Doug Ross @ Journal

Larwyn's Linx: Keeping Your Eye on the Ball

2012-02-17T06:24:00.001-05:00

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

QOTD: "Over a year ago, I first warned that the Obama administration adopted a policy of refusing to enforce federal laws which require states to purge dead and ineligible voters from the rolls... Eric Holder and his Leftist political appointees at the Justice Department have gotten exactly what they wanted... The Pew Center on the States estimates nearly 2,000,000 dead voters are on the rolls, and 2,800,000 people are registered in more than one state. This is precisely the mess that the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) was designed to prevent.

...The Justice Department refuses to enforce Section 8 of the NVRA because, as political appointee Julie Fernandes revealed in a Voting Section meeting in 2009 that I attended, removing dead people from the rolls “doesn’t increase turnout. It stops people from voting.” Seriously." --J. Christian Adams

Meet the masterminds who will decide what kind of health care you and your family will receive

2012-02-16T21:12:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal (via AEI) has the uncomfortable low-down on what Obamacare means:

Meet the Obamacare mandate committee

Think the contraception decision was bad? Wait until bureaucrats start telling your insurer which cancer screenings to cover

Offended by President Obama's decision to force health insurers to pay for contraception and surgical sterilization? It gets worse: In the future, thanks to ObamaCare, the government will issue such health edicts on a routine basis—and largely insulated from public view. This goes beyond contraception to cancer screenings, the use of common drugs like aspirin, and much more.

Under ObamaCare, a single committee—the United States Preventative Services Task Force—is empowered to evaluate preventive health services and decide which will be covered by health-insurance plans.

The task force already rates services with letter grades of "A" through "D" (or "I," if it has "insufficient evidence" to make a rating). But under ObamaCare, services rated "A" or "B"—such as colon cancer screening for adults aged 50-75—must be covered by health plans in full, without any co-pays. Many services that get "Cs" and "Ds"—such as screening for ovarian or testicular cancer—could get nixed from coverage entirely...

...Americans first became familiar with the task force in November 2009, when it made the controversial decision to recommend that women ages 40-49 shouldn't get routine mammograms. More recently, it rebuffed routine prostate-cancer screening and the use of tests that detect the viruses that can cause cervical cancer.

...The task force is a part-time board of volunteer advisers that works slowly and is often late to incorporate new science into its recommendations. Only in 2009 did it finally recommend aspirin for the prevention of stroke and heart attack among those at risk—decades after this practice was demonstrated to save lives and had become part of standard medical practice.

The article's author recommends several common-sense measures:

• Congress should make the task force "subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which would at least require it to hold its deliberations in public."

• And Congress should likewise "let private health plans—and their members—decide on their own how preventive tests and treatments should be covered."

All of this is a brutal wake-up call for Americans: Obama's contraception mandate isn't an anomaly. It's the sign of things to come.

Hat tip: BadBlue.

Remember that scene in Animal House when they flashed the slide of Flounder on the screen?

2012-02-16T20:46:00.001-05:00

Drudge does it again:

Getty captions this photo as follows: "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers remarks at an event in recognition of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation February 16, 2012 in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Department of State in Washington, DC."

Drudge really needs to have some sort of interstitial warning when running a lede photo like that.

It was Bush's fault...

2012-02-16T20:04:00.003-05:00

...not.

Here's the only chart you need to combat the absurd lies of the Left.

Bush was certainly a big-government Republican. But no human being in history has spent as recklessly as Barack Obama (with the help of Democrat miscreants like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid). No one's even come close. Together this troika of idiocy has lawlessly permitted the country to run for more than 1,000 days without a budget.

The budget deficit in 2007 – the last budget approved by the Republican Congress before Nancy Pelosi became speaker – was $160 billion. When the Democrats took over, the deficit exploded. So, yes, Barack Obama inherited a huge deficit from the Democrats in Congress.

...You can also see above that it is irresponsible spending, not revenue, that is driving the debt.

Barack Obama, with the help of a Democratic Congress, has put us on an unsustainable path. This country cannot afford four more years of this man’s destructive policies. He must be defeated.

But November is coming.

A Chart From the Obama Budget That Is So Horrifying It Must Have Been Left In Accidentally

2012-02-16T18:57:00.001-05:00

There are many historic "firsts" associated with the Obama administration, but none more curious than the appointment of the first known tax cheat as Treasury Secretary. Tim "TurboTax" Geithner is a partisan hack of the first order and his recent testimony before the House Budget Committee should be required reading for all Americans.

Testifying before the House Budget Committee today, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told Chairman Paul Ryan the following: “We’re not coming before you to say we have a definitive solution to that long-term problem. What we do know is we don’t like yours.”

Actually, President Obama sort of did have a definitive solution. He created a debt commission, which devised a long-term debt reduction plan. Which the president rejected. And instead, we get this new budget proposal, which makes no effort to deal with Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — the long-term drivers of U.S. federal debt. The debt curve never gets bent, as [this] White House (!) chart shows.

Yes, this chart came right out of the Obama administration's budget.

It says: follow us! We're headed for collapse!

At one point during the hearing, Ryan brought out this chart illustrating the impact of the Ryan debt plan, the one Geithner said “we don’t like”:

And here was the exchange between Geithner and Ryan, after Ryan pointed the terrifying baseline (in red):

GEITHNER: You could have taken [the chart] out [to the year] 3000 or to 4000. [Laughs]

RYAN: Yeah, right. We cut it off at the end of the century because the economy, according to the CBO, shuts down in 2027 on this path.

And that’s no joke, Mr. Geithner.

Actually, the topmost chart is a joke. A sick, tragic joke, the butt of which is us.

Our country cannot survive another four years of Barack Obama.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama's X-Files

2012-02-16T06:24:00.003-05:00

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

GOP Primary

Obama's X-Files: JPA
Ohio Poll: Santorum 36, Romney 29, Gingrich 20, Paul 9: WS
Santorum’s hat trick spurs Facebook friend surge: Politico

Election 2012: Republican Presidential Primary: Rasmussen
Why did Santorum lose in 2006? :York
Santorum on the elite snobs that want to control you: Scoop

Nation

For Liljenquist, Mourdock, and Cruz: A Tea Party Senate takeover: Malkin
How Republicans can win even if the economy keeps improving: Peth
Meese: Obama Administration 'as Close to a Monarchy as George III': CNS

Levin: A Functioning House Would Impeach Sebelius: CNS
Dwarf Senator: Right to Insurance Trumps Religious Freedom: LifeNews
Possible Democrat Plant to Face Allen West in GOP Primary?: Shark

Is IRS Targeting Obama's Enemies?: NewAm
The Truth Behind Obama’s Truth Team: CDN
Maxine Waters: Boehner and Cantor ‘Demons’: NRO

Economy

How Taxing the Rich Harms the Middle Class: AEI
OMB Director Challenged to Resign After Refusing to Answer Budget Question: FreeB
Santelli: IL budget makes Greece look like Utopia: FreeB

Cost of Four Years of Obama: $5,170,000,000,000.00: MB
The DOJ is wrong when it claims the ObamaCare mandate is a tax, says … Obama’s OMB chief: Hot Air
Obama Valentine’s Day Splurge Priced at Up To $300: Dossier

Timmy Geithner Just Took a Tax Spanking!: RedCty
Guess Who Has the Only Earmark in the Senate Highway Bill?: RS
Federal School Lunch Agents: What Country Is This?: Powers

Scandal Central

WaPo finds nearly $4 billion in green-tech stimulus funds went to WH-connected firms: Hot Air
Napolitano acknowledges ‘lots of mistakes’ in Fast and Furious gun sting: Chron
Hippies hate Heartland: Bayonet

Climate & Energy

Oh, Those Green Supremacists: Driscoll
Officials: Eastern Europe's cold snap kills more than 600: USA Today
Level-pegging?: EUReferendum

Media

Media Matters tax-exempt status may face new scrutiny from Congress: DC
Media Matters took $600K for gun control while carrying?: Hot Air
Jack Kennedy, 'Elusive Hero,' Has No Clothes: IBD

Obama Media begin the Blatant Faking of Obama Poll Numbers: CDN
New York Times/CBS Gin Up Polls For Obama: S&L
Condoms, Two-Bit Whores, And Sluts At CPAC: Hawkins

Rachel Maddow and my lesson in civility: RWN
Whitney Houston Critics Called Her ‘Too White’ — Black Republicans Can Relate: RWN
Beckel: We Must Subsidize Women's Contraceptives Because of Crackheads, or Something: Tatler

