: Nice Deb
Health Redistributionst Donald Berwick to Face Senate: Hot Air
Children's Theater 'Decapitates Sarah Palin': RightPundits

NY: Democrats Indicted on Felony Voter Fraud Charges: MenRec
Detroit Police Station Shooting Video: Bravery On Duty: RWN
CAIR member headed to Egypt to join protests?: Creeping

Sheriff Joe's latest sweep nets 68 illegals: WZ
'This Shows You How Divorced From Reality' Napolitano Is: CNS
Dems mount most aggressive fight yet to protect ObamaCare: Hill

Economy

GOP to Revive DC School Vouchers that Dems Killed: BigGovt
IMF to US: Better start taking care of business: Hot Air
Dude, where's my waiver?: IBD

Rand Paul Working on Social Security Reform?: RWN
Havel on Capitalism: Ashbrook
The Corporation: A Thing of Power and Beauty: Bainbridge

Climate & Energy

Is global warming hysteria responsible for Egypt’s revolution?: Bookworm
Another Day, Another Global Warming Lie Debunked: Elephant
Cap and Trade Returns from the Grave: WSJ

The Electric Kool-Aid Car Test: IBD
Green Pay Backers: iOTW
Record monthly snowfalls in the northeast: iOTW

Media

Various & Sundry: Leaderless: Pundette
It’s Inexplicable Photo Caption Contest Time: Part III: IHTM
Sex Tapes, DUIs And Exotic Dancers: Documents Reveal FBI Employees Gone Bad: Mediaite

Politico: “Right Takes Refuge In Constitution”: RWN
Who Is Charles Krauthammer?: PJM
Imagine This Guy Instead of Clarence Dupnik?: iOTW

Introducing the New Self-Appointed Director of Civility in Political Discourse: Malkin
Comedy Gold! Chris Matthews, who derides Palin as stupid, says Panama Canal is in... EGYPT!: BlogProf
Don Imus on Rachel Maddow, “She’s the worst kind of coward and gutless, sniveling worm”: IHTM

World

Muslim Brotherhood: Arabs Will Topple Leaders Allied With the US: GWP
Media Matters: Egypt Erupts, So Let's Blame ...The Israel Lobby!: LegalIns
Egypt and Iran: Will We Again Fuel the Fires of Revolution?: PJM

Inside the White House' Egypt Scramble: WZ
Obama Doctrine is Failing in the Middle East: Foundry
Special Report: The Revolt in Egypt and U.S. Policy: BRubin

Picking Sides in Egypt: Powers
Fate of Coptic Christians in post-Mubarak Egypt worries some: Caller
Ancient Egypt Could Be Deleted: Zilla

Israel Wary as Egypt Teeters Towards Anarchy: BigPeace
Egypt: Three Possible Outcomes: BRubin
It’s True: The 10 Families Costing the UK £1 Million in Housing Benefits: WZ

SciTech

Android Trojan Steals Typed or Spoken Credit Card Numbers: Schneier
Google algorithm change tackles content copying: CNet
How To Communicate if Your Government Shuts Off Your Internet: Wired

Cornucopia

Captain America Loses "America": GNFR
It's Not Racist, It's Just Math: Ace
Italy's $1.4 Million Pagani Huayra Supercar: Fox

Image: The Lede
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: PACNW Righty
QOTD: "The circle is now complete. This week Barack Obama truly became what many people believe he was all along, the long lost second term of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. The parallel between the snakebit presidency of Carter and the snakebit Presidency of Obama is stunning... How is Obama handling such a crisis in order to not let it go to waste? The exact same way that Jimmy Carter let the congruent 1979 situation in Iran go to waste.

First he criticized the weakened leader of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak. Next Obama threatened to emasculate Mubarak’s standing with the Egyptian military by reducing US financial aid if Mubarak didn’t allow the protests and revolution in the streets to continue... Obama followed up by tacitly signaling that he supports the violent Islamic protests which are backed by the Shariah-compliant extremists of the Moslem Brotherhood... After that, like Carter, Obama showed constant indecision and weakness, which is having the result of undermining our allies and empowering the forces of insanity and evil on the ground in Egypt and other destabilized countries in the region like Tunisia, Lebanon and Jordan.

Just like Carter, Obama got us to this point by undermining our only ally in the area, Israel, and empowering all of her regional enemies for the first two years of his presidency." -- Ari David

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Obama to Egypt's Coptic Christians: "If I were in your shoes right now I’d be..." "LEAVING! What a GOOD idea!"

Or, as Jim Hoft puts it: "Egypt is the New Iran". Hoft's friend Ari David describes the implications of Mubarak's fall and Obama's culpability in stark terms.

