Doug Ross @ Journal

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Best Ranch Sign Ever

Via Reaganite Republican:

Because, when it comes to home defense, sometimes only a belt-fed will do.

Daddy like.

Exclusive Photo: Bobby Rush Unveils Fashion Statement on House Floor

Biff Spackle faxed us another exclusive photograph, snapped just before former Black Panther Bobby Rush was escorted off the House floor.

The only man to ever defeat Barack Obama in an election was escorted off the House floor Wednesday morning.

Bobby Rush (D., Ill.) was booted from the floor for a dress code violation. Rush, co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party, removed his suit jacket to reveal a hooded sweatshirt and later donned sunglasses, while delivering a Bible-laced rant on Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen killed by a neighborhood watchman in February...

“Just because you wear a hoodie doesn’t make you a hoodlum,” he said.

The speaker pro tempore banged his gavel several times throughout the exchange, but Rush refused to yield the floor. After 90 seconds, he ordered Rush removed.

House rules do not permit hats or sunglasses.

Bobby Rush may be a "statesman" as far as Democrats are concerned, but he's no Hank Johnson.

The Complete Gallery of Trayvon-Zimmerman Photos (Before and After Media "Touch-Ups")

Tammy Bruce asks, "[H]ow much longer will we allow the media and political establishment to inflame racial tensions with deliberate lies? It’s not going to be any of the Lamestream Media anchor lives that are ruined–it’s all of us who apparently they see as collateral damage. You simply have to ask, why is all the media pushing the after set of pictures of Zimmerman and Martin? Hmm?"

Dave Blount at Moonbattery offered his own version of fauxtography, something that could have come from Reuters' Middle Eastern Bureau:

Not to be outdone, Sad Hill News created a gratis version for the Associated Press:

Proving, once again, that legacy media is both a disgrace and a joke.

Hat tip: BadBlue.com News Service.

Larwyn's Linx: Administration's Free Rider Admission to the High Court

Send us news tips. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

QOTD: "Every time the left wins an argument expanding the meaning of the constitution, the Court somehow got it right. Every time the left loses an argument over the constitution, the Court somehow became politicized. And while the right says the same on the opposite cases there is a fundamental difference.

The right’s position on constitutional jurisprudence boiled down to its essence is that every man and woman in America should be able to read the constitution and have a fair understanding of it and how government is supposed to work. One cannot read the constitution and legitimately understand exactly how an abortion right is extrapolated out of the Bill of Rights. Likewise, one cannot read the constitution and understand how a Congress of limited powers can compel any person to purchase a product he does not want.

...We have complicated our tax code, our regulations, and our legal system. In each we must now pay self-appointed experts trained in the art of gobbledegook to parse words, divine intent, and lobby for exceptions that prove rules... Our nation is no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of elites who interpret those laws for us. It has all led to a very logical place." --Erick Erickson

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Obama administration unveils 'Cash for Codgers' program; aims to save billions on health care for seniors

In light of new reports that health care premiums are rising three times faster than they did prior to the passage of Obamacare and that overall costs will tally hundreds of billions higher than predicted, Cub Reporter Biff Spackle files this exclusive report:

As part of the federal government's efforts to rein in health care spending, the Department of Health and Human Services has instituted a generous offer available to all U.S. residents.

The Senior Euthanasia Reimbursement Program (euphemistically known as "Cash for Codgers") will offer each family a cash honorarium for any senior residing in their household aged 65 and over. Said seniors will be dispensed with humanely, in accordance with the recommendations of Ezekiel "Doctor Death" Emanuel.

In these tough economic times, what's better than solving the entitlement crisis and addressing senior health care issues -- simultaneously? It very well could be the final solution to the fiscal challenges of government-run health care.

The race-baiters get what they wanted from Trayvon's death: civil unrest

The professional race-baiters -- including, but not limited to, Al "Not So" Sharpton and Jesse Jerkson -- raced to Florida even before all of the facts related to Trayvon Martin's fatal shooting were known.