The Scrubbing To Benefit Obama Has Begun: iOTW
A Point By Point Commentary On Keith Olbermann’s “Debunking” Of The Occupy Rape: Stranahan
Levin: Obama would agree with Hobbes' "Leviathan" and Wilson's "Constitutional Government": MRC TV

World

Obama's Unilateral Disarmament Of The U.S.: Howling
Joint chiefs chair: Chinese hacking not necessarily a hostile act : CNN
Farage On Greek Chaos: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet": ZH

Ruh Roh: Moody’s places almost all EU banks on alert: TAB
Bangkok bombers planned to attack Israeli diplomats, say Thai police: Guardian
Brit teen severely beaten by “Asian” gang: Creeping

Anatomy of a Smear: 'The Third Jihad' Fights Back: Clarion
Tampa parents rip school for letting controversial Muslim group speak to students: Fox
Top Foreign Policy Reps Urge Obama not to cut Israeli Missile Defense Funding: Beacon

Sci-Tech

Anti-Gravity Yoga: Daily Mail
'App-gate' serves reminder: You're on your own: CNet
Site Hack, Continued: ProWis

Cornucopia

Join the MOTUS Truth Team: Expose the Lies: MOTUS
President Eisenhower Met With Aliens (with actual photo): Spew
Mass. parents sue to remove 'under God' from pledge: Times

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

QOTD: "Obama is a master divider, and I believe that once he has convinced a majority of American women that contraception is a “right” that should be free, he can then divide people of faith against one other and against their own church leaders. He also believes that persuading a few liberal Catholic groups to support his “compromise” ends the discussion. Someone compared this to forcing all Jews to eat pork chops just because some of them don’t keep kosher.

It is long past time that Christian leaders stood up in their pulpits and declared that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote against God. Just imagine if every Bible believing minister in America made that announcement to their congregations the Sunday before the election. Then, try to imagine what a second Obama term might look like." --Doug Patton

Entertaining Saudi Crime Report o' the Day

2012-02-15T21:27:00.002-05:00

You can't make this crap up:

JIZAN – A Hai’a security inspector has been fined SR3,000, six weeks in prison and 120 lashes for marrying more than four women and breaking residency laws. The Hai’a is the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

He married three Saudi women, who are on his identity card, two non-Saudi women who don’t have Iqamas and a non-Saudi who has an Iqama...

It is against Islamic law for a Muslim man to have more than four wives at one time.

...The Administrative Court at the Jizan Board of Grievances in Uhud Al-Masariha gave him 120 lashes for marrying more than four wives... He was also ordered to memorize certain chapters of the Holy Qur’an and study their interpretation. He was also banned from traveling abroad for five years, delivering a speech in the mosque and leading prayers in the mosque.

System Error: No Snark Available At This Time.

Brief Separated-at-birth Interlude

2012-02-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

Former Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams and the late, great Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth in Blue Velvet.

Whatcha think? Any other unconventional SABs?

Top Congressional Foreign Policy Experts Beg Obama Not to Cut Israeli Missile Defense Funding

2012-02-15T20:40:00.001-05:00

Well, this doesn't appear to be good news for the tiny country of Israel.

Two of the House’s top foreign policy voices have petitioned President Obama to reconsider his proposal to reduce U.S. missile defense funding to Israel.

Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Howard McKeon, respectively the chairs of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, jointly write that they are “deeply concerned” over Obama’s “record low support for this vital defense cooperation program,” which was first reported on by the Washington Free Beacon...

For the second straight year, the Obama administration has proposed to reduce the level of funding for Israel’s critical Arrow and David’s Sling defense systems. This despite the president’s repeated declarations that the U.S. has an “iron-clad commitment” to Israel’s security.

In conjunction with Obama's "lead from behind" strategy related to Iran -- which has simply emboldened the Mullahs as they pursue nuclear weapons -- this development is beyond ominous. It's apocalyptic.

Poster o' the Day (actually inspired by a Washington Post article, if you can believe it)

2012-02-15T20:04:00.005-05:00

If you're a Democrat and you've lost the WaPo...

Federal funds flow to clean-energy firms with Obama administration ties

Sanjay Wagle was a venture capitalist and Barack Obama fundraiser in 2008, rallying support through a group he headed known as Clean Tech for Obama.

Shortly after Obama’s election, he left his California firm to join the Energy Department, just as the administration embarked on a massive program to stimulate the economy with federal investments in clean-technology firms.

Following an enduring Washington tradition, Wagle shifted from the private sector, where his firm hoped to profit from federal investments, to an insider’s seat in the administration’s $80 billion clean-energy investment program.

He was one of several players in venture capital, which was providing financial backing to start-up clean-tech companies, who moved into the Energy Department at a time when the agency was seeking outside expertise in the field. At the same time, their industry had a huge stake in decisions about which companies would receive government loans, grants and support.

During the next three years, the department provided $2.4 billion in public funding to clean-energy companies in which Wagle’s former firm, Vantage Point Venture Partners, had invested, a Washington Post analysis found. Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers...

This is raw criminality, plain and simple. People need to go to jail.

Obama Truth Team Unveils Spiffy New Logo

2012-02-15T19:29:00.001-05:00

President Obama is trying to recruit a 2 million member-strong "Truth Team" to ensure that those speaking out against his administration are appropriately dealt with. I'm not kidding.

The Obama campaign is today beginning a new effort to enlist and educate at least 2 million supporters for a “grassroots communications team” they’re calling the Truth Team... “The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama’s record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives,” the campaign said in a statement.

The teams will be first launched in 13 “swing states,” including Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.

Cub Reporter Biff Spackle, in another world exclusive, nabbed photos of the Truth Team's new logo:

The one on the right is for their arm-bands.

In all seriousness, have you ever heard of such a thing? And can there be any doubt as to what Obama meant when he twice mentioned -- in very visible public settings -- the need for "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as our military?

If we don't vote this man out in November, this country is finished.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama “undoubtedly pulled punches in his first term...'

2012-02-15T06:24:00.005-05:00

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

GOP Primary

Obama “undoubtedly pulled punches in his first term...': LI
Santorum Pulls Ahead of Romney Nationwide: Hayward
Time for Newt to Do the Honorable Thing: AmSpec

Nation

The 'Progressive' Legacy: Sowell
Mike Lee: Obama ‘Manifestly Wrong’ on U.S. Constitution: Foundry
Has the Tea Party Peaked?: AT

Obama appointee: citizens have no right to bear arms: DC
Marxist Democrat Schakowsky Slanders Christians: GWP
Obama Has Stranded the Catholic Left: Anchoress

Economy

Obama’s Deficit Spending Over Four Years: $70K per Family: WZ
Obama's 2013 budget destroys the millionaire fantasy: Hayward
Happy Valentine's Day, From the Democrats: Alexa

Black Community Responsible For Its Young People: IBD
Boehner’s Bailout: The Highway to Hell: RS
Government dependency tipping point? Been there, done that: Q&O

Top tax rates could exceed 100 percent under Obama’s Buffett Rule: Peth
Obama Advisor Dreams of a Global Minimum Tax: Hayward
Senate Democrats Muted on Obama Budget: Roll Call

Sebelius Admits ObamaCare Exchanges Aren’t Happening, Then Disqualifies Herself from Office: Cato
Obama to Poor Kids In Rotten Schools: Drop Dead: Hayward
TSA Dallas: Woman Sent Through Scanner Three Times for the “Guys”: VS

Scandal Central

Rep. Issa to Holder, We Want Documents Now, Contempt Charges Still On The Table: BigG
Fast and Furious: Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu Says Holder Has Perjured Himself: BigG
GM Unplugs from Business Realities with Chevy Volt Re-Launch: FuelFix

Climate & Energy

Will Canadian Oil Be For the Lamps of China?: IBD
Tragedy unfolding in Europe – Is U.S. media trying to ignore it?: Ice Age Now
Obama Whines About Gas Prices Forgets to Mention Keystone, Other Projects He Killed: GWP

Media

Obama's New 'Truth Teams' and Web Sites Aren't News at AP, NYT: Blumer
Finally...Truth Team Comics: PJM
Dershowitz: Media Matters Could Cost Obama the Election: BigJ

Is Obama Programing Media Matters Or Is It The Other Way Around? : BigJ
Media Matters memo called for hiring private investigators ‘to look into the personal lives’ of Fox employees: DC
The Media Matters Bombshell (with a Semi-Defense of Ben Smith): VS

BREAKING: IN 1990, according to a line in the Pittsburgh Press...: ProWis
6 in 10 Catholics disapprove of Obama: Exam
Obama's Ohio Attack Dogs: BigG

