Saturday, June 25, 2011

Democrat Republik of Illinois Stiffs 8,000 Businesses to Whom It Owes Money, Including Funeral Homes and Plumbers

President Obama's home state -- the People's Republik of Illinois -- is maintaining its stellar record for fiscal irresponsibility by stiffing vendors -- especially small businesses and charities -- to whom it owes billions.

...In Illinois, you’re never too big or too small to get stiffed by the state, which is $4 billion behind in its bills.

International Business Machines Inc. is owed $1.1 million. Office Depot Inc. (ODP) is waiting for a $660,955 check. And the 17th Street Bar & Grill in Sparta is due $340.52. They are among at least 8,000 vendors including businesses, charities and government agencies waiting months for the state to pay up. At least 114 companies are due more than $1 million...

While states periodically fall behind in paying Medicaid providers or, in the case of California, rely on bank loans and IOUs, the Illinois backlog has been growing for three years... forcing some vendors to fire workers, cut services and, if they can, obtain loans and lines of credit to keep their businesses going while the state takes months to pay.

...Creditors include health and education agencies, schools, charities, funeral homes, plumbing-and-heating contractors and purveyors of food, coal, clothing, electronics and pizza...

...In January, lawmakers approved increases of 67 percent in the state income tax and a 46 percent in the corporate income tax. Those, however, weren’t sufficient to cover the backlog, and the bills will be passed onto the fiscal year that begins July 1... They include $5.5 million owed Wright Express Financial Services Corp., for gasoline credit-card charges; $1.4 million for Xerox Corp. (XRX); $11,300 to a downstate restaurant, La Roma Pizza in Canton; and fees for burying the indigent dead to almost 100 funeral homes.

...Delayed payments are also affecting hospitals, universities and public-school districts... Help at Home cares for about 14,000 Illinois senior citizens. Ford said his company is fortunate because it is large -- it operates in 10 states -- and has access to credit. He said he is compensating by billing other governments more quickly... “Other states are carrying the Illinois burden,” Ford said.

Small businesses and charities have been hit hardest by the Democrat-controlled state's fiscal mismanagement: Illinois is waiting between six and nine months to pay its bills.

Decade after decade of graft, corruption, runaway public sector unions, and other Democrat success stories have transformed Illinois from a powerhouse into the lowest-rated state (along with another blue state, California) according to Moody's.

But keep voting Democrat, people of Illinois! Maybe they'll get it right someday!



Larwyn's Linx: Speechworld vs. Realworld

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

Speechworld vs. Realworld: Steyn
A Firsthand Account of Arizona’s Porous Border: Foundry
11 “Progressive” Dem Secretaries Of State owned by Soros: WZ

Liberals’ Frankenstein Monster Runs Amok in Chicago: RWN
Disconnected? Obama? Um …: ProWis
'Undocumented': A liberal reporter's illegal alien sob story: Malkin

NY Passes Gay Marriage; County Clerks, Caterers Hardest Hit: LP
NRLC: Candidates give reason to rejoice: Hot Air
DeMint's Fighting Words: ABC

Economy

NJ Unions Dealt Crushing Defeat: JWF
Ag Department Needs To Be Plowed Under: Hanson
Fatcat Fundraisers Flee From Obama: "Demoralized": JWF

Geithner…? Geithner..? Geithner..?: ChamberPost
The Case for a Boycott of Delta Airlines: PJM
Desperate Democrats jump the stimulus shark: Exam

Climate & Energy

President Obama Abuses Nation’s Oil Reserves: Foundry
Remember the flap over foreign ships and the Deepwater Horizon cleanup?: Exam
EPA sets timeline for controversial air pollution rule: Hill

Supreme Court just becamse the world's most august global warming sceptics: WUWT
Who Didn’t See This Coming? Oh Wait, The EUrotards: CBullitt
Former Dem Senator: We Need “Aggressive Campaign To Go After [Climate] Deniers”: WZ

Media

Wisconsin Left Gears Up As Politico Game Exposed: AmSpec
A dishonest dicussion of the Constitution: ProWis
Too Hot for the HuffPo: Power Line

Michelle Obama: "Fortunately We Have Help From The Media": RCP
Media Matters Tax Exempt Status Delenda Est: VS
Rep. Michele Bachmann on ‘Face the Nation,’ ‘Fox News Sunday’: Orlando Sentinel

NYT's Risen Claims Bush, 'Right Wing Bloggers' Out to Get Him for Wrecking Anti-Terror Efforts: NB
Herman Cain: Jon Stewart Mocked Me Because I'm a Black Conservative: NB
WaPo’s Colby King Calls Michele Bachmann “Barbie With Fangs”: WZ

World

Obama Mentor: 'The State of Israel is an Illegal, Genocidal ... Place' : JWF
Misunderstanderer of Islam shot during traffic stop, had armor-piercing rounds: Atlas
Netanyahu's Son Demonstrates Another Political Risk of Social Media: Atlantic

Does Hugo Chavez have prostate cancer?: Fausta
Hillary Clinton’s Guide To Patriotism — Now And Then: WZ
What the Murder of Iraqi Jews in 1941 Tells us About the Middle East Today: PJM

The U.N. Prepares for Durban III: Bayefsky
While Obama Finds Excuses For Lybia, Syria Is Still Killing Activists: RWN
The Color Purple Author Alice Walker: Israel And America Are “Terrorist States”: WZ

SciTech

Training materials and e-mails confirm Verizon's 'usage-based' data plans: CNet
Mozilla and Google force businesses to use Internet Explorer: BetaNews
Feds to Launch Probe of Google: WSJ

Cornucopia

A Thing of Beauty: PRS
'It's Ridiculous, and It Could Make Her Angrier': JWF
Overlooked Vancouver Video Shows ‘Kissing Couple’ Was Knocked Down by Riot Police: Lede

Image: Lucianne
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President

QOTD: "Issa’s House Oversight committee would love to get some testimony from Melson, but the Justice Department has thus far refused to allow him to testify.

