Monday, January 26, 2009

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "$223,000 to create a single job"


Who will bail out the Fed?: Right Coast
Ruling by a radical: Spectator
Time to put a hold on Holder: The Astute Bloggers

Obama bails out ACORN with billions: Gateway Pundit
What Obama's agenda means for America: David A. Patten
Obama calls on GOP to renounce Rush: Radio Equalizer

The Explanation (first segment of podcast): Mark Levin Show
Is Wilders' film hate speech?: Aish
Editorial "congratulates" America for Obama victory: Vocal Minority

Rangel ethics panel 'virtually disbanded': Jammie Wearing Fool
Britain's NHS: a National Disgrace: Pajamas Media (K. T. Dodge)
Last Hurrah of the Warmists: EU Referendum

Snow hits UAE for second time in recorded history: Gateway Pundit
Despite hot air, Antarctic is not warming: Telegraph (UK)
'Snowfall in the area was so unheard of the local dialect does not even have a word for it.': SondraK

Conformity's seduction: Oh, yes, yes, yessssssss, we can!: Mark Steyn
UN: Yeah, I Guess it sucks that we've been helping Hamas shell Israeli civilians for eight years: Mere Rhetoric
Swat Taliban summon government officials to sharia courts: Long War Journal

The First Test: David Brooks

This $825 billion bill has to be passed within weeks. There’s no time for fundamental rethinking or new approaches. Instead, there’s a sloppy profusion of 152 different appropriations — off-the-shelf ideas that mostly create costlier versions of the status quo.

The committee staff took the kernel of President Obama’s vision — infrastructure programs to create jobs — and surrounded it with an undisciplined sprawl of health, education, entitlement and other spending. There’s money for nurse training, Medicare, Head Start, boatyard support, home weatherization and so on. Eleven of the programs in the bill account for the vast majority of the actual job creation. The rest may be worthy or not, but they have little to do with stimulus. The total package is so diffuse, it costs $223,000 to create a single job.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Hannity's interview with Thomas Jefferson


Tonight on Hannity -- a world-exclusive, the first televised interview with Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States.

Hannity: Sir, thank you so much for meeting with us. It's a unique honor and privilege.

Jefferson: You're welcome, young man. Your industrious society has created many marvels worthy of the American people.

Hannity: Mr. President, President Obama enters office with a huge amount of "hoopla" and an almost messianic belief that he can "heal the environment", fix the economy, and solve problems like global terrorism. Is some sort of reckoning certain?

Jefferson: No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

Hannity: His immense, trillion-dollar "stimulus" package puts control of the people's money in the hands of a few central planners. What is your reaction to that strategy?

Jefferson: Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories... I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

Hannity: So you are generally opposed to a top-down stimulus package and prefer that the spending decisions reside with the people who pay taxes?

Jefferson: I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

Hannity: What about Democrats' tendency to grow the size of government and intrude in every aspect of our lives... from the New Deal's entitlement programs, transportation, energy, health care, etc.?

Jefferson: My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

Hannity: And increasing taxes on the highest earners -- the "progressive" income tax?

Jefferson: A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

Hannity: How troubling is it that the amount of debt that the Federal Government is undertaking -- combined with entitlement programs that are massively underfunded -- means that we are passing huge amounts of debt to our children and grandchildren.

Jefferson: It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world... Never spend your money before you have earned it.

Hannity: What would you like to say to the those of our current leaders who are operating under ethical clouds: from Rangel, to Dodd, Murtha, Frank, Mollohan, Clinton, Geithner, Holder and Reid.

Jefferson: Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.

Hannity: You've seen one of my "man-in-the-street" interviews, where we ask random people simple questions about current events, like 'who is the Vice President'? We found during the Obama campaign that many of those voting for him were completely uninformed and various surveys confirm that general ignorance about the man and his motives. Is that troubling?

Jefferson: If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Hannity: Mr. President, what are your thoughts about President Obama basically ignoring Republican requests for a bi-partisanship approach to the stimulus package, stating "I won" and to get over themselves?

Jefferson: Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Hannity: The concept of welfare, where the state redistributes wealth to the poor even though many could easily work, has been statistically shown to increase single-parent families, a culture of dependency and crime. What are your thoughts on welfare?

Jefferson: Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

Hannity: Moving to the First Amendment: this concept of blogging, where anyone can be a well-read author or pundit, is a new innovation for politics. Do you believe that blogging is a useful tool to promote Democracy?