The circle is now complete. This week Barack Obama truly became what many people believe he was all along, the long lost second term of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. The parallel between the snakebit presidency of Carter and the snakebit Presidency of Obama is stunning...

How is Obama handling such a crisis in order to not let it go to waste? The exact same way that Jimmy Carter let the congruent 1979 situation in Iran go to waste.

First he criticized the weakened leader of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak. Next Obama threatened to emasculate Mubarak’s standing with the Egyptian military by reducing US financial aid if Mubarak didn’t allow the protests and revolution in the streets to continue.

Obama followed up by tacitly signaling that he supports the violent Islamic protests which are backed by the Shariah-compliant extremists of the Moslem Brotherhood, which is the only real opposition party in Egypt to the thirty-year dictator Mubarak. After that, like Carter, Obama showed constant indecision and weakness, which is having the result of undermining our allies and empowering the forces of insanity and evil on the ground in Egypt and other destabilized countries in the region like Tunisia, Lebanon and Jordan.

Just like Carter, Obama got us to this point by undermining our only ally in the area, Israel, and empowering all of her regional enemies for the first two years of his presidency. That undermining has led us directly to these out of control events.

At this moment, of the four nations that border Israel, two of them, Syria and Lebanon, are client states of Iran waging constant war and the other two which both have brokered peace are facing internal turmoil, Jordan is facing Islamic protests in her streets and the relatively stable tourist destination Egypt, is exploding in revolution.

...Iran has been a bastion of total evil since Jimmy Carter allowed her to become an Islamic theocracy in 1979. No country in the world has been more responsible for atrocious evil acts than Iran in all of these years and is now at the doorstep of possessing nuclear weapons. All of this pain is the Jimmy Carter legacy bequeathed upon our generation...

The irony is not lost on David. As Obama travels down the same path as Carter, the nation celebrates the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth.

The contrast between Democrats and Republicans could not be more clearly delineated than during crises like these.


Abusing the Children Americans Won't Abuse

The sheer madness of the Democrats' dystopian immigration policies was tragically illustrated last week in northern Virginia.

Salvador Portillo-Saravia, a member of the MS-13 street gang, was charged with raping an 8-year-old girl at her Fairfax County home last month. But he never should have been in Fairfax in the first place... Federal officials deported Portillo-Saravia, of Sterling, to El Salvador in 2003, and he sneaked back in illegally. Now, officials are wondering why a much-touted federal program didn't catch him before the rape...

...Four weeks before the crime, Portillo-Saravia was in the Loudoun County jail for public intoxication. That's when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program, called Secure Communities, should have identified him...

...ICE said Portillo-Saravia illegally entered the country in 2000. He was deported in October 2003 after what ICE called an encounter with the Prince William police gang unit. It is not known when he reentered the country, but reentry is a federal offense.

This nation's porous borders are a disgrace and a danger. The panderers in the Democrat Party could not care less about the safety of America's "middle class". They want Balkanization and they need the votes, illegal or not.

In California alone, the cost of educating, incarcerating and caring for illegals first surpassed $10 billion in 2004. Today the expenditure is well above that.

But those numbers don't reflect the human toll. Allowing anyone at all -- criminals and terrorists among them -- to walk into this country, without so much as a pat-down or a background check, is an affront to the notion of government.

Think about it. Protecting America's borders is the one damn thing that this federal government is supposed to do -- is constitutionally required to do -- yet it won't do it.

Just as with Iraq, Democrats are willing to play politics with the lives of Americans in the hopes of stealing more power.


It's Not Just Egypt: Japan Is Headed for the Brink

The headline sounds relatively innocuous: "Japan Credit Rating Cut by S&P on Absence of Strategy to Curb Debt Levels". However, the ramifications are anything but.

Japan’s credit rating was cut for the first time in nine years by Standard & Poor’s as persistent deflation and political gridlock undermine efforts to reduce a 943 trillion yen ($11 trillion) debt burden.

Azusa Kota, a Tokyo economist, hopes the flailing Japanese government gets the message, going on record with a dire warning: "...they have absolutely no sense of crisis. Once bond yields spike and the fire is lit, the amount needed to finance Japan’s borrowing needs is going to jump and it’s going to be too late."

Mike Shedlock describes the complications arising noiselessly, yet urgently, for the Japanese government.

The key to understanding the urgency now is the warning from Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda that Japan's debt burden has risen to a point where Japan can’t rely on bond sales to cover revenue shortfalls...

Japan has reached the point where its [retiring] savers need to draw down their savings in retirement, and thus need to sell Japanese government bonds, not buy them...

...However, the Japanese government has squandered those savings (and 100% more of GDP as well) building bridges to nowhere [while] fighting deflation.

Nations often default on foreign debt, but this is debt the government owes the Japanese people...

