Thursday, December 02, 2010

TSA Flashback o' the Day

Posted on 31 December 2009:

Kim Priestap points us a Radio Netherland report with a discomfiting title. "Al-Qaeda practises beating body scanners" describes test runs by terrorists that involve smuggling explosives past full-body scanners in Europe.

In 2007 Ed Morrisey summarized a series of apparent terrorist dry-runs. At that time the TSA alert (PDF) suggested that an attack on airliners was imminent. The TSA noted items that closely resembled C4 (explosives), IEDs, and remote triggers.

Furthermore, the explanations of the persons involved were "questionable" and investigations continue.

[Authorities] have intercepted several items at airports resembling improvised explosive device (IED) components. These items include wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components, and dense clay-like substances. The unusual nature and increase in number of these improvised items raise concern... Terrorists may repeat operational tests to desensitize, distract, or adapt plans for specific environments...

Individuals involved in these incidents were of varying gender, and initial investigations do not link them with criminal or terrorist organizations. However, most passengers’ explanations for carrying the suspicious items were questionable, and some investigations are still ongoing. Many of the incidents caused airport terminal evacuations and at times, brief closures...

Noteworthy incidents include the following:

5 July 2007, San Diego, CA – A U.S. Person’s (USPER) checked baggage contained two icepacks covered in duct tape. The icepacks had clay inside them rather than the normal blue gel.

4 June 2007, Milwaukee, WI – The carry-on baggage of a USPER contained several items resembling IED components, such as a wire coil wrapped around a possible initiator, an electrical switch, batteries, three tubes, and two blocks of cheese

8 November 2006, Houston, TX – A USPER’s checked baggage contained a plastic bag with a 9-volt battery, wires, a block of brown clay-like minerals, and pipes.

16 September 2006, Baltimore, MD – The checked baggage of a couple contained a plastic bag with a block of processed cheese taped to another plastic bag holding a cellular phone charger.

* * *

At some point, the TSA practices -- often described as "security theater" -- need to cease. They must be replaced with decisive, intelligent measures such as those used by Israeli security personnel.

Now, if only I could turn this prognostication talent into luck at the racetrack.


'Can somebody give me one compromise that Obama has offered?'

The liberal punditry is up in arms, pillorying the Democrats for proposed accommodations to the incoming class of Republicans. Obama himself is under fire, as he is reportedly ready to compromise and negotiate. Well, last night Mark Levin addressed this fallacy in stark terms (transcript courtesy Biff Spackle).

We just had a massive election landslide, where the American people said, "We don't want any of this." Does it sound to you like the Democrats got the message? Does it sound to you like Obama got the message?

I was sitting here today making a list of all the compromises that Obama has made. He wants to compromise, he wants to negotiate. I'm sitting here and thinking: well, there is nothing on my list. I can't think of one!

Can somebody give me one compromise that Obama has offered? Just one? Exactly what is it?

Is he prepared to compromise on Obamacare? No! They're moving forward.

Is he prepared to compromise on the regulation of CO2 by the EPA? No! They're plowing ahead.

We're told he's going to rule by fiat, using Executive Orders and regulations to get around the new Congress and the voters.

So where's his compromise? What are we to negotiate with? See, he's an ideologue. He's not your garden-variety political hack. He's an ideologue. Which means he's not going to compromise on big issues. And that's the reality of having a guy like this in office.

If I were in charge of the Republican Party, I would put it bluntly. To paraphrase Harry Truman on August 6, 1945:

Thirty days ago an American juggernaut dropped a bomb on Democrats in Congress and destroyed their usefulness to the Marxist Left. That bomb had the power to swing 63 House seats and 680 state legislative seats and left in its wake what the National Journal called "devastation".

The Democrats began this war in 2007 when they promised to run the "most ethical Congress ever" with "no new deficit spending." Instead they permitted and encouraged rampant criminality and an all-time record of $5 trillion in new deficit spending.

But the end of their reign of fiscal terror is near. The electorate dropped the political equivalent of an atomic bomb on the Democrats last month. The force which gave birth to this country -- an insatiable desire for freedom -- has been loosed against those who brought fiscal ruin to the nation.

The greatest marvel is not the size of the Democrats' defeat, nor its cost, but the achievement of the people -- a true, grass-roots effort to repudiate Marxism and Statism -- into a workable plan. People of all races, religions, economic backgrounds and interests worked to advance freedom in an amazingly short time. It is doubtful if another such combination could have been assembled anywhere in the world. What has been done is among the greatest achievements of a people fighting incipient tyranny in history. It was done under pressure and without failure.

