Doug Ross @ Journal

So soon? State Department warns travelers that the entire country of Mexico is, basically, a freaking war-zone

2012-02-11T13:56:00.004-05:00

Although you wouldn't know it by the Obama administration's open-borders policy:

It’s amazing that only now do we get this serious travel warning when more people have been murdered every year in Mexico than in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s absolutely shameful that we’ve been propping up that government (remember that $2 billion we sent over last year?) and sending guns in while tens of thousands get murdered. Horrible.

Yep, no reason to build that wall. None at all.

Travel warning: Violence spreading in Mexico
Americans should avoid all but essential travel to all or parts of 14 Mexican states, the U.S. State Department warns as violence has spread. Shootouts, kidnappings and carjackings have climbed, as have cartels, also known as transnational criminal organizations (TCO), the State Department said this week in a broadened travel warning.

While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico every year, the country’s ongoing violence and security concerns pose risks for U.S. citizens, and travelers should take precautions, the State Department advises... More than 47,500 people were killed in drug-related violence in Mexico between December 2006 and September 2011, according to the State Department. While most of those murdered were involved in criminal activity, innocent people were also caught in the crossfire, the State Department said. Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared a crackdown on cartels in late 2006.

Say, I've got an idea! Let's have the ATF deliver thousands of weapons to the Mexican drug cartels. Maybe that will help!

Hat tip: BadBlue.

Pictures: Your 3rd-Grader's Social Studies Text Book, a Cornucopia of Left-Wing Crackpottery

2012-02-11T13:11:00.000-05:00

Wondering whether elementary school students are truly indoctrinated in the left wing agenda? Well, wonder no more. They are; and it's worse -- far worse -- than you can possibly imagine.

Consider, if you will, McGraw-Hill's Our Democratic Heritage, a textbook designed for third-graders and published in 2010. If you'd assume that it was intended to teach kids about America's founding and its institutions of government, you'd assume wrong.

The book is a veritable cornucopia of left wing spin.

There is but one sentence devoted to the Bill of Rights. It reads, "These rights [of citizens] are listed in the part of the U.S. Constitution called the Bill of Rights".

• Two pages cover the Declaration of Independence
• Two pages describe the Constitution, all of which are devoted to the three branches of government and separation of powers
• No pages are devoted to James Madison and the authors of the Constitution; there is no mention of federalism
• Six pages are spent describing the background of Paul Revere
• Ten pages are devoted to the history of democracy in ancient Greece.
• George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are mentioned only in passing, almost as if they are immaterial scenery on the road to diversity and social Utopia.

In the section entitled "America's Freedom Fighters":

• Eight pages are spent covering the life of Frederick Douglass
• Five pages on Susan B. Anthony
• Six pages on Mary McLeod Bethune,
• Zero pages are devoted to the life of Abraham Lincoln

In fact, the entire Civil War is described only as a backdrop to the lives of Frederick Douglas and Mary McLeod Bethune.

In the section entitled "The Fight for Freedom Continues":

• Seven pages are spent on praise for FDR (including 2 pages on Pearl Harbor)
• Six pages on Eleanor Roosevelt
• Six pages are devoted to Thurgood Marshall
• Six pages are spent on LBJ's life and the wondrous effects of "Great Society"
• Six pages are spent on Cesar Chavez and the lionization of the labor movement

There is no list of American Presidents.

There is no mention of the two-party system, nor the fact that there exists a group called "The Republican Party".

And there is no mention of a Republican President other than Abraham Lincoln, who merits but a picture and a single sentence. In fact, you would not know from reading this book that there ever was a Republican President.

A total of four paragraphs are spent describing World War II. There is no mention of President Harry S. Truman or of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan to mercifully end World War II.

There is, of course, no mention of Ronald Reagan.

One of the goals we Constitutional conservatives must have is to regain control of our public school systems, which appear to be -- if this book is any indication -- completely out of control.

Larwyn's Linx: Breitbart: We're going to vet Obama this time around

2012-02-11T08:46:00.005-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

QOTD: "Conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart says he has video of Barack Obama from the president's "college days," and he plans on using it in the coming election cycle to show "why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008," reports Mediaite. In a speech at CPAC, Breitbart said the videos will show how Obama met "a bunch of silver ponytails" such as Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohm, "and the rest of us slept as they plotted and plotted" a takeover of the presidency.

"Barack Obama is a radical, we should not be afraid to say that," he said. "Barack Obama was launched from Bill and Bernadine's salon." --Mark Russell

Question Time For Professor Dershowitz [Dan from NY]

2012-02-10T22:17:00.003-05:00

Dan from NY:

“...it is Chamberlain who has come to symbolize the failure to prevent Hitler's ascendancy. So too will Mr. Obama come to symbolize the failure of the West if Iran acquires nuclear weapons on his watch.”

-Alan M. Dershowitz, WSJ, 3/23/10

Professor Dershowitz, if Obama hasn’t struck Iran by election day, will you recommend that we extend his “watch” thru January 20, 2017 and delay judgment until then?

Rubio obliterates Obama's budget proposals: POTUS offers another 'blank piece of paper' on entitlement reform

2012-02-10T19:38:00.004-05:00

A fitting description for President Mails-It-In's latest prescription for destroying the country's finances. And we're at, what, day 1019 without a Democrat budget? Any comment on that, President McDowngrade?

From the WSJ:

President Barack Obama’s budget proposal Monday will offer several measures to trim the federal deficit in the next 10 years. But it would leave largely unchanged the biggest drivers of future government spending: the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs that are expanding rapidly as the baby boom turns into a senior boom.

Senator Marco Rubio saw this coming.

As he said yesterday in his CPAC speech:

So, where is the President’s plan to save Medicare? Let me show it to you. Here it is. [Holds up blank sheet of paper.] He doesn’t have one. It is a blank piece of paper. This is his plan when it comes to Medicare. His plan is wait for a Republican like Paul Ryan to offer a plan and then attack him. He hasn’t been in office three or four weeks. He’s been in office a little bit over three years. Two of those years, his party controlled both houses of Congress. And he’s dealt with none of these issues I’ve just outlined.

And it now looks like President Obama will end his term with a whole stack of blank sheets of paper... And why hasn’t Obama outlined some long-term plan since a coming debt deluge will make a “built to last” economy impossible to achieve otherwise?

Pethokoukis is more forgiving than I am. He concludes that President Obama will simply propose more tax increases on the middle class (because the rich simply can't be taxed enough to make up for this monstrous shortfall).

Obama won’t tell you that he wants to raise taxes on all Americans. I just did.

I disagree.

President Obama, in my estimation, is trying to "fundamentally transform" this country (his words) into some Statist Utopia. And to do so, it will require a complete economic collapse. Which is precisely where we're headed if we don't remove this disaster from office in November.

Muslim Brotherhood: "Let's Skip The Foreplay" [Dan from NY]

2012-02-10T19:23:00.000-05:00

Dan from NY:

Law of history #2: Whenever and wherever Islam reaches a certain critical mass, Islam tries to dominate the surrounding community.

Law of history #3: In the Islamic world, nature fills a power vacuum with – wait for it – Islam.

If you live in a dream world (or the White House), this will reinforce your fantasies about democracy blooming in Arabia and North Africa. But down here on earth, it’s proof positive that Egypt has already fallen into Islamofascist hands. How can we ever thank you, Barack Hussein Obama? They couldn’t have done it without you.

twincities.com, 2/9/12

Muslim Brotherhood Demands Egypt’s Military Rulers Cede Control

CAIRO - The Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday demanded that Egypt's military rulers cede control of the government, stepping closer to a long-anticipated confrontation between the ruling generals and the Islamist-dominated Parliament.

In a statement on its website and a television interview with one of its senior leaders, the Brotherhood called for the military to allow the replacement of the current prime minister and cabinet with a new coalition government formed by Parliament, which would amount to an immediate handover of power.

The Brotherhood, the formerly outlawed Islamist group that now dominates Parliament, had previously said it was content to wait for the June deadline by which the generals had pledged to turn over power, which they seized with the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

###

The entire story is here. And you might like this: Islam on the March in Europe.

Time to short Amazon: Mistress of Disaster Jamie Gorelick Joins $AMZN Board of Directors

2012-02-10T19:11:00.002-05:00

Oh, my: what could possibly go wrong with this?

Amazon board adds Jamie Gorelick, former Fannie Mae and DOJ official

Amazon.com just added a new board member: Jamie S. Gorelick, a veteran of the U.S. government and no stranger to controversy. The company announced the appointment in an SEC filing a short time ago. Gorelick, a litigator at the law firm WilmerHale, was a long-running U.S. Deputy Attorney General who... blah, blah, blah...

Gorelick is best-known for her leading roles in two epic, trillion-dollar catastrophes, which earned her the nomme de guerre "The Mistress of Disaster".

• In 2004, observers were "astonished" to discover that a key member of the 9/11 Commission had a fatal conflict-of-interest. Jamie Gorelick had served as a Deputy Attorney General under Bill Clinton from 1994 to 1997. It was later revealed that Gorelick had established a pre-Patriot Act "wall" that prevented the foreign intelligence and criminal investigative communities from collaborating. Gorelick's wall "specifically impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui", the so-called "20th hijacker."

• Where did she turn up after that delightful stint in Justice? Though she had no training or experience in finance, Gorelick was appointed the Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae and served in the role from 1997 to 2003. During that six-year period, she earned over $26 million. During Gorelick's tenure, FNMA suffered a $10 billion accounting scandal, an ominous harbinger of the firm's looming troubles. FNMA's 2008 collapse, of course, helped touch off the mortgage meltdown.

It's not often that one person plays key roles in two -- count 'em, two -- trillion-dollar disasters. Welcome, my friends, to the world of well-connected Democrat Jamie Gorelick.

You've been warned.

Larwyn's Linx: PA: Santorum blows past Gingrich, edges Romney

2012-02-10T06:24:00.003-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

PA: Santorum blows past Gingrich, edges Romney: Hot Air
Rasmussen: Santorum Even With Obama in Ohio: WS
Brokered Convention?: Ace

Santorum: Obama Wants Iran to Have a Nuke: JWF
The GOP Race Gets Messy: DLim
Insulting our intelligence: the Romney strategy: LI

Nation

“To Stop the Multiplication of the Unfit”: Malkin
Archbishop Dolan "Betrayed" by Obama: NRO
Reid Whines on Mandate: GOP Talking of Constitution: LifeNews

Obama Brags About Role In ACORN Election-Stealing: Dollard
Senate Dems bailing out over contraception mandate: Hot Air
Senate Dems Use Obama's Mandate for Fundraising: WZ

Economy

Obama declares himself dictator of education: Exam
Letter: Wisconsin, Illinois: A study in contrasts: FDLRep
Inside the White House as America circles the drain: MB

DOJ/States Shake Down Lenders For $25B: S&L
The Economic Sabotage of the West: Knish
In Mortgage Settlement, Obama Blames Everybody But The Government: IBD

"Wisconsin on Steroids:" Arizona Moves To Regulate Unions: Ace
Want To Eat Breakfast With Obama? Then Cut a Check For $35,800: WZ
Obama Gives Ten State Waivers for NCLB On His Own Authority; The Law Does Not Include a Waiver Provision: Ace

Scandal Central

Obama Wants to Ban Guns in U.S. to Reduce Crime in Mexico: GWP
Fast and Furious, and what 2010 meant: LI
Fast and Furious: Targets of gun sting were FBI informers: AZ Central

Climate & Energy

The IPCC that cried 'Wolf!': Strata-Sphere
And the house of cards starts to come down: Power Line
‘I Feel Duped on Climate Change’: NRO

Media

Why I Support Rick Santorum: Lid
Obama and how he got that way: TAB
Liberals SHOCKED to reap what they've sown: Glob

Paul Ryan and Mark Steyn on the Left's Hatred of Rick Santorum: Hewitt
Report: CNN Israel fires all its Jewish journalists?: Matzav
CNN Host Grills Tony Perkins Over Beating of Homosexual Man: NB

World

Anonymous Message To The State of Israel: Anonymous
Israel's Mossad trained assassins of Iran nuclear scientists, report says: Haaretz
Minneapolis adopts Sharia law to help Muslim businesses: Creeping

“Sharia Free Zone” – New British Freedom Poster: Creeping
Egypt: Salafi Islamists Attempt To Purge Village Near Alexandria of Its Christian Population: WZ
GOP Rep. Peter King Says He Plans To Hold More Congressional Hearings On Muslim Radicalization In 2012: WZ

Sci-Tech

Alleged Foxconn hack allowed bogus orders to be placed for vendors: AppleInsider
Paper Robots: Wired
Jury strikes down Eolas' 'Interactive Web' patent: CNet

Cornucopia

Fly Me To Ramallah On Delta Airlines: Rusty Mike
The President's Persistently Peculiar Habit: MB
Have You Noticed That Barack Obama Never Gets Glitter Bombed?: Glob

Requiring IDs to Vote is Oppressive: Looking Spoon
Modern treasure hunters claim they've found billions in sunken ship off Boston: Fox
Watch Will Ferrell's witty NBA player introductions: Post

Image: The Looking Spoon
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "...leftism has never been based on idealism. It has always been based, for the most part, on hate and envy. So when Communism was conclusively proved to be a failure, leftists (including not only leftists in politics, but more important, leftists in the media and in academia) didn’t change their minds or admit their mistake. For in their eyes, while there may have been disappointment, there was no mistake. Their resentments and hatreds remained. They merely sought other vehicles, other terminologies, other tactics to bring down the West and the free enterprise system and democratic institutions that define it. Yesterday’s socialists are today’s progressives. They barely missed a beat." --John Hinderaker

Gaia hammers more nails in the coffin of global warming: global sea level... drops during 2010

2012-02-09T21:09:00.001-05:00

Brought to you by the right-wing, racist, Tea Party extremists at... NASA:

NASA Satellites Detect Pothole on Road to Higher Seas

The red line in this image shows the long-term increase in global sea level since satellite altimeters began measuring it in the early 1990s. Since then, sea level has risen by a little more than an inch each decade, or about 3 millimeters per year.

While most years have recorded a rise in global sea level, the recent drop of nearly a quarter of an inch, or half a centimeter, is attributable to the switch from El Niño to La Niña conditions in the Pacific. The insets show sea level changes in the Pacific Ocean caused by the recent El Niño and La Niña (see NASA for more information on these images). Image credit: S. Nerem, University of Colorado.

Faux scientists and United Nations eco-Marxists hardest hit

Hat tip: Free Republic.

So much for the Democrats' vaunted "separation of church and state" [Cagle Cartoons]

2012-02-09T19:56:00.006-05:00

I heard that the vaunted 'hands-off President' -- Obama himself -- came off the links long enough to make a decision. No more leading from behind for Barack, not when it comes to mandating that Catholics, Orthodox Jews and other religious groups provide abortion pills for free... whether they like it or not!

According to The New York Times (no link, Google it if you need to):

In the end, it was Mr. Obama himself who made the decision, aides say, calculating that at the end of the day, the issue of public health access outweighed the concerns of the religious institutions.

If, as some contend, that Obama truly is a narcissist, it may be difficult for the president to reverse course.

Narcissistic personality disorder symptoms may include:

• Believing that you're better than others
• Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
• Exaggerating your achievements or talents
• Expecting constant praise and admiration
• Believing that you're special and acting accordingly
• Failing to recognize other people's emotions and feelings
• Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
• Taking advantage of others
• Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
• Being jealous of others
• Believing that others are jealous of you
• Trouble keeping healthy relationships
• Setting unrealistic goals
• Being easily hurt and rejected
• Having a fragile self-esteem
• Appearing as tough-minded or unemotional

When you have narcissistic personality disorder, you may come across as conceited, boastful or pretentious. You often monopolize conversations. You may belittle or look down on people you perceive as inferior. You may have a sense of entitlement. And when you don't receive the special treatment to which you feel entitled, you may become very impatient or angry. (Source: Narcissistic Personality Disorder - The Mayo Clinic)

Please note: any relationships you may see between these symptoms and Mr. Obama are solely the responsibility of the reader.

Best Illustration Ever: Democrat Color Wheel!

2012-02-09T19:38:00.002-05:00

Spotted (and shamelessly ripped off) from the peerless Moonbattery (update: the original came from The Looking Spoon):

And I couldn't resist creating the equivalent version for the real Republican Party (not big government Statists, but Constitutional conservatives and the Tea Partiers):

Bold differences, sharp contrasts.

Which is why I support Rick Santorum for President. The nattering nabobs and paid lackeys can decry Santorum as a big government hack all they want. I'll let the various conservative groups we care about rank him: judge for yourself.

Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

Larwyn's Linx: The attacks on Santorum have begun in earnest

2012-02-09T06:24:00.002-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

The attacks on Santorum have begun in earnest: PW
Rick Santorum’s Sweep Changes the Race: RWN
Santorum In Second Place In Delegate Race: S&L

Santorum Kicked The Mitt Out Of Romney: Riehl
Tim Tebow, Tom Brady register to vote in MN: PJM
What is Low Republican Turnout Saying?: RLC

Nation

Justice Ginsburg Should Resign: AmSpec
DREAMers” promise action against Rubio at CPAC: Hot Air
FBI Announces that Americans Are Now a Threat to America: RLC

White House advises Senate to not lead in an election year: RS
Democrat state senator attempts to ban masturbation: Lane
Cancel Leviathan’s Invitation to the Wedding: NewAm

Report: Obama doubles down at Democrat retreat: Hot Air
Weak Obama May Back Off Church Attack: Tobin
Air Force trains flight attendants for VIP trips: Chron

Economy

Dependency Index Surges 23% Under President Obama: IBD
Obama planned to give Russian steel company a loan: Blogmocracy
NC's Renee Ellmers Waxes Henry Waxman: Riehl

Hoyer: ‘The Fact Is You Don’t Need a Budget’: CNS
2 charts: Obama’s ‘Buffett Rule’ is completely phony: Peth
War on Salt Heats Up: Moonbattery

House Conservatives Support Barack Obama’s Latest Stimulus: RS
Are Government Unions Out Of Control? An Infographic: ZH
#Occupiers Pillage Portland: GWP

Scandal Central

Fast and Furious: While Holder Makes Excuses, Mexico Is Making Arrests: BigG
Obama Weaponizes DOJ Against Murdoch: BigJ
Judicial Watch sues Energy Dept. for documents related to $529M Fisker loan: Hill

Climate & Energy

Little Green Morons: Caruba
Polar ice not melting as fast as you were told: Hot Air
The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows.: Instapundit

Media

MRC Study: ABC and NBC Anything But Fast and Furious On Gunwalking Scandal: NB
Rush: Santorum is last real conservative still standing: Scoop
CNN’s Roland Martin suspended for homophobic tweets: WaPo

WSJ: Waking Up To Dangers Of ‘Obama-Care’: S&L
Another sign of the plague of idiocy and sloth that is spreading across our nation: TAB
Breaking: Rick Santorum’s unironic wearing of sweater vests an electoral dealbreaker: PW

Ex-MSNBC GM Slams Chris Matthews, NYT, 'Media’s Shameful, Inexcusable Distortion' of Citizens United: NB
Does The Obamacare Mandate Further Religious Liberty?: Howling
Oh my: Majorities of liberal Democrats now support drone strikes, keeping Gitmo open: Hot Air

CBS Evening News Finally Covers 'Firestorm' Between Catholic Church and Obama: NB
Covering Up JFK’s Roguish Behavior for 50 Years Not Long Enough for NBC’s Viewers: NB
Elementary School Kids Indoctrinated About Obama’s Incredible Awesomeness: Breitbart

World

Christians Facing Genocide in Muslim World: IPT
Egypt: As many as 100,000 Christians have left in recent months: JihadWatch
BBC tells journalists to stop calling Qatada 'an extremist' - and showing pics of him looking fat: Daily Mail

Iran 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0: Hanson
New Illegal Alien Advocate Undercuts Border Control: IBD
Farewell to the Free Market?: CityJournal

Sci-Tech

The Latest, Terrifying Drone Dog: DefTech
Fatah official Facebook page glorifies terrorists: Creeping
FBI Puts Cloud Providers on Notice Over Security Rules: Wired

Cornucopia

A Fistful of Rebates: IowaHawk
Let’s Move: Tug of War in the White House: Powers
Superbowl Snipers: iOTW

Historic! Sales Soar for Famed Obama Painting: JWF
Moonbat Fashion: iOTW
Video: Parody of Clint Eastwood's Chrysler ad: Marathon

Image: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum could use your help

QOTD: "The CAFE rule is the fleet-wide average fuel economy rating manufacturers are required by Washington to achieve. The new rule — issued in response to a 2010 Obama directive, not to specific legislation passed by Congress — would require automakers to achieve a 40.9 mpg CAFE average by 2021 and 54.5 mpg by 2025...

...Total costs, as calculated by the EPA, will exceed $157 billion, making this by far the most expensive CAFE rule ever. For comparison, the previous rule in 2010 cost $51 billion, according to the EPA. But the EPA doesn’t include this fact in its calculation: Annual U.S. car sales are 14-16 million units, yet over time, this rule will remove the equivalent of half a year’s worth of buyers." --Washington Examiner via Q&O

Chicago Mayor Creepy Ballerina Forced to Pay for Violating Citizens' Second Amendment Rights

2012-02-08T21:30:00.001-05:00

Ted Cruz alerts us to this outstanding development:

Very, very cool. Here’s a shot of the actual check that Rahm Emanuel had to write to the Second Amendment Foundation for the City of Chicago’s violating our right to keep and bear arms.

As the Solicitor General of Texas, I was honored to lead the States before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Heller case, which resulted in a landmark 5-4 victory, protecting our fundamental Second Amendment rights.

As an aside, Ted is a wonderful, truly conservative candidate for the Senate in Texas who deserves your support.

You've gotta love a candidate with a "Fire Holder" button on his home page.

Hat tip: Iowahawk.

The Hidden Taxes That are Crushing America's Poor

2012-02-08T20:46:00.005-05:00

Barack Obama likes to claim he's a tax-cutter. Never mind that Obama's signature health care overhaul contains dozens of new taxes poised to take effect, curiously, right after the 2012 elections. Never mind that the "Bush Tax Cuts" that Obama now repudiates (just months after agreeing that they were necessary) are set to expire.

No, Obama's secret, insidious "tax hikes" are rising energy prices (PDF), which hit lower-income households hardest. The president's energy policy is simple: prevent exploration, drilling and refining; close electric power plants; and regulate new power sources to death.

Energy costs are growing and eating up a disproportionate share of low and fixed-income families’ budgets. The 60 million households that earn less than $50,000 per year, or half of all U.S. families, will devote an estimated 21 percent of their after-tax incomes to energy, compared to 12 percent spent in 2001.

Energy cost burdens are greatest on the poorest families. The energy bills of families earning less than $10,000 have risen to 78 percent of their after-tax income.

Minority families are burdened by higher energy costs. More than 60 percent of Black and Hispanic families had pre-tax household incomes below $50,000 in 2010, compared with 39 percent for Asian families and 46 percent for white households.

Lower and fixed-income senior households are among those most vulnerable to energy price increases. Food, health care and other necessities compete with energy for a share of the household budget. The $31,408 median income of senior U.S. households means that half of these households depend on incomes below this level.

EPA regulations drive up electricity prices... [Yet, e]lectricity is the bargain among all consumer energy products. This is due, in part, to the utility industry’s reliance on affordable coal. Electricity prices have increased by 51 percent in nominal dollars since 1990, while the nominal prices of residential natural gas and gasoline have nearly doubled and tripled, respectively.

Remember this golden oldie?

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, [energy prices] would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was... [t]hey will pass that money on to consumers." --Barack Obama, 1 November 2008

Hey, you know what? I've finally discovered a campaign promise that Obama actually followed through with!

The Obama Legacy: Sloth, Dependency and Depression

2012-02-08T19:50:00.002-05:00

If you're wondering why the economy just can't seem to get rolling, please remember that the White House is motivating a record number of people not to work. It's called "building a culture of dependency (and a constituency of dependents)".

The American public's dependence on the federal government shot up 23% in just two years under President Obama, with 67 million now relying on some federal program...

[The] annual Index of Dependence on Government tracks money spent on housing, health, welfare, education subsidies and other federal programs that were "traditionally provided to needy people by local organizations and families."

The two-year increase under Obama is the biggest two-year jump since Jimmy Carter was president... The rise was driven mainly by increases in housing subsidies, an expansion in Medicaid and changes to the welfare system, along with a sharp rise in food stamps...

If there's anything the last half-century of failed Leftist policies have taught us, it's this: when you reward sloth, you get more sloth. Not to mention rampant fraud and monstrous waste.

Related: More than a third of all U.S. wages and salaries come from government confiscating wealth and redistributing it

Jimmy Carter to The 2nd Power = Barack Obama [Dan from NY]

2012-02-08T19:38:00.000-05:00

Dan from NY:

Hostage crisis redux. I guess we could argue all day that Obama is naïve, stupid or complicit. But the damage is already done, and at the end of the day he’s allowed our country to look like a gullible tourist in the Arab bazaar. If you’re still looking for a reason to send Obama packing, I can’t think of a better one.

Egypt outlines evidence in case against Americans

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian judges say the evidence collected in the case against 19 Americans referred to court for their alleged involvement in banned political activity through nonprofit groups includes maps, cash and videos taken of churches and military facilities.

Egypt's crackdown on pro-democracy and rights groups has soured relations between Cairo and Washington, which has warned Egypt that it could cut some $1.5 billion in aid over the dispute.

Sameh Abu-Zeid, one of two judges investigating the case, for the first time outlined for reporters Wednesday the evidence authorities have collected in the investigation.

The comments echoed allegations repeatedly made by Egypt's ruling military council that "foreign hands" are plotting unrest in Egypt.

Among the Americans referred to court is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Barack Obama makes Jimmy Carter look like Idi Amin Dada.

Too good to check: Barry Soetoro's Columbia University ID Card

2012-02-08T18:57:00.001-05:00

Dave Blount posts the following mysterious image (Photoshopped? You make the call) under the banner "No Wonder Obama’s College Records Are Top Secret":

Luckily for the Indonesian citizen Barry Soetoro, or Barack Hussein Obama as he now calls himself, foreign students can get special assistance compliments of American taxpayers. The downside is that they are not eligible to be President...

...This document is guaranteed to be at least as genuine as the birth certificate [he] finally coughed up.

While the ID card could very well be a fake, Columbo's questions remain unanswered:

Ah... Sorry to bother you President Obama, Sir.

Larwyn's Linx: Rick Santorum Sweeps Trio of States

2012-02-08T06:21:00.006-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

Rick Santorum Sweeps Trio of States: CDN
The 'GOP base really does not want Romney': Corner
How Mitt Could Be Beat: RSM

Romney gets Rick-rolled; Santorum sweeps: Malkin
Romney Would Fit Right In On The Ninth Circuit Court: Riehl
Your Choices: Romney, Santorum or Sweet Meteor of Death: RSM

Nation

Our Constitution Is Out of Step with the Rest of the World: Cato
Obama Amnesty: Deportations At Record Low: JW
9th Circuit finds "Constitutional right" to gay marriage: Howling

Rant on HHS Mandate: Pundette
Dem. idiot wouldn't have voted for Obamacare if regs were known: WS
ObamaCare: the gift of Kafkaesque Statist absurdity...: PW

Economy

The unemployment chart Obama doesn’t want you to see: Peth
Barack Obama, Super-hypocrite on SuperPACs: Patterico
The Well-Deserved Death of California's Redevelopment Scam: Reason

Meet Pepe Cardona, the next Marc Rich: WyBlog
Government Can't Make Us Happy: Stossel
Sessions: Under Obama, Government Gets Bigger as Middle Class Gets Smaller: NoisyRm

Scandal Central

Fast and Furious, as a police operation, doesn't make sense, but as a...: MoneyRunner
Fast and Furious: Three Questions Not Asked: Owens
How many dead Mexicans would it have taken for Eric Holder to fire people?: Moe Lane

Climate & Energy

Two more scientists change sides in the AGW debate: Q&O
Scientist: global warming causes worst winter in years: Surber
Vlad in Vostok: Bayonet

Another Green Prophet Defects: Power Line
McIntyre catches the University of East Anglia in a web of lies: Watts

Media

The Secular Media vs. Religious Liberty: Bozell
WaPo: Politicians loot treasury for personal gain. Apparently that’s news: Q&O
Rush Limbaugh Parody of Clint Eastwood “Halftime in America”: Scoop

Think Progress, Media Matters Downplay Iranian Nuke Threat: Free Beacon
The Good, the Ad, and the Ugly: Daily
Maynard’s Reaction to that Detroit/Clint Eastwood Commercial: Bruce

The Blaze Jumps the Shark: Nice Deb
Mark Levin: We're Living In A Post-Constitutional America: RCP
U.S. authorities go after Murdoch: Reuters

World

Watch Eastern Saudi Arabia: Commentary
Two can play the same ‘BOYCOTT’ game: BNI
Greek Economy Implodes: Budget Revenues Tumble 7% In January On Expectation Of 9% Rise: ZH

Good News: U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize More Overseas Mosques: Creeping
Shariah law: Aceh’s morality police seek greater power: GlobalPost
Soros Warns Of Chaos, But Supports People Creating It: IBD

Are We Losing the War in Afghanistan?: Max Boot
Military ties mark Kim Jong Un’s inner circle: ArmyTimes
China leader-in-waiting carries heavy political baggage to U.S.: Reuters

Sci-Tech

Facebook governance a concern for California pension fund: Reuters
'Doomsday Preppers' highlights extreme survival techniques: USA Today
Google's HUD glasses have been sighted: CNet

Cornucopia

Obama's War on the Church: Spew
Problems Solved: Check!: MOTUS
Oh, Brother: Braves Throwback Uniform Praised for "Lack of Racism": Modicum

Last known WWI veteran dies at 110: ArmyTimes
Sea World’s Shamu ‘Slavery’ Case – PETA Demands Civil Rights For Animals: SHN
OWS & the planned “endgame” for the U.S: CFP

Image: Lars Larson
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Operation Fast and Furious was specifically conceived so that “walked” guns would be recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Their serial numbers would be provided to the ATF by Mexican authorities for tracing. Regardless of motive, the entire operation was premised on weapons being recovered at crime scenes in Mexico, and law enforcement agencies are well aware that criminals primarily abandon weapons only after they’ve been used in serious felony crimes such as murder or attempted murder.

Operation Fast and Furious was conceived knowing that Mexican nationals would be sacrificed in significant numbers if the tracing operation had any chance of working." --Bob Owens

At last: Regulations.gov website makes it easy to track the millions of pages of edicts levied upon us by our federal overlords

2012-02-07T21:27:00.004-05:00

It's about time the federal government gave us Regulations.gov, a helpful Internet portal that indexes the hundreds of thousands of pages of laws, regulations, and dictates that we're expected to know.

Suffice it to say that Regulations.gov uses a powerful, clustered set of web, application, database and storage servers that require enough electricity to power all three of Al Gore's mansions.

Thankfully, this new portal makes it straightforward to find out that:

• Tomatoes are governed by 7,789 existing and proposed regulatory documents.
• Window cleaning is regulated by 5,579 documents.
• Light bulbs, by 4,038 documents.
• Dry peas, by 1,775 documents.
• Lint filters, by 439 documents.
• Home gardens, by 436 documents.
• Lemonade, by 175 documents.

Give it a try and let us know in the comments what you find.

Word has it that Regulations.gov tried to add a Twitter feed, but all of the Obama administration's new bureaucracies were producing so many new regs that it melted Twitter down.

Related: A Child's First Book of Government Regulations.

Hat tip: Brad.

"CO2 Lies": German Media Destroys the Global Warming Scam; Al "Three Mansions" Gore Unavailable for Comment

2012-02-07T20:37:00.003-05:00

And the hits just keep on coming for the United Nations' global warming scam:

“THE CO2 LIES … pure fear-mongering … should we blindly trust the experts?”

That’s what Germany’s leading daily Bild (see photo) wrote in its print and online editions today, on the very day that renowned publisher Hoffmann & Campe officially released a skeptic book – one written by a prominent socialist and environmental figure.

This is huge. More than I ever could have possibly imagined. And more is coming in the days ahead! The Bild piece was just the first of a series.

Mark this as the date that Germany’s global warming movement took a massive body blow.

Today, not one, but two of Germany’s most widely read news media published comprehensive skeptical climate science articles in their print and online editions, coinciding with the release of a major climate skeptical book, Die kalte Sonne (The Cold Sun)...

What has set it all off? One of the fathers of Germany’s modern green movement, Professor Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, a social democrat and green activist, decided to author a climate science skeptical book together with geologist/paleontologist Dr. Sebastian Lüning. Vahrenholt’s skepticism started when he was asked to review an IPCC report on renewable energy. He found hundreds of errors. When he pointed them out, IPCC officials simply brushed them aside. Stunned, he asked himself, “Is this the way they approached the climate assessment reports?”

Vahrenholt decided to do some digging. His colleague Dr. Lüning also gave him a copy of Andrew Montford’s The Hockey Stick Illusion. He was horrified by the sloppiness and deception he found. Persuaded by Hoffmann & Campe, he and Lüning decided to write the book. Die kalte Sonne cites 800 sources and has over 80 charts and figures. It examines and summarizes the latest science.

Conclusion: climate catastrophe is called off.