...Should [their] interest rates rise to a mere 3% or so, interest on Japan's national debt will consume most of its revenue.

This mess shows the foolishness of using Keynesian and Monetarist stimulus to defeat deflation. [Ed: Yes, this means you, Paul Krugman, you liberal nutcase.] Neither worked...

...Now Japan is left with an enormous debt problem and no way to solve it.

So what's the concern for us? Why do I mention this troubling little incident in some far off corner of the world? I mention it because Japan is one of the United States' biggest bankers -- holding a huge chunk of our debt.

As our government attempts to "roll" its own debt (refinance our gargantuan loan obligations), it should become clear that some of our major, current holders of Treasuries -- Japan, Egypt, Ireland to name just a few -- will probably lack the necessary wherewithal or the appetite for risk to re-up.

Which, for those of you uninterested in economics, translates roughly to, "Oh, s***."


Larwyn's Linx: Obama the Passive-Aggressive Coward

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Nation

Obama the Passive-Aggressive Coward: Ace
Obama DOJ colluding with ACLU on immigration: JW
$100 Bribe to Ticket Agent Lets Unknown Package Fly: SeattlePI

Comrade Obama coming after guns: RWN
SEIU Members Working With Hamas and FARC Terrorists?: WZ
The Left Defends Its Advocate of Violence: AT

Economy

Waivers for Favors: Big Labor’s Obamacare escape hatch: Malkin
ObamaCare Today: Child-Only Policies Dropped In 34 States: RWN
50 Obamacare waiver requests denied, 500 approved: ProWis

Illinois Death Spiral: AT
Why We Can't Do Big Things: 1957 vs. 2011: AmSpec
'Big Government Blocking Job Creation, Not Helping It': GWP

Why Demonizing Trade Costs Americans Their Jobs: AEI
The 'Your Money Is Not Yours' Crowd: AT
Berkeley: New destination for failed politicians: RWN

Climate & Energy

Another Eastern Snow – Brutal Winter Assault Continues: WUWT
Is Al Gore Responsible for Egypt's Revolution?: Bookworm
Treeshagger Has The 15 Places To Meet A Green-Hottie: RWN

Media

And Now For the Flipside: iOTW
Empty suits, naked emperors: ProWis
Building a bridge to the mid-20th century: Driscoll

Sarah Palin Schools the Washington Post on History: BigPeace
A Note From One of The 400 Rabbis Who Slandered Glenn Beck : Lid
Obama's New Pose: Fake Right, Sucker-Punch Left: AT

CNN’s Parker Spitzer Closes In On MSNBC’s Last Word As Morgan Falls Further Behind Maddow: Mediaite
Alaska Police: No, Todd Palin Didn’t Bonk a Masseuse Who Looks Like a Linebacker for the Seahawks: Powers
Exclusive! Auditions to replace Robert Gibbs released (by Politizoid): Tapscott

World

Chaos in Cairo – Massive Protests Resume In Egypt: GWP
Gaffetastic! Obama Tells Reporters: “Combat Operations in Afghanistan Have Ended”: GWP
The Birth of Hizballahstan: Spyer

Uprising in Egypt; Update: Mubarak, Barack speak/spin; White House releases leadership photo: Malkin
The Egypt crisis; or, the Community Activist and foreign policy: Bookworm
Senior Iranian cleric says uprisings herald creation of "Islamic Middle East": JihadWatch

Mohammed El-Baradei: An Exceedingly Bad Option for Egypt: Wolf Howling
South Carolina introduces bill to protect citizens from “application of foreign law”: Creeping
DPS warns against Mexico travel: Chron

SciTech

How Egypt Cut Off the Internet (and How a U.S. 'Kill Switch' Might Work): Techland
Internet in Egypt offline: BGPmon
Amazon.com Security Flaw Accepts Passwords That Are Close, But Not Exact: Wired

Cornucopia

Obama: How My Vision for Our Sputnik Moment, Like, Totally Saves America: Cube
Dude totally wins dunking contest: Ace
Well, this really sucks: Dollard

Image: Weasel Zippers
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Guy Average
QOTD: "Remember how in 2008 we were told that Biden was such a brilliant choice as running mate and that Obama would benefit enormously from this guy’s vast experience in foreign policy?" -- Robert Stacy McCain

Friday, January 28, 2011

Where's the Damn Report Card?

You know how normal people get report cards in school to tell them how they're doing?

And professionals receive performance reviews?

How about Democrats? Do Democrats ever look back? Ever do any introspection?

How's FDR's Social Security program doing? On solid ground after being sold to the American people as insurance, but defended in the Supreme Court as a tax?