Another So Called News Journalist Joins The Obama Administration: Glob
Will Congress See the Greek Writing on the Wall?: CDN
FreedomWorks takes Obamacare to Court: FreedomWorks

World

The Obama Defense Strategy Is To Have Less Defense: IBD
Muslim Brotherhood Rep: Our Ultimate Goal Is Establishing a Global Islamic Caliphate: MEMRI
Two 10 Year-Old Suicide Bombers Arrested in Afghanistan: GWP

Michigan: School, police chief shut down talk about sharia law: Creeping
Obama Showers Islamist Radicals With Our Money: MB
Saudi Arabia targets supporters of blogger arrested over Mohammad tweets: Creeping

AP Report: Obama Considering Slashing U.S. Nuclear Force By Up To 80%: WZ
Obama wants to Increase Money to Pakistan: Free Beacon
Obama Tells China He “Welcomes” Their Rise To Power: WZ

Sci-Tech

MIT opens enrollment for its first free, automated online course: GlobPost
Babies understand words from 6 months old, scientists say: Fox
Google Public DNS prevails as the world's largest service: CNet

Cornucopia

Food police bust 4 year-old in NC: Pundette
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, without all the messy blood: MOTUS
Obama's Eligibility Diversion: AT

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

QOTD: "The Occupy movement has me madder than Janet Napolitano's blind date." --Kevin Jackson

BBC: "America's homeless resort to tent cities"

2012-02-14T20:55:00.002-05:00

Of course, America's "journalists" are nowhere to be found.

America's homeless resort to tent cities

...Just off the side of a motorway on the fringes of the picturesque town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a mismatched collection of 30 tents tucked in the woods has become home - home to those who are either unemployed, or whose wages are so low that they can no longer afford to pay rent.

Conditions are unhygienic. There are no toilets and electricity is only available in the one communal tent where the campers huddle around a wood stove for warmth in the heart of winter... Ice weighs down the roofs of tents, and rain regularly drips onto the sleeping campers' faces.

Tent cities have sprung up in and around at least 55 American cities - they represent the bleak reality of America's poverty crisis... There are an estimated 5,000 people living in the dozens of camps that have sprung up across America.

...Unemployment in America today has not reached the astronomical levels of the 1930s, but barring a short spike in 1982, it has not been this high since the Depression era... There are now 13 million unemployed Americans, which is three million more than when President Barack Obama was first elected. ... The stark reality is that many of them are people who very recently lived comfortable middle-class lives.

The real unemployment rate is over 15 percent. Only through obvious, political skulduggery (like disappearing 1.2 million workers from the workforce in a single month) are the headline numbers reporting to be "improving".

And the media -- which is now indistinguishable from the Democrat Party -- laps it right up. And then wonder why their profession is dying.

So soon? House moves a step closer to finding Holder in contempt of Congress

2012-02-14T19:56:00.001-05:00

It's about freaking time.

On Tuesday Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took a major step toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to provide subpoenaed documents and other information about Operation Fast and Furious.

In a Jan. 31 letter, Issa had threatened Holder with such a move if he failed to provide all the subpoenaed documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal by Feb. 9. That deadline has come and gone, and Holder’s Department of Justice still hasn’t provided most of those documents. Issa’s subpoena dates back to Oct. 12, 2011.

...“We cannot wait any longer for the Department’s cooperation,” Issa continued. “As such, please specify a date by which you expect the Department to produce all documents responsive to the subpoena. In addition, please specify a Department representative who will interface with the Committee for production purposes.”

Issa added that whoever Holder designates as the go-to DOJ official for delivering subpoenaed documents “should also serve as the conduit for dealing with the contempt proceedings, should the Department continue to ignore the Committee’s subpoena.”

The California Republican slammed Holder, too, for claiming the congressional investigation into Fast and Furious was a political game for Republicans... “It is ironic that while the Department’s delay tactics have extended this investigation into a presidential election year, you have had the audacity to characterize it as an attempt at ‘headline-grabbing Washington ‘gotcha’ games and cynical political point scoring,’” Issa wrote to Holder on Tuesday.

Issa also attacked Holder for Justice’s failure to comply with Congressional subpoenas. “Had the Department demonstrated willingness to cooperate with this investigation from the outset — instead of attempting to cover up its own internal mismanagement — this investigation likely would have concluded well before the end of 2011. In reality, it is the Department that is playing political gotcha games, instead of allowing a co-equal branch of government to perform its constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch.”

Issa’s letter concluded by warning that Congress will continue to investigate Operation Fast and Furious until responsible parties are held accountable. He pointed to bipartisan support behind efforts to assign responsibility for Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder, for the murders of at least 300 Mexican civilians and, likely, for the murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata.

“This is not an ‘election year political ‘gotcha’ game,’ but rather a bipartisan sentiment,” Issa wrote. “As Ranking Member [Democratic Rep. Elijah] Cummings promised the family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, ‘we will not rest until every single person responsible for all of this, no matter where they are, are brought to justice.’

The House Oversight Committee offers the following summary of their latest request.

The letter outlines lingering unanswered questions about Operation Fast and Furious including:

• Exactly how and when did senior Department officials learn the truth of what happened?

• Did Department officials retaliate against whistleblowers?

• Why did Department officials decide to move forward with prosecuting old cases involving highly objectionable tactics when line prosecutors had refused to do so?

• Why did senior Department officials fail to see the clear connection between Fast and Furious and prior flawed operations they have admitted they knew about?

• When did the Department first learn about Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer's February 2011 suggestion of gunwalking, and why did the Department wait so long before telling Congress about it?

• A year later, will the responsible senior Department officials be held accountable?

I do like the internal title of the House letter (PDF):

Another day, another Obama-funded "green energy" company falls by the wayside

2012-02-14T19:23:00.002-05:00

Please consider juxtaposed headlines number one...

...and number two.

You guessed it: this bankruptcy represents yet another Democrat "Success Story".

I used to maintain the Handy Dandy Energygate Cheat Sheet so I could keep up with the constant diversion of taxpayer dollars to ~~Obama campaign contributors~~ green energy companies with ties back to the administration.

The list grew so long that I've given up. At least for now.

Maybe I should just start a Wikipedia article to make it easier for all of us to keep up-to-date.

Could someone wake up John Boehner? Because it's long past time to impeach Kathleen Sebelius

2012-02-14T19:11:00.002-05:00

The peerless Mark Levin made the point last night. If the House of Representatives had real leadership, it would already be drafting articles of impeachment for HHS Chief Kathleen Sebelius.

...the Obama administration has reversed itself on whether it has enough money to create federal Exchanges in states that decline to create them. The administration has repeatedly claimed that the $1 billion ObamaCare appropriates would cover the federal government’s costs of implementing the law. And yet the president’s new budget proposal requests “another $1 billion” to cover what Sebelius calls “the one-time cost to build the infrastructure, the enrollment piece of [the federal exchange], the IT system that’s needed.”...

In other words... the Obama administration does not have the money it needs to create federal Exchanges. Therefore, if states don’t create them, ObamaCare grinds to a halt. (Oh, and this billion dollars is the last billion the administration will request. Honest.)

Most important, however, is this:

Even if Congress does not grant the president’s request for more health reform funding, Sebelius said her department will find a solution. “We are going to get it done, yes,” she said.

An HHS staffer prevented the reporter from asking Sebelius what she had in mind... This is a remarkable statement. Sebelius basically just copped to a double-subversion of the Constitution: Congress appropriates money for X, but not Y. Sebelius says, “I know better than Congress. I’m going to take money away from X to fund Y.” Sebelius has already shown contempt for the First Amendment, first by threatening insurance carriers with bankruptcy for engaging in non-fraudulent speech, and again by crafting a contraceptives mandate that violates religious freedom. Now, she has decided the whole separation of powers thing is for little people. What will Sebelius do the next time something gets in the way of her implementing ObamaCare?

We know what she'll do. She'll spit on the Constitution.

Could someone tell me what the hell John Boehner is doing as Speaker? The president is violating the Constitution left and right as he bankrupts America. His attorney general is, in the estimation of some law enforcement officials, perjuring himself in the process of orchestrating a massive cover-up of an illegal gun-running operation. And his HHS Secretary has basically laid a dukie on the House Speaker's head.

Which is the term Boehner prefers, I hear.

John Boehner needs to go. He's about as useful as you-know-whats on a bull. Which really overstates his usefulness.