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every destructive endeavor the Democrat Statists have created. We shall destroy their agencies, their bureaucracies, their unconstitutional czars, their ideologues who have burrowed into regulatory bodies unknown to most Americans. Let there be no mistake: we shall completely destroy the Democrats' political power.

It was to spare the Democrats from utter destruction that the ultimatum was yesterday issued. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum, raising taxes on small business owners, entrepreneurs and hard-working couples around the country.

If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of political ruin, the likes of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this 2010 offensive will follow subsequent forces in such number that and power as they have not yet seen and with the political skills of which they are already well aware.

The power of the people will continue to grow as more citizens educate themselves regarding the unholy alliance of Democrats and the fourth branch of government -- the public sector unions. Both align themselves against the citizen, against the taxpayer, and threaten the destruction of our country, our currency and our way of life.

We pledge to politically eradicate the Marxist left that inhabits the body of the Democrat Party like some sort of horror film zombie.

And in 2012, 2014, 2016 and in every subsequent election, we will return this great Republic to the Constitutional basis that our Framers intended. Our contract with America is this: it is the Constitution.

No political quarter asked, and none given.

This is a war for the country's future. We can have a failed Marxist welfare state of the sort melting down in Europe. Or we can begin to right the ship by returning to the principles of Constitutional government, the wisdom of which becomes more and more obvious by the day.


Bags Fly Free

Someone's got some mad Photoshop skillz.

Photoshop has a website that conducts weekly contests on a theme that they select. This week the theme was to build a picture that says "Goodbye to Nancy Pelosi". The winning entry follows for you to share with friends:

Since Nancy Pelosi is no longer Speaker of the House, she must give up her private jet. She'll be flying Southwest from now on because "Bags fly free"!

Won't you please help Nancy buy a Gulfstream 6?


Hat tip: Papa B.

'And here are the sensible folks at the Climate Change Conference'

A rare beacon of sanity spotted at the Climate Scam conference in Cancun -- via the invaluable Melissa Clouthier.

At least the United Nations' climate grifters finally figured out the obvious: don't schedule a Global Warming expo in a place certain to undergo the Gore Effect.


Hat tip: Doug Powers.

Larwyn's Linx: 'We'll filibuster until tax issue resolved'

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Senate GOP: we'll filibuster until tax issue resolved: Hot Air
Liberal Excuses for Conservative Victory: AT
Complaint Filed with FEC Alleging Rangel Cash Irregularities: PJM

Alabama Democrats to Obama: ‘Thanks for Killing Our Party!’: RSM
Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: ProWis
Liberals and the Coming Redistribution of Fault: AT

The Littlest Victims of Obamacare: Malkin
Angry, Hyper-partisan Democrat Laments Partisanship in DC: JWF
You Are No Longer Free To Move About the Country: Reason

Economy

90 taxpayers support the salary of one NJ state worker: WyBlog
He Wasn't On Public Assistance: JWF
Uncle Ben Bernanke’s QE2 Fairy Gold: PJM

Fed Spent Hundreds of Billions Bailing Out Foreign Banks: WZ
$3.2M Wasted on Misleading Andy Griffith Obamacare Ads: RWN
How to Really Cut Social Security: Kaus

Climate & Energy

Say, Who’s Up for $5.00-Gallon Gas?: Driscoll
U.S. Should Not Repeat Germany’s Wind Power Mistake: RWN
Obama's Offshore Drilling Ban Flip-Flop: AT

Media

Why Does the Media Love to Pick On Palin?: Lott
Okay, So You Knew Reagan: LegalIns
Beyond the Nanny State: PJM

In Which I Challenge Tom Friedman To A Debate: Ace
More Palin Bashing: How CNN Misleads With Headlines: RWN
Commie-Truther Van Jones: FOX News Is Satan: GWP

World

WikiLeaks Exposes White House's Undying Support for Islamists: AT
Nigel Farage: Euro empire is collapsing, bailouts are running dry: Cubachi
Report: Special Ops Have Killed 3,200 Taliban Jihadis in 90 Days: WZ

WikiLeaks Embassy Cables Reveal Venezuela's Health-Care System Collapsing: AT
German ‘Conservatives’ Find Common Ground with Sharia-Compliant Economics: PJM
British Report: Not Letting Sex Criminals Adopt Children Is Discriminatory: RWN

Stunner. Obama’s Peace Partners Vow Not to Recognize Israel: GWP
Good News: Gitmo Detainees Sent Back to Afghanistan Being Released Without Standing Trial: WZ
Hillary Analyzes Argentina's President: AT

SciTech

Twenty highest-radiation cell phones: CNet
FCC Moving Ahead With Net Neutrality: RWN
Pentagon Spokesman – We Could Have Stopped Wikileaks But We Decided Not To: WZ

Cornucopia

50 Things Every Guy Should Know How To Do: Ace
Saudi Arabia: Man Arrested for Turning on Bluetooth by Morality Police, Sentenced to 70 Lashes: WZ
Our Cars--Tyler's Pontiac Fiero: CarLust

Image: Gateway Pundit --- Full-Body Scan of 80-Year Old Nun
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Nice Deb

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Photo of the Day: And they impugn Sarah Palin's intelligence?

