Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Arizona As Canary

Instapundit - Blog Archive - A FRIEND EMAILS FROM MEXICO: “Shit’s about to collapse in MX and points south. It is frightening. I…: "A FRIEND EMAILS FROM MEXICO: “Shit’s about to collapse in MX and points south. It is frightening. I am seeing first hand, am traveling. Total anarchy and terror unfolding.” Well, that’s encouraging. All those counter-insurgency and nation-building skills we’ve honed in Iraq might come in handy closer to home."

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Frozen By The Truth

Jerome Hudson reports from 828:

A Black Man Goes To Glenn Beck's Rally - HUMAN EVENTS: "'No, I won't be there,' I told them. 'Why?' one of them asked with a grimace on his face. I looked at him and said, 'I want to be where the Lord is and the Lord is in this place.'

One of the older black women in the group asked me if I felt like I was 'selling out' for being one of the 'tokens' in the Beck rally crowd?

I laughed and said 'Ma'am, Al Sharpton is a pretender. He is going to tell you to pretend that the color of your skin matters. He is going to ask you to ignore the now overwhelming proof that 50 years after the Civil Rights movement, blacks are now destroying each other faster than the KKK could have dreamed.'

As I walked away, the group stood frozen, not knowing how to reply."
RTWT.

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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Barbarians

Guest Post: The Age of Mammon | zero hedge: "As our economy hurtles towards its meeting with destiny, the political class seeks to assign blame on their enemies for this Greater Depression. The Republicans would like you to believe that Bill Clinton, Robert Rubin, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank and their Community Reinvest Act caused the collapse of our financial system. Democrats want you to believe that George Bush and his band of unregulated free market capitalists created a financial disaster of epic proportions. The truth is that America has been captured by a financial class that makes no distinction between parties. These barbarians have sucked the life out of a once productive nation by raping and pillaging with impunity while enriching only them. They live in 20,000 square foot $10 million mansions in Greenwich, CT and in $3 million dollar penthouses on Central Park West.

These are the robber barons that represent the Age of Mammon."

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Patriots And Moonbat Dissonance


Moonbattery: Massive Turnout for Restoring Honor Rally: "It was a great crowd. The folks in my little expedition party guesstimated it at 400,000 to 700,000. This was the most subdued, polite crowd I've seen. The police were standing around with nothing to do; there wasn't even a candy wrapper laying on the mall at the end of this thing. The crowd seemed more cross-sectional of America than the Tea Party-flavored 9/12 event, as though a lot of middle-of-the-road, less political types had climbed on the bandwagon since 9/12. As Beck requested, nobody brought signs; there was not one to be seen in the probably 1/2 million strong crowd. The only people with signage were the handful of folks protesting Beck. They stood around in small groups here and there, trying to join up confrontation in front of their and the media's video cameras, but the massive conservative crowd just swept around and by them like a powerful river going around an inconsequential pile of rocks. Everyone seemed happy to have protesters exercising their rights as Americans and speaking their minds, which seemed to surprise the hippies, who were apparently waiting for baton-wielding Nazis to descend on them at any moment. The hippie's cognitive dissonance, as it slowly sunk in that nobody minded them being there and people welcomed their participation, was interesting to observe."

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Manifest IdiOcy


A Village in Kenya Is Missing Its Idiot: "Our problem manifest in one moment, one picture from today in Louisiana. Yes, Leader of the Free World and a Dumb Bastard. (HT to the lovely @RoseDanna on Twitter who wryly notes “The leader of the free world can’t figure out how to get the umbrella on the other side”)."
I'm at a loss what to add to this. But we're the idiots, you know.

Actually, there is one thing I can think to add. One of the zinger lines from Orwell's "Pacifism And The War": "The idea that you can somehow remain aloof from and superior to the struggle, while living on food which British sailors have to risk their lives to bring you, is a bourgeois illusion bred of money and security." That last part pretty much describes today's progressives.

You might want to scurry off to read the rest so you can understand why I consider Barry O Duce a Fascifist.

Perhaps you might also ;)

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$5 for 5 Challenge! (Bumped)

$5 for 5 Challenge











Game On! Are You Up for the Challenge?

