Sunday, August 16, 2009

Thirty Degrees Below Zero


For more than five weeks during the brutally cold winter of 1997, tenants suffered without any heat in a government-subsidized apartment building. The 31-unit building in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood had been "rehabbed" just four years prior at taxpayer expense, no less.

How cold was it? Temperatures routinely dipped around ten below zero. With wind-chills factored in, the effective temperatures approached 30 below.

And the residents of the building had no heat for more than a month.

The building's owner -- Rezmar Corporation -- didn't bother to turn on the heat for weeks. In fact, it didn't do so until it was sued.

And the Englewood building wasn't the only one of Rezmar's properties that had scores of code violations. At least a dozen times, Rezmar had to be sued in order to simply turn on the heat in its properties.

Rezmar's properties turned out to be catastrophic failures: 17 buildings ended up in foreclosure, 6 are boarded up, hundreds of apartments are vacant and require repair... and taxpayers were stuck with millions in unpaid loans.

All of these buildings were in -- or just blocks away from -- a single state senator's district. A district belonging to a young, up-and-coming politician named Barack Obama.

In fact, during the brutal winter of 1997, even while Rezmar refused to heat its Englewood apartments, it was donating $1,000 to state senator Obama's campaign fund.

During the winter or the scores of subsequent code violations, did state senator Obama ever lift a finger to protect his constituents from "predatory slumlords" like Rezmar?

The answer appears to be a resounding "No". In 2007, Obama's own campaign staff stated, "Senator Obama does not remember having conversations... about properties that [Rezmar] owned.."

The shivering tenants in in and around the district were left defenseless for weeks at a time. Assailed on one side by predatory slumlords like Rezmar, they were -- for all intents and purposes -- left out in the cold by their state senator, Barack Obama.

There's a simple reason Obama didn't lift a finger to protest these horrific violations. His political patron, Tony Rezko, was the driving force behind Rezmar. And Rezko helped raise a quarter of a million dollars for Obama's various campaigns.

And after stating he'd "never done any favors for" Rezko, the Chicago Sun-Times discovered letters Obama wrote to city and state officials supporting Rezko's bid for $14 million in taxpayers' money for an elder-care facility.

While Obama didn't expend an ounce of energy to protest Rezko's outrageous violations, he did take time to write letters on behalf of Rezko in his efforts to secure an additional $14 million in taxpayer funds.

State senator Obama couldn't effectively represent his abused constituents... perhaps because he was otherwise occupied helping his slumlord patrons advance their own agendas.

And as a so-called "community organizer" and then a state senator, Obama -- and close friend and confidante Valerie Jarrett, who was responsible for property management -- couldn't even keep huge, federally subsidized housing complexes like Grove Parc habitable. And 'habitable' is kind of a low bar, I would think.

State Senator Barack Obama did a really lousy job representing his constituents in a tiny district in Chicago's south side, appearing to side more often with corporate interests than his own, downtrodden citizens.

And his cronies -- like Valerie Jarrett -- were linked to dozens of failed projects that burned through millions in taxpayer funds.

And these failed, small-time bureaucrats want us to trust them to control 20% of the entire U.S. economy -- the whole American health care system?

It'll be a cold day in hell before that sounds like a good idea to the American taxpayer. Say, thirty degrees below zero cold.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin and Cold Fury. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: A Disturbance In The Force

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email or reply via Twitter.

Nation

President Thin-Skin Continues Assault on Insurers: GWP
You've had some good innings: Steyn
Facing oblivion, Left finally wonders: 'Who is he?': Greenroom

Obama's punctured gravitas: AT (Lifson)
Turning up the heat on ACORN: Examiner
A tale of two healthcare forums: JWF

A disturbance in the force: Instapundit
Between Scylla And Charybdis: BCB
Your Socialist Utopia Awaits: Dr. Sanity

Economy

Manufactured Health Care Crisis: AT (Simpson)
It’s a Health Care Overhaul, Not Reform: PJM (Clouthier)
Chicago: Closed on Monday: Surber

Barone on MI policies of business destruction: BlogProf
Brooks Brothers to Wal-Mart in Two Short Weeks: Ace
Healthcare: There is no plan: Fausta