Larwyn's Linx: Michigan: Santorum 39, Romney 24, Paul 12, Gingrich 11

2012-02-14T06:24:00.009-05:00

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

GOP Primary

Michigan: Santorum 39, Romney 24, Paul 12, Gingrich 11: WS
The Underestimation of Rick Santorum: RS
Rick Santorum Takes First National Lead: RSM

Santorum Leads in Michigan: PolWire
When Romney Praised Obamacare: PolWire
Is Mitt Romney A Serial Liar?: PunditWire

Nation

"Squid Ink": The HHS mandate is already law: Pundette
The Liberal Uses of Race: Sultan Knish
Notre Dame to Obama: HHS Mandate 'Can Not Stand': GWP

Obama: In the Footsteps of Twentieth Century Despots: AT
AttackWatch II: Obama’s Goon Squads Launch “Truth Teams”: JWF
Obama’s Attack Watch returns as … “Truth Team”: Hot Air

Economy

Obama's 2013 Budget: A Monument To Irresponsibility: IBD
Dem Rep. on Obama Budget: 'A Nervous Breakdown on Paper': JWF
More Obama Budget Buffoonery: CDN

Failed President to Unveil “Job Training” Program: JWF
Economy recovering in spite of Obama: Exam
Obama’s IRS to Target Charter Schools?: CDN

Even Politico calling Obama's budget 'Borderline Delusional': Cove
White House Underestimated 2012 Deficit by $769.5B--or 138 Percent: CNS
Michigan Teachers Instruct Elementary Students To Write Letters Criticizing Budget Cuts: SAB

Obama’s ‘rosy’ budget scenario doubles down on class warfare: Peth
President’s Budget Shows Feds Can’t Create ObamaCare ‘Exchanges’: Cato
Obama Requests $1 Billion…To Get Right Names on Social Security Checks: BigG

Scandal Central

Fast And Furious Gun Control Plot Was Widely Known: IBD
Solyndra Tip of Iceberg: Tens of Billions Yet to Come: MagNote
Media Silent As Mexico Arrests Key Figure In Fast and Furious: BigJ

Climate & Energy

Obama Budget Kills $8K/Yr. DC Scholarships, But Ups Subsidies For Chevy Volts To $10K Apiece: HayRide
Obama Proposes Nearly $90 Billion in Tax Hikes on Energy Producers: ATR
Shocker: dirty electric cars: Watts

Media

Remember when no one understood why ABC asked about contraception at the NH GOP debate?: LI
'Non-Partisan,' Tax-Exempt 'Media Watchdog' Organization Has... Weekly Strategy Session With White House: Ace
GOP discovers Obama's Achille's Heel: Just Let Him Do What He Wants: ZH

Non-shocker of the morning: Soros monkeys coordinate with Democrats: Malkin
The War on Life: JPA
National Review to Newt: Get Out: Hot Air

Is the White House manipulating the media through Media Matters?: Hot Air
Obama Chief Of Staff: "American People Should Be Pleased" That Economy Is Improving: RCP
Jim Cramer: Obamacare is going to derail economy: Exam

The CPAC 2012 Experience: 43 Pictures: RWN
CPAC: Observations From a Rookie: MenRec
Krauthammer on Obama’s Budget: “Truly Scandalous”: GWP

World

Breaking: Iran’s ‘Fordow’ Nuke Plant Now Fully Operational: Kahlili
Saudi Arabia Gives Israel Clear Skies to Attack Iranian Nuke Sites: Fox
Bombs target Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia; 2 injured: WaPo

Greece Goes Cold Turkey: Q&O
The Silent Victims of the U.S.-China Currency War: USN&WR
Obama proposes $800 million in aid for "Arab Spring": Reuters

Clinton: We need Assad's consent to put troops in Syria: ForPol
Must Watch Video: Douglas Murray on Israel and a nuclear Iran: TPC
5 people wounded in 3 explosions in Thai capital: AP

Sci-Tech

President’s 2013 Budget Hits Planetary Science Hard: Wired
Army doctor develops breast cancer vaccine: ArmyTimes
Tech lament, who are the iDiots behind iTunes for Windows 7?: WyBlog

Why I quit Facebook: Post
AT&T customers surprised by 'unlimited data' limit: AP
How To Reduce Eye Strain While You Read, Work And Watch: Consumerist

Cornucopia

Moonbat Tech: Eco-Friendly Mobile Home: Moonbattery
Photos - CPAC 2012: Urban Infidel
Messageless: Occupy protesters demand Al-Jazeera on Cable TV in Philly: Marathon

Image: The CPAC 2012 Experience: 43 Pictures, by John Hawkins
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Rick Santorum for President

QOTD: "...according to family members, by the end of his life Osama bin Laden was telling his family to “Go to Europe and America and get a good education.”

What? The great Islamic umma, center of global culture and light of the world has no universities where the children of the Great Jihadi can get a decent education? The clueless, hell-bound infidels of Europe and America make the Sons of the True Faith look incompetent and backward on the vital matter of educating the young? It isn’t enough to sit on a dirt floor in Pakistan memorizing the Koran and learning how to wear a suicide bomb vest?
But what about the obligation to take up the cause of jihad and violence and crush the evil doers in the West?

Never mind about all that, Osama supposedly told his children and grandchildren. “Do not follow me down the road to jihad,” he said. “You have to study and live in peace and don’t do what I am doing or what I have done."" --Walter Russell Mead

Pew: Santorum Passes Romney Nationally

2012-02-13T21:09:00.003-05:00

It's Mitt Romney's worst nightmare: a true conservative that has energized the small-government wing of the Republican Party.

Rick Santorum’s support among Tea Party Republicans and white evangelicals is surging, and he now has pulled into a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. In polling conducted Feb. 8-12, 30% of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters favor Santorum while 28% favor Romney. As recently as a month ago, Romney held a 31% to 14% advantage over Santorum among all GOP voters.

Santorum is now the clear favorite of Republican and GOP-leaning voters who agree with the Tea Party, as well as white evangelical Republicans. Currently, 42% of Tea Party Republican voters favor Santorum, compared with just 23% who back Romney. Santorum holds an almost identical advantage among white evangelical Republican voters (41% to 23%)...

...Three months ago, a slim majority (53%) of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said Mitt Romney was a strong conservative. Today, 42% see him this way, while the number who say he is not a strong conservative has jumped from 33% to 50%.

This growing skepticism about Romney’s conservatism is most pronounced among Tea Party Republicans. Among Republican and Republican-leaning voters who agree with the Tea Party, just 29% say Romney is a strong conservative, down from 51% three months ago. Fully 68% of Tea Party Republicans say Romney is not a strong conservative...

Santorum is a Constitutional conservative praised by Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin -- to name but a few -- and, most importantly, is a man who has stood by his principles through thick and thin.

He didn't cut and run when he backed the surge in Iraq. He didn't shrink from leading a successful entitlement reform (the 1996 Welfare Reform Act). He's voted the right way on almost every important issue for conservatives.

If you have an extra five-spot (or ten of 'em), Rick Santorum can use your support.

Hat tip: Memeorandum.

J. Wellington Obama's Official Budget

2012-02-13T20:46:00.005-05:00

J. Wellington Wimpy -- better known simply as "Wimpy" -- was Popeye's recurring sidekick in the long-running cartoon series.

And Wimpy had a motto that could just as well be President Obama's:

"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today"
As Cato explains, Obama's budgets consist of tax hikes now, with spending cuts and accounting gimmicks sometime... in... teh... future.

We’ve become so used to these unfathomable levels of deficits and debt—and to the once-rare concept of trillions of dollars—that we forget how new all this debt is. In 1981, after 190 years of federal spending, the national debt was “only” $1 trillion. Now, just 30 years later, it’s past $15 trillion...

As ATR points out, the "Obama Plan Uses Budget Gimmickry To Mask Explosive Spending":

• The budget continues to call for spending at historic levels: the request sets spending for the fiscal year at $3.8 trillion and projects $47 trillion in spending over the next ten years

• Holds spending at 23 percent of [GDP] the next ten years, two percent higher than its historical average

• Uses totally dishonest accounting: the President claims to include $4 trillion in deficit reduction. These supposed cuts include $1.6 trillion in tax hikes and $900 billion in war spending the President plans to plow back into infrastructure spending

• Repeats failed “stimulus” spending: For the third year in a row, the plan looks to create a permanent Infrastructure Bank with $350 billion in new spending. The budget also requests $500 billion for a transportation package while shifting Highway Trust Fund spending to mandatory accounts, ensuring its insolvency for posterity

• Continues practice of extending Medicare providers payments without offsetting the $438 billion in spending with cuts elsewhere

• The budget only addresses 40 percent of the government spending problem: the President bankrupts the entitlement programs by once again refusing to confront the nation’s largest debt-drivers

• Fails to take into account the coming costs of the government takeover of healthcare and financial regulatory overhaul. Instead, the President’s budget claims zero effect for supposed cost-saving mechanisms, such as the implementation of the Obamacare Independent Payment Advisory Board

James Pethokoukis summarizes some of the most important changes for the average worker and small businessman:

• The top income rate [for individuals and most small businesses] would be raised to 39.6 percent vs. 35 percent today... [Ed: well, that should help hiring.]