The results? All too predictable.

Police: Trayvon protesters ransack store

North Miami Beach police said surveillance video shows dozens of high school students demonstrating in the Trayvon Martin case Friday ransacking a Walgreens store...

The incident occurred during a walkout from North Miami Beach Senior High School in support of Martin, 17, who was fatally shot in Sanford... Surveillance video shows dozens of teenagers running through the store. Police said about 80 to 100 students stormed in, ransacking the shelves, before the school's vice principal ordered everyone outside.

That legacy media still gives any credence whatsoever to the loathsome Sharpton is proof that they are an anachronism, as relevant as a fossilized pigeon in a tarpit.

Top 10 Reasons Obamacare IS Constitutional...

I can assure you, despite all of the hullabaloo from the hoi polloi, that Obama is entirely, 100% Constitutional, no if's and's or but's:

• Because Congress can compel Americans to engage in commerce in order to then regulate their activities under the Commerce Clause.

• Because the fee that every American must pay -- by dint of their mere existence -- for failing to comply with "the Individual Mandate" is either a "tax" or a "penalty", depending on which day of the week it is.

• Because health care is a unique market, one in which every American must participate at some point in their lives. Unlike the markets of, say, clothing, shelter, food, transportation, ...

• Because Congress has the right -- the obligation -- to trump God and the First Amendment in order to ensure that all Americans get free contraceptives and abortifacients.

• Because the "Consent of the Governed" is outdated and antiquated. Congress can do anything it wants, even if 63% of all Americans are opposed to their actions.

• Because a 2,200-page bill that not one member of Congress read -- much less understands -- is inherently Constitutional, as the noted legal scholar Nancy Pelosi insists.

• Because what could be more American than nationalizing one-sixth of the entire economy?

• Because a few masterminds in Washington will be able to manage that one-sixth of the economy more effectively than the entire private sector.

• Because government-run health care has turned out to be cost-effective, innovative, and efficient in delivering health care, except in countries like England, Canada and Sweden.

• Because every founder of this country -- every single Framer of the Constitution from James Madison to George Mason -- would agree with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Barack Obama. That is, all Americans have the right to free health care, which must be delivered by a 15-member panel of elite masterminds overseeing an authoritarian, centralized, massive federal bureaucracy.

Larwyn's Linx: How to Talk to an Undecided Voter

Send us news tips. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

How to Talk to an Undecided Voter: ConCom
The Constitution vs. Obamacare: NRO
Supreme Court and Obamacare: Day One of the Hearings: LifeNews

The Left No Longer Finds Dissent Patriotic: RS
DCCC employs 9/11 Truther as spokesman: Beacon
Allen West Attacked by AstroTurf Leftist Organization: Shark Tank

Why the health care reform law is unconstitutional: Somin
Was Trayvon Martin a drug dealer?: Owens
Police: Trayvon Slammed Zimmerman’s Head Into Sidewalk: JWF

Economy

Why Obamacare is Illegal (and Why it Matters): Bruce
Side Effects: Doctors Fear Obamacare: Foundry
White House considered $170B soda tax to pay for Obamacare: Peth

Obamacare: Will the Court Vindicate Itself?: DLim
Harry Reid: We Need High-Speed Rail From the Desert to Vegas: Marfdrat
E-Mail to Corzine Said Transfer Was Not Customer Money: Yahoo!

Climate & Energy

If at first you don't succeed, re-brand!: Power Line
U.S. Oil Production Increases In Spite of Team Obama’s Best Efforts: PJM
East Coast poised to lose 50 percent of its oil refining capacity: Reuters

Media

No, Seriously, Zimmerman Said "Punks": Ace
Geraldo's Point: Sowell
An Unfortunate T-Shirt Hits Florida Streets In Wake Of Trayvon Martin Killing: TSG (NSFW)