Climate & Energy

Astronomers: 'Sun's output may decline significantly' and lead to ice age: Depot
Cap and trade won't work: Surber

Media

Robert Reich on the health care debate: Instapundit
Bainbridge Takes Down Perlstein: LegalIns
2009’s Greatest TV Moment: a most unexpected denunciation of ObamaCare: El Campeador

Join the Counter Boycott in Defense of Glenn Beck: Macsmind
Boycott the Boycotters: STACLU
Ten Top Reasons I'm Happy About The Glenn Beck Boycott: LegalIns

NYT says Obama astroturf efforts are faltering: STACLU
The Woodstock Generation?: Kesler

World

Netroots "Move On": Ace
More Tyranny in Venezuela: Power Line
Nepotism at the UN... Again: PJM (Rosett)

SciTech

Eric Schmidt on Where Google Is Headed: BizWk

Cornucopia

Denver Sells Drugs and Revolution to Children in America : LatL
Ronald Reagan on Socialized Medicine: Bright & Early

...Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards made his millions suing doctors for procedures that are inherently risky, and greatly increased jury awards by also suing nurses, anesthesiologists, hospitals and anyone else he could think of. The following words are from one doctor:

"The John Edwards we know crushed [obstetrics, gynecology] and neurosurgery in North Carolina," said Dr. Craig VanDerVeer, a Charlotte neurosurgeon. "As a result, thousands of patients lost their health care."

Following are some statistics on medical malpractice liability from the PRI report:

• Approximately $124 billion dollars is spent annually by the health care profession to avoid medical liability.
• About $30 billion more is spent on direct liability lawsuit costs.
• Malpractice liability cost is 1 percent of GDP and increases the cost of healthcare by approximately 7 percent.
• These added costs deny health insurance coverage to between 2.4 and 4.3 million people, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

-- James Simpson, "Manufactured Health Care Crisis"

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Torpedo Testing


The Russian Australian Navy captured these photos of a torpedo testing exercise.











Correction hat tip: Fred.

One Chart to Rule Them All


I spotted this chart (courtesy Larwyn, of course) at The Jacksonian Party. It explains a great deal about our current situation; one in which the people find themselves pitted against their elected officials.

Prior to 1902, Congress had never reached a 70% reelection rate.


Jacksonian argues that when the Senate became a directly elected body and no longer represented Statehouses, taxation and other federal usurpations of Constitutional bounds became rife. In other words, the federal government could and did use its power to begin punishing the states, regulating local affairs and interfering in every sort of arcane transaction.

That change triggered an ever-increasing federal budget that went far beyond national defense. Budget-busting initiatives, politically motivated in nature, purported to help retirees, the sick, the elderly and so on, while concentrating ever more power in Washington.

The federal government now consists of a body of lifetime bureaucrats, many of whom couldn't power a flashlight with all of their brainpower combined, who are reelected automatically through their use of federal tax funds. They reward, they punish, they anoint.


And they continue to aggregate more power at the federal level -- and to build their own personal wealth -- ignoring and flouting the law. Dodd, Rangel, Feinstein, Frank, Reid, Waters, Conyers, Mollohan, Murtha -- to name but a few -- have repeatedly thumbed their noses at financial disclosures, ethics violations, criminal complaints, FOIA requests, and the like.

If government worked as Obama and the National Socialist Democrats say it will, then why would we care about separation of powers? Why would we care about different levels of government?

Why would we care about the Constitution?

Why was this nation founded in the first place?

If government is so beneficent, so effective, so humane and compassionate, how is it that throughout all of human history, the great philosophers and thinkers were so fearful of it?

Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and so many more.

Were they all wrong about government and Obama right?

Were they all wrong about limiting, balancing, placing checks on government? Were they all wrong about liberty?

Is human history all wrong and Obama right?

Is human history all wrong and Nancy Pelosi right?

Is human history all wrong and Harry Reid right?

Do you really think Obama, Pelosi and Reid hold a candle to the greatest thinkers civilization has ever seen?

Because for Obama to be right; and for his party, now in the hands of the radical left, to be right; the Founders had to be wrong.