• Between now the end of a second Obama term, Obama proposes $707 billion in “net deficit reduction proposals.” Of that amount, only 16 percent is spending cuts.

• The capital gains rate would rise to 25.0 percent (including the Obamacare surtax and deduction phase out) from 15 percent today... [Ed: well, that should help investments.]

• The double-tax on corporate profits (including dividends) would increase to 64 percent based on the statutory corporate tax rate (58 percent using the effective tax rate), easily the highest among advanced economies... [Ed: well, that should help hiring.]

...Higher taxes, more spending, more debt, and no long-term entitlement reform plan. Hmm, this isn’t a rosy scenario at all. It’s actually a pretty bleak one.

The problem on Capitol Hill is spending, catastrophic levels of debt and an impending fiscal collapse. And we need another wave of real conservatives -- not RINOs and certainly not Democrats -- to continue turning the tide. Because the feckless John Boehner ain't cutting it.

Epic fail for the electric car crowd: researchers find that electric vehicles are far worse for public health than real cars

2012-02-13T19:47:00.002-05:00

Even assuming electric cars worked effectively (which they don't), the eco-tards' whiny shrieks for plug-in vehicles make, oh, about as much sense as the rest of their agenda.

Report Finds Electric Cars in China Worse for Public Health

Electric cars are often assumed to be better for the environment and therefore better for public health.

A study by the University of Tennessee of electric vehicles in China, however, found that when you factor in where and how the energy for those vehicles is produced, the result is actually worse for public health when compared to gas-powered cars...

...According to new research from the University of Tennessee, electric cars in China have had an overall worse impact on the public health with regard to releasing particulate matter compared to those guzzling gas. The research conducted by Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, and graduate student Shuguang Ji, evaluated 34 major Chinese cities where electric vehicles, including bikes, outnumber conventional vehicles 2:1. Their research states that the number of electric cars have grown to more than 100 million in the country in the last decade...

...Cherry says his study clearly shows that electric vehicles aren’t the zero-emission savior many expect them to be... “I think electric vehicles have a lot of promise, but I’m not an evangelist,” he says. “There are these electric cars out there touting themselves as being emission free, but you and I both know that’s not true.”

Oh, and don't assume the researchers are just talking about China. While they didn't study the U.S. directly, a huge portion of our electricity is produced by coal. Therefore, it's safe to say that we have many of the same challenges.

Consider this Exhibit 18,036 for my new book entitled The Inevitable Result of Central Planning: Epic failure, Democrat-style.

When the free market's ready for electric cars, the free market will produce electric cars. Not a minute before nor a minute after.

Schmucks.

Hat tip: BadBlue.com.

Obama Unveils Family Togetherness Plan: Economy Sucks So Bad That a Record Number of Adults Are Moving In With Their Parents

2012-02-13T19:32:00.004-05:00

Had Democrats known their wanton destruction of the economy would bring so many families together, it's likely they would've toned down the reckless deficit spending and regulations a bit.

According to a report released today by Pew Research, most Americans believe the young have been hardest hit by the Obama economic failures, nearly one quarter young adults aged 18-34 have been forced to move back in with their parents.

For some, tough economic times have had an impact on their personal life as well. Roughly a quarter of adults ages 18 to 34 (24%) say that, due to economic conditions, they have moved back in with their parents in recent years after living on their own. Among those ages 25 to 29, the share moving back home rises to 34%. Most adults under age 25 are enrolled in school at least part time (46% are full-time students). By age 25, the majority are out of school, but jobs and housing can be hard to come by, and many “boomerang” back home.
The lesson here, of course, is that you should never tell your parents that you hate living with them, because you’ll probably end up back there, eating your words and helping to chop beans with a dull knife.

To be fair, the real lesson for young people is that voting Democrat means voting for your own economic destruction -- through massive, centralized government; unchecked deficit spending (which you'll have to pay for... plus interest); and complete disregard by government for the rule of law and the civil society.

To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, the problem with Democrats is that eventually they run out of other people's money to spend.

Larwyn's Linx: A Historical Perspective On Religion and HHS Mandates

2012-02-13T06:15:00.006-05:00

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

Nation

A Historical Perspective On Religion and HHS Mandates: Howing
Why Democrats Fear Ultrasound and Photo ID: CDN
Bungling Bundlers: NRO

Kathleen Sebelius Praises Abortion Accounting Trick: MB
DHS Gives Muslim Brotherhood Top Secret Clearance: NoisyRm
Obama Reelection Campaign Trying To Make Him “Cool” Again: WZ

GOP Primary

CPAC's winners and losers: Politico
Romney Wins Maine Caucus: Ace
Three Cheers against Romney Care: RWN

Economy

School Choice Lowers Crime: Cato
Do you enjoy paying other people's cell phone bills?: Althouse
'Ordering Private Companies to Offer a Product for Free’: WS

White House Lies to Dodge Responsibility for Budget: Power Line
Obama Budget: Stimulus, Tax Hikes And Accounting Gimmicks: WZ
Do U.S. Corporations Pay Their ‘Fair Share?’: BigG

Why Car Insurers Don’t Cover Oil Changes: SAB
We Cannot Have A Fair, Merit Based Process: DailyPundit
Lew misleads on Senate budget reality: Events

Total Chaos; Riots Rage; Athens Resembles War Zone: Mish
Athens Burning: Tens of Banks in Flames: Mish
China Banks to Roll Over $1.7T in Debt to Avoid Mass Default: Mish

Scandal Central

Issa Blinks, No Contempt Charges for Holder: BigGovt
Will DOE’s Fisker Doubts Take Down Its Battery Supplier Too?: NLPC
Many Unanswered Questions Surround Fisker Layoffs: NLPC

Media

The Truman Gambit: All About the Headlines: Elephant
Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows: Ricochet
CBS Highlights Catholic Democrat Alienated by Obama Contraception Mandate: NB

Pew: Record High 67% See Political Bias in News Media: NB
CNN ~~Journalist~~ Employee Asks George Soros to Create Super PAC to Help Obama: Ace
Ted Nugent against Piers Morgan is hardly a fair fight : MB

Inside Media Matters: Erratic behavior, close coordination with White House and news organizations: DC
CNN Tilts East, Fires 4 Jewish Journalists in Jerusalem: AT
Barack’s Smug Assault on Freedom of Religion Isn’t Just Anti-American—It’s Unforgivable: CFP

World

Obama: Soldiers in Afghanistan Must Be Fired Upon to Receive Combat Pay: BigPeace
Saudis used Interpol's "red notice" system to track down columnist who insulted Muhammad: JihadWatch
Alabama: Muslim pleads guilty in plot to kill Obama…for Islam: Creeping

Bin Laden Gave Up on Jihad: Mead
It begins: Muslims in Maldives smash Buddhist statues in National Museum: JihadWatch
Greek parliament approves crucial austerity bill after riots rage in Athens: WaPo

‘Insulting’ Mo on Twitter Now Punishable by Death: JWF
Hamas PM Vows To Crowd of 30,000 Iranians: “We Will Never Recognize Israel”: WZ
I think You Forgot About That Internal Popup Window, Delta Interwebs Guy: JTZS

Sci-Tech

New study finds hovering airplanes could become a reality; Military use possible: StateCol
The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde: It’s Evolution, Stupid: Wired
Apple Sues Samsung For 'Slide-To-Unlock' And Other Ludicrous iPhone Patent Violations: Insider

Cornucopia

"Find a Need and Fill It": AmDigest
CPAC 2012 Blog Awards: Capitalist Preservation
Investigation finds cops among Florida's worst speeders: SunSent

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

QOTD: "We need a condom on this administration." --Mark Levin (MP3).

Highlights: the Cato Institute Eviscerates Obamacare's Individual Mandate

2012-02-12T20:55:00.003-05:00

Among many Amici Curiae ("Friend of the Court") briefs filed during the Obamacare fight, the Cato Institute's (PDF) is among the most interesting and powerful. Its highlights are well worth reading.

Question Presented

Can a limited government to whom a free people have delegated only certain enumerated powers commandeer that people into purchasing a product from a private business pursuant to its power to pass laws “necessary and proper for carrying into execution” the authority to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several States”?