Hey, John Boehner: you listening? The EPA needs to be de-funded completely.

That agency is a multi-billion dollar organization built on a series of lies and crimes, as the horrific story of DDT reminds us.

And if Boehner won't do it, we need to find a House Speaker -- like Michele Bachmann or Allen West -- with the stones to shred this taxpayer-funded boondoggle benefiting the Marxist Left.

Hat tip: Vicki.

Oops: even legitimate solar companies suffering "carnage, layoffs, and plant closings"; Obama's green jobs scam hardest hit.

2012-02-07T19:56:00.005-05:00

It's not just President Obama's "green energy" ~~payoffs to campaign contributors~~ companies like Solyndra, Fisker, et. al. that are suffering.

Even legitimate companies are melting down thanks to a serious lack of demand for their wares.

Solar carnage hits suppliers, as Sanyo, Sumco, Schott cut manufacturing, causing jitters downstream

Carnage in the solar industry is spreading upstream as companies that make ingots and wafers used in cells and panels announce layoffs and plant closures...

...A spokesman for Sanyo, a Japanese company with a plant in Salem, confirmed Monday that it would shut a California factory that makes solar wafers using older technology.

Producers blame a worldwide glut of silicon ingots and the wafers they're sliced into to make the solar cells that go inside panels. As with cells and panels, much of the oversupply results from increased production in China, analysts say, as well as demand declines from reduced European subsidies for solar power...

The analysts say industry turmoil and continued low prices will at least indirectly affect Sanyo, SolarWorld and other companies with Oregon operations that the state has subsidized to attract. Across the United States, some factories could move to other states, such as Texas and Mississippi, that offer rich incentives, said Fatima Toor, a Lux Research analyst in Boston. She expects more closures, layoffs, mergers and potential bankruptcies... "There's going to be a lot of blood in the coming couple of years," Toor said...

Meanwhile, America's vast, natural treasure trove of gas, oil and coal goes largely untapped thanks to an administration beholden to radical eco-Marxists.

And thus we remain the only country on the planet that restricts access to its own energy supplies.

Media to Obama: We've got your back [Dan from NY]

2012-02-07T19:38:00.002-05:00

Dan from NY:

In this short video, Obama complains to Matt Lauer that the Constitution has gotten in his way and he hasn’t been able to “force” Congress to pass all the legislation he wanted. Even allowing for the fact that Fox cut this clip just as Obama was trying to repair his gaffe, it still exposes a man with a strong authoritarian streak and an outsized ego.

Oh, and one more thing. We just spent a solid week hearing from all corners of the media that Romney is “not concerned about the very poor.” Are you surprised that the same gang hasn’t swarmed over Obama’s revealing slip? (Rhetorical question]

Yes, that pesky Constitution -- which Obama took an oath to uphold -- keeps getting in the way.

Larwyn's Linx: Halftime in America: An Open Letter to Clint Eastwood

2012-02-07T06:15:00.003-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Halftime in America: An Open Letter to Clint Eastwood: VS
Love the Constitution? DHS believes you're an extremist: PJM
Feds Ask Supremes for More Time to Defend ObamaCare: NewAm

Accents, politics, and double standards: Malkin
Obama 2012: He’ll Do Better This Time, Honest: Treacher
Obama: “I’m Getting Better As Time Goes On” : GWP

As It Turns Out, Money Is Speech: Cato
Need Another Motivation to Vote Obama Out?: Powers
The Prescience of The Founding Fathers: Babalu

Economy

The "1 Percent" Exodus: FPM
Coming soon: Individual mandate to buy Chevy Volts: Exam
Surprise! RomneyCare Costs Exploding, Hidden From Public: CDN

Cardless National ID and the E-Verify Rebellion: Cato
Detroit ‘Comeback' Ad Filmed in New Orleans, L.A.: WS
GM owes us $25B: Who paid for Super Bowl Chevy Volt Ad?: MagNote

Public Pension Watch: Chicago, New York, and Providence: Conservatory
Obama Press Secretary Jay Carney: People Dropping Out of Workforce Is “Economic Positive”: GWP
Joe Biden Admits Tuition Subsidies Horrible for Tuition Prices: SAB

GOP Primary

Santorum's Got Game: Malkin
Upcoming states could serve as bulkhead for Santorum: Fox
Records Show Ron Paul Trips Paid Twice: Roll Call

The Case for Santorum: WS
Gosh, everybody's for Santorum now: RSM
Mitt’s Big Guns Now Trained On Santorum: NiceDeb

Scandal Central

$1 Billion on Sports Cars: ABC Reports on Obama’s Electric Car Funding Fiasco: VS
Report: Lawmakers Steered Earmarks Near Their Own Properties: Roll Call
RNC chairman: Holder acting like he’s under an ‘air of indictment’: DC

Climate & Energy

Why Yes, The Climate Change Hoax Is About Big Government: RWN
CAFE standards, market distortion and the usual results: Q&O
Germany in skeptical turmoil on both Climate and Solar/Windfarms: Climate

Media

Communism Collapsed: Who Cares?: Power Line
Teachers' union boss who makes $550K argues against school choice: "Life's not always fair': Breitbart
Moron Congressman: Truthful Media Is the Enemy: Breitbart

'Does Axelrod Poll For ABC?': NB
Who Castrated Ann Coulter?: AmSpec
What would de Tocqueville think of President Barack H. Obama and modern America 2012?: CFP

Top 10 Reasons to Vote Democrat: LoneCon
Rachel Maddow Lies Again, Claims Rick Santorum Wants to Ban Contraception: LifeNews
Was Eastwood's Super Bowl ad pro-Obama?: Politico

CBS News D.C. Station Slams Voter ID Bill in Va. As '"Jim Crow" Voting Legislation': NB
Polygamous Ancestors and the Road to Full Disclosure?: Hanson
Thrice-Married NPR Snob Garrison Keillor Mocks Newt Gingrich as a 'Polygamist': NB

World

Never Mind Israel, Iran’s First Target Might Be its Arab Neighbors: Commentary
Bashar Assad emails leaked, tips for ABC interview revealed: Haaretz
Did Chinese Espionage Lead to F-35 Delays?: DefTech

Islam's Groundhog Day: Greenfield
'Death sentence': Pensioner with aneurysm that could kill her anytime told NHS won't pay for surgery: DailyMail
Major Obama Donors Tied to Fugitive Who Fled to Mexico: NYT

A UN Farce in Syria: Sultan Knish
Denying Islamists Federal Security Clearances: PJM
Obama, Democrats Own Syria Failure: Pollak

Sci-Tech

Russian scientists reach buried Antarctic Lake Vostok: Fox
Gunning for Netflix: Redbox and Verizon to Launch Video Service This Year: Wired
How NASA Makes Those Incredible High-Res Images of Earth: Wired

Cornucopia

On Reagan’s Birthday, His Legacy Lives On: Foundry
The residences of U.S. presidents: Inman
Could Obama Face Felony Charge In Arizona?: CDN

Image: Serena Williams warms up in Australia
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Why Santorum? In my estimation, Santorum is the last consistent conservative standing, and the only one both promoting the conservative agenda and campaigning as a conservative in the race. That doesn’t make Santorum perfect; he lacks the executive experience I’d like to see, and some of his positions in the past and present give me pause. However, compared to the heterodoxies of his competitors in the GOP race, Santorum has a superior record on promoting conservative policies and values.

Even more than that, though, Santorum has demonstrated a level of personal integrity in this race that outshines the rest of the field. Santorum has campaigned with blue-collar Reagan Democrats in mind, pushing for an economic plan that would revitalize manufacturing and small business. He could easily have tipped over into class-warfare populism while Gingrich and Romney bashed each other over their work at Bain and Freddie Mac in order to ingratiate himself with that sector by playing on latent envy. Instead, he defended capitalism and both of his competitors on the campaign trail more effectively than either could defend themselves." --Ed Morrissey

CBS New York: "Catholic League Poised To Go To War With Obama Over Mandatory Birth Control Payments"

2012-02-06T21:27:00.003-05:00

Hey, David Gregory: can you hear me now, you pencil-necked geek?

Catholic League Poised To Go To War With Obama Over Mandatory Birth Control Payments

Donohue Says 70 Million Of His Voters Ready To Alter Presidential Election

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Catholic leaders upped the ante Monday, threatening to challenge the Obama administration over a provision of the new health care law that would require all employers, including religious institutions, to pay for birth control.

...Catholic leaders are furious and determined to harness the voting power of the nation’s 70 million Catholic voters to stop a provision of President Barack Obama’s new heath car reform bill that will force Catholic schools, hospitals and charities to buy birth control pills, abortion-producing drugs and sterilization coverage for their employees.

“Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church,” said Catholic League head Bill Donohue.

Already Archbishop Timothy Dolan has spoken out against the law and priests around the country have mobilized, reading letters from the pulpit. Donohue said Catholic officials will stop at nothing to put a stop to it.

“This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions, and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets,” Donohue said.

Maybe a real miracle will occur and David Gregory of Meet the Depressed will read something besides The New York Times. Because, based upon Sunday's show, he's either an embarrassing moron or a DNC hack. Actually, I forgot a third option: perhaps he's both.

NEWT GINGRICH: Furthermore, you know, he's--he has declared what--it's not just an economic election, you know, he's basically declared war on the Catholic Church, and that's the language of Archbishop Dolan of New York. And I think you're going to see a very severe reaction to the idea of a radical Obama administration...

DAVID GREGORY, HOST: Well, let's--explain what you're talking about.

GINGRICH: ...imposing secular rules on religion.

GREGORY: This is for insurance to be provided, including contraception, for employees around the country.

GINGRICH: Right.

GREGORY: And--but religious institutions would be exempted. How is this a war against religion...

GINGRICH: No.

GREGORY: Well, religious institutions, churches and the like, would be exempted, and there are states that have very similar rules to ensure the health and safety of, of women that they get covered in their workplace, whether it be a Catholic hospital or other kind of institution.

GINGRICH: Well, I mean, you, you just managed to precisely repeat the Obama administration's line, which is also the American Civil Liberties Union line...

I love how these liberal hacks always argue with their Republican guests as they try to toe the Axelrod talking points. Curiously, we never see them act contentiously with, say, Obama, Wasserman-Manhands, Schmuck Schumer, and the like.

It's times like these that I really miss Tim Russert.

Oh, my. Gallup: underemployment actually ROSE to 18.7% in January

2012-02-06T20:55:00.001-05:00

Ex-Pravda employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (and The New York Times) hardest hit

Underemployment, a measure that combines the percentage of workers who are unemployed with the percentage working part time but wanting full-time work, surged to 18.7% in January. This is a worsening from the 18.3% of December...

...U.S. unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased slightly to 8.6% in January from 8.5% in December...

...Regardless of what the government reports, Gallup's unemployment and underemployment measures show deterioration since mid-January. While the unemployment rate of 8.6% for January is up only modestly from December, this overall increase subsumes the more negative trend of the most recent weeks. In turn, this also seems consistent with Wednesday's ADP report showing less job growth in January than in the prior month.

In fact, the only group showing the employment situation improving in January was the BLS. And it had to remove 1.2 million Americans from the labor force to do so.

Here's a helpful hint for the CFO of Gallup: I predict a major audit by the IRS is in your future.

Hat tips: I Hate the Media and BadBlue.

Unfortunate Romney Campaign Photo o' the Day

2012-02-06T20:46:00.003-05:00

Via Dave Weigel:

I can't wait for Romney to roll up in his Bentley at CPAC. Because the Maybach is just a little too much.

Update: Commenter Sara informs us that Weigel and the rest of the crew fell for a photoshop (and a pretty darned good one, at that).

Ron "Mr. Small Government" Paul seems to have been double-billing travel at your expense #tlot

2012-02-06T19:50:00.003-05:00

But, like his racist newsletters, I'm sure he knew nothing -- NOTHING -- about any of this.

Roll Call identified eight flights for which the Texas Republican, a GOP presidential candidate and leading champion of smaller government, was reimbursed twice for the same trip. Roll Call also found dozens more instances of duplicate payments for travel from 1999 to 2009, totaling thousands of dollars' worth of excess payments, but the evidence in those cases is not as complete.

...Roll Call obtained copies of credit card statements for a corporate American Express card assigned to Ron Paul & Associates Inc. on which many flights were purchased. The flight details on those statements matched payment records filed to the Federal Election Commission and office expenses itemized in quarterly Congressional disbursement statements published by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House... Public records show hundreds of flight payments between 1999 and 2009 in which both the House and Paul's campaign paid for plane tickets of the same price and about the same date.

Ron Paul is a fraud. And it's a shame that most of his believers are too deluded to recognize that he's a complete sellout.

Did you know, for instance, that Paul's campaign is collaborating directly with Mitt Romney's campaign to ensure -- no, not some grand position in an ostensible Romney administration -- a speaking part at the GOP convention?

The remaining candidates in the winnowed Republican presidential field are attacking one another with abandon, each day bringing fresh headlines of accusations and outrage.

But Mitt Romney and Ron Paul haven’t laid a hand on each other... they never do.

...Romney’s aides are “quietly in touch with Ron Paul,” according to a Republican adviser who is in contact with the Romney campaign... The two campaigns have coordinated on minor things [because] Paul’s presence in the race helps keep the GOP electorate fractured...

...“Ron Paul wants a presence at the convention,” the adviser said — and Romney, if he is the nominee, would grant it.

In other words, Paul-bots, your mystical hero has been taking your money, your time, your support and blowing it all trying to get the most liberal candidate in the field nominated.

So he can get himself a speaking gig at the RNC.

You just got pwnt.

Related: 10 fun facts you may not have known about Ron Paul.

Special Offer for Democrats Only: Looking for Excellent Investment Returns at Low Risk?

2012-02-06T18:57:00.005-05:00

Hey, Dems: check out this low risk, high-return investment: the Greek 1-year bond, which is paying over 500%!

This investment must be low risk, because Greece follows the very same policies that are practiced by the Democrat Party: unsustainable deficit spending, bloated entitlements and easy access to welfare -- the same as Greece!

C'mon Dems, hurry up and jump on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make 500% on your money the easy, social Democrat welfare state way! Call 1-800-GOT-STUPID? now!

Disclaimer: The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be construed as investment advice. This means you especially, Democrats, because your grasp of arithmetic, logic, reasoning skills, and financial information is obviously in question. Any and all site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy -- especially those espoused by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid. The ideas expressed on this site are solely the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of sponsors, firms or organiziations affiliated with the author(s). Any action that you take as a result of information, analysis, or advertisement on this site is ultimately your responsibility. Consult your investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

City Workers in Hazmat Suits Clean Up After Occupy DC Kooks Evicted

2012-02-06T18:57:00.001-05:00

Just in time for CPAC, the toxic Occupy DC protesters say they'll be returning to McPherson Square.

The Occupy D.C. protesters are returning to McPherson Square park, after it was closed late Saturday when tensions escalated between the protesters occupying the park and the U.S. Park Police trying to enforce the no camping rules at the park.

McPherson Square reopened Sunday afternoon, after police removed several tents for violating the no camping rules, and for being considered a biohazard. Some of the tents are still standing, but the park looks remarkably different from Friday... Officials said it was relatively peaceful but got tense late Saturday when an officer was hit in the face with a brick as police pushed protesters out of the last section of the park. The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment... [A] total [of] 11 people were arrested.

...Officials used barricades to cordon off sections of McPherson Square, a park under federal jurisdiction near the White House, and checked tents for mattresses and sleeping bags and sifted through piles of garbage and other belongings. Some wore yellow biohazard suits to guard against diseases identified at the site in recent weeks. Officials also have raised concerns about a rat infestation.

That move left large swaths of open space and raised questions about exactly what would remain of the encampment once the enforcement was over.

"We found urine soaked bedding materials, bottles of urine, and in some of the tents we found dead rats," says U.S. Park Police spokesman David Schlosser.

The Washington Examiner has before and after pictures of McPherson Square.