Why Was NY Times Reporter Jeff Zeleny Doing Romney Campaign’s Bidding?: RSM
Santorum Chews Out NYT’s Jeff Zeleny: ‘Quit Distorting My Words… It’s Bullsh*t!’: Mediaite
Obama unwittingly cuts a campaign ad for the GOP: Beacon

World

Does Vladimir Putin know more about Obama’s second-term agenda than U.S. voters?: Peth
Obama To Putin: ‘More Flexibility’ After Nov: S&L
Obama’s Revealing Comments to Medvedev: Commentary

Congressman to Obama: You’d better not be trading away our missile defense, champ: Hot Air
Germany In the Grip of Muslim Terror: Creeping
Attention shoppers! Saudi man divorces wife over mall loudspeaker: JihadWatch

North Korean satellite launch a cover for Iranian long-range missile test: Matzav
‘Islamists’ To Write New Egypt Constitution: S&L
Elderly dying due to 'despicable age discrimination in NHS': Telegraph

Turner to Obama: What Flexibility?: Beacon
America’s caste system when it comes to mass murder: Bookworm
China unveils new legislation on police powers of detention: Guardian

Sci-Tech

Cameron: Earth's deepest spot desolate, foreboding: AP
Morphlabs Rolls Out All-SSD Private Cloud in a Box: Wired
Gravity-defying workouts lift fitness routines: Trib

Cornucopia

20 Of Trayvon Martin’s Tweets That Stand Out (Language Warning): Hawkins
To Hell With All Those Diet Trackers! Track Your Bacon Instead.: Mardrat
Batman Stopped by Police: CBS DC

Image: Urban Infidel
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "If the "necessary and proper" clause allows Congress to adopt the individual mandate, the same logic would justify almost any other mandate. Virtually every mandate has some economic effect and could be portrayed as a "useful or convenient" way to regulate some market. A broccoli mandate could be defended as an effort to regulate the market in food.

The threat to liberty raised by this case isn't just theoretical. Many industries would be happy to lobby for laws requiring people to buy their products, and Congress has a long history of enacting special-interest legislation." --Ilya Somin

Monday, March 26, 2012

Why do the Russians know more about Obama's agenda than America's citizens?

The administration can't be too fond of ABC News' Jake Tapper. Tapper reported early today that President Obama was caught on an open microphone telling Russian President Medvedev that once he's reelected, he won't have to bother with those pesky Americans who are worried about sharing missile defense secrets.

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

Senior GOP officials are rightfully concerned, given that missile defense is a critical element of U.S. national security.

“If there was any doubt how dangerous Barack Obama would be for America’s security in a second term, the president put all uncertainty to rest today,” said the source, who closely tracks foreign policy matters. “The president just told us that he is itching to hand over America’s most secret missile defense data to a country that is arming Syria and fueling Iran’s Bushehr reactor—and he would do it today but for his re-election concerns. With no political constraints in a second term, who knows what Obama will do.”

The adviser also said Obama’s remarks should cause concern among pro-Israel forces in America.

“If this is what the president’s promising the Russians on missile defense, God only knows what he’s promising Arab leaders about Israel,” noted the souce. “If you think Barack Obama was bad for Israel in term one, put your seatbelt on and get ready for term two.”

Rep. Michael Turner, Chairman of a House Armed Services Subcommittee, is seriously ticked off and he said as much in a letter to the president that has undertones of a threat laced within it.

As you know, in the FY12 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress enacted, and you signed into law, a provision constraining your ability to share classified U.S. missile defense information with the Russian Federation. Congress took this step because it was clear based on official testimony and Administration comments in the press that classified information about U.S. missile defenses, including hit-to-kill technology and velocity at burnout information, may be on the table as negotiating leverage for your reset with Russia. Despite signing the FY12 defense authorization legislation into law, you then issued a signing statement signaling that you may treat that provision protecting U.S. missile defense information as non-binding. This morning’s comments, on top of that action, suggests that you and your administration have plans for U.S. missile defenses that you believe will not stand up to electoral scrutiny.