Summary of Argument

The individual mandate exceeds Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce under existing doctrine. The outermost bounds of this Court’s Commerce Clause jurisprudence—the “substantial effects” doctrine—stop Congress from reaching intrastate non-economic activity regardless of its effect on the economy. Nor can Congress compel someone to engage in commerce, even if it purports to do so as part of a broader regulatory scheme.

The Constitution does not permit Congress to conscript citizens into economic transactions to remedy the admitted shortcomings—which the government usually terms “necessities”—of a hastily assembled piece of legislation...

...Although the Necessary and Proper Clause allows Congress to execute its regulatory authority over interstate commerce, it is not a blank check permitting Congress to ignore constitutional limits by manufacturing necessities and commandeering citizens to do its bidding... The individual health insurance mandate is not constitutionally warranted simply because it is “necessary” to make other legislation function properly. Indeed, any law “necessary” or otherwise—that purports to compel otherwise inactive citizens to engage in economic activity is unconstitutional.

While the government emphasizes the “uniqueness” of the healthcare market and the wisdom of the legislation, “this case is not about whether the Act is wise or unwise…in fact, it is not really about our healthcare system at all. It is principally about our federalist system, and it raises very important issues regarding the Constitutional role of the federal government.

...Moreover, what Congress is trying to do here is literally unprecedented, as recognized even by the lower courts that ruled for the government. “Congress has never exercised its commerce power in this way, and nothing suggests that this tradition reflects 200 years of self-restraint.” ... “The Government concedes the novelty of the mandate and the lack of any doctrinal limiting principles.”

The Congressional Budget Office agrees: “The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States." Nor has Congress ever before imposed on everyone a civil penalty for declining to participate in the market. And never before have courts had to consider such a breathtaking assertion of power under the Commerce Clause. Even in Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942), the federal government claimed “merely” the power to regulate what farmers grew, not to mandate that people become farmers, much less to force people to purchase farm products. Even if not purchasing health insurance is considered an “economic activity”—which of course would mean that every aspect of human life is economic activity—there is no constitutional warrant for Congress to force Americans to enter the marketplace to buy a particular good or service...

...The explicit purpose of Article I is to grant Congress certain enumerated powers and then strictly limit them. James Madison, the architect of our system of government, famously observed that “[i]n framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

...Thus, Article I gives Congress only certain legislative powers “herein granted,” Articles II and III check those powers, and the Tenth Amendment emphasizes that all other powers remain with those who breathed life into the new government in the first place: the sovereign “people of the United States.” The Framers believed that limiting federal power, and reserving the “residual” power in the hands of the states and the people would help “ensure protection of our fundamental liberties” and “reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse.”

...Given the Framers’ clear intent to establish a limited government of enumerated powers, it is unsurprising that this Court has consistently reaffirmed that the federal government does not enjoy a general police power. ... The Court should not now break with this well established and foundational American principle.

It is both telling and tragic that our hopes for individual sovereignty in this country now rest in the hands of one or two individuals on the Supreme Court.

And if Obama is reelected, he will likely have the chance to further stuff the court with doctrinaire radicals like Elena Kagan. And this Republic would be doomed.

Under what authority does the EPA now regulate family farms?

2012-02-12T18:42:00.002-05:00

If you have a farm and store fuel for your equipment on the premises, well, you've got a new partner for your business. It's called the EPA. Please consider this delightful warning from The Billings Gazette:

EPA moves to prevent fuel spills on farms

At Nedens farms, the price of fuel is no small matter. The family business north of Hardin burns through more than 60,000 gallons of diesel a year.

So, when the opportunity arises to save a few pennies a gallon, the Nedens pounce, usually by buying an entire fuel truck's worth of diesel at a time.

"Obviously, if you buy a whole tanker load of fuel, it's going to be substantially lower," Brett Nedens said of the price. "I think I can save about 20 cents a gallon. Obviously if you can load it at the refinery, it costs a lot less."

The savings add up for Nedens and other farmers, who save about $20,000 a year buying bulk. But now they'll have to weigh that savings against the costs of complying with federal regulations...

The Natural Resources and Conservation Service also has begun offering Montana farmers help both with the costs of designing the plan and also construction costs, said Tim Ouellette of NRCS in Bozeman. NRCS is getting involved because it would like plans that not only address risks to rivers and streams, but also groundwater.

Is there anything that this federal monstrosity doesn't have their claws in? Light bulbs, toilet tanks, shower heads, fuel tanks, fuel mileage, health care, soft drinks, alcohol, water... anything and everything you could possibly imagine.

This nation's founders would be sickened by how thoroughly disconnected this Beltway Leviathan is from our nation's highest law, the Constitution. And just about every government failure you can think of -- from the deficit to Obamacare -- has its roots in the Democrats' 100-year war on the Constitution.

Good news: 1 in 5 Americans now dependent on government assistance (not including public sector employees)

2012-02-12T15:33:00.004-05:00

Hey, check it out, kids: it's another Obama record!

The number of Americans dependent on the federal government has exploded over the past five years, reaching a record 67.3 million people, according to Heritage’s annual Index of Dependence on Government. That means 1 in 5 Americans (21.8 percent) today receive some level of assistance from the federal government.

This week’s chart — one of 15 featured in this year’s report — depicts the percentage of the U.S. population who receive government assistance and the total number of individuals who are dependent on the federal government.

Fifty years ago, before President Lyndon Johnson created the Great Society programs, some 21.7 million people (or 11.7 percent of the population) received assistance through government programs that existed at the time. The number increased sharply in the 1960s and 1970s before falling in the 1990s. Recently, however, it has skyrocketed.

I think this chart must be racist or something.

Or it could just be that this country is headed for fiscal collapse unless we reverse course ASAP.

If Obama gets reelected, "the Second Amendment is finished"

2012-02-12T11:28:00.002-05:00

Facts, history and logic never get in the way of a liberal:

While 49 other states have ratified Concealed Carry laws, Illinois is diligently working to track and punish their own citizens for exercising their Constitutional rights. If Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has his way, gun owners will not only be tracked in the same manner as sex offenders, but will be slapped with a repeating $65 fee…for each gun.

According to the Chicago Sun Times,

Emanuel’s proposal would require all handgun owners to obtain a certificate of registration from the State Police for every handgun they own — at a cost of $65-per-weapon — and to renew that registration every five years.

They would be required to provide: their name, address and telephone number; the manufacturer of the gun, its model type and serial number; and the date and source of the purchase.

Whenever a handgun is sold, the seller would be required to report the sale to the State Police “no less than 48 hours prior to delivery.” Handgun buyers would have 20 days to file for a new certificate of registration. Anyone caught carrying or possessing an unregistered handgun would face a Class 2 felony.

If gun owners cannot afford to pay the $65 fee for each gun they must turn their guns in to local law enforcement for destruction. Punishment for not complying is a Class 2 Felony. How unfortunate for the rest of the good people of Illinois to have the scourge of Chicago in their state. And this fresh on the heels of signing a check for $399,950 to the Second Amendment Foundation after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chicago’s ban on handguns…because it was unconstitutional.

How does this apply to the rest of the country? As the NRA's Wayne LaPierre warned last week, Obama's former chief of staff Emanuel is simply setting a template for the president should he be reelected.

A top official with the National Rifle Association said Friday that President Obama will move to "destroy" gun rights and "erase" the Second Amendment if he is re-elected in November...

..."We see the president's strategy crystal clear: Get re-elected and, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms' freedom, erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the U.S. Constitution."

Mr. LaPierre said the president's two Supreme Court appointees — Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan— are "two of the most rabid anti-gun justices in history." He also accused Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of being a foe of gun rights.

And with the possibility of two or more Supreme Court justice positions opening during the next four years, the NRA official warned that gun ownership would be in jeopardy if Mr. Obama stays in office... "If we get one more like those three, the Second Amendment is finished..."

As Jim Hoft reminds us, gun control has failed: "During the years in which the D.C. handgun ban and trigger lock law was in effect, the Washington, D.C. murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law, while the U.S. murder rate averaged 11% lower."

It's not about gun control, it's about government control over you, the individual.

Shhh. No one tell legacy media that a huge battle is raging in Britain to privatize the National Health Service

2012-02-12T10:38:00.002-05:00

The failures of England's National Health Service (NHS) are well known throughout Europe. Of course, as Congressional Democrats and President Obama rammed through their own takeover of the health care industry here in the U.S., legacy media was careful to ignore all of the headlines from abroad.

