Larwyn's Linx: When In The Course Of Human Events...

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Nation

When In The Course Of Human Events...: Denninger
Senate Tax Bill Passes House: Ace
Something funny happened on the way to tyranny: Owens

Obama's Tax Evaders of the Year: Malkin
We already gave up on the Constitution: DC
US Marine Pens Viral Letter to Anti-Gun Sen. Feinstein: GWP

Why the 2nd Amendment: Williams
Obama's Leadership Failure: Samuelson
72-hour disclosure rule, R.I.P.: Twitchy

Economy

Senate Bill Is $600 Billion Tax Hike: Foundry
Obama's 'messianism' makes economy a secondary concern: York
Hey House Republicans, Here’s What Obama is Saying Today: RS

Deficit 'fiscal cliff' bill actually spends $330 billion more: Times
President rejects his bipartisan commission: Mankiw
Each year taxpayers fund more single-parent families: ¡No Pasarán!

Obama Deal Adds $4 Trillion to Debt Over 10 Years: Mish
President Obama Hails 'Cliff' Deal, Warns of Next Fiscal Fight: ABC
Texas Judge Rules State Can De-Fund Planned Parenthood: LifeNews

Scandal Central

Make America (And Congress) Pay Their Bills; Stop Congress From 'Fixing' Their Financial Mess: Strata
Senate passes massive tax cut which raised taxes over $600 billion in middle of night without reading the bill: LI
Congress approves fiscal crisis bill: Fox

Climate & Energy

The age old battle of the thermostat – the ‘Goredian’ Knot of global temperature: Watts
No Regulation? No Problem: Stossel

Media

You Have Been Drafted: TL in Exile
Ready to Face a Gunfight, Armed With a Slingshot?: DC
Gallup: Record number of Americans oppose handgun ban: HySci

Allen West Calls Senate ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Compromise “Illogical and Disrespectful” To Americans: Shark Tank
NYT Op-Ed: Let's Give Up On The Constitution: Wolf Howling
Professor calls for abolition of Constitution: CDN

Irony: New York Paper That Revealed Legal Gun Owners Hires Armed Security: WZ
Group claims hacked subscriber database of NY newspaper which published gun permit map: LI
Sources: Enough Republicans Willing to Unseat Speaker Boehner: Breitbart

World

The smoke screen has lifted. Sen. John Kerry officially nominated for Secretary of State.: Loudon
More on the Links between Obama and Saddam Hussein: Pipes
France: 1,200 Cars Burned; Police Attacked Over New Years: Atlas

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Teen Solves Quantum Entanglement Problem for Fun: Wired
Armed robbers hit Paris Opera Apple Store, initial reports put heist at over $1.3M: 9to5Mac
Windows 8 Even Less Popular Than Vista: Slashdot

Cornucopia

How class warfare weakens America: Ryan
Happy New Year, 2013: MOTUS
'Oompa Loompas' sought by police over Norwich assault: BBC

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: 90 Miles From Tyranny

QOTD: "The "fiscal cliff" is a massive failure of presidential leadership. The tedious and technical negotiations are but a subplot in a larger drama. Government can no longer fulfill all the promises it has made to various constituencies. Some promises will be reduced or disavowed. Which ones? Why? Only the president can pose these questions in a way that starts a national conversation over the choices to be made, but doing so requires the president to tell people things they don't want to hear. That's his job: to help Americans face unavoidable, if unpleasant, realities. Barack Obama has refused to play this role.

Instead, he has cast the long-term budget problem as a question of whether the richest 1 percent or 2 percent of the population should pay more in taxes. Not only that, but he has insisted that the higher taxes be paid by raising rates, as opposed to reducing various tax breaks (deductions, exemptions, preferential rates) enjoyed heavily by upscale Americans. The obsession with rates is bad policy (higher rates may threaten risk-taking, work effort and hiring) but qualifies as good politics: It signals Obama's macho; he's tough on the rich, who are implicitly blamed for the nation's budget and economic woes...

...Of course, Obama would offend many Democrats if he entertained benefit cuts in Social Security and Medicare: higher eligibility ages, higher premiums for affluent elderly, structural changes in the health-care system to reduce costs. Just as many Republicans don't want taxes raised a penny, many Democrats don't want benefits cut a penny...

...Unfortunately, much of the media have accepted the Obama narrative that it's only Republican rigidity that frustrates negotiations and leads to deadlock. This means, of course, that there's even less incentive for Obama and congressional Democrats to engage in genuine bargaining.

The result is that we're not getting the debate we deserve and that budget choices are being made mainly by default. Just as important, the periodic, ugly confrontations over budget policy -- the paralysis and bitterness they involve -- corrode confidence and weaken the economy. A weak economy creates few new jobs, and the lack of jobs is the nation's No. 1 social problem. Obama's abdication of responsibility may be in his political self-interest, but it is profoundly hostile to the national interest." --Robert J. Samuelson