Jefferson: Information is the currency of democracy... Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

Hannity: Interestingly enough, the whole newspaper business has suffered mightily with the rise of the Internet. Your reaction?

Jefferson: I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.

Hannity: Regarding the Second Amendment, Barack Obama has historically opposed private ownership and possession of firearms. In fact, his home city of Chicago has onerous regulations that effectively prohibit guns altogether, yet the city has the highest number of murders per year of any state in the Union. Your thoughts?

Jefferson: No man shall be debarred the use of arms... Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state. For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

Hannity: How do you respond to Democrats who have made a variety of moves to revive the ill-named "Fairness Doctrine", which threatens conservative free speech and which was already ruled unconstitutional once in our history?

Jefferson: I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man... It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.

Hannity: Final question, sir. What about the Democrats' massive dependency programs, entitlement programs, and efforts to censor free speech such as the "Fairness Doctrine"? Doesn't this violate the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?

Jefferson: Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

Hannity: Thank you so much for your valuable time, Mr. President.

Next on Hannity, breaking news on the Caylee Anthony case from Greta Van Sustern!


Note: Every Jefferson response is verbatim as reported by BrainyQuote. If statements were made at separate times, they are separated by an ellipsis when combined into a single response.
Fox News Ticker: Hijacked from from the brilliant People's Cube.

Early nominees for the 2009 Contractor Awards


Given the overwhelming popularity (well over three page-views) of our 2008 Contractor Awards, Governor Rod Blagojevich and I are pleased to announce our early nominees for the 2009 ceremony.

A nominee for Nick Nolte memorial faucet and sink design.

A nomination for best ad hoc ladder implementation.

A nominee for best low-cost pickup truck.

Nomination for Best Multicultural Toy.

Probably winner for Best Playground Design.

Related: 2008 Contractor Awards.
January 2009 Nominees
February 2009 Nominees
March 2009 Nominees
June 2009 Nominees

Hat tip: FailBlog.

And on the fifth day, subpoenas were served related to Obama's senior staff


On Saturday morning, the list of subpoenas served by the U.S. Attorney's office in the Governor Rod Blagojevich case was made public. The list included one major surprise for the new administration.

A veritable "who's who" of Obama staffers, surrogates and affiliates were among those whose communications with Blago were served with subpoenas. Put simply, within one week of President Barack Obama's administration taking office, it is already under significant legal scrutiny that will -- at a minimum -- take precious time away from dealing with the country's monumental economic and foreign policy challenges.

And, once again, the mainstream media is AWOL, unwilling to report on this very newsworthy story.

Among those whose communications were served:

David Axelrod, Obama's "Karl Rove" and the biggest surprise on the list. Obama's team issued a report in December that said his staff had no "inappropriate contact" with Blago, so the inclusion of Axelrod is a bit of a shock.

Valerie Jarrett, Blago's "Senate Candidate 1", a real estate management executive and political hack of the first order. Her ties to failed and fraudulent real estate deals in Chicago were the subject of numerous investigations and should have instantly disqualified her for any public office.

Rahm Emanuel was already deeply involved in the case with some reports describing as many as 21 conversations with Blago's office during the period in question.

Tony Rezko, Obama's first advocate, fundraiser and adviser, was convicted last year on numerous charges related to kickbacks, and is now awaiting sentencing. Rezko is "cooperating with authorities, FBI Agent Daniel Cain said in an affidavit."

Other communications served include:

• Patricia Blagojevich, first lady
• River Realty, her former employer
• Friends of Blagojevich, the governor's campaign committee
• Citizens for Blagojevich, his former committee
• Robert Blagojevich, the governor's brother and campaign chairman
• Christopher Kelly, former adviser and fundraiser for governor
• Alonzo Monk, former Blagojevich chief of staff, now a lobbyist
• Milan Petrovic, lobbyist and campaign fundraiser
• John Wyma, former Blagojevich adviser, now a lobbyist
• Paul Rosenfeld, lobbyist
• J.B. Pritzker, wealthy Chicagoan whom Blagojevich might have considered to replace Obama in U.S. Senate
• Gery Chico, former Chicago school board president and one-time U.S. Senate candidate
• Doug Scofield, former Blagojevich adviser, now a consultant
• Scofield Communications
• Service Employees International Union
• Tom Balanoff, SEIU Illinois president
• Change to Win, an SEIU-affiliated activist group
• Sam Zell, owner of the Chicago Tribune
• Nils Larsen, an adviser to Zell
• The Chicago Tribune
• The Tribune Co., the newspaper's parent company
• Michael Vondra, owner of asphalt and construction companies
• Gerald Krozel, vice president of a concrete company
• John Johnston, president of Balmoral Park racetrack
• Fred Yang, Washington, D.C.-based Blagojevich consultant
• Garin Hart Yang Research Group, Yang's firm
• William Knapp, Washington, D.C.-based Blagojevich consultant
• Squire, Knapp & Dunn, Knapp's firm
• Doug Sosnick, political consultant

Blago's "Senate Candidate 3", Jan Schakowsky, was not served with a subpoena, but will have some questions of her own to answer in the days to come.