For Obama to be right, the Declaration of Independence has to be wrong.

For Obama to be right, the Constitution has to be wrong.

For Obama to be right, Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Montesquieu, Burke, Smith and the founding fathers all had to be wrong.

And so it is clear how all of this will end.

Government-run health care will be used as a tool by government officials. As these programs always are. It will be used to punish political enemies, to reward friends, to entice supporters and -- always -- to aggregate more power.

It must be defeated.


Hat tips: The Jacksonian Party, Thirty Thousand and Mark Levin (8/14/2009, 44:30 - MP3). Linked by: Stacy McCain. Thanks!

Volunteers for America 2009


Good video.


Hat tip: Mark.

Great News! Riots Breaking Out Nightly in Hometown of Obama, Axelrod, Jarrett and Emanuel


NBC Chicago reports that Obama, Axelrod, Emanuel and Jarrett left their hometown in such wonderful shape that riots are breaking out on a nightly basis.

NBC calls them "near riots", but videos plainly demonstrate that if you were caught driving through this mess, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a riot and a "near-riot".

Increased police patrols are promised in the area around Leland and Sheridan in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood after "near riot-like" activity in the streets the past few nights.

Video from the area appears to show about a dozen people running back and forth in the street, breaking bottles and yelling. One NBCChicago.com visitor wrote of "near riot-like gang fighting," and said that shots were fired Thursday night at about 10:30.

On the Web site UptownUpdate.com, commenters express fear and anger over the activity.

"This is by no means an isolated incident," reads a comment by Michael. "This same exact scene played out multiple times this Spring as well."

"We have had 3 nights in a row of this and never in my 10 years of living here have I seen it so bad," wrote another resident.

"I'm scared to walk my dog after 7:30PM in this neighborhood! Sad!," wrote "KenmoreResident."

...In the video, purportedly shot Wednesday night, a squad car passes through and tells the crowd to disperse. Later, several marked cars appear. Police later confirmed that one person was arrested. One officer suffered minor injuries.

Residents say its taken repeated complaints to get any action from the city.

Police confirmed that the activity is "probably gang-related," and said the video is being reviewed by tactical teams and watch commanders in the district.

Other comments at Uptown Update are reflective of the horrid situation.

# uniko509 says: August 14, 2009 12:34 AM

I am SO glad that I am moving out of this neighborhood at the end of the month after 4 years of this bulls***. The past 2 years have been really scary - gunshots at night, my now ex-boyfriend's back car window getting shot out when he was parked a few blocks away from me. Enough is enough.

# barryfishing says: August 14, 2009 6:59 AM

I live at Clarendon and Montrose. At about 11PM I awoke to the sound or about 5 gunshots and a group of black teenagers in white T-shirts yelling. I am on the 19 floor and had a good view. Police cars drove by with lights flashing but did not stop as they drove toward Agatite street. The kids ran into Clarendon Park by the field house. I have heard gunfire before but not below my windows as last night...

# michael says: August 14, 2009 7:07 AM

...Shots last night? -- Yep. Three shots fired in this same vicinity at about 10.35. Couldn't see where they came from and didn't see any of the previous night's rioting activity... And yes, they DO fight... as was mentioned above, and can be seen/heard in the video, there were glass bottles being hurled at each other, subsequently hitting cars and buildings... we all know these gang members can't aim worth ***t, but they're giving it a pretty good try... Oh, and by the way, this is by no means an isolated incident. This same exact scene played out multiple times this Spring as well... One of my thoughts as all this was going on, knowing that our Alderwoman has tied the hands of the police department against actually cleaning up this crap, is what she might do if a "gang" of tax paying Uptown residents stormed her quiet little street, started screaming profanities, turning over trash cans and throwing glass bottles at HER home and car... And to top it off, we get a property tax assessment (ie: property tax increase) that claims our property is worth 20% MORE for 2009. Does Helen think that this kind of activity increases property values?? AAAARGH!!!

Yessir, from the folks who brought you Grove Parc comes the amazing success story of a Community-Organizer-In-Chief and his posse of paid hacks.