What happened to all of those trillions of dollars paid in by retirees? Could it be that Social Security is bankrupt and headed to collapse in just a couple of decades?

Oh, and I've been out of town. How did LBJ's "Great Society" work out? All of those housing projects and wealth transfers? Did that "War on Poverty" succeed?

And how's 'Chain Migration' doing? Letting illegals stream over the border, give birth and claim citizenship? That working out well? All that Balkanization of large swaths of the United States? Going swimmingly?

And Medicare? You know, the medical program that is hemorrhaging $100 billion a year in fraud alone? How's that Medicare 'trust fund' working out? Going well?

And the Democrats' incessant push to lower eligibility for welfare payments, food stamps and tax credits? Is that cutting down on single-parent families and inner-city blight?

Oh -- and how's that Post Office thingy doing? Making lots of money? The paragon of efficiency?

What about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? How'd those 'job shops for connected Democrats' turn out? Those help the economy?

Anyone know what ever happened with the SEC? They still protecting investors from crooks like Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford? Keeping folks safe from AIG and Enron?

* * * * * * * * *

Before they embark on brand new social engineering programs like Obamacare, couldn't we grade the Democrats' performance on their existing programs? Issue a report card before they nationalize even more sectors of the economy?

Couldn't we evaluate what's in place now? Before implementing a trillion-dollar "Stimulus" program, Cap-and-Trade, socialized medicine, a 2400-page "financial overhaul", and "comprehensive immigration reform"?

No. Democrats never look back. Never learn from failure. Never educate themselves. Because their ideology trumps history, facts, logic and reason. Which is why we must defeat them in 2012. Before it's too late.
 

I think I've finally figured out President Obama's foreign policy doctrine: 'Hey, we've really got to pass this child nutrition bill!'

Does the phrase 'out of his depth' ring a bell?

Egypt's secular government is about to collapse with hard-line Islamists positioning themselves to supplant President Mubarak

Lebanon is under new management: the vicious, Iranian-backed group called Hezbollah, which is responsible for the terrorist attack that killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut. Their aim is written into their charter -- to destroy Israel and the United States

Tunisia is in the throes of its own revolution with hard-line radical Islamists poised to take control of the government

Gaza's Hamas-led government is reportedly importing a new strain of Iranian extremists; Hezbollah agents are said to be making their way into the Palestinian enclave to train soldiers for an attack on Israel

Iran continues its work on nuclear armaments and intercontinental ballistic missile technologies, its steady progress delayed only by a clever cyber-attack

Mexico, on our unprotected southern border, is a failed narco-terror state with roughly 30,000 of its citizens killed in the last five years alone -- and refugees streaming north on a daily basis

Venezuela, Hugo Chavez' dictatorship, is now said to be fielding Iranian military personnel and missiles with 'scientific' collaboration revolving around warhead design and nuclear technology

• The military regime of North Korea recently torpedoed a South Korean warship and is threatening to retest its nuclear weapons

China is on the move: building aircraft carriers, stealth fighters, locking up energy contracts all over the world, and generally preparing to occupy Taiwan and -- eventually -- regions closer to the U.S.

In the midst of these ominous, momentous events, the President took time to field questions during a Q&A session hosted on YouTube. Among the weighty concerns: what the federal government should do about healthier food for schoolkids.

Hahahahahahaha... well, the, uh, the main thing I've done is, uh, ah, I... I... have the First Lady, who is, uh, just driving this, uh, this issue in, uh, incredible way across the country, uh, I don't know if you've read recently for example that, uhm, eh, she was able to negotiate something with Wal-Mart where, for the first time, they're going to start putting labels on their products and also emphasize more healthy choices for their customers...

...When Wal-Mart ends up saying, uh, we're gonna end up buying healthier stuff then suddenly all the producers start saying, we better start producing healthier stuff, eh, and that can make it cheaper... and one of the things we're trying to do is encourage linkages between, uh, local supermarkets, local farmers, local producers, to figure out how can we get fresh produce into communities...

As an aside, I wonder who's been controlling school lunch programs in Washington for, oh, the last forty decades or so? Would that be a giant, unaccountable, unelected bureaucracy that doesn't do anything well?

Just when you thought we would never see any President worse than the disgraceful Jimmy Carter -- who oversaw the creation of the Iranian Thugocracy -- we are forced to endure a man who befriends dictators, tacitly encourages despots, supports socialists and has the cojones to confront only one country: Israel. For building apartments in its capitol of Jerusalem.

And where is legacy media? Can they put together a few of these puzzle pieces for us?

Uhm, no. They're too stupid or too ideological -- and it really doesn't matter which at this point.

Consider the world an ocean boiling over in stormy weather -- and our ship of state is rudderless.


Hat tip: Mark Levin. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!