Larwyn's Linx: A Tale of Two Republican Parties

2012-02-06T06:24:00.003-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

A Tale of Two Republican Parties: Knish
It's takers vs. makers, and the takers are winning: Reynolds
The first County Sheriff Project event: a rousing success: ConPrev

Box-checking Obama in a Liberal Cocoon: Barone
Retiring Blue Dogs Cite Pelosi as Reason for Leaving: WZ
Simple Test to Determine if You're a Racist: SDA

Economy

Congress should investigate Obama's bogus jobs data: Times
About time: PA rolls out drug tests for welfare recipients: Fox
Europe's shadow darkens outlook: Reuters

Obama's Army on the March: Moonbattery
Remember MoveOn.org's quaint Bush deficits ad?: MoneyRunner
Occupy protesters returning to McPherson Square: WTOP

CLASS Act Is Dead, but Obama Won’t Repeal It: RWN
Greece has reached the latest of many last ditches: NRO
Occupy Oakland burns U.S. flag for second week in a row: WZ

GOP Primary

My choice: Rick Santorum: Morrissey
Oh, My: Gingrich Really Did Save Reagan Revolution!: RS
Romney's ridiculous support of minimum wage indexing: C4P

Good News for Rick Santorum!: WS
Questions on Romney Give Obama Boost: ABC
Why not a Santorum-Gingrich ticket?: Politico

Scandal Central

Chronicling MSM’s Coverage Of Holder’s Fast and Furious Testimony: Chastain
Holder still hasn’t talked ‘Fast and Furious’ with Clinton, Napolitano, Obama: DC
The Bain of Obama’s existence: Solyndra audit coming this week: Chron

Climate & Energy

Rare Honest Piece at L.A. Times Skewers Radical Left's Environmental Hypocrisy: AmPower
Snow traps thousands across eastern Europe: WSJ
Biased climate survey sent to all NOAA employees: Watts

Media

“Political Moneyball: The Conservative Strategy for Winning the Fight Coming After the Election”: ProWis
CNN's Crowley Does Two Segments on Jobs Numbers Without Mentioning Plummeting Participation Rate: NB
Newt Gingrich Continues to Attack Obama Administration Over Its Assault on Religion: GWP

Santorum on Birth Control Mandate: The Bishops “Got What They Deserved”: Nice Deb
Obama uses the National Prayer Breakfast to rewrite the New Testament: ProWis
Time to Update Your Bookmarks and Blog Rolls: Camp o' the Saints

NY Times Edits Khamenei’s Speech, Omits Calling Israel a “Cancerous Tumor” And Vowing To “Cut It Off”: WZ
Justice Ginsburg causes storm dissing the Constitution while abroad: DC
Clint Eastwood Makes Obama's Day: NatlJrnl

In Servitude to Savages: Atlas
Regarding Ann Coulter and TEA Party Hypocrisy: ConCom
JFK's teen mistress speaks out: Post

World

Countdown to Zero in Tehran and Jerusalem: Knish
On the Road to Armageddon – Moving Ragnarok to the Middle East: NoisyRm
Syria's most senior defector: Assad's army is close to collapse: Telegraph

Iranian Parliament's Website: Attack Israel this Year - 9 minutes are enough to finish Israel: INN
After string of foiled plots, concerns mount over Iranian-backed terror: JTA
Saudi Arabia woman sues government for driver’s license: Bikyamasr

The New Egypt - 19 Americans To Be Tried Over NGO Work: Joshuapundit
Is Europe setting up clash between Muslims and the West?: CNN
Brazen crook steals $400,000 Bentley sports car from a downtown garage: Post

Four Ways Obama Is Using the United Nations to Shaft the USA: MB
Is Obama's Peace Prize About To Be Confiscated? Nobel Peace Prize Jury Under Investigation: ZH
But The EUros Are So Much More Cosmopolitan Than We Prudish And Puritanical Colonials: Soylent (NSFW)

Sci-Tech

Social media all a-Twitter with 16M hits during Super Bowl: Post
Anonymous hacks lawyers for Marine accused of Iraq massacre: CNet
Is Google Bouncer going to bounce all malware from the Android Market?: Sophos

Cornucopia

Game Day Special: Strike a Pose: MOTUS
The Second Lady of the United States: Cube (NSFW)
For Your “Fixing The GOP” Tool Kit…: Soylent

Image: Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize To Be Revoked?
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "To argue and debate about how Romney will perform in the White House (or to opine on how fine a man he is, which is true - but so what?) is to completely miss the only point that matters in 2012, which is denying Obama four more years to administer the coup de grace to the US." --NRO Commenter LKS

Our First Post-Post-Racial President

2012-02-05T21:09:00.002-05:00

Oh, this just takes the cake.

I remember well the "Crackers for McCain" web page.

Someday soon, I hope, we will have a president that doesn't divide Americans by race, color, religion, income, or other arbitrary segments in order to pander to them.

A president who takes to heart the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

In other words, a president who believes in the unique value of each and every individual, in each and every American.

Hat tip: JTT.

Dear pro journalists: if the economy is improving...

2012-02-05T17:43:00.002-05:00

...then perhaps you could explain:

If the economy is getting better, then why did new home sales in the United States hit a brand new all-time record low during 2011?

If the economy is getting better, then why are there 6 million less jobs in America today than there were before the recession started?

If the economy is getting better, then why is the average duration of unemployment in this country close to an all-time record high?

If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of homeless female veterans more than doubled?

If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of Americans on food stamps increased by 3 million since this time last year and by more than 14 million since Barack Obama entered the White House?

If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of children living in poverty in America risen for four years in a row?

If the economy is getting better, then why is the percentage of Americans living in "extreme poverty" at an all-time high?

If the economy is getting better, then why is the Federal Housing Administration on the verge of a financial collapse?

If the economy is getting better, then why do only 23 percent of American companies plan to hire more employees in 2012?

If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of self-employed Americans fallen by more than 2 million since 2006?

If the economy is getting better, then why did an all-time record low percentage of U.S. teens have a job last summer?

If the economy is getting better, then why does median household income keep declining? Overall, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8% since December 2007 once you account for inflation.

If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of Americans living below the poverty line increased by 10 million since 2006?

If the economy is getting better, then why is the average age of a vehicle in America now sitting at an all-time high?

If the economy is getting better, then why are 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida currently sitting vacant?

If the economy is getting better, then why are 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 living with their parents?

If the economy is getting better, then why does the number of "long-term unemployed workers" stay so high? When Barack Obama first took office, the number of "long-term unemployed workers" in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.

But there is some good news.

When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today, the price of an ounce of gold is over $1700.

The era of great prosperity that America has enjoyed for so long is coming to an end.

In fact, our long-term economic decline is about to accelerate.

So enjoy this "bubble of hope" while you can, because it won't last long.

As I have written about previously, many are warning that Europe is on the verge of a nightmarish financial crisis that could potentially plunge us into a global recession even worse than 2008.

So let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.

Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that the economy isn't recovering in any meaningful way. Which excludes drones and legacy media.

Hat tip: Wolf Howling.

Alaskan Fishing Lodge Sign o' the Day

2012-02-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

Hat tip: Wanda.

Warmal Colding strikes Europe: record cold snap kills hundreds; thousands trapped by "heaviest snow... ever recorded"

2012-02-05T16:26:00.002-05:00

Al Gore hardest hit.

Bosnian authorities on Sunday used helicopters to evacuate sick people and deliver food to thousands of people who have been cut off by the heaviest snow the country has ever recorded... Across Eastern Europe thousands of people were digging themselves out from heavy snow that followed a weeklong cold snap that has killed hundreds.

More than 100 remote Bosnian villages are cut off by snow over 6 1/2 feet high in the mountains. More than three feet has fallen in the capital Sarajevo, where a state of emergency has been declared...

London's Heathrow Airport—Europe's busiest—canceled a third of Sunday's flights and warned of delays amid heavy fog.

...Rome is struggling under its first heavy snowfall in 26 years, and snow has also fallen on Spain's Balearic islands in the Mediterranean... Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday said the snowfall was beautiful, but he is wishing spring will come soon.

Please take note of the reaction of the global warming cult to news stories like these. When record cold temperatures savage the planet -- which some scientists believe herald the onset of a new ice age -- they screech that "weather isn't climate".

But when temperatures hit 100° in Manhattan during the month of July, they're the first to shriek about "evidence" of warmal colding.

How stupid do they think we are? Stupid enough to think that they can continue to pull off the United Nations' latest multi-billion dollar scam, courtesy of corrupt scientists seeking grant money and the Marxist left, who desperately want to regulate the economies of the West through cap-and-trade.

Newt Gingrich: How Romney won "should sober every Republican in the country"

2012-02-05T10:11:00.001-05:00

PJMedia's Tatler characterized Newt Gingrich's concessionary press conference in Nevada last night as "odd". I just watched it and don't agree. In fact, I thought one particular interrogatory was especially insightful (hat tip to Biff Spackle for the transcript):

Question: Mr. Speaker, have you considered that voters just aren't buying what you're selling? You've been on the ballot now in five states and you've won one, but you've lost four. And you also talk about debates, but you've had 18 of them and generally you've been considered to have done well in them, but still that hasn't shown up in the polls?

Gingrich: I'm not going to defend the outcome in a state where I was outspent five to one. And I'd suggest you're sophisticated enough to understand that the idea that taking a state where the other guy spent five times as much money, and many of his ads were false as by both the Wall Street Journal and National Review, that maybe that's not a very accurate measure.

When it was an entirely positive campaign, up through mid-December, I was ahead by 12 points in Gallup. And this may happen again. I was actually ahead in Gallup a week ago. So I think in a few more weeks, I'll be ahead in Gallup again.

Question: But is that just ignoring the reality of the campaign? He has gone negative, it's working...

Gingrich: So the "reality of the campaign", to use your words, is that he has gone negative and it is working. And what I am asserting to you is that, over time, I don't believe the American people will approve of a campaign which actually suppresses turnout.

I think it's amazing that if you look in Florida, every county that I carried in Florida had an increased turnout; every county that Romney carried in Florida had a decreased turnout. Now that should sober every Republican in the country.

If the only way Romney wins is suppressing turnout, how's he going to do that in the fall?

If the only way he wins is outspending someone five-to-one, how's that going to apply to a campaign against Obama, who's going to outspend him?

Those are damned good questions.

Larwyn's Linx: Romney tries to cut off Newt’s SuperPAC funding

2012-02-05T08:28:00.004-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

Romney tries to cut off Newt’s SuperPAC funding: LI
Gingrich challenging the Florida delegate allocation?: RWN
Rasmussen: Santorum Leads Obama by 1 Point: WS

Nevada caucuses: Romney scores easy win: Politico
Newt gets conservative argument on poverty: GayPat
Romney: Obama should apologize to America: Breitbart

Nation

The Real Vote-Buying Scandal: TigerHawk
Scott Walker supporters: write Walker's name in: Althouse
State GOP Establishments Attack Their Base: Blumer

What Does It Take for a Politician to be Excommunicated?: ConCom
Rubio Gives Greatest Pro-Life Speech in a Generation: Ricochet
TSA Agent Caught Stealing $5K from Passenger at JFK: NewAm

Ginsburg to Egypt: Don't use US Constitution as a Model: AmSpec
The Perversion of the Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: Erickson
Bloomberg tries to ban churches from using schools off-hours: WK

Economy

Obama’s failed promises: Nevada edition: RS
It’s Not (Only) the Economy ... and We’re Not Stupid: Kristol
Occupy Oakland–Your Weekend Mugshotspalooza!: Tammy Bruce

Good news: Schools teaching communism superior to capitalism: AllAm
Is this the teacher who handed out Pro Communism Cartoons?: Blaze
Obama Hangs Out with the DC 1% Donors Behind Closed Doors: ScMon

What is Romney's vision and what does it mean?: Howling
Democrat Senate Ignoring 30 Separate Jobs Bills: Breitbart
Juncker Warns Of Greek Default As Europe's Patience Wears Thin: ZH

Scandal Central

Obama can stop Holder's Fast and Furious cover-up today: Exam
Boehner mum on Holder as ‘Fast and Furious’ investigation gathers momentum: DC
Attorney General Eric Holder Disgusted by Personal Attacks at Fast and Furious Hearing: ABC

Allen West: Obama's Jerking Us Around With Falsified Unemployment Numbers: Ace
Amid contempt threats, White House gives up more Solyndra docs: Hill
Issa: DOJ Only Passed Along 8% of 80,000 Pages of Documents to Oversight: NoisyRm

Climate & Energy

Canadian Punch In the Kisser: Mead
In support of Dr. Michael Mann and open debate: Watts
Beijing’s South China Sea Gamble: Diplomat

Media

Rasmussen: Obama job approval among uncommitted voters at 20%; Update: Obama 44, Santorum … 45?: Hot Air
Surprise: NYT Smears Gingrich: AmSpec
Peter Schweizer Reacts to the STOCK Act Passing in the Senate: C4P

Mark Steyn: the Liberal Enforcers: Ace
The Wrath of the Abortion Movement Unleashed on Komen: AT
Has-Been Leftist Barbra Streisand: 'Barack Obama Has Not Put Anyone on Food Stamps': NB

World

Massive Anti-Putin Rally in Moscow: VS
The Upcoming Papal Visit to Cuba: Babalu
Russia and China veto resolution on Syria at UN: BBC

As Norwegian as the King: Gates of Vienna
Iranian warships dock at Saudi port: Breitbart
Snuffed Out: JihadWatch

Another Pallywood hoax exposed, again: LI
Russian scientists eye mission to moon this decade: Fox
Protests grip Cairo as pressure mounts for early vote: Reuters

Sci-Tech

Facebook 'makes it harder for brands to advertise for free': Telegraph
Hide From Google: Wired
Second Screen Experience for the Super Bowl Commercials: Wired

Cornucopia

Controversial Artist Depicts Obama Trampling The Constitution: CBS Las Vegas
Super Bowl Video Find: Only Chevy Silverados Survive Apocalypse; Aliens Wowed by Volt Tech: Motor Trend
Ravens’ Matt Birk & Terrell Suggs Honored For Outstanding Achievement: CBS Baltimore

Image: American Digest
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "In that Obama has rendered no act of contrition or repentance, and is at the moment, at liberty in the land, we do, here and now, separate him from the precious body and blood of Christ, and from the society of all Christians. We exclude him from our Holy Mother Church and all her sacraments, in heaven, or on Earth. We declare him excommunicate and anathema. We cast him into the outer darkness. We judge him damned with the devil and his fallen angels and all the reprobate, to eternal fire and everlasting pain!" --Vanderleun

Allen West: reports of huge drop in black unemployment last month kind of like reports that FLOTUS grows her own vegetables in White House garden

2012-02-04T22:35:00.001-05:00

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that black unemployment dropped last week by a stunning 2.2% and that Santa Claus is hiring more elves this year than last. So things are really looking up for the economy.

In response to news that the overall unemployment rate had dropped to 8.3 percent and the unemployment rate in the black community declined from 15.8 percent to 13.6 percent, [Allen] West floated the possibility that the numbers might have been cooked.

"Can someone tell me how employment in the black community has improved at a rate three times the national average in just a few months?? With numbers like today, urban communities should be well on their way to economic recovery then! There is something suspicious about the job numbers released today and it has me very concerned," West wondered Friday. "Is this dramatic supposed decrease in black unemployment a result of job creation or is someone playing around with the census numbers??"

Economists reached by The Hill for comment couldn't fully explain the unemployment rate change for the black community. William Darity, a professor of public policy at Duke University specializing in African-American studies and economics, wrote in an email to The Hill that the decline could have been due to a smaller labor force. He called the drop an "unbelievably dramatic drop" but didn't rule out the possibility of someone tampering with the numbers; he said there was no evidence one way or the other... "...a one month drop in the black unemployment rate from 15.8% to 13.6% strikes me as somewhat unprecedented."

President Obama hailed the January unemployment news as a sign that the economy is growing stronger.

No, seriously, he really said that, though he somehow neglected to mention that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had to disappear 1.2 million Americans from the labor force to 'reduce' the unemployment rate.

Hat tips: Ace o' Spades and BadBlue.

Sure, Why Not? Congress "Calls for Accelerated Use of Drones in U.S."

2012-02-04T19:56:00.001-05:00

I don't see how anything could possibly go wrong with this.

A House-Senate conference report this week called on the Administration to accelerate the use of civilian unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or “drones,” in U.S. airspace.

The pending authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration directs the Secretary of Transporation to develop within nine months “a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.”

...[It also calls for tests] in cooperation with NASA and the Department of Defense, expanded use of UAS in the Arctic region, development of guidance for the operation of public unmanned aircraft systems, and new safety research to assess the risk of “catastrophic failure of the unmanned aircraft that would endanger other aircraft in the national airspace system.”

The Department of Defense is pursuing its own domestic UAS activities for training purposes and “domestic operations,” according to a 2007 DoD-FAA memorandum of agreement. (“Army Foresees Expanded Use of Drones in U.S. Airspace,” Secrecy News, January 19, 2012.)

Because drones are necessary to ensure citizens are driving the right electric cars, using the right light bulbs and bathing with legal shower heads.

The circle of liberty grows ever smaller around us, my friends.

Perfect: Obama pulls combat pay for U.S. troops

2012-02-04T12:27:00.002-05:00

But he obviously holds the U.S. military in very high esteem.

President Obama’s latest policy outrage makes no attempt to hide his contempt for our military, as he is ordering that our troops serving overseas in war zones overseas are not to receive combat pay unless they are being shot at. A Marine who lives in Florida has just posted a note on Facebook which stated that he received a letter from his PayPal account that he would only be receiving his Hazard pay (Imminent Danger Pay) if he is actually in a hostile area and at risk of being shot at...