Of course not! The Justice Department is all about keeping people from giving sworn testimony. That’s one of their core functions." --John Hayward

Friday, June 24, 2011

Good News: Illegal Aliens Helping to Reduce Unemployment Among Young Women by Trafficking Sex Slaves in Texas

Folks, sometimes you just can't even add any snark.

...the Houston Police Department detail[ed] a shocking sex trafficking operation run by illegal aliens, including a former prostitute, Maria Rojas, who had previously been deported. The documents indicate that police officers responded to service calls to the business co-owned by Ms. Rojas on 60 occasions, and were well aware of the criminal activity taking place at these establishments, but apparently did not check the immigration status of any of the arrestees or Ms. Rojas. Houston, Texas, has in place an illegal alien sanctuary policy, Houston PD General Order 500-5, which prohibits police officers from inquiring about the citizenship status of any person.

...The indictment alleges that Maria and Jose Luis Rojas ran a sex slave trafficking ring since at least August 1999. The scheme involved luring young women into the country illegally from Mexico with false promises of employment, then forcing them to work as prostitutes at La CosteƱita Bar and El Club Restaurante in Houston. Maria Rojas and Javier Guevara Belmontes (a legal resident) co-owned the locations. The remaining defendants were illegal aliens who served as managers or employees of the businesses...

* Police documented 48 calls for service to La CosteƱita between 2006 and 2011. Nine of these events involved vice squad investigations and/or arrests for prostitution, and during this time frame 12 individuals were arrested for prostitution. There were 17 cases of assault (including three shootings and a stabbing). There was one cocaine possession arrest (in May 2008) and one armed robbery arrest (in December 2007).
* There were 12 documented police calls for service to El Club Restaurante between 2006 and 2010. These included four burglaries, two assaults and a shooting.
* Between May 2006 and November 2010, Houston police responded to the residence of Maria Rojas and Javier Belmontes eight times. On three occasions, police spoke with and documented a complaint by Jose Luis Rojas. On November 1, 2010, Jose Luis Rojas reported an armed robbery by six unknown assailants. Three weeks later, Jose Luis Rojas reported receiving a telephonic death threat.

Thanks to the Democrat Party, millions upon millions of illegal immigrants have entered this country without any review whatsoever. No TSA pat-downs, no background checks, no civics tests, no paperwork.

The inevitable result? Drugs, crime, slavery, disease, poverty and Balkanization. Which is why we have a process for this sort of thing. Waiting lists. Background checks. Education on America's founding, the Declaration and the Constitution.

We must seal the border first and foremost and then invite the best and the brightest from other countries.


The Obama Depression: Two-and-a-half years after the 'Stimulus', there are 'more idle men and women than at any time since the Great Depression'

Who could have predicted that the president's virulent anti-job policies would result in rampant unemployment?

The Great Recession has now earned the dubious right of being compared to the Great Depression. In the face of the most stimulative fiscal and monetary policies in our history, we have experienced the loss of over 7 million jobs, wiping out every job gained since the year 2000. From the moment the Obama administration came into office, there have been no net increases in full-time jobs, only in part-time jobs. This is contrary to all previous recessions. Employers are not recalling the workers they laid off from full-time employment.

The real job losses are greater than the estimate of 7.5 million. They are closer to 10.5 million, as 3 million people have stopped looking for work. Equally troublesome is the lower labor participation rate; some 5 million jobs have vanished from manufacturing, long America's greatest strength. Just think: Total payrolls today amount to 131 million, but this figure is lower than it was at the beginning of the year 2000, even though our population has grown by nearly 30 million.

The most recent statistics are unsettling and dismaying, despite the increase of 54,000 jobs in the May numbers. Nonagricultural full-time employment actually fell by 142,000, on top of the 291,000 decline the preceding month. Half of the new jobs created are in temporary help agencies, as firms resist hiring full-time workers.

Today, over 14 million people are unemployed. We now have more idle men and women than at any time since the Great Depression...

And good news, drones: yesterday, CNBC reported that the employment situation just got worse.

So your plan to destroy America appears to be succeeding.


'The Future of Computing... a Symphony of Information... Macintosh-level of disruption" -- What a Load of Crap

MG Siegler at TechCrunch believes a new technology company called Oblong will revolutionize how people use personal technology. I haven't tried it myself, but feel safe in saying Siegler must have been drinking. But first, let's listen to him describe this awe-inspiring platform that Oblong has created.

Over the past several years, I’ve followed pretty much every new thing in the technology space, and written about many of them. But it’s hard not to get cynical when so much of what’s out there is not only not revolutionary, it’s often not even evolutionary. Instead, much of what I see is simply derivative and quite frankly, boring. But every once in a while something crops up that is truly game-changing. And it restores my faith in technology. That’s the best way to describe what I saw when I met with Oblong Industries this week.