The often-horrific levels of health care delivered by the NHS became so controversial that the current debate is over how much should be privatized. That's right: the DMV-like NHS will inevitably be dismantled in favor of private health care.

Because government-run health care can't work, won't work and hasn't ever worked in all of human history.

Almost two years in the making, the once eye-catching plan to take the axe to the NHS's bloated bureaucracy and hand power to family doctors has become a metaphor for Mr Cameron's worst failings as Prime Minister – lack of attention to detail, a hands-off management style, misplaced loyalty to old friends and a deep-rooted belief that shouting at the Despatch Box will silence one's critics.

...There has also been the lack of consistency; where once ministers boasted of having the professional bodies signed up and on board, they now claim angry and almost universal opposition is an inevitable outcome of radical reform. What was once hailed as the biggest change in the NHS for 60 years is now being represented as a logical, small-scale continuation of Blairite reforms. In July 2010, Mr Lansley boldly declared that "people voted for change" – which doesn't sit well with his pre-election promise of no more top-down reorganisations.

...In a sign of the fiasco at the heart of the Government, it is now the Liberal Democrats who speak most warmly about the legislation, having rewritten large passages in a coup led by Baroness Williams. The Lib Dems are furious after working hard behind the scenes to be constructive. "The Tories are flip-flopping all over the place," says one. "Cameron is panicking about local elections in May," says another, adding pointedly: "It is very much their Bill."

This, my friends, is the future of health care here in the U.S.

No lack of coverage, but deadly lack of health care. Rationing. Horror stories. Begging your representatives for treatment for yourself or your family members.

Until it all finally collapses. Just like the NHS.

Related: State-run Health Care, By the Numbers.

Larwyn's Linx: Rick Santorum Takes National Lead In PPP Poll By 15

2012-02-12T07:56:00.003-05:00

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

GOP Primary

Rick Santorum Takes National Lead In PPP Poll By 15: Ace
Romney Wins CPAC Straw Poll: WZ
Santorum takes national lead over Romney: Politico

Consultant in Chief: Reason
Marco Rubio wins CPAC 2012 Vice President straw poll: FAM
Romney beats Paul to win the Maine Caucuses: Scoop

Nation

Gutting the Bill of Rights, one Amendment at a time: AT
Good. And. Hard: Cold Fury
New Yorkers paid to commit vote fraud: Publius

Barack Obama, Money Machine: Power Line
Muslims Exempt From ObamaCare?: MB
Allen West Responds to Being Called a ‘Coward’: Shark

The Church Rejects Obama’s Birth Control Deal: Dossier
Washington Still Flunks Education After So Many Years: IBD
Rahm Exposes Obama's Intentions: Radical Gun Control: GWP

Economy

Democrats Failure To Pass Budget Is Illegal: IBD
Do These Numbers Make My Deficit Look Fat?: Mead
Obama economic plan making more people move back in with their parents: NakedDC

Walker's courageous conservatism: Exam
Poll: Minnesota voters support right to work… 55/24: Hot Air
Obama To Pitch Lower Corporate Tax Rate Sometime In The Future: Cove

Scandal Central

Friday Night "Fast & Furious" Document Dump, and Obama's Great Compromise: Ace
Sheriff Paul Babeau: Fast and Furious scandal is far from over: Hot Air
Half of illegal-immigrant arrests in Frederick for traffic offenses: Exam

Climate & Energy

Keystone XL oil going to China: IBD
Why is GM Spending Millions to Re-Hype the Chevy Volt?: NLPC
UN Bosses Secretly Plot Global Govt Through “Green Economy" for Rio+20: NewAm

Thanks Barack… Three West Virginia Coal Plants to Close: GWP
Obama-Volt 2012!
Pseudo-Science Laid Bare: Cold Fury

Media

Hating Breitbart: ConTreehouse
Picture of Obama and his Ex: Blogmocracy
Top Leftist Blog: Obama Must Quash Religious Freedom to Save Earth From Global Warming: GWP

Krauthammer: Israel ‘will strike’ Iran to ‘prevent a second holocaust’: DC
Pew: Record High 67% See Political Bias in News Media: NB
Santorum Nomination ‘Completely Terrifies’ Economist Magazine’s Economics Editor: NB

Drip, drip, drip…the sound of our liberty leaking away: Dewey
Great Minds Must Think Alike?: HyScience
The Hot Air Santorum interview: Hot Air

World

Report: Interpol Helps Saudis Arrest Journalist in Malaysia for Insulting Mohammed: McCarthy
The firm that hijacked the NHS: DailyMail
Schaeuble warns Greek promises no longer suffice: Reuters

Sci-Tech

Instead of Marketing, Businesses Should Use Social Media for Customer Support: Insider
Using iPad as...: The Cleverest
Apple seeks U.S. ban on Galaxy Nexus: CNet

Cornucopia

Historic Facepalm: The Tacky O’s Tour of the White House: MB
Earliest manuscript of the New Testament discovered?: Wintery Knight
What Fresh Hell is This?: MOTUS

Whitney Houston Dead at 48... Last Known Photos of Whitney... Bobby Brown Sobs on Stage: GWP
Wasted Youth: BS Footprint
"Facebook Parenting:" 3 Days, 15 Million Views, 100,000 Comments: AmDigest

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

QOTD: "From running up trillions in debt and deficit, to the vast expansion of the size and scope of federal bureaucracy, Mr. Obama has done more in three years to supplant our 236 year-old Constitutional Republic with a Euro-style socialist autocracy – than a lesser Marxist could have accomplished in a lifetime.

But controlling the purse strings is not nearly enough. A central element of full-blown secular-socialism is the suppression of religious liberty – principally, freedom of conscience.

Karl Marx once said: “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.”

When Karl Marx speaks, Barack Obama listens." --J. Matt Barber

Chinese Plutocrats Hire Migrant Workers to Wait in Line for New iPhone 4; Thomas Friedman Hardest Hit

2012-02-11T22:53:00.003-05:00

Thomas Friedman (pronounced: fried - man) is a Marxist New York Times hack who simply loves China's form of government.

"There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today. One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century." --Thomas Friedman

Yep, that's right: Friedman's pining for a totalitarian form of fascism.

To put it in the kindest terms.

So I'm sure this despicable human being will be ecstatic to hear how China's plutocrats are spending their money:

On January 13th, Apple’s new iPhone 4S was finally made available for purchase in China。By 7PM, over one thousands eager customers were lined up outside Beijing’s two official Apple Inc. retail stores, in Sanlitun and Xidan. The crowd was made up of a large number of migrant workers from Hebei province and Beijing’s Daxing...

...By 7pm, the crowd outside of the Xidan location had surpassed 1,000 people. This number includes the Apple store’s staff as well as police officers that were dispatched by the city government to maintain order at the scene.

...As the day went on, the crowd grew. Tensions rose when the clock struck 8pm and the promised dinner was still nowhere to be seen. Around the same time, it became evident that the number of Apple employees was insufficient to provide for the needs of the hundreds waiting in line. Some began to worry that after already waiting in line for a full day, they would still be unable to get their hands on the new cell phone.

The situation further intensified when those hired to wait in line began to worry that they would not be compensated for their hours of waiting, knowing that their pay was conditional upon whether or not they produced the iPhone 4s. Some began to abort the plan and headed home, still leaving several hundreds committed to waiting in line...

Someday I hope that Friedman, Sean Penn, Samuel L. Jackson -- and the rest of the clueless, incredibly wealthy freaks who take America for granted -- will get to experience life as a migrant in China.

Just for a couple of years. Or ten.

Such a lesson might help them better appreciate America, because they obviously don't have a semblance of a clue right now. They take their stunning wealth for granted, when the default condition for man is poverty, misery and an all-powerful government that suppresses individual liberty and expression. Kind of like being a migrant in the PRC.

Friedman and his ilk are disgraceful schmucks.

Related: Thomas Friedman Has a Plan for Managing the Climate, the Economy and More!.

Must-Read Transcript -- Breitbart at CPAC: This Is Not Your Mother's Democratic Party

2012-02-11T20:55:00.001-05:00

Transcript by Biff Spackle, Junior Cub Reporter:

Right now, my Twitter feed is already calling me a big fat homosexual. Hello, children at home. No, your Dad's not gay. That's how the Left rolls.

Everybody asks me: why do you retweet? Why do you do that? ...In fact, there's probably no one in the world I respect more than Professor Hugh Hewitt and the other day he took me aside. He said, "I don't think you should do that, Andrew." Well, Professor Hewitt, on this issue I disagree.

Because they've held over our heads -- with contempt -- the false narrative of their innate tolerance. The least tolerant people you'll ever meet in your entire lives -- I know it, I live it every day. And I retweet it to remind them that I know exactly who they are.