...According to Military.com, as of February 1, 2012, this new measure went into effect, and soldiers who are to received the additional $225/mo. combat pay ‘must’ must be in immediate risk of harm. The measure is very specific in its criteria for receiving the additonal pay.

This follows efforts by the president to make veterans pay for their own health insurance -- even those injured in combat -- and his calls last month for raises for millions of federal paper-pushers.

In other words, the president continues to siphon off more and more money from our defense infrastructure -- hitting our warriors first, last and hardest in the process -- to fund his green energy scams and public sector union cronies (which, coincidentally, also contribute heavily to his campaign).

Good news: Feds warn that using basic Internet privacy tools may be a sign that you're a terrorist

2012-02-04T12:09:00.002-05:00

Strange that we hear so little about that "evil, imperialistic Bush presidency" these days.

A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address” as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone “overly concerned about privacy” or attempting to “shield the screen from view of others” should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities.

...Logging into an account associated with a residential internet service provider (such as Comcast or AOL), an activity that could simply indicate that you are on a trip, is also considered a suspicious activity. Viewing any content related to “military tactics” including manuals or “revolutionary literature” is also considered a potential indicator of terrorist activity. This would mean that viewing a number of websites, including the one you are on right now, could be construed by a hapless employee as an highly suspicious activity potentially linking you to terrorism.

Well, all of these warnings seem justified. After all, the DHS was eerily prescient when it warned of imminent attacks by right-wing extremists in 2009.

Social Security Administration Misplaces Car Keys Plus One Trillion Dollars, But Mostly One Trillion Dollars

2012-02-04T11:46:00.001-05:00

How disconnected from reality do you have to be to believe that an enormous federal bureaucracy -- that can't fire anybody, has no competition, and operates like the DMV -- can effectively run the entire health care system?

Answer: You have to be a Democrat.

The outlook for Social Security's trust fund has deteriorated to an astonishing degree over the past year, new Congressional Budget Office projections show... [The] CBO expects the trust fund to peak in 2018 and decline to $2.7 trillion in 2022 — a full $1 trillion less than Social Security's own actuaries predicted last year.

...Under current law, once the trust fund is gone, Social Security could only pay 78% of benefits. Since older retirees and the disabled would be protected, new retirees would face much deeper cuts to a benefit that is not especially generous to begin with... The average retired worker received a $1,200 monthly benefit last year before Medicare premiums were subtracted.

...Assuming a 22% automatic cut, average earners (about $43,000 in 2012) halfway into a 40-year career would have to set aside more than 5% of annual wages, or $2,150 a year, to replace [the] lost benefits.

Already, the next president will have to address a near-term crisis in Social Security's disability insurance program that CBO expects to hit in 2016 — resulting in immediate cuts for many of the neediest beneficiaries.

...Social Security already is cash-flow negative, taking less in revenue than it pays out in current benefits. CBO sees the program's $48 billion cash gap in 2011 rising above $100 billion by 2019... And depressed Treasury rates mean smaller interest payments on the trust fund's official balances.

Like night follows day, bankruptcy awaits each and every one of these Democrat-created programs, all operating outside the Constitution (not to mention the laws of arithmetic and common sense).

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Thinks Veterans Are Only Good For Menial Jobs

2012-02-04T09:36:00.004-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Obama Thinks Veterans Are Only Good For Menial Jobs: RWN
Friday doc dump: Obamacare’s job-killing medical device tax: Malkin
Military silences chaplains: no speaking against Obamacare: Blaze

Jim Moran, Racist Pig: Malkin
GOP Rep. walks out on Obama's partisan "prayer" breakfast: GWP
Mass Voter Fraud Uncovered in FL: Breitbart

Economy

8.3% Unemployment? Completely Phony: Peth
Unemployment disaster: 1.2M driven out of the workforce: Hayward
Real unemployment rate hits 11.5%; propaganda gap rises: ZH

The Motor City Plunges Off the Greek-Style Debt Cliff: CDN
Government Unions Support California Tax Hike: Foundry
Providence, RI faces bankruptcy by June: Mish

Budget? Who Needs A Budget?: Power Line
Surprise! Harry Reid, Democrats, Refuse to Budget, Again: RWN
Improving black people’s lives is not racist: HoosierAccess

GOP Primary

Gingrich, Romney, Trump Monopolize Media; Santorum Keeps Campaigning: RSM
For Romney and Paul, a strategic alliance: WaPo
Santorum: Obama Most Anti-Religion President in History: Max

Scandal Central

Groundhog Day: Holder Repeats Fast And Furious Lies: IBD
Military Is Now Telling Catholic Chaplains What They Can And Can't Say About The Obama Administration: Insider
New BS BLS Report Shows Obama Costs US $20 Trillion: Ransom

Media

Pew: Democrats getting hammered by religious voters.: Moe Lane
Pelosi Praises Planned Parenthood’s Corruption of Girl Scouts: MB
Santelli: 1.2 Million Fall Out Of Labor Force As Participation Rate Hits 20-Year Low: RCP

The Incredible Shrinking New York Times: Insider
Not News: Significant Non-Citizen Voting Found in FL 2 Days After Tampa Paper Says It's 'Nonexistent': NB
Trends in Party Identification of Religious Groups: Jewish Support for GOP Rises: Pew

World

Israel Puts Global Facilities On High Alert Following Warning Of Rising Iran Strike Threat: ZH
Obama Poised to Betray America Through 4 UN Treaties: Nice Deb
Planting Trees Is Racist: IPT

Philadelphia City Council Welcomes Its New Sharia Overlords: Creeping
Greece About to Go Boom: Mish
Do You Like Online Privacy? You May Be a Terrorist: PubInt

Justice Ginsburg to Egyptian TV: You probably don’t want to use our Constitution as a model: STACLU
Army rules Manning will face court-martial: ArmyTimes
Panetta reassures European allies over defense cuts: Reuters

Sci-Tech

Twitter and Facebook, Why Twitter Might Be Worth More In The Long Run: P&F
US government and military to adopt custom Android phones, says CNN: Verge
Autonomous Quadrotors Fly Amazing Formations: Wired

Cornucopia

Here on Republican Isle: GayPat
Mooch To Promote “Healthy Eating” At Bottomless Pasta-Pit Olive Garden: WZ
Iran Says It May Ban Samsung Over Israeli Commercial Depicting Mossad Agents Blowing Up Nuke Plant: WZ

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

QOTD: "I was talking to a CEO last year — an Obama supporter no less — who told me he was amazed at how openly Administration officials threatened to use media demonization if he didn’t play ball. It’s like they’ve got the press in their pocket or something. But now some of those officials have to be thinking that the people they threaten will be around after Obama’s gone, and they’ll remember." --Glenn Reynolds

Shock: People of All Religions Abandoning Democrat Party in Droves

2012-02-03T22:29:00.001-05:00

But Pew Research didn't poll Militant Quakers, so maybe they're the exception:

As the 2012 presidential election approaches, the partisan affiliations of the electorate have shifted significantly since 2008. In surveys conducted in 2011..., 34% of registered voters described themselves as Democrats, down four points compared with 2008 (38%). Over the same period, the percentage of voters describing themselves as Republicans has held steady at 28%, while the total saying they are politically independent or have no partisan preference has risen four points (from 34% in 2008 to 38% in 2011).

...A new analysis shows that the share of voters identifying with or leaning toward the GOP has either grown or held steady in every major religious group. This includes both religious groups that are part of the GOP’s traditional constituency as well as some groups that have tended to be more aligned with the Democratic Party, including Jewish voters...

Among white evangelical Protestants (a traditionally Republican group), support for the GOP has grown from 65% in 2008 to 70% today. The GOP has also posted gains among Mormons, with 80% now saying they identify with or lean toward the Republican Party. Republican gains are also apparent among white mainline Protestants (who were evenly divided between the parties in 2008 but who now favor the GOP by a 12-point margin) and white non-Hispanic Catholics (among whom an eight-point Democratic advantage in 2008 has become a seven-point Republican advantage at the end of 2011). Even Jewish voters, who have traditionally been and remain one of the strongest Democratic constituencies, have moved noticeably in the Republican direction; Jewish voters favored the Democrats by a 52-point margin in 2008 but now prefer the Democratic Party by a significantly smaller 36-point margin. There has been less change in the partisanship of black Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated, two other strongly Democratic groups.

The analysis shows that across several religious groups, the move toward the GOP has been at least as large – if not more pronounced – among those under age 30 as among those 30 and older. White evangelicals under 30, for instance, are now more heavily Republican than those over 30 (82% vs. 69%); in 2008, by contrast, the partisan preferences of younger evangelicals closely matched those of evangelicals over age 30. And among white non-Hispanic Catholics under age 30, support for the GOP has increased from 41% in 2008 to 54% in 2011.

Jesse Jerkson and Al "No So" Sharpton hardest hit.

A Conservative Alternative to the Drudge Report?

2012-02-03T21:36:00.001-05:00

Senator Fred Thompson says that "Romney has Drudge (top news source) in back pocket."

While that may or may not be true, there appears to be an alternative news aggregator that seems to be taking off. BadBlue.com monitors the social networks to determine which news stories are getting the most "buzz". It runs 24/7/365 monitoring hundreds of news sites and (most importantly!) blogs.

Here's how it looked when this post was created:

Unlike the Drudge Report, you can find the top stories that are trending now, over the last 24 hours, the last week, or even the last month.

You can even track the popularity of each story over time. Here's an example:

Need a list of stories from each news source? Here are the top stories from Ace of Spades:

Check it out and, if you like it, bookmark BadBlue and follow its updates on Twitter at @BadBlueNews.

Now conservatives have a choice.

"Obama's Enemies List"

2012-02-03T20:04:00.003-05:00

When the full history of Barack Obama's administration is written, I feel confident that Richard Milhaus Nixon will look like an Eagle Scout in comparison. Former Solicitor General of the United States Ted Olson explains:

How would you feel if aides to the president of the United States singled you out by name for attack, and if you were featured prominently in the president's re-election campaign as an enemy of the people?

What would you do if the White House engaged in derogatory speculative innuendo about the integrity of your tax returns? Suppose also that the president's surrogates and allies in the media regularly attacked you, sullied your reputation and questioned your integrity. On top of all of that, what if a leading member of the president's party in Congress demanded your appearance before a congressional committee this week so that you could be interrogated about the Keystone XL oil pipeline project in which you have repeatedly—and accurately—stated that you have no involvement?

Consider that all this is happening because you have been selected as an attractive political punching bag by the president's re-election team. This is precisely what has happened to Charles and David Koch, even though they are private citizens, and neither is a candidate for the president's or anyone else's office.

...This is why it is exceedingly important for all Americans to respond with outrage to what the president and his allies are doing to demonize and stigmatize David and Charles Koch. They have been the targets of the multiyear, carefully orchestrated campaign of vituperation and assault described above—and much more. It has been choreographed from the very top. When the president personally takes leadership, his political surrogates and army of allies in the press and Congress quickly and surely follow the direction and tone he sets.

The misuse of government power to damage or demean one's political enemies is abhorrent and the very antithesis of a free society and a government of laws, not men. It is time for the public to ask those engaged in these practices, "Have you no sense of decency?"

Simple answer: no.

Barack Obama is, in word and deed, trying to turn this country into a banana republic, suitable more for Hugo Chavez than a normal American president. Every action is politicized and every instrumentality of government is used as a support for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign.

Sorry, Rick Moran, but this administration represents a group of hard-core, Marxist ideologues for whom the ends always justify the means. Which is why the Democrat Party must be flushed from office in November, at every level of government.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Obama's Unemployment Numbers

2012-02-03T19:56:00.001-05:00

Look up bogus in the dictionary and odds are you'll see a picture of President Obama standing in front of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such is the reputation of the BLS as the nation's leading producer of economic propaganda.

You may have seen their headline number of 8.3% unemployment earlier today. What you didn't see is that the BLS had to "disappear" 1.2 million people out of the workforce over the last month alone to achieve that "drop".

It’s the headline that a President facing re-election with a dismal economic record didn’t want to see:

1.2 million people driven out of the workforce in a single month!

A frantic White House exploded into damage-control mode, as a deeply shaken President Obama retreated into his chambers. Nervous spokesmen fanned across the airwaves to stammer apologies, search for silver linings among the storm clouds, offer campaign boilerplate about “hope and change,” and desperately search for some way to blame George Bush for an absolute unemployment disaster that occurred over three years after he left office…

What’s that, you say? You didn’t see that headline? Well, of course not, silly. All you’re seeing in the headlines is good news, because the official, heavily-massaged U-3 unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent. Fewer people in the workforce means the percentage of unemployed people in the workforce drops.

Tyler Durden uses an illustration to explain how the Democrat employment scam works:

Sick of the BLS propaganda? Then do the following calculation with us: using BLS data, the US civilian non-institutional population was 242,269 in January, an increase of 1.7 million month over month: apply the long-term average labor force participation rate of 65.8% to this number..., and you get 159.4 million: that is what the real labor force should be.

The BLS [instead] reported ... 154.4 million: a tiny 5 million difference. Then add these people who the BLS is purposefully ignoring yet who most certainly are in dire need of labor and/or a job to the 12.758 million reported unemployed by the BLS and you get 17.776 million in real unemployed workers.

What does this mean? That using just the BLS denominator in calculating the unemployed rate of 154.4 million, the real unemployment rate actually rose in January to 11.5%. Compare that with the BLS reported decline from 8.5% to 8.3%. It also means that the spread between the reported and implied unemployment rate just soared to a fresh 30-year high of 3.2%. And that is how with a calculator and just one minute of math, one strips away countless hours of BLS propaganda.

Oh, and just for reinforcement, the invaluable James Pethokoukis piles on:

...If the size of the U.S. labor force as a share of the total population was the same as it was when Barack Obama took office... the U-3 unemployment rate would be 11.0 percent.

...Then there’s the broader, U-6 measure of unemployment which includes the discouraged plus part-timers who wish they had full time work. That unemployment rate is still a sky-high 15.1 percent.

Based on Peth's data, the BLS has "disappeared" a startling four million workers to get unemployment "down" to 8.3 percent.

This kind of egregious activity -- certain to go unreported upon by legacy media -- is why I like to call the BLS unemployment numbers "the Eric Holder of Economic Reports."

Larwyn's Linx: The bombshell CBO report and why Obama should be worried

2012-02-03T06:24:00.003-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

The bombshell CBO report and why Obama should be worried: Hot Air
Obamacare’s Latest Victim Is Religious Freedom: Foundry
Waivers: The Yellow Brick Road To Amnesty: Bruce

What does Obama do all day?: Kaus
Breaking: Heath Shuler (D, NC) cuts and runs.: RS
Shocker: More Wisconsin Recall Fraud: BigG

Economy

A Year Later, Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics: Cato
Obama Underestimated 2012 Deficit by... $500 Billion: WS
Planned layoffs surge in January: Challenger: Reuters

ObamaCare Advisers Predict Death of Health Insurers: NewAm
Disgusting: Occupy Charlotte Used Water Supply as Toilet: VS
Thank a Union: Alleged Perv Teacher on Full Pension: VS

Krazy Kat-ifornia: JPA
A Former Union Thug’s Take On Right-to-Work: RS
Social Security Trust Fund Outlook Takes $1 Tril Dive: IBD

GOP Primary

Newt Beats Mitt on Energy Policy: NRO
It's Insane For Conservatives To Back Romney In The General: Riehl
The Fractious Rich Lowry and Jennifer Rubin: Lord

Scandal Central

Holder to Issa: I’ll hold people accountable … for whistleblowing: Hot Air
Holder DOJ lets bribery-compromised officials free indicted financial-crime suspects: DC
Holder to Issa: I wasn’t aware of your subpoena: Scoop

DOJ: First “Fast and Furious,” then bribery, and now kiddie porn?: PubSecrets
Holder to Puerto Rican Rep: 'Wherever you're from': Exam
Groundhog Day: Holder Repeats Fast And Furious Lies: IBD

Climate & Energy

Warmie Angst & The AGW Theory Hanging By A Single Untested Hypothesis: Wolf Howling
Now Why Would Coal Mines Be Laying People Off?: AllAm
Read All About it: Al Gore's 'melting' Antarctic claims refuted by reality: Depot

Insurers Required to Report on Global Warming Predictions: MenRec
Concrete Evidence Man is Causing Glacier Retreat: Malkin

Media

Obama Hides From the Press: Surber
Allen West Questions Florida Legislators’ Motives: Shark Tank
Salon v McKeon: When is an investigative reporter not an investigative reporter: Q&O

How dare a private group spend its money as it wants? Liberals Slam Susan G. Komen: Bookworm
Chris Christie stands up for his bizarre NJ Supreme Court nominees: WyBlog
Ann Coulter's Laughably Weak Attempt To Defend RomneyCare: Riehl

Give Me Your Money In the Name of Jesus: RS
Gospels Contradict Obama's Idea Of A Socialist Jesus: IBD
Okay, I’ve been sitting on these quotes long enough.: Troglopundit

World

Israeli: Iran creating missile to hit U.S.; East Coast in reach: LAT
Is Israel preparing to attack Iran?: WaPo
#OWS May Day Agitprop: UrbInf

Breaking: Democrats Preyed On Immigrants In Ballot Fraud Scandal: MenRec
Israel says Iran has material for four A-bombs: Reuters
Meet the Air Force’s Newest X-Plane: DefTech

Sci-Tech

Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter to Investors: ‘The Hacker Way’: Wired
Microsoft Vows to Fix ‘Broken’ Code In Open Source Cloud Project: Wired
LEAKED: Here's Everything Coming In The Next Windows Phone: Insider

Cornucopia

Separated At Birth?: Moonbattery
I Guess Endorsements Do Matter: AllAm
McDonald's Finally Realizes Pink Slime Is Not An Appetizing Burger Ingredient: Consumerist

Two Hogs, Two Shadows: MOTUS
Terrell Owens out of work, going broke and 'in hell': LAT
'Fear Factor' contestants told by NBC to shut up about canceled episode they starred in: Fox

Image: iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President: Yes, He Can Win

QOTD: "Thus, the administration that took military action in Libya without any authorization from force from Congress, that appointed czars with policymaking authority without Congressional confirmation, and that made ‘recess’ appointments while Congress was not in recess is invoking executive privilege to cover how the Department of Justice reacted when Congress began asking about a gun-trafficking operation that got U.S. law enforcement officers murdered by Mexican drug cartels.