The technologies that Oblong is working on are anything but derivative or boring — they are absolutely revolutionary. And they will shape the future of computing.

...Mezzanine is a spatial operating environment meant to be used in conference rooms and other large meeting areas. The peripherals vary, but the system I used consisted of three large screens front and center, two vertically-aligned screen on a wall to the right, a whiteboard to the wall on the left, and two cameras (one in front pointing at you, and one to the side pointing at the whiteboard). The main points of interaction are two “wands”, which I’ll explain more about in a bit. And the system works in concert with any device — meaning laptop, iPhone, iPad, etc — that is in the room and connected to the network as well.

The idea for Mezzanine is to get people in a room together in order to synthesize information in the most collaborative way imaginable... Using these controls, anyone can rearrange data, push new data into the flow, highlight specific things, and queue stuff up to talk about later. Perhaps the best way to think about it is as a symphony of information that everyone in the room can conduct. Again, it’s a bit hard to describe, but when you see it, it just makes sense.

This idea is so dumb I'm not sure I can find words.

But I'll try.

First: what's the business case? How does this help people make money? Uhm, far as I can tell, it doesn't. Hell, it's hard enough to justify getting a built-in projector in most SME conference rooms!

And, dude. Running some collaborative software on laptops using mice and avatars would seem to work just as well without quite as much... standing, gesticulating, and getting up all in my grill.

Sorry, but my personal take is that Oblong has created one of the failiest technologies ever.

As one wag noted: this will revolutionize computing the way the Segway revolutionized personal transportation.


Bumper Sticker o' the Day: 2012


Hat tip: Ray.

Forget Cigarettes, These are the Warning Labels America Needs

Given their love of warning labels and the current state of the hard left Democrat Party, I would propose placing at least one of the following warning stickers on every voting machine in America.








Hat tips: Left Coast Rebel and Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: Holder's Oh, S*** Moment: Melson 'eager to testify'

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

Holder's Oh, S*** Moment: Melson 'eager to testify': Sipsey
Obama: All You People Look Alike To Me: Ace
Terror in the Beltway Update: Malkin

The Democrat Plan: Medicare Bankrupt in Ten Years: RWN
Huntsman ‘Love Letter’ to Obama Speaks Volumes: BMW
Another Obama Blunder: Pundette

Economy

CBO director: "We don't estimate speeches": Exam
You think It’s Bad Now? TSA Unionizes Under AFL-CIO: Bruce
'Unexpectedly' Compilation: PunditPress

Feds expand food stamps, block fraud prevention measures: RWN
CBO: Debt Unsustainable Even With Clinton-era Taxes: Exam
Geithner: raise taxes on small biz so government doesn't shrink: WZ

Debt-Ceiling Talks: GOP Pulls Out, Dems Want More Taxes: GWP
Issa introduces bill to ‘prevent bailout’ of Postal Service: DC
Why The Fed Is Officially Paralyzed: Insider

Climate & Energy

NASA Climate Change Alarmist James Hansen Caught Profiting Off of Climate Change Advocacy: LoneCon
DOE Announces Details Of Strategic Petroleum Reserve Firesale: ZH

Media

TIME Magazine: “Does the US Constitution Still Matter?”: WZ
Time's Illiterate Reading of the Constitution (And Other Laws): Patterico
This Week in Quotes: RWN

Hiring Our Heroes Manhattan Receives Great Media Coverage: ChamberPost
Politico’s shame: Anatomy of a smear: Tatler
One More for the Memory Hole: JOM

Krauthammer: This is outright lawlessness from Obama admin: TRS
Yo, Cenk: If Ryan's 26% Unfavorable Rating 'Disastrous,' What's Pelosi's 63%?: NB
Jose Antonio Vargas: From Journalist to Illegal Immigrant and Political Activist: RWN

Why I Was Arrested Yesterday at a D.C. Taxi Commission Meeting: Reason
Ann Coulter’s New Book, Demonic, Is a Must Read: VS
Gunwalker: Issa Defends ATF Whistleblowers from Retaliation: PJM

World

FBI affidavit in Seattle jihad plot against military; Muslim avengers compared selves to Nidal Hasan: Malkin
Obama: Who Needs Victory When We Can Negotiate With The TahleeBahn?: RWN
Obama Is Flouting the War Powers Resolution: AEI

Delta airlines no longer allowing Jewish passengers on flights to Saudi Arabia?: Hot Air
Ludwig Lachmann on Income ‘Inequality’: Hayek
Angry Greeks say new taxes to hurt middle class, again: Reuters

SciTech

FTC Launching Anti-Trust Probe Over Google Search, Ad Businesses: Wired
RIM, You're Done Here: Crunch
LinkedIn To Leverage User Follows And Recommendations In New Social Ad Formats: Crunch

Cornucopia

Photos and News from the Minot Flood: SAB
Bill to legalize online poker could be introduced next week : The Hill
'Whitey' Bulger Arrested: 'Departed' Mob Inspiration Nabbed in California: ABC

Image: You have got to be kidding me
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Flag o' the Day

Found at Points and Figures via commentary at Ace o' Spades:

The DREAM Act went up for a vote; it was killed by a vote.

That's how we do things in America.

Or it was. B.O., or Before Obama.

I.C.E has announced changes to its deportation program. Agents are now specifically urged to consider whether an illegal is studying in high school or college or is serving or did serve in the military.

"Specifically urged" means "don't do it if you want to keep your job or get promoted."