Let's recap, shall we? In the first week, Obama has not cut taxes -- the only proven way to revive the economy -- despite promising to do so for "95% of working Americans" (which was almost certainly a lie, but let's wait and see); signed an order to close Gitmo, certain to make America less safe; and promoted abortion on a global scale.

Oh, and most of his senior staff is under legal scrutiny.

I can hardly wait for week two.

Update: Thomas Lifson offers the critical thought experiment: imagine if Rove, and not Axelrod, had been the subject.

Update II: An eagle-eyed commenter points out that Blago's communications with Axelrod, Jarrett, et. al. were the subject of subpoenas, not the parties themselves. So noted and corrected.

Hat tips: Don Surber (for the title as well as the story) and Larwyn. Linked by: Thomas Lifson at the invaluable American Thinker, The Anchoress, SondraK, Protein Wisdom, Moonbattery, Hyscience, Atlas, Patriot Room, Dr. Sanity, Repurblican, Obambi, Urban Grounds, Black and Right, Proof Positive, Tory Dr. Roy, Crusader Rabbit, Amused Cynic, Liberal Rapture, River Daughter, The Real Barack Obama, CannonFire, DequalsS, Bill Baar's West Side and The Astute Bloggers. Thanks!

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "Most of the 'green' stuff is verging on a gigantic scam"


Debunking the Stimulus Myth: NewsBusters
Windfall: where's the Union outrage?: American Thinker (Doug Powers)
On the fifth day, his staff was served with subpoenas: Don Surber

John Conyers ready to torch First Amendment: Daled Amos
Kuwait purchases 5 million does of emergency anti-radiation drug: IBA
Vatican pillories Obama's "arrogance": Jammie Wearing Fool

Limbaugh responds to Obama: National Review
Dissent is suddenly unpatriotic: Don Surber
Tactics right out of Alinsky's Rules: Gateway Pundit

I am look for the job: IowaHawk
Franken request to dismiss Coleman suit: dee-nied: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
The New Anti-Semitism: Forbes

Clinton Foundation's secret donor: Washington Times
Economic good news: ACLU lays off lawyers: STACLU
Pro-Obama Youth Should Be Careful What They Wish For: Cato Institute (Michael Tanner)

Global warming: dead last as a concern in Pew Poll: Pew Research
Obama's civil rights agenda exposed: Ms. Underestimated
AP reporter sends love note to Obama: Ace o' Spades

New York Sheikh Khalid Yasin in speech in Holland: Wilders must be flogged: Atlas
Church vows to keep faith with its schools, despite Muslim majority: London Times
The 'charming' prince sends a brutal message to Obama: American Thinker (Ed Lasky)

One last chance to save mankind : New Scientist:

With his 90th birthday in July, a trip into space scheduled for later in the year and a new book out next month, 2009 promises to be an exciting time for James Lovelock. But the originator of the Gaia theory, which describes Earth as a self-regulating planet, has a stark view of the future of humanity. He tells Gaia Vince we have one last chance to save ourselves - and it has nothing to do with nuclear power...

[Q] Your work on atmospheric chlorofluorocarbons led eventually to a global CFC ban that saved us from ozone-layer depletion. Do we have time to do a similar thing with carbon emissions to save ourselves from climate change?

[A] Not a hope in hell. Most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning. I am not against renewable energy, but to spoil all the decent countryside in the UK with wind farms is driving me mad. It's absolutely unnecessary, and it takes 2500 square kilometres to produce a gigawatt - that's an awful lot of countryside...

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Getting ready for 2010


Did you know that both Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Harry Reid (D-NV) are up for reelection in 2010? Well, my posters are ready.




This pair of sewer trout need a serious plunging.

Pick me


Papa B sent this one in.

I'm not sure any of this is real, but it certainly looks genuine. It's just hard to believe what you're seeing could really happen.