And it's this kind of success story they're hoping to replicate all across America.


Related: The Liberal Utopia of Detroit. Linked by: Marathon Pundit and TAB. Thanks!

"I know that handwriting!"


Dan from New York writes:

Swastika painted outside Ga. congressman's office:

I know that handwriting. It's David Axelrod's.

Dan from New York

P.S. If you smell something "fishy" (or even mildly rotten) about this email, the White House encourages you to forward it to Rahm Emanuel at The Office of Hope, Change and Citizen Surveillance, finksforobama@whitehouse.com. Tell 'em I referred you.


Larwyn's Linx: What We Want From the Republicans

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email or reply via Twitter.

Nation

Palin rips Doc's Death Panel: GWP
What we want from the Republicans: Doc Zero
Specter's $1.6B windfall for trial lawyers: Examiner

Health care: the key to controlling everything: Goldberg
Non-existent Death Panels Removed from Health Bill: STACLU
Protesters Surround ACORN Bus Leaving Town Hall: GWP (Vid)

Nazis for me, but not for thee: McCarthy
Mile Long Tea Party Protest In Troy MI: BlogProf
Town Halls: Is Anyone Ready to Listen?: MYODB

Specter shocked, shocked to find individual mandate: Hot Air
More Government Does Not Mean Reform: PJM (Chapin)
There IS Joy in Mudville: Just Grits

Economy

Union Pensions to receive $10B gift from Obamacare: STACLU
The Dangers of Decompartmentalized Health Care Spending: Love
On Becoming Europe: Hanson

Brilliant: RI can't find its Stimulus money: LegalIns
Ginnie Mae head to leave; Tick Tick?: Denninger
Obama's big deals with Pharma: Pharmaquiddick: Fausta

More Corruption Charges Rain Down on Detroit Public School Workers: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

"We lost the original data": STACLU
Green Jobs Czar Van Jones: NoisyRoom
Can't see the heat for the cold: Commentary

Media

Bush as Hitler, Swastika-Mania: a Retrospective: Zombie
ABC tries to link taxpayer protesters to extremist hate groups: NewsBusters
Sick: ABC's Skewed View of the World: GWP

The Left Discovers Manners: GM's Place
Obama a closet Cone follower?: AT (Morgan)
Obamacare Union Mafia Closes Dean Event To Public: Jawa

World

Hillary In Nigeria: Don't Feel Bad About Your Corrupt Elections. Our 2000 Election Was Stolen Too.: Mere Rhetoric
America and Venezuela More Alike Then Folks Want To Admit : JWF
Get the Popcorn: Hamas, Al Qaeda Kill Each Other in Gaza: Babushka

Why Muslim Charities Fund the Jihad: PJM (Ibrahim)
Oxymoron of the Day: Prairie

SciTech

Obama's Plus-Size Surgeon General on Burger King Payroll: BlogProf

Cornucopia

The Sordid Truth About Those Hideous Annoying Internet Ads, Discovered by a Babushka: Babushka
Obama Motors Unveils First Car: PeckSnif (Vid)
The Booze Death Calculator: Barstools

Friday, August 14, 2009

Citizen Obama


In an alternative universe, Barack Obama is just a normal citizen. A normal taxpaying schmoe like you and me. These are his adventures.

Mr. Obama, I'm sorry to say that your wife's mother is suffering from some serious ailments.

We'll need to do an extensive battery of tests. Her white blood cell count is elevated, which could mean a variety of things. Also, she may need a hip replacement.

Doctor, thank you. Even though this is family, I don't want you to go to extraordinary lengths.

You know what? We should cut costs.

It pains me to say this, but don't do any tests.

Don't give her that expensive drug. It treats a rare disease and is very expensive. The last thing I'd want to do is run up costs for other Americans.

No, we're not going to go to the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins or some other top-notch facility.

Who am I to demand cutting-edge treatment? Those extra tests? Cutting-edge drugs? No, we don't want any of those.

And look. She's 79, for heaven's sake. Forget about the hip replacement.

She can handle it, she's tougher than nails.

Look, bottom line: just give her some painkillers. It's the Democrat thing to do.