...This is my war cry for 2012. You need to join me in my war against the institutional left.

This is not your mother's Democratic Party... duh! John Podesta and George Soros? This is not your mother's Democratic Party You know whose party it is? ...I have a thesis about who we're fighting against on the hard left... [In college] I had no idea these [left-wing academics] people were actually serious about the malarkey they were teaching. The post-structuralist, politically correct garbage.

Unfortunately in 2004, the radical Left [executed] a coup d'etat of the Democratic Party. And basically kicked a person -- that four years was called 'the standard-bearer of decency in the Democratic Party'. And that person was Joe Lieberman.

That was the end of the Democratic Party. And in 2010, the DLC went under.

There's no such thing as a moderate Democrat. And so what do we get now, in Barack Obama?

In this election we're going to vet him

I've got videos, by the way, and in this election we're going to vet him. I've got videos. This election we're going to vet him. From his college days, to show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what 'hope and change' was sold in 2008.

The videos are going to come out. The narrative is going to come out: that Barack Obama met a bunch of silver pony-tails [left wing academics] back in the 1980s, like Bill [Ayers] and Bernadine Dohrn who said "one day, we're going to have the presidency.'

And the rest of us slept while they plotted and they plotted and they plotted. And they oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in the Annenberg Challenge, from real capitalists, who gave it to their children and their children's children [who] then became communists. We've got to work on that...

Barack Obama is a radical and we should not be afraid to say it. And Barack Obama was launched from Bill and Bernadine's salon... it became self-evident to me that [Obama enjoyed] many a meal there... And don't tell me, ABC, CBS and NBC that I can't posit that theory, because it is a self-evident truth. Just like it was a self-evident truth that he was with Jeremiah Wright. And just as it was a self-evident truth that when he was at Harvard, he was advocating for the worst of the worst to join the faculty. Radicals. Radicals at "Beirut on the Charles".

And that who's in the White House. And that's who's outside right now [the Occupy movement] telling you that you don't have a right to be here. They would squelch your free speech just as easily as they do at Harvard, Vassar, Yale, Wesleyan - they're a bunch of totalitarian freaks.

The media can no longer be called objective journalists

And they pal around with our friends in the mainstream media. I always thought the media leaned to the left... but when they act like a Provost at a politically correct university and tell people to shut up, [then] no longer can they be called objective journalists. They're playing for the other side.

They've been part of demonizing good and decent people. They tried to defeat the Tea Party and when they failed, just like when they tried to create a [leftist] Rush Limbaugh and they failed with Air America, they want what they can't have. They wanted what they could not have and what did they create?

They created the "Occupy Movement". What is the Occupy Movement, you may ask? It's a natural, organic group of people -- you've never seen before in your life. Wait a sec-- these exact people protested against you at the GOP Welcoming Committee in 2008-- and two of them were arrested for planting Molotov cocktails. [These] are radicals against the police, radicals against you, exactly like Occupy, the same exact people, the same people who organized "Camp Casey" in Crawford, these are the same exact people who went down the highway at the end of the summer when Katrina happened, created Occupy New Orleans.

It's the same radicals, they've been in your life since 'Senator Obama' became part of your vocabulary. They are at war with you. They attack you. They throw eggs at you. And -- guess what? -- the media looks the other way. You're domestic terrorists, you know. Janet Napolitano warned me about that.

Yet when this group emerged, what happened? ...This is my thesis: the anti-war movement was never about anti-war. It was a Saul Alinsky community-organizing tool to get Barack Obama and the Left elected. It went away immediately.

The Occupy Movement is the Definition of Un-American

And the mainstream media created a narrative... Time Magazine's "Person of the Year... this is the anti-war movement! How do I know this? Because if I told this to ABC, CBS and NBC, they'd tell me it's a conspiracy theory -- that it's just a bunch of organic people. There's no organization going on, even though we have the emails to prove it. Or the undercover videos of Natasha Leonard of The New York Times organizing with the radicals. No, that didn't mean anything!

Bernadine Dohrn pointed out to me when I was snarkily asking 'What ever happened to the anti-war movement?', she let loose an affirmation of everything I know to be true. She said, "Well, that's not true... it's more or less what Occupy Wall Street is." And the mainstream media refuses to tell you that these are the same shock troops that have been ... instigating [against] us, instigating riots against the police, these people are the definition of un-American.

I don't care who our candidate is

You want a unity speech? I'll give you a unity speech. I don't care who our candidate is.

I haven't since the beginning of this... ask not what the candidate can do for you, ask what you can do for the candidate!

And that's what the Tea Party is.

We are there to confront [the radical left] on behalf of our candidate!

I will march behind who ever our candidate is. Because if we don't, we lose.

There are two paths! There are two paths! One is America, the other is Occupy! One is America, the other is Occupy! And I don't care, and along the way... I've realized over the last three years that the Republican Party and the conservative movement is not what ABC, CBS and NBC put on the screen.

They try to portray you in the worst possible light... and when I travel around the United States meeting people in the Tea Party who care -- black, white, gay, straight -- anyone that's willing to stand next to me to fight the progressive left, I will be in that bunker, and if you're not in that bunker 'cause you're not satisfied with this candidate, more than shame on you. You're on the other side.

Erick Erickson -- you listening?

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!

Nation

Breitbart: We're going to vet Obama this time around: Hot Air
The US is Morphing Into East Berlin: Pelerin
Obama Keeps Fundraiser Totals Secret: Dossier

Obama’s fraudulent abortion mandate “accommodation”: Malkin
Obama's contraception "compromise" worse than the original: WyBlog
Of course: Obama's wimmin pushed him toward HHS mandate: Pundette

Were the President’s Recess Appointments Constitutional?: AEI
'Obama wants to outlaw guns in 2nd term': Times
How Obama Betrayed His Constituents, and Why They Won't Care: AT

Economy

Budget? Why follow a budget?: Foundry
Obamacare architect: Expect steep increase in health care premiums: DC
Rubio called it: Obama offers another ‘blank piece of paper’: Peth

Global Financial Crisis: A World In Debt: Demonocracy
Obama mandate will cost insurance companies $2.8B: ProWis
Friday News Dump: MF Corzine Actually Lost $1.6B: JWF

The Economy Grows—and with it Obama's Approval Rating: WS
Price Tag Of The Entitlement Generation: SDA
Italy doesn't need firewalls, Europe does: Monti: Reuters

GOP Primary

Santorum surges nationally after three-state sweep: Fox
Rick Santorum was 'the rock star of CPAC': JW
CPAC Video: The crowd during Santorum’s speech: ConCom

Scandal Central

Issa Wusses Out on Holder Deadline, giving me another chance to explain why I'm doing what I'm doing.: SSI
Former DEA Chief says 3 Other Federal Agencies Tried to Stop Fast and Furious: TexasInsider
John Boehner To Halt Fast And Furious Investigation?: Western

Climate & Energy

Inhofe Oversight of EPA’s $2.26 Billion in Uncommitted Funds Ongoing: CFP
11 states sue EPA over soot rules: Boston
House, Senate Lawmakers Highlight Concerns with EPA 'Sue & Settle' Tactic for Backdoor Regulation: WaterWorld

Media

Ameritopia's Mark Levin: Alarming New Issues Injected Into Presidential Race: Fox
CBS Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Suddenly Skips Accepting Award at CPAC: NB
Dog Whistle Progressives Fabricate Racial Incident at CPAC: BigJ

SC Justice, NY Times: US Constitution Outdated and Uncool?: Mead
No MSM, Santorum Is Not A Racist: BigJourn
Talking with conservative bloggers at CPAC: Q&O

World

Obama’s Catastrophic Dithering on Iran: Dossier
Kim Jong Un: Dead or alive: GlobalPost
The difference between a Sharia state and a Christian state: Bookworm

It’s About Time–US Issues Travel Warning As Violence in Mexico Spreads: Bruce
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama tells the military how to feed the troops … : ProWis
Syrian army general assassinated by gunmen in Damascus: Haaretz

Sci-Tech

Prepare for Liftoff With Automotive Cheat Codes: Wired
Microsoft Set To Release Windows 8 Preview Feb. 29: Consumerist
Malware devs embrace open-source: Register

Cornucopia

Is it just me, or is Hillary channeling her inner Elvira Gulch?: SSI
Dead bottlenose dolphins have washed up in their hundreds on Peru's beaches: GlobPost
Police Stop Left-Wing Protesters’ Second Attempt At CPAC Invasion: Breitbart

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

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.

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

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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