Breaking: EU will house some Gitmo inmates


Stratfor (subscription required) reports that the EU may step up and house a quarter of Gitmo's inmates.

France has created a plan for European Union nations to provide homes for 60 of 245 inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported Jan. 24, citing German weekly Der Spiegel. France will discuss the plan with EU foreign ministers on Jan. 26.

Hey, this hopenchange thing may be working!

Mitigating Mumbai and the importance of 'Active Shooter'


A summary of an excellent article by Fred Burton and Scott Stewart of Stratfor Research:

On Jan. 8, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs heard testimony from a number of experts about the lessons learned from the Nov. 26 Mumbai attack. According to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the Mumbai attack deserves attention because it raises important questions about the plans of U.S. authorities to prevent, prepare for and respond to similar attacks directed against targets in the United States.

As we’ve previously pointed out, the tactics employed in the Mumbai attack were not new or remarkable, although the attackers did incorporate some tactical innovations due to their use of modern technology. As shown by a long string of historic terror attacks, armed assaults can be quite effective. There are a number of factors, however, that would reduce the effectiveness of a similar attack inside the United States or many Western European countries.

Armed Assaults


Armed assaults employing small arms and grenades have long been a staple of modern terrorism. Such assaults have been employed in many famous terrorist attacks conducted by a wide array of actors, such as the Black September operation against the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics; the December 1975 seizure of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries headquarters in Vienna, Austria, led by Carlos the Jackal; the December 1985 simultaneous attacks against the airports in Rome and Vienna by the Abu Nidal Organization; and even the December 2001 attack against the Indian Parliament building in New Delhi led by Kashmiri militants.

In a particularly brutal armed assault, a large group of Chechen militants stormed a school in Beslan, North Ossetia in September 2004, taking more than 1,000 hostages and booby-trapping the school with scores of anti-personnel mines and improvised explosive devices. The attack, standoff and eventual storming of the school by Russian authorities after a three-day siege resulted in the deaths of more than 320 people, half of them children...

...When viewed as a part of this historic trend, perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of the Mumbai attacks was the assailants’ use of modern technology to assist them with planning the attack and with their command, control and communications during the execution of their operation. Technology not only assisted the Mumbai attackers in conducting their preoperational surveillance, it also enabled them to use satellite imagery of Mumbai and GPS receivers to reach their assigned landing spots by water and move to their assigned attack sites...

Modern technology also allowed the tactical commanders and even individual team members to use satellite and cell phones to place calls to their strategic commanders in Pakistan, as demonstrated by some of the chilling audio captured by the Indian government. In transcripts of some of the conversations released by the Indian government, an unidentified commander reportedly exhorted the exhausted militants at the Nariman House to continue fighting. In another conversation, an off-site commander allegedly ordered the militants holed up in the Oberoi Hotel to kill their non-Muslim captives. From the transcripts, it is also apparent that the commanders were watching news coverage of the siege and then passing information to the attackers on the ground.

In the past, when a facility was seized, police tactics often called for the power and phone lines to be cut off to limit attackers’ ability to communicate with the outside world. Such measures have proven ineffective in the era of cell phones and portable satellite communications.

Mitigating Armed Assaults


Stratfor has long held that the United States and Europe are vulnerable to armed attacks against soft targets. In an open society, it is impossible to protect everything. Moreover, conducting attacks against soft targets such as hotels or malls can be done with ease, and can prove quite effective at creating carnage.

In fact, as we’ve previously pointed out, Cho Seung Hui killed more people with handguns in his attack at Virginia Tech than Jemaah Islamiyah was able to kill in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the August 2003 bombing of the Marriott Hotel and the September 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy combined. Clearly, armed assaults pose a threat...

...The overall tactical ability of the average street cop is important. While most large police departments in the United States have very skilled tactical units, such as the New York Police Department’s Emergency Services Unit, these units may take time to respond to an incident in progress. In the case of a Mumbai-style attack, where there are multiple teams with multiple attackers operating in different areas of the city, such units might not be able to tackle multiple sites simultaneously. This means that like in Mumbai, street cops probably not only will have the first contact with the attackers, but also might be called on to be the primary force to stop them.

In the United States, local police would be aided during such a confrontation by the widespread adoption of “active shooter” training programs. Following a series of attacks including the highly publicized 1999 Columbine school shooting, it became apparent that the standard police tactic of surrounding an attacker and waiting for the SWAT team to go in and engage the shooter was not effective when the attacker was actively shooting people. As police officers waited outside for backup, additional victims were being killed. To remedy this, many police departments have instituted active shooter programs.