Video of a tart-tongued Krauthammer [here.

Krauthammer is right. This administration is lawless.


Green Luddites Responsible for Midwest Floods That Threaten Millions

Record-breaking floods are devastating the Midwest and causing evacuations throughout the region. The tragic element to the story: the environmental movement is largely responsible for the death and destruction. Joe Herring, writing at The American Thinker, describes the vicious, criminal mindset of the environmental Luddites whose policies today threaten millions.

Some sixty years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began the process of taming the Missouri by constructing a series of six dams. [The project] allowed millions of acres of floodplain to become useful for farming and development... By nearly all measures, the project was a great success.

But after about thirty years of operation, ... the Corps received a great deal of pressure to include some specific environmental concerns into their [plans]. The Clinton administration threw its support behind the change, officially shifting the priorities of the Missouri River dam system from flood control, facilitation of commercial traffic, and recreation to habitat restoration, wetlands preservation, and culturally sensitive and sustainable biodiversity.

...This year, despite more than double the usual amount of mountain and high plains snowpack (and the ever-present risk of strong spring storms), the true believers in the Corps have persisted in following the revised [environmentalists' plans], recklessly endangering millions of residents downstream.

...Greg Pavelka, a wildlife biologist with the Corps of Engineers in Yankton, SD, [defended the destruction, stating] that this event will leave the river in a "much more natural state than it has seen in decades," describing the epic flooding as a "prolonged headache for small towns and farmers along its path, but a boon for endangered species." He went on to say, "The former function of the river is being restored in this one-year event. In the short term, it could be detrimental, but in the long term it could be very beneficial."

At the time of this writing, the Corps is scrambling for political cover, repeatedly denying that it had any advance warning of the potential for this catastrophe... [But on] February 3, 2011, a series of e-mails from Ft. Pierre SD Director of Public Works Brad Lawrence sounded the alarm loud and clear. In correspondence to the headquarters of the American Water Works Association in Washington, D.C., Lawrence warned that "the Corps of Engineers has failed thus far to evacuate enough water from the main stem reservoirs to meet normal runoff conditions. This year's runoff will be anything but normal."

In the same e-mail, he describes the consequences of the Corps failure to act as a "flood of biblical proportions." His e-mails were forwarded from Washington, D.C. to state emergency response coordinators nationwide... Given the statements of Corps personnel, and the clear evidence of their mismanagement, the possibility that there is specific intent behind their failure to act must be investigated without delay.

This is a mind-boggling rate of release. Consider that 150,000 cubic feet of water would fill a football field instantly to a depth of four feet. This amount of water, being released every second, will continue unabated for the next several months. The levees that protect the cities and towns downstream were constructed to handle the flow rates promised at the time of the dam's construction. None of these levees have ever been tested at these levels, yet they must hold back millions of acre-feet of floodwater for the entire summer without failing. In the flooding of 1993, more than a thousand levees failed. This year's event will be many orders of magnitude greater...

This isn't the first instance of genocide in the name of "the environment". And, as long as this administration remains in power, it won't be the last.

Remember in 2012.


Images: RobPort.

Delta: don't blame us if our SkyTeam airline partners ban Jews and bibles... it ain't true and, if it is, it ain't our fault

Earlier today, USA Today reported that Jews and bibles were not welcome on flights offered by its new, Saudi Arabian SkyTeam partner.

Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly Delta Air Lines flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta’s new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines...

Although Delta announced in January that the Saudi airline would join its SkyTeam network next year, the implications of the deal only came to light recently, according to people who have scrutinized the details.

The story has since been scrubbed and a new article posted in a separate blog.

Earlier today some Jewish and Christian readers in the blogosphere were fired up about stories that Delta Airlines, in its new alliance with Saudi Arabian Airlines, might wind up enforcing a Saudi policy of not admitting Iraelis and non-Islamic religious items like Bibles on their flights.

Delta Air Lines spokesman Trebor Banstetter responded with its non-discrimination policy and posted on their blog:

We've gotten questions today from you, our concerned customers, following an article about Saudi Arabian Airlines joining SkyTeam (the global airline alliance that includes Delta as a member). After listening to many of your thoughts today, we'd like to take this opportunity to share some information and help to clarify some of the questions we know you have.

First and foremost, I think one of the most important things to mention here is that Delta does not discriminate nor do we condone discrimination against anyone in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, or gender.

That said, some have raised questions about whether Saudi Arabian Airlines' membership in SkyTeam means Delta is adopting any type of policies that could present barriers to travel for some passengers, including Jewish customers. For this particular concern, it's important to realize that visa requirements to enter any country are dictated by that nation's government, not the airlines, and they apply to anyone entering the country regardless of whether it's by plane, bus or train.

We, like all international airlines, are required to comply with all applicable laws governing entry into every country we serve. You as passengers are responsible for obtaining the necessary travel documents, such as visas and certification of required vaccinations, and we're responsible for making sure that you have the proper documentation before you board.

According to Religion News Service,

Saudi Arabia bans anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport from entering the country, even in transit. Many Jews believe the kingdom has also withheld visas from travelers with Jewish-sounding names.

Maybe. Jewish leader Rabbi Irwin Kula was wary about inflaming concerns on this, saying he knows many Jewish professionals who are very open about their religious identity who fly to Saudi Arabia all the time for business.