Congress has made exquisitely clear to your Administration and to other nations that it will block all attempts to weaken U.S. missile defenses. As the Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which authorizes U.S. missile defense and nuclear weapons policy, I want to make perfectly clear that my colleagues and I will not allow any attempts to trade missile defense of the United States to Russia or any other country.

Once again, I've been forced to update President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts to include this missive:

"First President to Openly Defy a Congressional Order Not To Share Sensitive Nuclear Defense Secrets With the Russian Government.."

Of course they do: GM blames owners for Chevy Volt's melting cord problems

Aside from the occasional fires, explosions, and melting power cords, the Volt seems like an outstanding choice of vehicle.

...About eight months ago some owners of Chevy Volts complained that charging cords were overheating, sometimes to the point of melting. At the time, GM blamed owners, saying the wall outlets were the culprits. We now finally have GM addressing the safety concerns and agreeing to replace charging cords for all 9,500 Volts that have been sold since production began. But in what is becoming a new public relations precedent, the move is not being called a "recall."

The non-recall recall is instead referred to as a customer satisfaction action which is designed to "offer a more consistent charging experience." The political strategy is becoming more and more evident at GM as Chevy Volt sales continue to struggle...

...We now have the second non-recall at GM for the Volt. The first non-recall was for reinforcements to the battery pack after test vehicles at NHTSA ignited days after crash tests. In both cases, GM was adamant that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Volt; it is either the fault of owners with faulty wiring or right-wing media sources. Just in case the denials are not enough to convince the voting...I mean the car buying public, GM has stepped up ad spending for the Volt on those TV networks that are accused of criticizing the car. The spending seems to be quieting the criticism.

And the Volt is truly a car for every American, what with a sticker price around the low, low price of $41K.

Considering that each Volt cost taxpayers a mere $250,000 apiece, that MSRP seems like quite the bargain.

I've got good news and bad news regarding the unelected, unaccountable fourth branch of government

I refer, of course, to Barack Obama's massive administrative state.

• First, the good news: a federal judge, appointed by Barack Obama, just eviscerated the EPA for trying to shut down a massive coal-mining operation.

In yet another court case to limit what has been termed an Obama administration EPA power grab, a ruling has resulted in yet another court saying that the EPA is arrogating too much power.

The March 23 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of Mingo Logan Coal v. EPA came two days after the Supreme Court against the EPA in Sackett v. EPA.

This case -- like Sackett -- involved the EPA's enforcement of the Clean Water Act. Here, the EPA tried to withdraw permission to use two streams as discharge sites. The permission was granted three years earlier by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Just as the Supreme Court ruled in Sackett, the District Court ruled that the EPA's interpretation of its authority to enforce the CWA was erroneous.

Mingo Logan filed the lawsuit because the company believed that the EPA did not have the authority to modify or revoke the permit. They also thought the revocation was unlawful and the permit was still valid.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, wrote that the "EPA exceeded its authority." She also made the observation that the EPA's action was extraordinary.

"This attempt to withdraw the specification of discharge sites after a permit has been issued is unprecedented in the history of the Clean Water Act," she wrote.

The court ruling has received praise from several quarters -- most notably a Democrat governor and a Democrat senator.

And, now:

• The bad news: "HHS Strong Arms Insurers in Nine States".

Top 10 Rejected Obamacare Slogans
10. Why choose an expensive treatment when pain-pills will do?
9. Assisted Suicide: Do it for the Children
8. We Put the Rash in Rationing
7. Ask Us About Our Discount Placebo Program!
6. Only Selfish People Beg for CAT Scans.
5. Take a Number! The Bureau of Health Waiting Rooms reports the average wait time is now down to 123 minutes (in some locations)
4. Quack isn't just the sound a duck makes: we're importing medical experts from Mexico as part of our new Health Amnesty Program!
3. Shut up, take a seat and wait for your number to be called, Mr. GB21708-4.
2. David Axelrod reviewing your medical records: what could go wrong?
1. Sound mind, sound body -- take your pick.
As health reform heads to the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal government is going full bore on insurers who hike premiums to cover health care’s soaring costs, increases that ironically continue to rise in part due to health reform.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) late last week denied rate increases from two health insurers covering more than 42,000 Americans in nine states because they were too high, deeming them “unreasonable” premium hikes...