While the details of active shooter tactical programs may vary somewhat from department to department, the main idea behind them is that the active shooter must be engaged and neutralized as quickly as possible, not allowed to continue on a killing spree unopposed. Depending on the location and situation, this engagement sometimes is accomplished by a single officer or pair of officers with shoulder weapons. Other times, it is accomplished by a group of four or more officers trained to quickly organize and rapidly react as a team to locations where the assailant is firing.

Active shooter programs have proven effective in limiting the damage done by shooters in several cases, including the March 2005 shooting at a high school in Red Lake, Minn. Today, many police departments not only have a policy of confronting active shooters, they also have provided their officers with training courses teaching them how to do so effectively. Such training could make a world of difference in a Mumbai-type attack, where there may not be sufficient time or resources for a specialized tactical team to respond.

In the United States, armed off-duty cops and civilians also can make a difference in armed attacks. In February 2007, for example, a heavily armed gunman who had killed five victims in the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City was confronted by an off-duty police officer, who cornered the shooter and kept him pinned down until other officers could arrive and kill the shooter. This off-duty officer’s actions plainly saved many lives that evening.

...As evidenced by the Jan. 8 testimony of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Mumbai has gotten the attention of police agencies around the world. The NYPD and others already are studying ways to rapidly deny attackers the communications ability they enjoyed in Mumbai during future attacks. The preoperational surveillance conducted by the Mumbai attackers is also being closely scrutinized to assist in countersurveillance operations elsewhere.

A seen by the Fort Dix plot and actual armed attacks against targets, such as the July 2002 assault on the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport and the July 2006 attack against the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, the threat of armed terrorist assaults against soft targets in the United States is quite real. However, the U.S. law enforcement environment is quite different from that in India — and that difference will help mitigate the effects of a Mumbai-like attack.

For those unfamiliar with Stratfor Research, I'd recommend you review their free content and, if you feel it's relevant, subscribe to the service. It's timely information that is effectively delivered.

Linked by: Guns and Bibles. Thanks!

The scariest chart ever


East Coast Economics is "currently doing some research on the (likely) Treasury bubble, and the charts I’m coming across are nothing but scary - one more so than the other. Check out the following which shows the [dollar] amount borrowed by US banks from the Fed through Dec 2007; the spike marks the Savings & Loan Crisis at the end of the 1980s with borrowing maxing out at $8b..."

1919-2007 (Y-axis scales to $10B)

"Now take a look at the following chart. It is the same graph as above, but updated through the beginning of November ‘08."

1919-2008 (Y-axis now scales to $800B)

"This might be less scary if the Fed wasn’t creating money out of thin air and at the same time accepting assets of questionable - and deliberately undisclosed - quality as collateral from banks. As it stands, I am not surprised that 10 year CDS on US Treasuries are above 60bps (high of 72bps at the beginning of December vs. a pre-08 historical average of 2bps)."

Even worse, those figures do not include the financial support the federal government has extended to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"Although not included in the figures reported by the government, the U.S. government has moved to more explicitly support the soundness of obligations of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, starting in July via the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, and the September 7, 2008 Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) conservatorship of both government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). The on- or off-balance sheet obligations of those two independent GSEs is just over $5 trillion.... The government accounts for these corporations as if they are unconnected to its balance sheet. The U.S. Treasury contracted at the inception of the conservatorship to receive US$ 1 billion dollars in senior preferred shares, and a warrant for 79.9% of the common shares from each GSE, as a fee to fund, as needed, up to US$ 100 billion total for each GSE (in exchange for more senior preferred stock), in order to maintain solvency and adequate capital ratios at the GSEs, thereby supporting all senior (normal) liabilities, subordinated indebtedness, and guarantees of the two firms. Some observers see this as an effective nationalization of the companies that ultimately places taxpayers at risk for all their liabilities..."

Let's build on those charts to see the growth of unfunded liabilities from entitlement programs (e.g., Social Security, Medicare) since 1940.

The Y- (vertical-) axis of this graph dwarfs the second chart since the total amount of these doomed Democratic "social programs" amounts to around $55 trillion!

This chart represents the U.S. federal debt as a percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product, the sum total of all goods and services produced in the U.S.). Even before the Obama Porkapalooza stimulus package, the graph depicts the explosion in debt that will be left for our children and grandchildren to work off.
The full faith and credit of the U.S. monetary system is at risk because of interference in the free market by liberals.