As the rumor of no-Jews traveled the Internet all day, Detroit rabbi and blogger Jason Miller points out:

The issue here is one of principle. Delta isn't being forced to include Saudi Arabian Airlines into its Sky Team Alliance. In fact, Delta could stand on principle and refuse to include Saudi Arabian Airlines based on its discriminatory policy.


Pree-cisely.


Slow-blogging the President's Afghanistan speech: We will not relent in the war on Al Qaeda, at least not until right before the election

Gee, I'd question the timing but, then again, everyone is. In short, the President's speech last night was a masterpiece of cynicism, duplicity, ego and pandering.


Point: ...we have put al Qaeda on a path to defeat, and we will not relent until the job is done...

Counterpoint: ...starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer...


Point: In the days that followed [9/11] ... we struck at al Qaeda and routed the Taliban in Afghanistan. Then, our focus shifted. A second war was launched in Iraq, and we spent enormous blood and treasure to support a new government there...

Counterpoint: When innocents are being slaughtered and global security endangered, we don’t have to choose between standing idly by or acting on our own. Instead, we must rally international action, which we’re doing in Libya... protecting the Libyan people and giving them the chance to determine their own destiny.


Point: ...Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war, at a time of rising debt and hard economic times...

Counterpoint: ...Now, we must invest in America’s greatest resource –- our people. We must unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industries, while living within our means. We must rebuild our infrastructure and find new and clean sources of energy...


In effect, after spending trillions in borrowed money in just a couple of years -- which was supposed to rebuild infrastructure and create "clean sources of energy" -- the President is lobbying for still more borrowing to prop up his public sector union supporters.

The good news is there is no money and no one other than Ben Bernanke's printing presses will buy our debt at the current interest rates.

Worse still, America's top military commander has branded Obama's drawdown plans as hasty and creating "more risk" than necessary.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used prepared testimony before the House Armed Services Committee to reveal a significant breach between Mr Obama and the senior officers he charged with defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The remarks came as General David Petraeus, Nato commander in Afghanistan, was preparing to testify before a Senate committee after it was confirmed that he opposed Mr Obama's plan, which drew heavily on advice from Joe Biden, the vice president.

"The president's decisions are more aggressive and incur more risk than I was originally prepared to accept," Adml Mullen told a House of Representatives committee hearing... Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, said: "Petraeus loses, Biden wins."

In fact, "Obama rejected the advice of his generals in choosing a quicker path to winding down the war in Afghanistan."

What would you expect? After all, Obama needs to regain the support of his hard left base just before the 2012 elections. Military strategy and protecting our troops have nothing at all to do with this president's plans.


Larwyn's Linx: ICE memos open door to illegal alien amnesty-by-fiat

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

ICE memos open door to illegal alien amnesty-by-fiat: Malkin
Was Fast And Furious A Gun-Control Plot?: IBD
Gov. Perry and the Texas DREAM Act: RWN

Politicians who refuse to resign: JPA
‘Gunwalker’ Requires Special Counsel Investigation: Owens
Jon Huntsman: McCain on Wheels: Malkin

The 1st Amendment isn’t a get-out-of-jail card: Surber
Rick Perry to Visit New Hampshire: RCP
Huntsman’s family gave nearly $25,000 to Reid last cycle: Ralston

Economy

CBO Long-Term Budget Report: Disastrous: Foundry
Bachmann: Obama has failed blacks and hispanics: CNS
Fed Frets Over U.S. Fiscal Recklessness: Bloomberg

The Obama Regime's Crackdown on Food: RWN
Vouchers in Education and Health Care Reform: Cato
Taxpayers Win Three Times Over in Defeat of S. 782: ATR

Climate & Energy

Obamajungend–Maryland School Children Now Required To Learn AGW Thermageddon Dogma To Graduate: CBullitt
Seeing the Light: Solway
Al Gore Lashes Out at Obama, Saying He "Failed" to Fight Warming: DailyTech

Media

‘The Most Irresponsible Speech Ever Given in Wartime by a US President’: Driscoll
Palinization: MagFarm
Mrs Obama rewrites her resume for the Hope’n'Change era: Tatler

The Atlantic Magazine’s Lies: Of Breitbarts, Kochs, and RightOnLine: RWN
NBC Thinks Real-Life Noah's Ark Could Be Needed in Global Warming Apocalypse: NB
Homeowners’ Associations Becoming Unavoidable and Quasi-Governmental: RWN

Gun Owners of America Calls for Dissolution of ATF: Reason
Tim Wise’s Strange Apology to Andrew Breitbart: BG
NY Middle School bans word "saints" in the classic song "When the saints come marching in": BlogProf

World

Drunkblogging the President’s Afghanistan Speech: VodkaPundit
CAIR Loses IRS Status: IPT
CAIR Taps Hezbollah Supporter To Lead Its Tampa Chapter: WZ

Geert Wilders Verdict: Not Guilty All Counts! Eureka!: Atlas
PAS11: Is V-22 the next big U.S. export prospect?: DODbuzz
Bye Bye Mosque: Blogmocracy

Obama’s Afghanistan Withdrawal Plan Jeopardizes Hard-Won Gains: Foundry
Report: Muslim Marine Reservist Linked to D.C. Military Building Shootings: WZ
Wife Beating Etiquette in Islam: Creeping

SciTech

Are mobile daily deals overwhelming consumers?: Mobile Commerce
Google reaches 1 billion users in May: Telegraph
Microsoft refuses to comment as .NET developers fret about Windows 8: IT Writing

Cornucopia

Obama’s Primetime Speech On Afghanistan By The Numbers: WZ
The Amish Anthony Weiner: TSG
Self publishing writer becomes million seller: Telegraph

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Bachmann for President Store

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The new civility: Rolling Stone slanders Michele Bachmann as 'bats*** crazy', with 'testicles swinging under her skirt', a 'political psychopath'

The Left's 80-year war on the Constitution continues apace, its latest chapter written by a progressive nut named Matt Taibbi -- if that is his real name. His profile of Michele Bachmann in Rolling Stone is rife with the usual leftist tripe: childish name-calling and a half-baked, biased history. And it is even more devoid of facts, logic and reason than usual.