Grassroots efforts over the last year and a half have made huge strides in both reshaping party politics and promoting candidates who favor principle over party.

The results of the primaries on August 10th proved that all the hard work and sacrifice of grassroots membership and their chosen candidates paid off by moving the ball to the 50 yard line.

From this position it's clear that the battle for the goal line will be even tougher. The opposition has the advantage—in many races—of incumbency and a deeper bench strengthened by substantially larger resources.

Game tactics over the next two months are crucial to shaping the outcome of the November elections and beyond.

What will it take to level the playing field?

Do some research, find 5 candidates who's values and principles are consistent with yours.

Donate $5.00 to the 5 candidates over each of the next 5 weeks. Tell your friends and family to do the same. Each $5.00 will move the ball 5 yards closer to the goal. If you are strapped for cash then donate 5 hours to the candidate of your choice over the next two months.

Don't wake up on November 3rd and ask yourself “I should have done more”? If everyone does their part the ball can be brought over the goal line in November. And remember it's not just the top races that need your help consider the local down-ticket candidates as well.

Remember $5 for 5.... We can do this!

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Reverence

Moonbattery: Apocalypse Mao - Mao Zedong inflicted more evil than any other individual in human history. Consequently, our rulers revere him.

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The Gap


The US Government Matches Every Dollar In Tax Revenue With A Dollar In New Debt | zero hedge: "In our attempts to simplify the comprehension of the ongoing serfdomization of the US population, we would like to present one of the more persuasive charts which the administration would likely be loath to demonstrate. Having collated monthly data from the FMS' Daily Treasury Statement on incremental tax revenues (individual, gross), and new debt issuance, we observe the following rather surprising pattern: since September 2008, or the month when capitalism collapsed, and the Fed, and ever other global Central Bank had to step in as a backstop of last recourse to the western way of life, the US government has undertaken the most peculiar matching program: simply said, for every dollar of individual tax revenue, the government has issued just over one dollar of incremental debt. In other words, in the past two years, tax revenues alone would have proven insufficient by over half to fill the budget gap."

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Shellacking

Commentary - Blog Archive - The Lightbulb Goes on: "As this report explains, the Fed will not come to the Democrats’ rescue, at least not in time to stave off a shellacking in November:
Fed chief Ben Bernanke said Friday the nation’s central bank would take action to prop up the economy if absolutely necessary. … He did not pledge any immediate, dramatic steps to goose growth and suggested the bank’s remaining tools might not work very well anyway. The mild statement from Bernanke, while soothing to investors, creates a potentially serious political problem for the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, some of whom are feeling their House majority slip away with every passing piece of bad economic news."

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Downward Revision


Hot Air - Beeler on the SS Denial: "Or, alternately, perhaps this could be called the SS Hey It Could Be Worse! Either way, our hearts will go on after ramming the economy into the iceberg of Obamanomics. So far, the motto of this administration seems to be “Never let go!” as the ship slips below the surface …"

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Basic Needs (Bumped)

Guest Post: Hyperinflation, Part II: What It Will Look Like | zero hedge: "One of the effects of Chile’s hyperinflation was the collapse in asset prices.

This would seem counterintuitive. After all, if the prices of consumer goods and basic staples are rising in a hyperinflationary environment, then asset prices should rise as well—right? Equities should rise in price—since more money is chasing after the same number of stock. Real estate prices should rise also—and for the same reason. Right?

Actually, wrong—and for a simple reason: Once basic necessities are unmet, and remain unmet for a sustained period of time, any asset will be willingly and instantly sacrificed, in order to meet that basic need."
If you never read much about hyperinflation, this is what to read. Oh, and part the first also please. And even if you think you know that it's coming you need to read it too. Capiche?