Matthew J. O'Connor, writing at the Clarion Advisory, describes the real effects of the federal pay freeze announced Monday by President Obama.

First, there are about 2.1 million federal jobs now, and in 2009 only 177 of those received “unsatisfactory” job performance ratings—150 of those received pay increases anyway. Facetiously speaking, such competency.

Second, the average federal employee receives 30%-40% more in total compensation than the average private sector employee. Facetiously speaking, their production and results demonstrate they are worth every penny.

Third, since President Obama took office 141,000 new federal jobs have been added, and during the first 18 months of the recession federal pay rose 6.6%.

Fourth, the “freeze” is only for two years and then only affects cost of living (COLA), not bonuses or movement within the General Services (GS) pay schedule.

[Now remember] what the President said about Health Care Reform a few months ago: “No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor..."

I will leave it to the Obama lemmings to swallow his recent federal pay freeze deficit control hoax and dive off the edge of the turnip wagon, like they seem to do with almost anything Obama says-off his teleprompter.

And the legacy media endlessly reminds us that Sarah Palin is dumb and Barack Obama is some kind of genius. Okay.

Forget the birth certificate -- where are the college transcripts?


World's Dumbest Blogger's Latest Brainstorm -- Let's Print More Money and Hand It Out to the Poor So We Can Save the Economy

When it comes to the pinnacle of dimwitted commentary, the crack journalist named Matthew Yglesias is the undisputed champ*. His latest brainstorm is a doozy as it involves printing lots and lots of money, Weimar Republic-style, which he believes will -- yes, he actually says it -- stimulate the economy.

The trouble in Europe seems to be getting worse, with debt fears spreading somewhat beyond even Spain to Belgium and Italy.

This is something people need to keep in mind when they think about QE2 and the fact that the real problem with current monetary policy is that it’s not loose enough. One thing you’re seeing as all this plays out in Europe is that the Euro is declining in value relative to the dollar. The dollar could go up for two kinds of reasons. One would be that foreigners are increasing their demand for US-made goods and services. They could be saying “I don’t want these Italian financial assets, I’m going to go buy a Boeing jet.” But obviously that’s not what’s happening here. Instead people are concerned about the increasingly rickety-looking European monetary system and want to get their hands on dollars as such.

The right response to this is for the Fed to be doing monetary stimulus—printing more money. This can take a number of forms. Buying longer-dated Treasuries seems to be what the FOMC is most comfortable with, but in a lot of ways I think it would be better to just create the money and send it to people...

...There are some questions about exactly how you would organize such a “helicopter drop” but I’m confident it could be worked out. And working those problems out would, among other things, have the advantage of improving the politics of monetary stimulus. Cut the banks out of the transmission mechanism and illustrate the fact that the point is to increase the amount of money that people have.

Terrifying: this is actually considered informed commentary among the Democrat intelligentsia (oxymoron alert).

And they say Sarah Palin is dumb? But I digress.

The club of numbskulls masquerading as Democrat commentators would do well to read Gonzola Lira's Hyperinflation, Part II: What It Will Look Like, authored by a man who lived through the Chile's money-printing nightmare.

During the period 1970–’73, Chile experienced hyperinflation, brought about by the failed and corrupt policies of Salvador Allende and his Popular Unity Government... In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected president by roughly a third of the population. The other two-thirds voted for the centrist Christian Democrat candidate, or for the center-right candidate in roughly equal measure. Allende’s election was a fluke.

He wasn’t a centrist, no matter what the current hagiography might claim: Allende was a hard-core Socialist... Land was expropriated—often by force—and given to the workers. Companies and mines were also nationalized, and also given to the workers. Of course, the farms, companies and mines which were stripped from their owners weren’t inefficient or ineptly run—on the contrary, Allende and his Unidad Popular thugs stole farms, companies and mines from precisely the “blood-thirsty Capitalists” who best treated their workers, and who were the most fair towards them.

...One of the key policy initiative Allende carried out was wage and price controls. In order to appease and co-opt the workers, Allende’s regime simultaneously froze prices of basic goods and services, and augmented wages by decree.

At first, this measure worked like a charm: Workers had more money, but goods and services still had the same old low prices. So workers were happy with Allende: They went on a shopping spree—and rapidly emptied stores and warehouses of consumer goods and basic products. Allende and the UP Government then claimed it was right-wing, anti-Revolutionary “acaparadores”—hoarders—who were keeping consumer goods from the workers. Right.