Furthermore, when it comes to Jon Huntsman's civility pledge yesterday, apparently Taibbi didn't get the memo. Among the unserious insults hurled Bachmann's way:

• She is a 'goofball'

• Her Tea Party backers are 'dimwitted'

• She 'is a religious zealot whose brain is a raging electrical storm of divine visions and paranoid delusions'

• She 'looks like the T2 skeleton posing for a passport photo'

• Bachmann is 'completely bats*** crazy'

• She's 'living completely inside her own mind'

• Her record is one 'of lies and embellishments and contradictions'

• She is a 'political psychopath, equal parts crazed Divine Wind kamikaze-for-Jesus and calculating, six-faced Machiavellian prevaricator'

• Her 'greatest quality [is] the gigantic set of burnished titanium Terminator-testicles swinging under her skirt'

• She is 'a threat to do or say something insane at any time'

Someone who strikes this much fear into the far left kooks at Rolling Stone must be a damn fine conservative candidate.

Which is why the professional left wants the GOP to nominate the ludicrous Jon Hussein Huntsman.

Net net: Bachmann is now leading in the GOP polls.

Tremble, Taibbi. The Tea Party is coming for you and the rest of the Marxist left in 2012. And we are going to turn you America-haters out.


Related: Support Michele Bachmann for President

Hat tip: Memeorandum.

'Bye Bye Mosque' videogame could lead to jail time for Austrian politician

Blogmocracy relays word that a videogame designed in Europe may send a politician to lockup for two years.

Styrian Freedom Party (FPƖ) chief Gerhard Kurzmann will be in court later this year for putting "Moschee ba ba" (Bye, bye mosque) online ahead of last year’s provincial election... Prosecutors in Graz accuse the councillor of agitation against ethnic and religious minorities by backing the internet shooter game.

Players have to click on mosques and praying muezzins to make them disappear in the game which was taken offline after the Greens informed the police and state prosecutors. The FPƖ was initially tight-lipped over whether it produced "Moschee ba ba" before it emerged that a Swiss political strategist created the game for the right-wing party. The FPƖ argued muezzins were not shot in the game. The party said it intended to start a debate over a growing ‘Islamisation’ of Austria.

The FPƖ campaigned against more mosques featuring minarets in the Styrian ballot and other votes in the past years. The party said Austrians struggling in the credit crunch must come first. It called for a stop of immigration and a law which ensures no more mosques will be erected in Austria. There are hundreds of mosques, houses of prayers and Islamic community centres in Austria but just three mosques which have minarets. None of those three are situated in Styria. Muslims in the province have no plans to build any new mosques in the region in the foreseeable future. The debate about the issue and the disputed shooter game helped the FPƖ to bag 10.7 per cent of votes, up from 4.6 per cent in 2005.

...It is not the first time that the Styrian department of the right-wing party makes headlines with anti-Islamic actions. Susanne Winter had to step down as head of the FPƖ’s branch in the provincial capital Graz in 2008 after claiming that prophet Mohammed would be considered as a child molester nowadays. She also said that he wrote the Koran "during epileptic fits." Winter was given a three-month suspended jail term.

What's next?

Banning books that some segment of the population could find offensive?

This is the inevitable result of 'thought-crime' legislation, which is why our First Amendment is so precious.


Obama's Coalition of The Unwilling [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

In the beginning, Obama used the Left’s flimsy Right to Protect (R2P) doctrine as his justification for making war on Libya, and then quickly outsourced the military mission to NATO to avoid Congressional oversight, branding it “leading from behind.” Now, a counterfeit policy meant to protect civilians under attack is creating genuine casualties among the civilians it's meant to protect. According to Obama’s game plan that wasn’t supposed to happen, and members of his timorous NATO team are calling for an immediate timeout.

###

Italy breaks ranks over NATO's Libya mission


ROME (AFP) — Italy called for a suspension of hostilities in Libya on Wednesday in the latest sign of dissent within NATO as the civilian death toll mounts and Moamer Kadhafi shows no signs of quitting power.

"We have seen the effects of the crisis and therefore also of NATO action not only in eastern and southwestern regions but also in Tripoli," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a parliamentary committee meeting.

###

Italy, Arab League Head Call for End of Hostilities in Libya


(VOA News) - Italy's foreign minister and the outgoing head of the Arab League have each called for a halt to hostilities in Libya.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Italian lawmakers Wednesday the suspension of military operations in Libya is "essential" for immediate humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, Britain's Guardian newspaper quoted Arab League head Amr Moussa as calling for a cease-fire and saying now is the time to reach a political solution to the crisis. The newspaper said Moussa also expressed reservations about his support for the NATO bombing campaign after seeing civilian casualties.

I wonder how the President will justify his violations of the War Powers Act when NATO itself pulls out?