From The Community Reinvestment Act's social engineering; to threats by Andrew Cuomo and Janet Reno to shut down banks that didn't meet fabricated underwriting standards; to the rape and pillage of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... all were orchestrated by Democrats under the guise of "helping the little people."

Government interference in free markets always distorts those markets and frequently leads to catastrophe. The Soviet Union, North Korea, Zimbabwe, and even the United States now provide ample evidence that less government interference is needed, not more.

But yes, by all means, let's nationalize health care! What could possibly go wrong?


Update: Milton Friedman's co-author ("A Monetary History of the United States"), 93-year old Anna Schwartz, says the Fed can avoid a depression by printing more money to buy distressed mortgages.

Update II: More on the phony stimulus package, also known as Porkapalooza: "You know, I'm concerned about the size of the package. And I'm concerned about some of the spending that's in there, [about] ... how you can spend hundreds of millions on contraceptives... How does that stimulate the economy?"

Hat tips: Todd Sullivan and RIA News Focus. Linked by: Rick Moran at American Thinker, Gateway Pundit and BizzyBlog. Thanks!

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "Rush Limbaugh hates America!"


The Golden Age of Bi-Partisanship Beginneth: Hot Air
Lou Dobbs on the 'White Construction Worker': Ms. Underestimated
It's on: Obama singles out Limbaugh: Gateway Pundit

Hate-free speech: IBD
Piston-less engine could yield 100MPG: Israel21
Murtha-funded firms busted: American Thinker

Holocaust survivor warns: Get out of Europe: The Spectator
Should Jews Leave Europe Before its too Late?: YWL
UK: Muslims enter Jewish shops, threaten to kill owners: IBA

Obama's AG likely to support 'Fairness Doctrine': National Review (Michael G. Franc)
Press catches President Obama by surprise: TigerHawk
Obama spokesman's debut marked by discord: Washington Times

Post Bush: Israel Alone?: Green's Real World
Anderson Cooper slurring and stumbling: Copious Dissent
No change in government corruption: The Whig

Obama Begins Air-Raiding Villages, Killing Innocent Civilians: Gateway Pundit
Obama' cult of personality: Pajamas Media (Candace de Russy)
The audacity of dope: The Smoking Gun

Media fabricates more faux outrage at Limbaugh: Paul Ibrahim:

Have you heard the latest? Apparently Rush Limbaugh doesn't only hate the troops and Mexicans, but he also hates America.

Or at least, it's what the media is reporting.

Let's start with some background. About 4 months ago, Barack Obama launched campaign ads falsely alleging that Rush Limbaugh had spoken of Mexicans in a degrading manner. About 16 months ago, Limbaugh called out anti-war propagandists who invented stories about having served in Iraq, appropriately labeling them "phony soldiers." Top Democrats alleged that he called real troops "phony soldiers," faked extreme anger, and 41 senators signed a letter to the CEO of the company that airs Limbaugh's show, suggesting Limbaugh is "unpatriotic. Limbaugh ended up turning this mockery into $4.2 million dollars for the children of Marines and law enforcement personnel killed in the line of duty...

Friday, January 23, 2009

Our terrifying new head of Homeland Security


For $100 dollars, answer the following question: when asked about the border fence, who said "Show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder"?

Give up?

That would be the ostensible Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

In 2005, she pilloried the idea of a border fence, stating "it would be too expensive, take too long to construct, and be ineffective once completed."

That was, of course, before 500 miles of fence were completed with noteworthy success.

Accuracy in Media has reported a variety of troubling aspects related to her record:

The reality is that, when it comes to illegal immigration, Napolitano has been all over the place. Parts of her record as governor of Arizona were abysmal. In 2006 and 2007, she was a vocal supporter of the failed federal mass-amnesty bills. Napolitano has opposed the building of border fence. She vetoed legislation that would have ended the ability of illegals to pay lower in-state tuition rates at Arizona public colleges and universities. In 2004, she failed in her attempt to defeat a 2004 ballot initiative to deny most non-essential services and benefits to illegals...

After voters ignored Napolitano and overwhelmingly approved the measure, she tried to neuter its effect by limiting it to five relatively small benefit programs. Napolitano also fought implementation of the federal Real ID Act, the 2005 bill requiring states to make their driver’s licenses and other state-issued identity documents more secure and make certain that illegal aliens cannot obtain them. (This was done to prevent a recurrence of the situation in which September 11th hijackers who were illegal aliens carried driver’s licenses and other forms of state-issued ID.) In June of this year, Napolitano signed into law legislation barring Arizona from complying with Real ID.