Meanwhile, private companies—forced to raise worker wages while maintaining their same price structures—quickly went bankrupt: So then, of course, they were taken over by the Allende government, “in the name of the people”. Key industries were put on the State dole, as it were, and made to continue their operations at a loss, so as to satisfy internal demand. If there was a cash shortfall, the Allende government would simply print more escudos and give them to the now State-controlled companies, which would then pay the workers.

This is how hyperinflation started in Chile. Workers had plenty of cash in hand—but it was useless, because there were no goods to buy...

Read the whole thing.

And please -- please -- don't ruminate on the fact that President Obama appears to see himself as an Allende-like figure. It's terrifying enough to know that the World's Dumbest Blogger™ actually has mucho credibility among influential Democrats.


* This is not meant in any way to impugn the dimwit pothead known as Andrew Sullivan who recently took time away from investigating Sarah Palin's vulva to use the novel word "dickishness" in his latest Pulitzer Prize-winning blog post. This year Sullivan is running a close second to Yglesias in TIQ (total ignorance quotient) but has yet to beat the master. And no, that wasn't a double entendre. At least, not an intentional one.

Just in time for Christmas: "Read the 4th Amendment, Perverts" scanner-ready undergarments for kids

That's the beauty of the free market system: you can never predict what it'll come up with next. In this case, protest T-shirts for kids, its messages laced in steel to make a statement legible to scanner operators in airports everywhere.

Now that I think about it, hopefully Cargo Collective has some kind of affiliate marketing program with retroactive bonus payments.

I've got some ideas for other messages, though they wouldn't necessarily be kid-friendly. Like this one:

And no, it's not a veiled allusion to sexual preference: it's an unveiled allusion to the future of TSA inspections.


Hat tip: LB

Tres Awesome: Did GM Pull Off Its IPO By Stuffing the Dealer Channel With Inventory -- at Taxpayer Expense?

If you were a scam artist, can you think of anything better than pulling off a multi-billion dollar con using the imprimatur of the federal government? Let's not mince words: the folks running GM may be a unique breed of crony capitalist -- perhaps more crooked than capitalist.

Hidden deep in today's disappointing GM November sales release is a number that all GM longs may want to quickly forget... [check out] the linear rise in GM's auto inventory safely stashed away at dealers, i.e., unsold. The chart below demonstrates what some may argue is nothing less than a blatant case of channel stuffing. Is it really surprising that GM will resort to such pathetic schemes to boost its top line numbers?

...Of course not: the government's GDP report demonstrates that this is occurring everywhere in the US economy, courtesy of near record inventory accumulation which two years after the start of the depression refuses to let up...

It is obvious that beginning in July, GM has started an aggressive channel stuffing program whereby it offload[ed] tens of thousands of cars (over 110,000 since July) on dealer lots, hoping these will get sold somehow, at some price, all the while dealers enjoy taxpayer subsidized floorplan leases which allows them to hold nearly infinite inventory. If and when the liquidation event takes place who cares? After all the company is now public and has managed to massage it artificial sales numbers sufficiently to fool investors that there is actual end demand for its cars.

So what would have happened if in October GM had held its dealer inventory flat (not declining, just flat): well, the top line number would have been 21,000 cars less sold. Which also means that total sales would have been not 169k but 148k, and instead of a 11.4% increase, GM would have reported a drop of 2.4% in November sales YoY [year-over-year], which would have made the life of GM DMM GETCO that more unbearable as the High Frequency Trader would soon end up with 100% of the stock float at $33.

...Bottom line - if indeed GM is right, and manages to sell hundreds of thousands of cars in December, we will take back everything we said above. On the other hand if the number remains flat, or, heaven forbid, increases, it will be more than obvious that GM is now involved in nothing less than the most transparent channel stuffing scheme we have seen in years.

Gee, I wonder which it is?

You know, these union payoffs by the Democrats keep getting better and better with age, kinda like a fine wine.