...The clampdown by HHS raises anew the debate over the role of the federal government in setting the costs of health insurance premiums, and why health reform has not stopped the rise in health-care costs, which continue to rise even after parts of the new law have already kicked in...

...The increases now in coverage costs are due to what insurers must now provide under the new law, despite President Barack Obama’s vow that the new law “could save families $2,500 in the coming years.”

Uhm, those are called ~~lies~~ marketing on the president's part.

Say, I wonder if mandating "free" contraceptives, covering "children" up to age 26, coverage for any and all pre-existing condition, and other draconian requirements are impacting insurance premiums?

You know, making them "unreasonable"?

And I wonder how price controls, like those HHS is trying to impose, have worked out in other countries? Say Venezuela, Cuba, the Soviet Union, Italy and Greece?

Not too well, you say?

Oh, gee. But maybe our masterminds are just way smarter than their masterminds.

Sick: Obama Campaign Uses Trayvon's Death to Hawk Hoodies

Just when you think the record for cynicism has been set by this administration, they bust through to a brand new sub-basement of immorality.

The official Obama team is now pushing the Obama hoodie.

[There are significant exmaples] of the sentiment Barack Obama is stirring up by promoting hoodies. Along with that, an Internet search for George Zimmer's home phone number and street address documents that they are now being widely distributed by a large number of the same individuals seizing the "hoodie" sweatshirt as a symbol representing their anger. Many of those tweets are calling for Zimmerman's death.

Is there anything David Axelrod won't say or do to raise money?

For you drones and miscreants reading along: that's a rhetorical question.

As a reminder, the initial television reports of the incident included interviews with a witness who stated that Trayvon was on top of Zimmerman pummeling him.

The witness also said that as Zimmerman was being attacked by Trayvon Martin, he was screaming for help.

The neighborhood where Zimmerman was helping to patrol as part of a local watch program had suffered eleven (11) break-ins in recent weeks.

But when it comes to dividing Americans along racial, ethnic, income, religious or other arbitrary lines, no administration in history has created as much angst as this one. One can only come to the conclusion that President Obama and his supporters are rooting for civil unrest.

Two Charts That Illustrate How Obama, Pelosi and Reid Crushed the Economy

Two charts that depict the tragedy of lawless, temporary politicians whose poor decisions will take a terrible toll on countless, future generations*:

...The employment-to-population ratio displays a classic V-shape recession and recovery pattern in the 1970s and 1980s. In the recession and recovery of the early 1990s, however, the employment-to-population ratio instead displays a U shape, only returning to its pre-recession level three years after the peak in the unemployment rate. In the recession and recovery of the early 2000s, neither the participation rate nor the employment-to-population ratio returns to its previous level, so we see an incomplete U-shape pattern.

In the most recent cycle, the employment-to-population ratio traces out an L shape, but the unemployment rate falls because the participation rate declines substantially (a much more gradual decline was expected by many given the aging of the baby boomers); in other words, a larger share of the population is out of the labor force rather than participating and being unemployed.

I took the liberty of annotating the chart to illustrate a couple of salient details:

I added two vertical lines. The first line indicates the election of Barack Obama in November of 2008, when he and Bush 43 began collaborating on economic policies.

For instance, the initial bailout of GM and Chrysler (with TARP money for housing, mind you) was justified by both men in the name of preventing a complete collapse of the auto supply chain.

The second line, slightly to the right, represents the passage of the "Stimulus package".

It would appear that the policies of Obama and the 111th Congress made things worse, at least as compared to other major recessions.

And, based upon the labor-force participation rate, things haven't gotten any better, no matter how many times legacy media tries to shriek WE'RE IN A RECOVERY.

* The ludicrous hack Joe Weisenthal hardest hit.