All from a president who railed against a runaway imperial presidency when George W. Bush sat in the office he currently occupies." --Jim Geraghty

Three Must-Read Quotes from Eric Holder's Fast and Furious Testimony Today. Plus: Brian Terry's Mother Rips Holder.

2012-02-02T21:36:00.004-05:00

Eric Holder was back in front of the House Oversight Committee today to testify on Operation Fast and Furious. For those unfamiliar with the crimes, consider it like Watergate, only with 300 dead -- including Brian Terry, a U.S. Border Patrol agent killed by murder weapons supplied to drug cartels by Eric Holder.

During testimony, three particular quotes struck me as especially memorable:

• GOP Rep. Anne Marie Buerkle to Eric Holder:

"What more could have possibly gone wrong before you'd have been held accountable [for Operation Fast and Furious]? I would suggest that the President has been eerily quiet about coming to your defense. So let me ask it this way: How many more Border Patrol agents would have had to die as part of Operation Fast and Furious for you to take responsibility?"

• Eric Holder threatens Darrell Issa, asserting that Congress can not view sealed wiretap records even if a whistleblower reveals them:

"That direction that you just said, about the media and Congress and court orders, is really incorrect and you act at your peril if you think that's the truth."

• GOP Rep. Patrick Henry to Eric Holder on the delays in the DOJ's "investigation", which has now taken longer than the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK:

"Thirteen months later, we have a possibility of somebody actually being punished for an agent getting killed. This is absolutely absurd."

Brian Terry's mother also watched Holder's outrageous performance today and had the following to say on Facebook.

“THIS IS FOR YOU SON,” Mrs. Terry posted on Facebook at about 3:30 p.m. “Mr. Holder. How come you can never say my sons name. You never have. All i ever hear you say is ‘i didnt find out or I cant say’ Im actually tired of hearing your double talk in answering questions. What a joke you are. You know my son was a real AMERICAN, a WARRIOR, and a HERO, who was also protecting COWARD POLITICANS like you.”

“Hope you remember that,” Mrs. Terry added in her message to Holder before signing it: “PROUD MOM OF BRIAN A. TERRY.”

Brian Terry was murdered with a weapon his own government allowed to be sold to Mexican drug cartels via Operation Fast and Furious. Like Terry, about 300 Mexican citizens were also murdered with the guns Holder’s Justice Department gave to the drug cartels.

Nobody has been held accountable inside the Justice Department, and more than 100 congressmen, three U.S. senators, two sitting governors and all major Republican presidential candidates have demanded that Holder step down in the wake of the scandal. Holder has time and again refused to hold anybody accountable and has refused to step down himself.

Holder never even apologized to the Terry family until publicly shamed into it during November's Congressional testimony. And, even then, he released the apology publicly to Politico before the family ever saw it.

Holder needs to be held in Contempt of Congress right now and prosecuted for obstruction of justice.

Cartoon: IBD - Ramirez

Four charts: how Obama destroyed the energy economy in the Gulf of Mexico

2012-02-02T20:55:00.000-05:00

A report issued Tuesday by the Greater New Orleans Economic Alliance reveals the true economic devastation wrought by President Obama's draconian and illegal oil drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico

Thanks to the people at the New Orleans Regional Economic Alliance, one can cut through all the claims about how oil drilling in the United States is back to normal since the Gulf oil spill.

The [accompanying] figures ... show the trends in both shallow- and deep-water drilling permit approvals in the gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As can be seen, the Obama administration did not let that crisis go to waste, it used it to implement another plank in its anti-fossil fuel agenda...

Regardless of the Obama administration’s claims that they aren’t hindering oil exploration and development in the Gulf, a few minutes of looking at their own data tells the real story: they’re both cutting it down, and stretching it out.

So the next time legacy media allows President Obama to claim that oil drilling is back to normal in the Gulf, remember these charts.

Hat tips: HyScience and BadBlue.

'Progressives' Believe Strongly in the Separation of Church and State. Except, Of Course, When It Comes to Abortion.

2012-02-02T20:04:00.001-05:00

If the ramifications weren't so diabolical, the hypocrisy exhibited by Democrats would be laughable.

It has not even been two years since Obamacare was enacted, and already the President’s health care law has taken another victim — the religious freedoms Americans hold dear, as reflected by the First Amendment.

The Obama Administration recently reaffirmed a rule under Obamacare that requires many religious employers to provide health care coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and related education and counseling. On the grounds that certain FDA-approved contraceptive methods can sometimes “cause the demise of embryos both after and before uterine implantation,” many groups also believe that the rule forces them to cover abortion.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling the contraception mandate an “unprecedented” attack on religious freedom. And in statement after statement issued in diocese after diocese, many bishops are publicly declaring that they “cannot” and “will not” comply with “this unjust law.” As Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon explained, “Unless this rule is overturned, Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences or to drop health care coverage for our employees.”

It’s not just Catholics affected by the rule, however. Leaders from other faith traditions have expressed their concern, and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has already filed a lawsuit on behalf of an interdenominational Christian college that objects to providing abortion and related education and counseling in its health care insurance. “The mandate is un-American, unprecedented, and flagrantly unconstitutional,” says an attorney for the college.

As shocking as the Obama Administration’s action is, it should not come as a surprise. Heritage experts explained years ago that freedom of conscience in health care is closely linked to greater personal freedom over health care decisions. Health care expert James Capretta says that “it was inevitable — only a matter of time,” now that the government is calling the shots and making health care choices for the American people. “Just the sight of Catholic leaders’ being forced to go begging before federal officials ought to be enough to convince most Americans that handing over so much power over such sensitive matters to the federal government was a terrible, terrible mistake,” he writes.

Pathetic Democrat dupes like Bart Stupak and Steve Driehaus hardest hit.

The leaders of the Catholic Church could begin their fight by excommunicating Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius, and any other Catholic members of the Democrat Party who support this outrage.

Genius: Starting in 2014, Obamacare begins taxing... itself.

2012-02-02T19:50:00.007-05:00

Gee, it's so surprising that we keep uncovering time-bombs buried inside a 2,200-page bill that no one read.

Under the health care overhaul, the federal government will begin taxing itself and the states beginning in 2014... And that’s giving state Medicaid directors heartburn.

The law calls for a new tax on health insurers’ premium revenue — intended to help pay for expansion of coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans. But the tax will be paid by all insurers, including those that contract with states to provide coverage to recipients of Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor. Under federal law, that fee must be paid by the Medicaid program, meaning that state and federal governments must pick up the tab.

A report released today by the actuarial firm Milliman Inc. said the tax will cost the Medicaid program between $36.5 billion and $41.9 billion over 10 years. At least $13 billion will be borne by states, and at least $23.5 billion by the federal government, based on the state-federal Medicaid matching formula, according to the report paid for by the Medicaid Health Plans of America, which represents private health plans that cover people on Medicaid. According to the America’s Health Insurance plans, the tax overall would generate at least $73 billion from 2014-2019.

“This is not an issue on most people’s radar screens, but this is going to be a big problem,” said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “This policy never really made sense … I get the point of an insurance tax, but when you are just passing on those costs to Medicaid, that makes no sense.”

With delightful surprises like this built into the Democrats' destructive health care bill, it's no wonder that Obama's advisers are predicting the death of America's health insurance companies. Which should do wonders for unemployment.

Larwyn's Linx: After Big Win, Romney Faces Tough Opponents in a Long War

2012-02-02T06:24:00.004-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

After Big Win, Romney Faces Tough Opponents in a Long War: Barone
Is Rick Santorum the logical conservative alternative?: Hot Air
65-to-1: It's not that complicated: RS

Gingrich Challenging Florida Delegate Apportionment: Ace
Apathy will be the legacy of Romney’s carpet bombing: LI
The Un-Obama: Hanson

Santorum Can Beat Romney: AmSpec
Romney's Progressive Pandering Begins: Riehl
Trump to Endorse Gingrich: NatlJrnl

Nation

Obama's Enemies List: WSJ
Obama's new plan: homeowner rescue package #4,350: Malkin
Racist GOP Bill to Ban Welfare Bucks at Strip Clubs, Casinos: WZ

Obama to Unveil New Vote-Buying Scheme: JWF
Catholic Backlash Against Obama Grows: NatlJrnl
Confirmed: Lowlife Weiner Used Campaign Cash for Twitter Mess: JWF

Economy

Another Obama Record! 4 Straight Years of Trillion-Dollar Deficits!: GWP
Obama Speech Brags About 3 Million New Jobs: NUSA
Federal Deficit For 2012 Closer to $4 Trillion: Rasmussen

Indiana: the Nation’s 23rd Right to Work State: HoosierAcc
Stunner: Walker Recall Petitions NOT Available for Online Review: BigG
Vote for Obama, and he'll pay your mortgage!: WyBlog

Obama Economy – Jobs Created at Welfare Offices: LoneCon
Democrats Love Taxes — They Just Don’t Want to Pay Them: Elder
California To Run Out Of Cash In One Month, Controller Warns: ZH

Scandal Central

Bribery, compromised officials leave indicted financial-crime suspects free from prosecution under Holder’s DOJ: DC
Obama’s top donors: disgraced MF Global CEO Jon Corzine and two Solyndra linked fundraisers: FAM
Family of Murdered Border Agent Brian Terry Files $25 Million Lawsuit Against ATF: GWP

DOJ Stonewalling on Justice Kagan: Power Line
Are Big Media Covering Up Fast and Furious?: AT
A failed ‘Fast and Furious’ whitewash: Post

Climate & Energy

Electric Cars: Doubling Down On Dumb: RCM
Leaf & Volt Sales: January 2012: Bayonet
Gulf Deepwater Drilling Ban’s Hidden Victims: IBD

Media

My Endorsement This Year: Rick Santorum 2012: RS
Big Journalism’s Loesch, CBS’s Attkisson Receive 2012 Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award: BigJ
If Bloggers Aren’t Journalists, Neither Are Many Members of the MSM: BigJ

Sound Advice For 'Anybody But Mitt' Republicans: HyScience
Obama shows contempt for judicial process: Sonoran News
Gallup state numbers predict huge Obama loss: Exam

Meet Politico’s ‘Crackers’: FL Panhandle Home to Many Military Bases: Riehl
Ezra "Mr. Constitution" Klein Offers Up Another Laughable Lie (Idiot Faux Journalists Hardest Hit): Peth
MSNBC Carefully Avoids The Dreaded "I" Word: Jawa

Obama's Been Skipping the White House Press Corps for Network and Social Media Softballs: NB
Coulter Jumps Shark… Praises Romneycare After Trashing It in October: GWP
The dhimmedia's whitewashing of honor killing: Geller

World

DHS Report Compares Terrorism To “Ordinary Crime,” Omits Islamists: JW
Iranian Websites Publish Threats against U.S. Targets in Gulf: MEMRI
Obama Could Lose Peace Prize: Nobel Committee Faces Inquiry Over Selection Criteria: VS

Taliban Release Graphic Video Showing Its Fighters Executing 15 Government Troops: WZ
Muslim Genocide on Black Africans: Creeping
Chavez Threatens Banks and Land Owners Refusing His Orders: NewAm

Sci-Tech

Android Users Are More Likely To Have Sex On The First Date: Insider
Student cell phones confiscated in school's probe of drug selling: Trib
Copyright: To the Batmobile!: Wired

Cornucopia

Liberal Logic, Illustrated: AllAm
JayMo and Mustang Sally: You Guys Just Bu-Rock My World!: MOTUS
20+ years of the lights coming on across the land: Sondrakisan

Image: Candy Hearts for Liberals
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "Let's never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same. It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom. No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts."--President Obama, State of the Union Address, Jan. 24

"On the day I took office, . . . the American auto industry was on the verge of collapse. And some politicians were willing to let it just die. We said no. We believe in the workers of this state."--Obama, remarks to students in Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 27 (via James Taranto)

Liberal Genius: Mark Levin's Ameritopia Is a #1 Bestseller Because Koch Brothers Are Buying Up Books In Bulk

2012-02-01T21:36:00.005-05:00

Some progressive kook named "Ramona" (if that is her real name) has a novel theory regarding the rise of Mark Levin's Ameritopia to the top of all of the bestseller lists (The New York Times hardest hit). The Koch Brothers are buying up conservative books like Ameritopia to drive incredible sales volume.

Mark R. Levin, a Right Wing radio personality and "the #1 bestselling author of Liberty and Tyranny and regular Fox News contributor" is on January's cover [of the Books-a-Million catalog]. (Last month it was Glenn Beck). Levin has a new book out called, "Ameritopia, The Unmaking of America". Before I saw that cover, I confess I had never heard of Mark R. Levin. (Go ahead and strip me of my Rotten Persons Investigator badge--I know now that his new book, "Ameritopia" is at the top, the very tip-top, of this week's New York Times non-fiction bestseller list! )

So I took a look at the new book by this guy who--my god! NYT Best Seller!--I really should have heard of by now. I turned page after page and, okay, as a new Mark R. Levin reader who is also a liberal, I'm as biased as biased can be. But even I am shocked at how badly this book stinks!

...So here's what I'm thinking: What's to stop [Books-a-Million] from manipulating the market? (They also own a book distribution company.) What's to stop Threshold? What's to stop any of the Right Wing top guns--the Koch Brothers, say-- the people with all the money? What's to stop them from buying up tens or even hundreds of thousands of these books and sitting on them? ... And what's to stop 800+ stooges from churning out magnificent reviews for a book that nobody in their right mind would actually read through to the end?

I truly hope this isn't what passes for informed commentary on the Left.

Eh, Junior: Levin has roughly 10 million listeners for his radio show not because the Koch brothers paid them to listen, but because he explains -- in great detail -- the philosophical, moral, legal and ethical underpinnings of this country.

In other words, conservatism is winning in the marketplace of ideas. And, furthermore, the book's not for dummies. i.e., not for you.

Levin outlines the lessons of Smith, Locke, Montesquieu and others who influenced this nation's founders; the rationale for the form of government they created; and the thousands of years of human experience they leveraged to try to prevent the rise of a corrupt, massive, authoritarian central government. i.e., the Democrat Party.

So tune in to Levin on your local station, schmuck, and try learning something for a change.

Because your philosophy -- the philosophy of Utopianism -- has failed every time it's been tried in human history. Which is, as Levin has also explains, why liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid.

Photos: Massive Food Shortage Unfolding in Mexico -- Is a Refugee Crisis Imminent?

2012-02-01T20:46:00.007-05:00

I predict an influx of undocumented Democrats.

The Rarámuri indigenous community in northern Mexico faces severe food and water shortages after the region's worst drought in more than 70 years...

The people are getting angry:

• Thousands Demand Food, Jobs in Mexico City - The shortage of basic foods and the spike in prices are devastating the urban dwellers who consume these goods daily,” National Peasants Confederation, or CNC, president Gerardo Sanchez said.