Open borders! September 10th! Hopeenchange!

The 2008 Contractor Awards


Chrissie sent us the 2008 Contractor Awards.














Linked by: Right Wing News. Thanks!

Obama Youth


Could someone explain to me why a sitting President would continue to run his own youth group?

A group named not for his political party, but for him?

A group operating outside the auspices of the United States Government, but with its implicit approval?

Doesn't President Obama have enough to worry about? What the heck is Students for Obama really up to?

The implications are unpleasant, to say the least.

I wonder when our beloved mainstream media will get around to asking this question.

Update: Muslim youth request Obama's help in fighting extremism:

The Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, a grassroots movement aiming to foster a new generation of civic engagement, issued the open letter after convening the group's first international conference last weekend in Doha, Qatar.

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "Are 60% of the people on Daily Kos insane?"


Murtha pork front raided: Hot Air (Ed Morrissey)
A Janitor's 10 lessons in Leadership: Chief Warrant Officers Assocation
Waiting to exhale: The News of Pakistan

UBL: Gaza one of many fronts of "World Jihad" : Walid Phares
Here is a woman who should run for Prime Minister!: Sky News
AQ figure calls for attacks on Britain: Reuters

Abortion in America: a Personal Journey: American Digest
To the guy who mugged me...: Savannah Now
Airsoft-armed robbers get a lead surprise: Dr. Bulldog

NASA: data shows oceans cooling since '03?: Hot Air (Ed Morrissey)
Pew Poll: RIP global warming fears: People Press
Genocide henchman leads Obama outreach: Pajamas Media (Patrick Poole)

Terrorism: Obama's Language Suggests Bad News For America's Security: Dan Riehl
Battle of Gaza: and the winner is...: National Review (Clifford D. May)
"They did it themselves": National Review (Mark Steyn)

Robert Reich: keep stimulus money away from skilled workers and white guys: Michelle Malkin
Questions about Obama (perhaps these should have been asked earlier): Politico
Red Eye reams Olbermann: Olbermann Watch

Lobbyist ban enacted; first exception granted: Ace o' Spades
Terrorists come first!: Astute Bloggers
Patti Blagejovich "laid off" from $100K charity job: Chicago Sun-Times

The facts behind Microsoft's anti-Linux campaign: CNet (Matt Asay)
Mercedes E Class Coupe Caught!: AutoSpies
Are 60% of the People on Kos Insane?: Daily Kos

ACLU Hero Obama Hits Civil Liberties Trifecta; America Can Be Proud Again!: STACLU:

(Eric Cantor) The single most important role of government is to defend our nation and protect innocent Americans from those who seek to destroy our way of life. We all want to protect our troops in combat and our citizens at home, but there are serious questions that must be answered before Guantanamo Bay is closed. For example, how does it make sense to close down the Guantanamo facility before there is a clear plan to deal with the terrorists inside its walls? And what will American soldiers do with the terrorists they capture in the field before a Presidential Commission offers them a clear position?

Actively moving terrorists inside our borders weakens our security, raises far more questions than it answers and is the wrong track for our nation. Most families neither want nor need hundreds of terrorists seeking to kill Americans in their communities. We need to have a serious, careful, and realistic national discussion about the ramifications of closing Guantanamo Bay.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Obama's Posse o' Change


Well, this seems an inauspicious start. No, not the oath of office (that appeared to be a gaffe by the Chief Justice). It's the crew that President Obama assembled to serve as his Cabinet.

A Secretary of State whose personal coffers are overflowing with foreign money. If you look up "conflict of interest", you'll see a picture of Hillary being sworn in as Secretary of State. The Clinton Foundation has raised more than half a billion dollars including more than $40 million from foreign sources including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Taiwan. Put simply, "The Clinton Foundation exists as a temptation for any foreign entity or government that believes it could curry favor." To make matters worse, Hillary has refused to temporarily halt foreign contributions during her service or even to disclose donations in a timely fashion. Change!


A Treasury Secretary who cheats on his taxes doesn't know the tax code worth a damn. And who had a pathetic performance at the New York Fed, not to mention his de-orchestration related to the TARP debacle. And the double standard is appalling: as Tom Blumer points out, "Zoe Baird (Clinton, 1993), Kimba Wood (Clinton, 1993), and Linda Chavez (Bush, 2001) all had relatively minor or potential issues with self-employment taxes on household help... Geithner’s unpaid amounts were exponentially larger. Is there a whiff of male chauvinism in the air?"