Larwyn's Linx: DREAM nightmare: an open-borders entitlement

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

DREAM nightmare: an open-borders entitlement program: Malkin
Portland Bomber Recruited by AQ, Not the FBI: WZ
How Did the GOP Perform With Hispanic Voters In 2010?: WklyStd

The Endless Delaware Post-Mortem: RSM
Cui Bono?: Wizbang
Man of the Year Nominations: Surber

Mark Ritchie, File 5: Communist Party Connection Exposed: Noisy
Another Day, Another John Conyers Ripoff: GWP
Obama May Have to Delay Hawaiian Vacation Due to Tax Cut Fight: WZ

Economy

Euro Contagion Spreads: Ace
Reid Pays Back the Unions -- At Your Expense: RWN
College Dream About to Get Easier … for Illegals: PJM

'It’s all rigged': Senate passes new food police bill: Malkin
Dense Pack: Belmont Club
Sherrod Brown (D-OH): Unemployment Benefits Create Jobs: WZ

Climate & Energy

Rationing Bono & Other Gaia-Saving Ideas: Anchoress
Global Warming “Con Artists” Try Again at Cancun Climate Conference: RWN
A Clearer Picture Of The Climate Alarmist End Game: RWN

Media

Wikileaks Exposed Classified US Documents, So The Worst Person In The World Is Obviously Bristol Palin: SAB
Palin Derangement at MSNBC, or shall we call it MSPDS?: Cubachi
Palin Envy, a freudian diagnosis for our cojones-challenged GOP establishment?: sisu

The Age of Adolescence: Hanson
The Care and Feeding of Progressives: AT
Liberalism: Mohammad Cartoons Vs. Jesus Being Eaten By Ants: RWN

What Sarah Palin is doing to her children: Althouse
Today Show Portrays Wiki Leaker as a 'Teased' and 'Harassed' Victim of the Military: NewsBusters
Give this man his Pulitzer already: Benjamin Marra’s The Incredibly Fantastic Adventures of Maureen Dowd: Robot6

World

“TANGO DOWN”: th3j35t3r Hacks WikiLeaks: Babalu
Muslim Columnist: U.K. Rape Gang Case Exposes ‘Disgusting Cultural Beliefs’: RSM
Holocaust Denial From U.S. Professors: Academic Freedom?: PJM

Rethinking Foreign Policy: AT
Wikileaks Proved Obama Lied Repeatedly About Middle East Policy: JoshuaPundit
President Obama seeking advice from Jimmy Carter – on North Korea?: Toldjah

Canadians outraged as veiled Muslim women not required to lift veil, prove ID at airports: BlogProf
Wiki-Wiki, Pres. Chrissy: Babalu
I'm Not Laughing: Wizbang

SciTech

WikiLeaks has U.S. scrambling to plug holes: CNet
Has the scientific fountain of youth been found? : DVICE
Will Verizon’s iPhone Be Very Good For AT&T’s Bottom Line?: Barron's

Cornucopia

Call of Duty: Slack Ops: Six Meat
kim jong-il looking at things: kim jong-il looking at things
Whacking Assange: C&S

Image: Police Sketch Artist Rendering of Andrew Cuomo
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Green Mountain Homesteading

QOTD: "If you can somehow force a liberal into a point- counterpoint argument, his retorts will bear no relation to what you’ve said — unless you were in fact talking about your looks, your age, your weight, your personal obsessions, or whether you are a fascist. In the famous liberal two-step, they leap from one idiotic point to the next, so you can never nail them. It’s like arguing with someone with Attention Deficit Disorder." -- Ann Coulter

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Stop Action Photos: How the XM-25 Works

Coolness.

A complete family of ammo is planned, including armor-piercing, anti-personnel, airburst and point-impact non-lethal rounds.

The HEAB round is a 25mm cartridge with fore and aft explosive warheads, and a mid-body airburst fuse... An operational firing scenario would involve the following: by viewing through the fire control display, the combat user puts the red-dot aim-point on the target, pushes the "Lase" button, realigns the aim-point on the target, and fires...

The range is automatically communicated upon firing to the chambered 25mm round -- and stored in the fuse logic.

Upon muzzle exit, the intelligent fuse, using a turns-counting approach, determines the distance traveled and bursts precisely over the engaged target at the programmed range.

...It leaves the enemy no place to hide.

The entire video is at StrategyPage. And Fox News has a slideshow.


HHS Head Sebelius: We'll Protect Americans' Sensitive Health Information With the Same Level of Security The State Department Uses

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius visited the campus of Kansas State University yesterday to deliver a staunch defense of ObamaCare.

"Health is really about freedom, [Ed: which is why we intend to make all decisions for you] when we live longer, healthier lives, we've got time to do our jobs, time to volunteer in our neighborhoods [Ed: there they are with the community organizing again] and play with our children, to watch our grandchildren grow up [Ed: each of them owing hundreds of thousands of dollars thanks to the vast unconstitutional bureaucracies we created]," Sebelius said. "When the health of the nation improves we see the benefits each and every day of our lives."

...As well as the defense of the insurance portion of the Affordable Care Act, Sebelius also emphasized six lesser-known health issues that HHS is seeking to improve. They ranged from making medical records electronic and preventing infections in hospitals, to funding efforts to fight obesity and cancer...