• Even Mexico’s Drug Cartels Are Affected By Worst Drought In Years - Mexico is currently experiencing its most intense drought in 71 years... More than 2 million people in the country have been affected by the water shortage... Government officials warn that the drought could last for at least another five months, with freezing temperature in some states now threatening to endanger lives and crops... Nearly 7 percent of the country’s agricultural land, mostly in the north and centre, has suffered complete losses

• Drought Threatens Food Supply of 2.5 Million Mexicans - Some 2.5 million people are at risk of going hungry due to the severe drought plaguing more than half of Mexico’s 32 states, a leading expert said Thursday... The shortage of rain has already led to the loss of 3.2 million tons of maize, 600,000 tons of beans and 60,000 head of cattle, he noted. ...Without measures to counteract the agricultural losses, “this population runs the risk of suffering hunger,” Romero said, calling it “paradoxical” that the government delayed so long in tapping some of Mexico’s $147 billion in international reserves to address the problems caused by the drought.

You can donate to Mexican food relief here.

Hat tip: Doctor M.

Gallup approval numbers show potentially 'huge Obama loss'

2012-02-01T20:28:00.001-05:00

From their lips to God's ear:

Gallup released their annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers yesterday, and the results should have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue very worried. If President Obama carries only those states where he had a net positive approval rating in 2011 (e.g. Michigan where he is up 48 percent to 44 percent), Obama would lose the 2012 election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215.

Gallup adds:

Overall, Obama averaged 44% job approval in his third year in office, down from 47% in his second year. His approval rating declined from 2010 to 2011 in most states, with Wyoming, Connecticut, and Maine showing a marginal increase, and Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia showing declines of less than a full percentage point. The greatest declines were in Hawaii, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico.

Take nothing for granted. It will take every bit of energy; every friend, colleague and family member we can convince; and every bit of divine providence we can muster to save this republic.

Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

Constitutional Showdown: DOJ Threatens to Defy Congressional Demands for Fast and Furious Documents

2012-02-01T19:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued yet another demand for documents, this time going to the unprecedented step of threatening Attorney General Eric Holder with Contempt charges should he again defy Congress (PDF). The highlights of the Committee's demands revolve around the Justice Department's fabrications, delays and denials, many of which appear to involve false testimony. In short, Holder has until 4 February 2012 to avoid a Contempt of Congress charge.

CNN reports this evening that the DOJ is ignoring those threats and claiming it can't produce any documents in time (this, after literally years of requests).

...the Justice Department late Wednesday sent a sharp letter to Issa rejecting his demands from a day earlier for documents by a next-week deadline... Issa is threatening the attorney general with contempt of Congress if DOJ fails to deliver.

The exchange of stinging letters the past two days caps weeks of maneuvering by both sides in advance of the anticipated Holder appearance Thursday before Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The Justice Department [claimed] Issa's letter showed "significant misunderstanding both of the documents we recently produced and of the Department's position on the issues you raise."

The Justice Department response Wednesday rejected Issa's February 9, 2012, deadline to produce all demanded documents. Cole called the deadline "impossible" to meet because of the broad scope of the request... He did not directly refer to the threat of a contempt charge by Issa.

The political battle has been raging for more than a year, following the discovery that two of the "fast and furious" weapons that had gone missing in Mexico in the botched sting were discovered at the scene of the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in Arizona.

This, my friends, could precipitate a true Constitutional crisis. The DOJ's lawless behavior is unacceptable no matter which political party is in power.

Liberals who ignore this flagrant criminality do so at their own peril. Because Democrats will not always control the Executive Branch.

President Obama really should NOT be called "The Foodstamp President"

2012-02-01T19:29:00.005-05:00

Not because it's "racist", or because it's inaccurate.

But because he prefers the term "The Unemployment President". At least, that's what I hear.

The most critical question facing us in November is whether enough American people have become slaves to government. That is: willing to vote for more entitlements, more wealth redistribution, more lawful plunder, more centralized government, and -- ultimately -- a European form of socialism, dependency and economic misery.

Larwyn's Linx: Romney wins Florida GOP primary

2012-02-01T06:24:00.003-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

Romney wins Florida GOP primary: RSM
Newt Battles Mush From the Wimps: Lord
GOP Establishment Only Wants Conservatives on Election Day: Rush

The State Of The GOP Horserace Post-Florida: Hawkins
Romney: 87 Down, Only 1,057 to Go: AmSpec
Mitt Romney Wins Florida: AmSpec

No, there isn't a Romney Conspiracy against Allen West: Sunshine
Rick Santorum: Newt Gingrich blew it: Politico
Rep. Allen West Is Conservative Slam Dunk For Veep: IBD

Nation

The Inconvenient Constitution: Sen. Mike Lee
Obamacare’s Great Gift: Clarification: Anchoress
Obama: above the fray or above the law?: DC

First, They Came for the Catholics: Malkin
Obama's Racial Politics: Williams
How Presidential Elections Really Get Decided: Ace

Economy

Congressional Dems Promise Class Warfare: S&L
Budget Outlook Getting Worse, CBO Report Shows: Foundry
Visualize: the European Superhighway of Debt: ZH

How Obama created 22 million jobs: AT
Occupiers Dump Condoms on Catholic School Girls: Fox
Three Things to Know About the CBO Budget Report: ATR

Planned Parenthood: Komen Stopped $ Because Pro-Lifers Hate Women: LifeNews
Obamanomics Has Gov't Workers Happy, Others Miserable: IBD

Scandal Central

Issa threatens Holder with Contempt Unless He Complies With Subpoena For Documents: Nice Deb
DOJ: No Comment On Whether Eric Stedman Holder Was Told of Fast & Furious Murder on Day It Occurred: Ace
Congress Warns Holder Over Acorn Payola: IBD

Climate & Energy

The Coming of the New Ice Age: End of the Global Warming Era?: Zombie
Bad Dreams In The Night: NoisyRm
Hope, Change, & Lies About Green Energy Jobs: Wolf Howling

Media

For No Reason Except To Punish Cultures He Abhors, Obama Mandates Catholics Pay for Abortions: Ace
Media Act As Though Only Republicans Misbehave: IBD
Barack Schettino Obama: Ace

Wag the Finger: Media’s Selective Memory: Loesch
New York Times: Regulations Good Unless It’s About Abortion: LifeNews
Allen West Defends Forceful Comments to Dems to “Get the Hell Out”; He Fires Back at Bob Beckel: FN Insider

On MSNBC, Politico Punk Refers to Florida Panhandle as ‘Cracker Counties’: BigJ
Chris Matthews Inadvertently Exposes Why Elitists Fear the Tea Party, Support #OWS: AllAm
74% favor eliminating mandatory union dues: Rasmussen

World

Iran prepared to attack US, intelligence says: Post
U.S. Special Forces Will Be Weakened by Defense Budget Cuts: Foundry
Intel chief: Al Qaeda hurting, Iran 'more willing' to launch attacks in U.S.: Fox

Mossad chief holds secret U.S. meetings on Iran nuclear threat, Senate panel reveals: Haaretz
Nine year old British girls forced to marry under sharia: Creeping
Report Finds Terrorism 'Hot Spots'; and Historical Trends in Terror Types: Blaze

Qaradawi: No Chopping Off of Hands Now…But Later is OK: IPT
U.S. military says Taliban set to retake power: report: Reuters
UK: Doctors rebut claim most favour health reforms: Telegraph

Sci-Tech

Yahoo's 1,100 patents could pose a problem for Facebook: Insider
Facebook to file for $5 billion IPO Wednesday: report: Townhall
Microsoft: The Web is better without plug-ins: CNet

Cornucopia

Leading urban kids on nature hikes: C&S
Peyton Manning likely will never play football again, sources say: LAT
Newt Gingrich Judges You

Image: The Looking Spoon
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "This is the chief character flaw of the leftist movement -- their inability to respect anyone at all but their own. A very provincial and solipisitically childish way to view the world, of course, which leads to a vicious arrogance in attempting to pound, pound, pound square pegs into the round holes the state has cut for them.

The left would just be wrong, and not dangerous, if it weren't so arrogant about disposing of people's freedom with a single thoughtless line of legislation.

It is that, the arrogance and the profound disrespect of anyone who does not wear the feathers and warpaint of their tribe, that makes them not just wrong but sinister." --Ace

Six charts from the CBO that spell big trouble for the U.S.

2012-01-31T21:21:00.002-05:00

Jim Pethokoukis points us to a just-released report from the Congressional Budget Office (PDF) that includes some extremely troubling graphs.

Catastrophic budget deficits and unemployment levels (purposefully understated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) as far as the eye can see. The good news? By 2022 the economy will have ~~collapsed~~ been "fundamentally transformed" under soaring interest rates and unpayable debts.

Obama can blame Bush, Martin Van Buren, or Mary Tyler Moore -- but the facts are simple: those last four bars are owned 100% by the Democrat Party. The Stimulus package, which I like to call "the most audacious armed robbery in world history" continues to be spent every year as it is built into the baseline budget. Which somehow seems to escape legacy media's attention as they discuss taxing "the rich", "oil companies", "doctors who charge $30,000 for an amputation", and anyone else who tries to make an honest living.

The CBO defines the GDP gap as, essentially, the delta between where the GDP is and where it should be. They're too diplomatic to put it the way I would, which is: "the difference between where the GDP is now and where it would be if we didn't have a radical ideologue beholden to the environmental flat-Earth no-growth Marxists and the public sector union bosses as president".

I don't believe the CBO's projections for the future, especially in the case of this chart. There's a concept called "reversion to mean" that, roughly translated, says that figures generally return to their average. Note the average interest rates the country's seen over the last four decades. Now add in the monstrous amounts of global debt that lies lurking, ready to smash into the global economy at any moment thanks to the insanity of bankers and their surrogates in government. We'll be lucky if we only see a reversion to the mean over the next 10 or 15 years.

• "The U.S. housing industry, where experts believe the economic crisis began, is the target of President Barack Obama's latest initiative to strengthen the economy. Mr. Obama has unveiled a $75 billion plan to prevent as many as nine million Americans from losing their homes." (2/18/2009)

• "Obama expands mortgage modification effort - Under fire to do more to stop the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration announced new mortgage modification steps on Friday to help the unemployed and those who are "underwater" with a bigger loan than their home is worth." (3/26/2010)

• "OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR TARGETED FORECLOSURE-PREVENTION PROGRAMS TO HELP HOMEOWNERS STRUGGLING WITH UNEMPLOYMENT - Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund Will Provide $2 Billion of Additional Assistance in 17 states and the District of Columbia; HUD to Launch a New $1 Billion Program to Help Unemployed Borrowers in Other Areas..." (8/11/2010)

• "Obama’s Plan Announced - On Monday, the Obama administration announced a plan which will attempt to help struggling homeowners refinance their mortgages." (10/31/2011)

I got a million more of 'em.

Hey, isn't central planning grand?

If we don't vote these malevolent Statists out of office in November, this country may be gone.

The Top 150 Conservative Websites -- 1Q12

2012-01-31T20:04:00.009-05:00

Using Alexa's traffic rankings, the following represents a tabular view of the top 150 conservatively focused news and blog sites. Each column can be sorted by clicking the column header. And just click on the site-name to open a new window and visit the website. And, yes, I know that some of these sites aren't truly "conservative". That said, conservatives often cite and reference them, so I've included them for purposes of completeness.

Rank	Website	Alexa Rank
1	foxnews.com	164
2	wsj.com	234
3	telegraph.co.uk	240
4	nypost.com	873
5	realclearpolitics.com	1307
6	theblaze.com	1600
7	autoblog.com	1636
8	zerohedge.com	1906
9	chron.com	2218
10	washingtontimes.com	2232
11	dailycaller.com	3052
12	breitbart.com	3424
13	hotair.com	3494
14	thehill.com	3585
15	haaretz.com	3740
16	townhall.com	3979
17	freerepublic.com	4277
18	nationalreview.com	4658
19	foreignpolicy.com	4899
20	washingtonexaminer.com	4983
21	pjmedia.com	5218
22	pajamasmedia.com	5218
23	military.com	5252
24	theatlanticwire.com	5923
25	dallasnews.com	6348
26	investors.com	6723
27	rushlimbaugh.com	6961
28	globalpost.com	7554
29	weeklystandard.com	7912
30	reason.com	9163
31	cnsnews.com	9663
32	newsbusters.org	9872
33	breitbart.tv	10058
34	americanthinker.com	10325
35	rasmussenreports.com	10443
36	humanevents.com	11114
37	mises.org	11138
38	redstate.com	11230
39	biggovernment.com	11677
40	cbn.com	12340
41	ace,mypetjawa, confederateyankee...	13351
42	blog.heritage.org	14283
43	wattsupwiththat.com	15770
44	michellemalkin.com	18239
45	stratfor.com	19893
46	globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com	20740
47	thegatewaypundit.com	20889
48	spectator.org	20931
49	powerlineblog.com	20942
50	whitehousedossier.com	21835
51	therightscoop.com	27019
52	chicagobusiness.com	27217
53	thenewamerican.com	28398
54	jihadwatch.org	29779
55	bigjournalism.com	29809
56	realclearmarkets.com	33712
57	althouse.blogspot.com	37255
58	blogs.dailymail.com	38668
59	marklevinshow.com	39844
60	hannity.com	39906
61	anncoulter.com	40388
62	atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com	40459
63	freedomworks.org	40513
64	memeorandum.com	45555
65	rollcall.com	45835
66	weaselzippers.us	46171
67	commentarymagazine.com	46234
68	legalinsurrection.com	48111
69	the-american-interest.com	48252
70	american.com	54129
71	lifenews.com	54672
72	volokh.com	57145
73	boortz.com	57147
74	numbersusa.com	64248
75	defensetech.org	67016
76	theothermccain.com	69885
77	outsidethebeltway.com	72757
78	patdollard.com	72824
79	armytimes.com	72876
80	rightwingnews.com	73482
81	mrc.org	77679
82	wizbangblog.com	78086
83	ricochet.com	79753
84	bigpeace.com	84625
85	city-journal.org	90381
86	danielpipes.org	90476
87	rightpundits.com	92880
88	jammiewf.com	93951
89	iowntheworld.com	94546
90	firstthings.com	95024
91	conservatives4palin.com	95233
92	cato-at-liberty.org	100026
93	borderlandbeat.com	100272
94	climateaudit.org	100312
95	aei.org	115543
96	verumserum.com	117333
97	sayanythingblog.com	124462
98	moonbattery.com	124950
99	smalldeadanimals.com	133287
100	directorblue.blogspot.com	134012
101	steynonline.com	144346
102	lonelyconservative.com	146472
103	allgov.com	147026
104	gatesofvienna.blogspot.com	147285
105	hughhewitt.com	149101
106	hillbuzz.org	150789
107	floppingaces.net	156789
108	linkiest.com	159640
109	radicalislam.org	161232
110	memri.org	162614
111	patterico.com	168715
112	cafehayek.com	173452
113	sultanknish.blogspot.com	181458
114	americanpowerblog.blogspot.com	188393
115	thepeoplescube.com	189611
116	blackfive.net	192061
117	polipundit.com	192180
118	judicialwatch.org	196130
119	thehayride.com	206579
120	viralfootage.com	212096
121	yidwithlid.blogspot.com	220712
122	riehlworldview.com	223368
123	redcounty.com	227272
124	ihatethemedia.com	234673
125	creepingsharia.wordpress.com	235131
126	allamericanblogger.com	238838
127	dennisprager.com	240434
128	proteinwisdom.com	241670
129	bostonreview.net	242193
130	bobmccarty.com	249058
131	newsrealblog.com	249822
132	justoneminute.typepad.com	251057
133	varight.com	251341
134	noquarterusa.net	254280
135	politicsandfinance.blogspot.com	261896
136	zombietime.com	269033
137	strata-sphere.com	274581
138	nakeddc.com	280995
139	imao.us	298849
140	economicnoise.com	300565
141	americandigest.org	310947
142	sweetness-light.com	326723
143	iowahawk.typepad.com	336458
144	michellesmirror.com	340290
145	dailypundit.com	373461
146	scaredmonkeys.com	377177
147	thecampofthesaints.org	385568
148	winteryknight.wordpress.com	394591
149	atr.org	400887
150	conservativecommune.com	403485

Map: how close to you live to a U.S. terrorism hot spot?

2012-01-31T19:29:00.002-05:00

I contend that a careful examination would reveal that each of these hot spots is located near a Militant Quaker gathering place.

...[For the DHS,] researchers from the University of Maryland and University of Massachusetts-Boston (PDF) mapped all events considered terrorism since 1970 to 2008 in the United States (below). This established areas they deemed terrorism “hot spots” but also revealed that terrorism is actually “widely dispersed”. So widely dispersed that every state has experienced some act of terrorism in some form, according to the report. The report defines a hot spot as an area where more than the average number of terrorist attacks have taken place — the average for the U.S. is six.