The worst possible news for the economy: "Bernanke Sees Small Impact on U.S. Banks of a Greek Default"

Given the Bernank's outstanding track record, somehow I don't find comfort in his exhortations that all is well:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said a default by Greece would have little impact on U.S. banks, which aren't "significantly exposed" to European nations struggling to meet debt payments.

"We have asked the banks to essentially do stress tests and ask, looking at all their positions, all their hedges, what would the effect on their capital be if -- if Greece defaulted," Bernanke said to reporters today at a press conference after a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. "The answer is that the effects are very small."

But the fact is, because of derivatives (essentially, insurance contracts that are used to bet on a default), no one really knows what the effects of a Greek default would be, least of all Ben Bernanke.

It’s the $616 billion question: Does the euro crisis have a hidden A.I.G.? No one seems to be sure, in large part because the world of derivatives is so murky, but the possibility that some company out there may have insured billions of dollars of European debt has added a new wrinkle to the sovereign default debate...

...The looming question is whether these contracts — which insure against possibilities like a Greek default — are concentrated in the hands of a few companies, and if these companies will be able to pay out billions of dollars to cover losses during a default. If there were a single company standing behind many of these contracts, that company would be akin to the American International Group of the euro crisis. The American insurer needed a $182 billion federal bailout during the financial crisis because it had insured the performance of mortgage bonds through derivatives and couldn’t pay on all of them...

...Even regulators seem unsure of whether a Greek default would reveal such concentrated risk in the hands of just a few companies. Spokeswomen for the central banks of both Europe and the United States would not say whether their researchers had studied holdings of such contracts among nonbank entities like insurance companies and hedge funds — and they would not say what would occur among large players if Greece or another European country defaulted...

The head of the world's most powerful bond company believes a default by Greece is a fait accompli.

Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of the Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), has predicted that Greece and other similarly afflicted European economies will default on their debts... His viewpoint that default is the only option for Greece to escape its debt crisis comes shortly after the Greek government on Tuesday won a crucial vote of confidence. The vote increases the government's chances of securing additional financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid the eurozone's first sovereign debt default.

This is very, very bad news for the economy. Because Ben Bernanke has an almost perfect record when it comes to predicting economic events. Perfect in that he never gets it right.

• July 2005: There's no housing bubble

• February 2007: No indication that subprime mortgages will affect the rest of the housing market

• July 2007: The U.S. economy will strengthen in 2008

• March 2009: Expect a booming recovery in 2010

In fact, it is impossible to predict what will happen, but one can surmise a sovereign default by Greece will be anything but pleasant.

A default will weaken banks, which could cause bank runs and weakness in the Euro, which could undermine the EU itself, which would weaken other countries on the edge like Ireland and Spain, which could default themselves...

Think Lehman Brothers, only bigger and with more socialists involved.


Larwyn's Linx: Gunrunner points much higher than ATF director

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

Issa staffer: Gunrunner points much higher than ATF director: DC
U.S. To Suspend Countless Deportations: JW
Another Zealot Waiting in the ATF Wings: Malkin

The FDA's One-Man Death Panel: WolfFiles
Harry Reid Favors Huntsman Over Romney: Malkin
Ron Paul, Congressional Hypocrite: Lid

Lid ready to blow on Obama's Mexican gun-running scandal: RWN
Fast and Furious Backpedaling at the DOJ: Power Line
Chuck Schumer, Hero of the Working Man: Ace

Economy

NLRB's latest union bailout: quickie elections: WashExam
Blue State Schools: the Shame of a Nation: Mead
TSA Theft of Passenger Valuables a Nationwide Problem: Hot Air

How Badly Is the White House Hurting Our Economy?: Power Line
Did Obama Really Prevent A Second Great Depression?: IBD
Obama Claims 2.1MM Jobs Created, Laughter Results: JWF

Labor lawyer: why Boeing shouldn't be allowed to move to SC: RWN
White House Insists Campaign Against Children's Cereal Is Voluntary: HE
Welfare before the Welfare State: Mises

Climate & Energy

Jon Huntsman (Authentic Conservative) Signatory to 2008 “Global Climate Solutions Declaration”: Verum Serum
EPA ‘Masquerading Propaganda as Facts’ in Support of Clean Air Act Provisions, Expert Says: CNS
High court blocks states' climate change lawsuit: Yahoo!

Al Gore branches out into population control theory: WUWT
Uh Oh: Tiny Traces Of Gas Necessary For Life Will Kill The Oceans: RWN
More people killed by organic vegetable sprouts than Fukushima meltdown, Gulf oil spill combined: IHTM

Media

World Naked Bike Ride, San Francisco, SFW Version: Zombie (click here for NSFW version)
Obama's Waterloo: Verum Serum
Jon Stewart’s Claim About Fox News Gets Fact-Checked: Verum Serum

Michael Moore: Obama’s War In Libya Is OK Because His Heart Is In The Right Place: Glob
Michele Bachmann Does Founding Mothers — and the Rest of Us — Proud: Shiver
Breaking: Smoking Is Really Bad For You: Malkin

Keith Olbermann's New Staff on Al Gore's Channel Is Like As Totally Super-Diverse As You'd Expect: Ace
The NAACP Fights To Abort More Black Babies: RWN
Dems Gone Wild: Rep. Alcee Hastings Investigated for Sexual Harassment: BigGovt