... Chris Connell, senior in animal science business, said his favorite point was when Sebelius talked about how hospitals should adopt electronic medical records... Sebelius emphasized how electronic records could help prevent accidents where people with medical problems are given the wrong medication or treatment because doctors would have easy access to the patient's medical history...

...To wrap up..., Sebelius briefly discussed food safety in the United States [Ed: which is why the FDA has to regulate every aspect of food production and distribution]. She said changes needed to be made to the system, but instead of mentioning specific initiatives, she talked about the economic impact that food related disease outbreaks had on farmers.

I don't need to tell you, dear reader, that with geniuses like Kathleen Sebelius and Barack Obama in charge, there's little chance anything can go wrong.


"We have to pass the kidney stone to see what's in it"

Doesn't this headline say it all?

Perhaps you have to be familiar with New York politics to understand how truly bizarre this story is: 1199 is dropping its health care coverage for children.  1199 is the extraordinarily powerful local health care workers' union which has pushed New York State's Medicaid reimbursements into the stratosphere.  The state not only has much higher than average Medicaid enrollment, but also spends more per-enrollee than any state but Alaska.  Every time a governor tries to cut into, say, the funds for home health care workers, the union runs tear jerking ads which imply that the governor is trying to end health care for everyone in the state.

Nturally, 1199--and its national parent--were a powerful force advocating for a national health care program.  An article on their website from June speaks approvingly of PPACA as a "first step", though also complains that it didn't go far enough in creating a public option.

That article also says that "1199ers in the major health funds such as the 1199SEIU National Benefit Fund (NBF) should see little or no change in their coverage."  Just a few months later, the Journal is reporting that the SEIU is dropping its coverage for children, citing, among other things, the impact of the new healthcare law...

Ironical, no?

O/T: If it weren't for Megan McArdle, I'm not sure most Americans would even know The Atlantic was still in business.


I don't know this Joe Barton fellow, but I like the cut of his jib

The Washington Post headline reads, "In slideshow, Rep. Joe Barton declares war on the Obama administration."

If the Obama administration was hoping to see hints of bipartisanship from the Hill, it might want to skip over the House Energy and Commerce Committee... The committee's ranking Republican, Rep. Joe L. Barton (Tex.), has a slide presentation that he's e-mailing to colleagues:










Patton? What's not to like?


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

What do you get when you put a former ACORN community agitator, who never held a job, in charge of the world's largest economy?

Pretend it's a hypothetical question, so you won't grow even more depressed.

Nothing too fancy or hard to understand here... from the Just-released Case-Shiller index, it's clear that the housing double dip is here.

The chart (below) depicts the annual returns of the U.S. National, the 10-City Composite and the 20-City Composite Home Price Indices. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, recorded a 1.5% decline in the third quarter of 2010 over the third quarter of 2009...

One question remains: how will Pelosi, Reid and Obama blame Bush for the continued destruction of the private sector?

Or, in the case of the whack-job lefty bloggers, how will they blame Dick Cheney?


Hat tip: Dennis.

Larwyn's Linx: Wikileaks and the sabotage of U.S. diplomacy

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Wikileaks and the sabotage of U.S. diplomacy: Malkin
When did we stop treating treason as treason?: ProWis
CableGate: Obama's Katrina Times Ten: AT

Heritage Report Warns U.S. Not Ready for EMP Attack: RWN
Dems Should Seek Eric Holder’s Resignation: Adams
Red Democrats #1: Lynn Woolsey's Communist Party Event: Noisy

Three Million People Have Access To Data Manning Leaked?: Ace
Wikileaks Confirms: John Kerry is a Moron: GWP
Something Wiki This Way Comes: RightNet

Economy

Another Sign Unions Losing Influence: PubForum
Obama Announces Federal Pay Freeze--After Generous Raises: AT
The Irish Emigrated Here And So Will Their Financial Woes: Insider

Critical Middle-Class Tax Cut Vote Coming Right Up: Mish
Congress: Investigate Pigford Claims Before Funding 'Em!: BigGovt
Consumer Spending Fallacy Behind Keynesian Econ: BigGovt

Climate & Energy

Climate Conference Echo Chamber: RedState
EPA Fraud: Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf Actually Get Only 23, 25 MPG: PJM
Cancun Climate Summit Scientists Call for **Rationing in the Developed World: Malkin

Washington Set to Control Your Light Switch: BigGovt
UN Bans Climate Change 'Denier' From Cancun Meetings: GWP
Survey: 60 Percent of Americans Oppose Raising Taxes on Nation’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry: BMW

Media

'Two Papers in One': Driscoll
Liberal Hypocrisy: Valerie Plame 'Outed', Wikileaks 'Heroes': PunditPress
The Thomas Friedman Bubble: RWN