A sleazebag Attorney General who appears to be the worst breed of political hack. In 1995 U.S. Attorney Eric Holder declined to prosecute a top aide of President Clinton. Shortly thereafter, he was named Deputy Attorney General. In that role, Holder sanctioned two of the most outrageous pardons in Presidential history. When Holder blessed the pardon of fugitive Marc Rich, at least one congressional report alleged that Holder was seeking an endorsement by Rich’s attorney for the role of “attorney general in a potential (Al) Gore administration.” And Holder's blessing of Clinton's pardon of the FALN terrorists has been criticized by scores of law enforcement officials. The COO of the LEAA stated that Holder's "involvement with FALN terrorists is not so much political as a significant sign of disregard for law enforcement." Gee, that's precisely what we need in an AG!


A proposed Commerce Secretary forced to withdraw because of an ongoing federal "pay-to-play" investigation. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withrew from consideration for the Cabinet post when the investigation was disclosed. The probe centers on whether a campaign donor, CDR Financial Products, received millions in state contracts in exchange for the contributions. The word is that federal investigators "are zeroing in on two of his close advisers."


For the love of... Is it really that tough to find qualified Democrats who don't live full-time under an ethical cloud?

It gets worse. Consider those Democrats who currently occupy positions of significant power in Washington. On the other hand, maybe Obama was trying to level the ethical playing field between branches of government.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), head of the Senate Banking Committee, played a major role in the mortgage meltdown that precipitated our current financial crisis. Not only did he take more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other politician, but NBC News reports that Dodd received a sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide Financial. To this day, Dodd refuses to release the HUD statement for the mortgage, despite promising to do so months ago.


A Democratic Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel (D-NY), who is currently the subject of four separate ethics investigations. Rangel is alleged to have: violated rent-control laws; preserved a tax break for an oil company in exchange for a $1 million contribution; failed to pay taxes on $75,000 in unreported income; and solicited donations on his office letterhead.


House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) also played a significant role in the mortgage meltdown. Not only did he take numerous contributions from those affiliated with the GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), but he repeatedly fought oversight and audit controls that could have saved the country from their catastrophic meltdown. Best quote? "I think it is clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sufficiently secure so they are in no great danger... I don't think we face a crisis; I don't think that we have an impending disaster. ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country.." That was Frank defending the GSEs' loose accounting standards in 2004 and he continued to do so through the summer of 2008.


Disgraced ex-Congressman William "Freezer-burn" Jefferson (D-LA) was found with $90,000 in marked bills stuck in his freezer at home. Federal agents told a judge the money was part of a $100,000 payoff delivered to Jefferson by an informant in a bribery probe. That probe has already led to guilty pleas by a Kentucky businessman and a former Jefferson aide. The Justice Department is investigating Jefferson's relationship to various international telecommunications agreements.


Allan "Jed Clampett" Mollohan (D-WV), who is a former chair of the House Ethics Committee under federal investigation after the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the department regarding a bizarre increase in Mollohan's net worth. For 2005, Mollohan and his wife reported assets worth $6.8 million to $25.7 million, up from $116,000 to $315,000 in 1999. His financial disclosure restatements came only after the group's complaint.


John "Porky" Murtha (D-PA), the famed chair of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee; a charity founded by a longtime Murtha aide has become a "funnel for money" to his campaigns from defense contractors and lobbyists who directly benefit from his decisions. A Taxpayers for Common Sense spokesman noted, "It's a real tangled web between the congressman, the nonprofit, the defense contractors and the lobbyists." Oh, as an added bonus, Porky's one of the infamous unindicted co-conspirators caught during the Abscam round-up.


Harry "Land Deal" Reid (D-NV), the Senate Democratic Leader who collected a $1.1 million windfall profit on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't owned the property for at least three years. Reid also did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company. The AP learned of the land deal from a former Reid aide concerned that the deal had been "hidden from Congress."


And, lest we forget, let's not omit Caroline Kennedy, who dropped out of contention for the New York Senate seat amidst reports of tax and nanny problems.


This is a world-class collection of losers, punks and crooks.

Culture of corruption? This isn't just a culture, it's an influenza-like epidemic.

But that's today's Democratic Party. They are among the sleaziest group assembled in Washington since the Teapot Dome.

Linked by: Vocal Minority and Curmudgeonisms. Thanks!