World

Obama To Receive Nobel War Prize: Ace
Why is Obama so tough on Israel and timid on Syria?: WaPo (Diehl)
Hezbollah’s Miscalculation in Syria: PJM

The Palestinians of 1967: Totten
The War Against Girls: WSJ
Time for Plan B; Unfortunately there is No Plan B: Mish

SPLC's Jihad Against America: Atlas
Gates Hints He Stepped Down As SECDEF Because Obama is Ceding Americas Superpower Status: WZ
Muslim radical charged with murdering two American airmen in Germany: Post

SciTech

Essex Teen Arrested In FBI Global Hacking Probe: Sky
Bing grabs market share from Google over past year: CNet
Net to See .cornucopia of New .endings: Wired

Cornucopia

A Veteran's Dying Wish: A Home for His Dog: Military
Fairleigh Dickenson Prof Has Awesome New Idea For Direct-To-Video National Lampoon College-Sex Movie: Ace
Today's Road Kill: C&S

10 Ad Campaigns That Backfired Badly: BizPundit
Canada intervenes in postal labor dispute: UPI
New Service Adds Your Drunken Facebook Photos To Employer Background Checks: Consumerist

Image: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President

QOTD: "[Obamacare] excessively expanded Medicaid, which is basically bankrupting every state in the country right now... The legislation punted on malpractice reform, punted on cleaning up some conflicts of interest in medicine and punted on meaningful changes to reduce healthcare costs. The law’s most crucial flaw, perhaps, is that no one actually signs up for coverage until 2014. Medicare took only 18 months, Massachusetts just seven. This is going to take three and a half years, two election cycles – political eternity." --Jeff Goldsmith

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Stunner: Glitch in Obamacare allows middle class to receive Medicaid

Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and indigent, is already bankrupting states. And that's before the "bug" actuaries just discovered in the thousands of pages of law called Obamacare, which no one bothered to actually read.

President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.

The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid... Up to 3 million more people could qualify for Medicaid in 2014 as a result of the anomaly. That's because, in a major change from today, most of their Social Security benefits would no longer be counted as income for determining eligibility. It might be compared to allowing middle-class people to qualify for food stamps.

Medicare chief actuary Richard Foster says the situation keeps him up at night... "I don't generally comment on the pros or cons of policy, but that just doesn't make sense"...

...Governors have been clamoring for relief from Medicaid costs, complaining that federal rules drive up spending and limit state options... Medicaid is a safety net program that serves more than 50 million vulnerable Americans, from low-income children and pregnant women to Alzheimer's patients in nursing homes. It's designed as a federal-state partnership, with Washington paying close to 60 percent of the total cost.

..."The fact that this is being discovered now tells you, what else is baked into this law?" said [Former Utah governor Mike] Leavitt, who served as Health and Human Services secretary under President George H.W. Bush. "It clearly begins to reveal that the nature of the law was to put more and more people under eligibility for government insurance."

Of course it does.

Everyone with half a brain knows that Obamacare was simply a stepping-stone on the road to Soviet-style single-payer health care, which is bankrupting countries all across Europe as we speak.


Good News: White House Bypasses Congress, Implements Amnesty For Illegal Aliens On Its Own

Runner-up headline: 'It is not a crime to be be here illegally'


Curious: I didn't read this in legacy media, but it seems that the Obama administration just bypassed Congress to implement its own amnesty program for illegal aliens. Never mind that our own elected representatives have rejected this sort of DREAM Act-style amnesty on eight (8) separate occasions.

President Barack Obama’s administration is quietly offering a quasi-amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, while aiming to win reelection by mobilizing a wave of new Hispanic voters... The new rules were quietly announced Friday with a new memo from top officials at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The “prosecutorial discretion” memo says officials need not enforce immigration laws if illegal immigrants are enrolled in an education center or if their relatives have volunteered for the US military...

...The Hispanic vote could be crucial in the 2012 election, because the Obama campaign hopes to offset its declining poll ratings by registering new Hispanic voters in crucial swing states... and [it] has maintained close ties to Hispanic advocacy groups, including La Raza. For example, La Raza’s former senior vice president and lobbyist, Cecilia Munoz, was hired by the Obama administration as director of intergovernmental affairs in 2009.

...When weighing whether an exercise of prosecutorial discretion may be warranted for a given alien, ICE officials, agents and attorneys should consider all relevant factors, including, but not limited to – the circumstances of the person’s arrival in the United States … particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child; the Person’s pursuit of education… .. whether the person, or the person’s immediate relative, has served in the U.S. military,” said the memo.

The factors are extremely broad and very troubling … [it] look like a stealth DREAM Act enforcement through non-enforcement"... The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act has been repeatedly rejected by Congress from 2001 to 2010... In practice, the new memo won’t make much of a difference because “ICE isn’t deporting people now,” said Jessica Vaughan, an analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies...

...On Friday, officials also announced a new advisory panel intended “to implement policies stopping the [deportation and] removal of individuals charged with, but not convicted of, minor traffic offenses who have no other criminal history or egregious immigration violations.”

“It is not a crime to be be here illegally,” claimed B. Loewe, a spokesman for the National Day Laborers Organizing Network...

Let me repeat: in the formulation of the hard-left Democrats, for whom the ends always justify the means, "it is not a crime to be here illegally."

Doesn't that just say it all?

This cynical administration is both reckless and lawless. And it's more than past time to say the I-word. Rep. Issa, are you listening?


Hat tip: Mark Levin.