...The research found that a third of all terrorist attacks during that time-frame studied took place in five metropolitan cities — Manhattan, New York (343 attacks); Los Angeles County, Calif. (156 attacks); Miami-Dade County, Fla. (103 attacks); San Francisco County, Calif. (99 attacks); and Washington, D.C. (79 attacks).

...In addition to tracking areas prone to terrorist attacks, the study authors saw trends in timing of terrorist attacks and type of motivation behind the attack. For example, co-author Bianca Bersani, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, said that terrorist attacks they classified as extreme left-wing — “groups that want to bring about change through violent revolution rather than through established political processes” – were limited almost exclusively to the 1970s. Whereas in the 1980s terrorism with religious motivations took place and the 1990s had extreme right-wing attacks by “groups that believe that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack and is either already lost or that the threat is imminent”.

A comment following the article voiced the obvious follow-up question: "Didn't our trusty Congress just declare the United States part of the battlefield on the war on us, I mean war on terror? That was part of the excuse to pass NDAA, wasn’t it?"

Perhaps this is a job for Obama's vaunted "Civilian National Security Force" that he crowed about in 2008 and 2009.

Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

Larwyn's Linx: Revealed: Romney Contributed $10K to Radical Gay Group

2012-01-31T06:24:00.004-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

Revealed: Romney Contributed $10,000 to Radical Gay Group: RWN
Panicked GOP insiders land in bizarro world: Wolf
Why Romney Can't Seal The Deal In Florida: Riehl

For Santorum: Malkin
Backlash: Reaganite FL Cuban Leader Backs Newt, Blasts Mitt: Riehl
FL Tea Partier should scare GOP old guard: Ricochet

Nation

Meet the SEIU hack running Obama's reelection campaign: LUR
White House “Fury” Over Michelle’s $50K Shopping Spree Story: JWF
Reagan: “These Voices Don’t Speak for Us”: Bruce

Allen West Redistricted: Romney Involved?: MagNote
Did Obama Launch The 10th Crusade?: Wolf Howling
Is This the Kind of Judge a President Christie Would Nominate?: NRO

Economy

$189,000: Post
CBO Study on Federal Pay: Cato
Oakland's idiot mayor flummoxed by violence she once praised: WZ

White House backs Park Police in Occupy Conflict: BigG
U.S. Gets Tougher on Debt Collecting: WSJ
Another Trillion (or Two) Euro LTRO Coming Next Month: Mish

SEIU Confirms DSA Marxist Connection: NoisyRm
This is Europe's scariest chart: ZH
Obama: "Interesting" That Your Unemployed Husband Can't Find Job: RCP

Scandal Central

Eric Holder's False Testimony Warrants Impeachment: IBD
DHS Secretary: “Mistakes were made” on Fast and Furious: Hot Air
DOE-Backed Green Energy Company Amonix Lays Off Two-Thirds of Workforce: ConCom

Climate & Energy

When Global Warming Freezes Over: IBD
California Issues Clown Car Mandate: IBD
Bitter cold records broken in Alaska – all time coldest record threatened: Watts

Media

Romney: "I Feel Sorry For Debbie Wasserman Schultz": RCP
Our dysfunctional media: "“My friends know more about the Kardashians than who's running for president.": WaPo
Photos: Compare Obama Supporters With Osama Supporters: Glob

DNC: We Never Used Extreme Rhetoric When Bush Was President: RCP
The Rookie’s Rough Guide to CPAC: Sundries
NBC, AP Avoid 'M-word' in Report About 'Honor Killings': NB

Rick Santorum in Missouri: Full Speech: Scoop
Hardball: Diane Sawyer Quizzes Obama on the Super Bowl and Singing: NB
Juan Williams Finds Racism in Candidates' (and Others'?) Use of 'Constitution' and 'Founding Fathers': NB

World

Carney Says Obama In No Rush To Make a Decision On How To Deal With Iran Nuke Program: WZ
Gingrich's Fresh Hope: Glick
Obama Defends Drone Use: WSJ

No More Leading from Behind for America: Santorum
Iranian Supreme Leader: Islamists' Rise Is Part of Battle Against “Cancerous Tumor” Israel: WZ
Norway Embraces Islamist Tyranny: Bawer

Sci-Tech

How Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? ed by John Brockman: review: Telegraph
Windows 8 Tablets Will Probably Launch WITHOUT A New Version Of Office: Insider
P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free To Advertise On Facebook: Insider

Cornucopia

Only 246 Fans Jilted At Last Year's Super Bowl Agree To Attend This Year's For Free: Consumerist
Cedartown resident among those filing lawsuit against Obama: Cedartown
Obama Celebrates Mardi Gras: Morlock Revolt

Image: Artist's Depiction: Agent Provocateur sales boosted by US First Lady Michelle Obama (NSFW)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Save Allen West's District!

QOTD: "Dutch satirist Johan Vlemmix has decided not to perform his latest hit 'Do the Burqa' onstage following death threats. The song, a carnival parody to the music of Van McCoy’s Do the Hustle, is a huge success on YouTube, so much so that the video provider has switched off the comments facility. Too many people were posting angry reactions saying that they had been insulted.

The images show a woman wearing a T-shirt which can be instantly converted into a burqa, albeit one that does not cover the breasts." --BigFurHat

The Most Audacious Armed Robbery in History -- and Those Who Would Sit Out an Election

2012-01-30T21:12:00.008-05:00

The Democrats' 2009 Stimulus package was, in my estimation, the most audacious armed robbery in world history. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars were stolen from American taxpayers -- and generations yet unborn -- to reward Democrat campaign contributors.

Solyndra was only the most basic example of these crimes. In fact, though you wouldn't know it from reading the funny papers, a whole series of "green energy" companies are in varying stages of collapse. For the most recent example, please consider: "Another Stimulus-Backed Energy Company Files for Bankruptcy":

After months of financial turmoil, an Energy Department-backed lithium ion battery company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, Ener1, received a $118 million grant from DOE in 2010 as part of the president’s stimulus package. The money, which went to Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel, aimed to promote renewable energy storage battery technology for electrical grid use.

Oh, and don't forget about Beacon Power:

Beacon Power Company received $39 million of its government-guaranteed loan before it filed for bankruptcy. Beacon Power developed new technology that supposedly provides energy storage designed to help the intermittent solar and wind power be used by power grids, which need stable power to remain reliable.

Not to mention Amonix:

Just seven months after California-based solar power company Amonix Inc. opened its largest manufacturing plant, in North Las Vegas, the company’s contractor has laid off nearly two-thirds of its workforce... Amonix received a $5.9 million investment tax credit through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act in 2010...

I've got a million of 'em. In fact, that's why I created "The Handy-Dandy EnergyGate Cheat Sheet" -- to keep track of all the wanton criminality associated with the "green collar" jobs that are disappearing faster than a double-chocolate brownie placed in front of Michael Moore.

I would wager $1,000 that a complete investigation of each "green energy" company and its backers -- by third-party, forensic accountants -- would expose a web of ties linking those who benefited to some of the Democrat Party's largest donors. Cause that's the way they roll.

The most shocking aspect of these crimes is that the White House privately admitted that the Stimulus had nothing -- Nuh. Thing. -- to do with rescuing the economy. A recently revealed, December 15, 2008 memo from Obama's senior economic adviser Larry Summers to the president stated explicitly that the suggested spending packages were not about rescuing the economy... they were about rewarding Obama's backers.

The Stimulus is an ongoing crime perpetrated by the Democrats against the American people.

And why do I call this thievery an "armed robbery"? Said simply, Obama and his minions plundered America's wealth -- indebting an untold number of future generations in the process -- using the force of law. This is, as Bastiat put it, "legal plunder."

It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.

What are the consequences of such a perversion? It would require volumes to describe them all. Thus we must content ourselves with pointing out the most striking.

In the first place, it erases from everyone's conscience the distinction between justice and injustice.

No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

Bastiat was describing, more than 150 years before they came to power, the 111th Congress and President Obama.

While I support Rick Santorum in this primary process, I don't care if a crippled kangaroo is the GOP candidate. I will vote to oust Obama and to begin to save this precious country. Those who want to "sit it out" in protest should consider the impact of their inaction on subsequent generations, who we've already condemned to an ominous future. If collapse is what you seek, remember that this generation -- our generation -- will be forever marked as those who lost America.

This theft will not stand. It must not stand. And I will walk on broken glass and hot coals to vote this failed president out of office in November, while bolstering the number of true conservatives in Congress. It's the least we can do. So stop bitching about Mitt Romney, the GOP establishment, or the fact that your latte isn't hot enough. We've been at this for little more than two years. And Rome wasn't built in a day.

You and I, we've got a country to save.

"Europe's Scariest Chart"

2012-01-30T17:25:00.003-05:00

Tyler Durden calls this "Europe's Scariest Chart".

Surging Greek and Portuguese bond yields? Plunging Italian bank stocks? The projected GDP of the Eurozone? In the grand scheme of things, while certainly disturbing, none of these data points actually tell us much about the secular shift within European society, and certainly are nothing that couldn't be fixed if the ECB were to gamble with hyperinflation and print an inordinate amount of fiat units diluting the capital base even further...

No: the one chart that truly captures the latent fear behind the scenes in Europe is that showing youth unemployment in the continent's troubled countries (and frankly everywhere else). Because the last thing Europe needs is a discontented, disenfranchised, and devoid of hope youth roving the streets with nothing to do, easily susceptible to extremist and xenophobic tendencies: after all, it must be "someone's" fault that there are no job opportunities for anyone.

[The accompanying chart represents] youth (16-24) unemployment in three select European countries (and the general Eurozone as a reference point). Some may be surprised to learn that while Portugal, and Greece, are quite bad, at 30.7% and 46.6% respectively, it is Spain where the youth unemployment pain is most acute: at 51.4%, more than half of the youth eligible for work does not have a job! Because the real question is if there is no hope for tomorrow, what is the opportunity cost of doing something stupid and quite irrational today?

Bonus Question: what do you call people who try to replicate Europe's failed social welfare state -- a bubbling cauldron of debt-fueled misery and civil unrest -- here in America?

Answer: Democrats.

SEIU Proudly Advertises Its Assocation With Fascist Ideology

2012-01-30T16:53:00.001-05:00

Trevor Loudon describes the open and malevolent ties between the SEIU and the Democrat Socialists of America. You can subtitle this story "SEIU members hardest hit":

I have long contended that the US’ largest and most militant labor organization the Service Employees International Union, is allied to, or subordinate to, the country’s largest Marxist organization – Democratic Socialists of America... Here is proof of this connection, from the latest edition of DSA’s Democratic Left, Winter 2011/2012, page 11:

God bless Trevor Loudon for his unwavering fight against the failed, miserable, Utopian ideology of Marxist Fascism in all of its nefarious and destructive forms.

And for those who accuse mois of using "over-the-top" rhetoric with the word fascism, please consider "The Wiktionary Definition of Fascism."

Larwyn's Linx: Palin: "Rage Against the Machine...Vote for Newt"

2012-01-30T07:14:00.002-05:00

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

GOP Primary

Palin: "Rage Against the Machine...Vote for Newt": FoxNation
The 2012 Race Takes Shape: Barone
Mitt Romney's Lack Of Character Revealed Out Of Desperation: Riehl

Latest FL Poll Shows Newt Within Three Points: RCP (PDF)
Newt makes closing argument at The Villages: Nice Deb
Rasmussen: Romney opens up lead in FL: Exam

Romney Aide is Re-districting Allen West Out of Office: LI
Wake Up, Conservatives: Mitt Romney Is Running As A Leftist: Riehl
Bella Santorum 'Improving,' Candidate Off the Trail: NatlJrnl

Nation

Through the Prism of Race: Shayne
Obama’s targeted Latino appeal: Politico
Robert Gibbs back on Obama payroll: Politico

Eat, Pray, Love and Be Black but Don’t Be a Republican: ConBlkChk
The Heretical Gospel According to Pope Barack The First: WyBlog
Congress promises to get tough on Congress: ConCom

Economy

How the $800B stimulus failed: Post
Mostly Peaceful Oakland Occupiers Mostly Peaceful To The Tune Of 300 Arrested: STACLU
Stunning: DC Police Now Tasing Occupiers: JWF

The Political Cowardice of Barack Obama: Reason
Michelle's $50,000 shopping spree boosts company's sales: Telegraph
FL Food stamp bill seek to restrict junk food: Trib

Scandal Central

A Fast and Furious Fib: Post
The Latest Beneficiary of Obama’s Crony Capitalism: George Sorosd: C4P
Fast and Furious sparks agency changes: AZStar

Climate & Energy

Awesome: Calif. To Pay For High Speed Rail With Extortion: Soylent
Iran says oil could reach $120 to $150 per barrel: Fox
CNN Projects Gas Prices Rising to $4.25 to $5 a Gallon: NB

Media

New York Times Fails to Mention Gingrich Was Cleared Of Ethics Charges: BigJ
Welcome to BadBlue: ConCom
The Dan Rather File: Five Decades of Liberal Media Bias: MRC (2007)

Rev. Luke Robinson: ‘They Want Us To Be Silent Because the President Is a Black Man’: CNS
The Social Media and Me: Sajak
Thomas Friedman's Delusions About China vs. Reality: SDA

Tea Party Patriots straw poll: Santorum nomination would generate most enthusiasm: DC
How I woke up to the untruths of Barack Obama: Telegraph
An America Divided: Boortz

World

Egypt: Tens of Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood And Secular Protesters Clash In Tahrir Square: WZ
Egypt: Mob of 3,000 Muslims Led By Salafists Attack Christian Homes And Shops: WZ
The True Obama Doctrine, And Its Chilling Result: Blogmocracy

Palestinian Authority-Run TV Praises Brutal Murderers of Fogel Family: Lid (Graphic)
All American Muslims in Dearborn Heights Arrested for Assault on Christian Quarterback: Creeping
Panetta: Iran is one year away from producing nuclear weapon: Haaretz

Sci-Tech

F-BOMB: the $50 DARPA-funded spy computer makes widespread surveillance even easier: End the Lie
5-Million Dot Electronic Viewfinder Makes Glass Obsolete: Wired
Google Teams With Facebook and Microsoft To Phight Phishing: Wired

Cornucopia

Our Most Populist President Ever: MOTUS
OWS Street Graffit: I See Tent People: Urban Infidel
After ‘The Wire’ ended, actress Sonja Sohn couldn’t leave Baltimore’s troubled streets behind: WaPo

Image: Glenn McCoy Political Cartoons
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "How long before we see a FLOTUS tarmac tantrum? We did get two divas for the price of one. As longtime observers of the royal Obamas have long observed: Mr. and Mrs. Cranky Pants’ problem has never been the color of their skin. It’s the thinness." --Michelle Malkin

Due to popular demand...

2012-01-29T21:54:00.003-05:00

Several bloggers requested that I create some buttons or sidebar badges for the new BadBlue news service. Okay, it wasn't several. It was one. But still...

To use one of the buttons, simply click the one you want, then copy the text in the HTML block below to paste into your template:

350 pixels wide

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250 pixels wide

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HTML to use in your template:

If you don't know what BadBlue is, click here. Basically, it's a news service for the rest of us, completely automated using social networking chatter as the barometer for promoting news stories. So far it seems to be catching on.

Newt Gingrich Fires Back Against GOP Old Guard, Ann Coulter Hardest Hit

2012-01-29T20:37:00.004-05:00

Ann Coulter is one of America's most talented conservative columnists. Of late, she has been curiously dogged in attacking Newt Gingrich -- unquestionably a captain of the "Reagan Revolution" -- while backing a man whose conservative credentials are dicey at best. Today Gingrich fired back.

Fox News Latino’s Victor Garcia did a phone interview with Newt Gingrich. During which the Former Speaker was asked about the recent Ann Coulter and Tom Delay criticisms...

Victor Garcia: You have been taking a lot of hits from Tom Delay now, Ann Coulter some of these people that some would consider on the far right of the conservative spectrum. What is your response to the criticism of those ones? Why do you think they are attacking you?

Newt Gingrich: Look I think there are a whole bunch of folks who represent the old order; they attacked Ronald Reagan in 1980 exactly the same way. They are looking at a national poll that shows me ahead of Romney 52-39 in a two way race and they are recognizing that if I come back as president, that I will be for very dramatic, very bold change and they are terrified. I have no interest in what Tom Delay did that got him in trouble. I thought it was wrong and a mistake, I have a very different approach to that and I have no Idea what motivates Ann Coulter but I find that she is all over the map. Basically she is for Romney and therefore anything she says about me is a reflection of the fact that she is for Romney. I expect people who are for Romney to attack me because they are terrified because he is losing.

I have no problem whatsoever with Coulter voicing her opinion, but she should -- like Karl Rove -- disclose whether any financial interests are playing a part in her support for Romney.

Hat tip: BadBlue.