Howard Dean: Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine Because Fox 'Makes Stuff Up': NewsBusters
Classic: HuffPo Commenters on the Oregon Bomber: RWN
Profiles in Treason -- Your Media At Work: TAB

Back to Zero: What Justifies Bloated Media Matters Budget?: Equalizer
Sarah Palin Slams Obama Administration Over Inept Handling of Wikileaks Disaster: GWP
Sharia Law Is Already Here: AT

World

Is China About To Throw N. Korea Under The Bus?: RWN
Goodbye Irish Sovereignty: EU Commissioner Issues His First Directive As Overlord Of The Emerald Isle: ZH
Icky Leaks: Julian Assange Is Wanted On Rape Charges: AmGlob

Rumor Confirmed: Obama Traded Missile Shield for Russian Help With Iran That Never Appeared: Ace
Authorities React to Oregon Bomb Plot by Fretting About Islamophobia: RWN
Axis of Evil: One Down Two to Go: AmPower

Iranian Nuclear Scientists Getting Stux in the Net: Patterico
Death in Teheran: Stuxnet Continued: Simon
Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert : DEBKAfile

SciTech

The 15 Most Brilliant New Ideas We've Seen This Fall: Insider
Original Game Boy becomes a web app: CNet
Apple, Android to take out PC sales - Gartner: FT

Cornucopia

You can tell it's Mattel... it's swell!: ProWis
New Robo-Shirt Designs: MNR
Maybe She Should Have Auditioned For The Uruk Hai: CBullitt

Images: XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, Fox News.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Conservative 100: Most Popular Conservative Websites, November 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

Say, About That Old 'Bush Lied' Trope, Looks Like Wikileaks Proved Obama Repeatedly Lied About Middle East Policy

Runner-up headline: Obama lied, diplomacy died


Anyone remember that exactly one year ago President Obama's original deadline for Iran expired?

Back in the halcyon days of hopeychange, newly minted President Barack Obama articulated his master plan for dealing with Iran. Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine for May of 2009:

President Barack Obama gave Iran a half-year...

Obama said Monday that he would know "whether or not these discussions [with Iran] are starting to yield significant benefits" by the end of the year. In a White House press conference held by Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, capping a 90-minute meeting today, Obama told reporters that he was against an artificial timeline but effectively created one. Obama offered a period from June, after Iran's domestic elections, to year's end "to see serious movement on the part of Iranians."

"We're not going to have talks forever," Obama said...

Just half of forever.

The president needs to show Arab states and Iran that he is demanding concessions from the Israelis...

Obama requires time to see whether his olive branch towards Iran bears, well, olives. Yet Obama's recognition that diplomatic progress must occur this year was tantamount to affirmation of Israel's concern, that the threat of a nuclear Iran requires immediate resolution.

Yes. Immediate.

Meanwhile, as Obama implies, Netanyahu could take significant steps toward the Palestinians--on settlements in particular. That would considerably aid Obama's outreach to Iran and the Arab world.

But -- as the Wikileaks disclosures make clear -- Israeli concessions have (and had) nothing at all to do with stopping Iran. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries wanted Iran crushed -- as King Abdullah put it, "cut off the head of the snake" -- period.

Let me repeat: Obama knew all along that Israeli concessions had nothing to do with stopping Iran's march to nuclear weapons. Yet he persisted in linking the two, even though it raised the risk of an atomic conflagration that could engulf the world.

I'd like to know: does it get any more irresponsible than that?


Update: Rumor Confirmed: Obama Traded Missile Shield for Russian Help With Iran That Never Appeared


Linked by: Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, Memeorandum and TAB. Thanks!

Where's Scooter Libby When You Need Him?

Runner-up headline: Shock, Outrage as Analyst Valerie Plame Outed by WikiLeaks


Does anyone else find it hysterically ironic that the "progressive" left vilified Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and finally Scooter Libby for years even after it was discovered they didn't actually out super-spy Valerie Plame?

And yet when it comes to the most massive disclosure of truly sensitive, classified information in history -- which endangers America in an infinite variety of ways (such as: which allies will be so foolish as to trust the Clinton State Department again?) -- the Statists can't seem to find much to criticize the despicable crackpot leaker and Julian Asshatter for (my spelling could be off).

The instrument has not been invented that is sensitive enough to measure the Left's intellectual honesty.

By the way, did they ever make that Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame movie? I was so looking forward to seeing it.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Cali: Judges Rule 40,000 Convicts Must Be Released Due to Illegal Profiling and Open Borders Policy, But Mostly Open Borders Policy

Runner-up headline: How's that 'Sanctuary City' thingamabob working out?


The California residents who elected Jerry Brown should be overjoyed at tomorrow's news story in the Wall Street Journal: 40,000 state convicts were ordered released so that they can roam the streets.

A three-judge panel in a California federal district court ruled in January that overcrowding in the state's prison system, the nation's largest, is the main cause of substandard medical and mental health care that violates prisoners' Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment...

The state houses 164,000 inmates in a system designed to hold about 80,000, and the prisons have been beyond capacity for two decades. The judges ordered the state to cap the inmate population at 137.5% of their capacity within two years, which would be about 110,000 inmates this year.

Of course, the father of this debacle is none other than Governor-Elect Jerry Brown, who has been in bed with the prison guards' union since his career began. The union -- which the right-wing rag called The Huffington Post calls "one of the state's richest and most reviled special-interest groups" -- has fought sensible sentencing measures for decades. Just two years ago, the union and Brown teamed up to keep the prison population artificially high.

The California prison guards' union... is funding a multi-million-dollar attack on Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act. The prison guards' newest ally is Jerry Brown, attorney general and former governor of California.

Prop. 5 is a modest and sensible reform of California's corrections system that promises to reduce the state's bloated prison population and, in the process, cut state spending by billions of dollars. The measure is supported by a wide-range of treatment professionals, good-government types and former high-ranking corrections and law enforcement officials.

The prison guards, however, oppose Prop. 5. They don't like the math. Fewer prisoners will mean fewer jobs and less overtime pay for prison guards...

That's how it's been for years. Brown fought relentlessly to maintain California's 'Three Strikes Law', which hasn't helped deter crime at all, but has certainly kept the union fat and happy at taxpayer expense.

And, best of all for California's voters, Brown was endorsed again this year by the union.

Second Runner-up Headline: Committing the Crimes Americans Won't Commit


Worse still, Brown is an outspoken proponent of illegal immigration. And you can just imagine the impact of illegals on California's prison population. Oh -- wait, you don't need to imagine:

As of Dec. 31, 2009, California prisons had 22,173 inmates with an immigration hold or potential immigration hold, according to a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation analysis. That represented 13 percent of the state's 168,830 inmates.

Inmates self-identify their country of birth, so the citizenship breakdown may not be entirely accurate, according to CDCR spokesman Gordon Hinkle...

Because the inmates self-identify citizenship, the estimate of 22,000 illegal immigrants in the prison population is most certainly low. The real number may never be known, but as recently as 2003 the Department of Justice (the real DOJ, pre-Holder) reported that 108,000 illegals living in California served time during the year.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Over the last few decades, Jerry Brown helped destroy the state with twin, suicidal policies of open borders and support for unchecked growth of public sector unions.

So, as a reward for that failure, Californians reelected him to the highest state office.

Am I the first to suggest building a fence around California?


O-conomy: Sounding the Inflation Alarm

It's the debt, stupid.

...QE2 looks like "Fed speak" for monetizing the nation's growing debt — printing new money to finance deficit spending... [But] Chairman Bernanke... downplays evidence that 12 months of a 1% Federal funds rate in 2003-2004 contributed to the housing bubble and subsequent collapse. Now, after maintaining a 0% Federal funds rate for nearly two years, he shows no inclination to raise short-term interest rates...

...Mr. Bernanke speaks of the threat of deflation, but gives little heed to signals from commodity and currency prices, which are reliable indicators of inflation... It is not just oil prices approaching $90 a barrel and new highs in precious metals that are clear warning signs of a new inflating bubble... It is also a broad basket of commodities that includes copper, rubber, wheat, oats, pork, coffee, sugar and cotton — all of which are up over 50% in the past 12 months — that is sounding the inflation alarm...

But the more serious consequences from the Fed's pursuit of debt monetization and currency printing, the essence of QE2, is moving the country ever closer to an insolvency crisis — one that could destroy the dollar and bring global financial chaos.

...When investors conclude that inflation and devaluation make holding U.S. Treasury debt unattractive, they will demand higher offsetting coupon rates... At the present time, the blended cost of the publicly held U.S. debt (some $9.14 trillion) is less than 2.5% annually, the lowest in over 50 years.

...[But] a crisis in confidence — triggered by either a failed U.S. Treasury auction or the weight of the Fed balance sheet having grown too large for orderly liquidation except at fire sale prices — would cause an immediate spike up in bond yields and interest rates.

The cost of servicing the U.S. Government's debt service would increase many fold, setting in motion a downward spiraling liquidity crisis ending with the U.S Government unable to finance its obligations.

And when it all unfolds, the likes of Obama, Pelosi and Reid -- the architects of "progressive" change -- will be long gone, leaving our children to pick up the pieces.


Original Images: Library of Congress Flickr Feed: 1930s Color Photographs.