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Thirty-One Months (Bumped)

The American Spectator : Peak Obama: "Thirty-one months after the start of the recession, last week's jobs report for July was a fiasco. The Labor Department reported yet another 131,000 jobs lost in July. The Department also revised the June report downward to show 221,000 jobs lost that month from 125,000. The unemployment rate remained at 9.5% only because 181,000 additional discouraged workers left the work force, and so were not counted as unemployed. That makes one million who have fled the work force since April.
As this column has repeatedly noted, the historic data recorded by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the average recession since World War II has lasted 10 months, with the longest previously being 16 months. What is President Obama's excuse for still losing hundreds of thousands of jobs 31 months after the recession began?"
Thirty-one months?! I have already posted the chart of what that looks like but here it is again so you can't miss it:

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Ignored

Belmont Club - The Age of Apostasy: "So it was with some interest that I heard a human rights activist say that Maher El-Gohary’s daughter sought President Obama’s help to get the her conversion recognized before she became an adult in order to avoid liability for a more severe punishment for apostasy if she officially changed religion later. After all, if President Obama is so hot on the right to build a mosque near Ground Zero he might be expected to sympathize with a 16-year-old who just wanted to become a Christian because his “commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.” Of course her request was ignored."
This one is definitely a RTWT. By now it shouldn't be news to you that the Overlords have created an opaque and intimidating tangle of laws and regulations for the sole purpose of providing themselves a framework to do what they like and still call it civilization. Period.

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O Undisguised Contempt For Racist, Nativist, Homophobic Ismophobes

Charles Krauthammer - The last refuge of a liberal: "Now we know why the country has become 'ungovernable,' last year's excuse for the Democrats' failure of governance: Who can possibly govern a nation of racist, nativist, homophobic Islamophobes?

Note what connects these issues. In every one, liberals have lost the argument in the court of public opinion. Majorities -- often lopsided majorities -- oppose President Obama's social-democratic agenda (e.g., the stimulus, Obamacare), support the Arizona law, oppose gay marriage and reject a mosque near Ground Zero.

What's a liberal to do? Pull out the bigotry charge, the trump that preempts debate and gives no credit to the seriousness and substance of the contrary argument. The most venerable of these trumps is, of course, the race card. When the Tea Party arose, a spontaneous, leaderless and perfectly natural (and traditionally American) reaction to the vast expansion of government intrinsic to the president's proudly proclaimed transformational agenda, the liberal commentariat cast it as a mob of angry white yahoos disguising their antipathy to a black president by cleverly speaking in economic terms."
Krauthammer bats this one out "O" the park. Heh. You must read it all. But just in case your mouse just locked up, here's his heartwarming ending:
It is a measure of the corruption of liberal thought and the collapse of its self-confidence that, finding itself so widely repudiated, it resorts reflexively to the cheapest race-baiting (in a colorful variety of forms). Indeed, how can one reason with a nation of pitchfork-wielding mobs brimming with "antipathy toward people who aren't like them" -- blacks, Hispanics, gays and Muslims -- a nation that is, as Michelle Obama once put it succinctly, "just downright mean"?

The Democrats are going to get beaten badly in November. Not just because the economy is ailing. And not just because Obama over-read his mandate in governing too far left. But because a comeuppance is due the arrogant elites whose undisguised contempt for the great unwashed prevents them from conceding a modicum of serious thought to those who dare oppose them.[My emphasis]
You're never going to enjoy standing in line so much as you will on 11/2, are you?

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Saturday, August 28, 2010

828


Power Line - Back at the Lincoln Memorial, 47 years on: "47 years to the day after participating in the great civil rights march on Washington, I returned to the same space for Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Honor' rally. In 1963, a crowd of roughly 200,000 filled the 'reflecting pool' area below the Lincoln Memorial. Today's crowd packed that area as well as adjacent areas on all three sides. In fact, the throng extended most of the way to the Washington Monument, where the 1963 march began. To me, it looked like there were at least three times as many people at this rally.

The crowd was extraordinarily courteous and polite. I saw virtually no signs except on the way the gathering. Once at the grounds of the rally, I saw only American flags, a few 'Don't Tread on Me' flags, and one Israeli flag."
I caught most of the last two thirds or so on CSPAN. This was impressively done right down to the music.

Too bad only a couple of dozen showed up. And how violent and ugly and hateful it got -- just like Pravda the mass media said it would.

And please donate to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. I did.

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Friday, August 27, 2010

The Tunnel (Bumped)

New video: Can you tell which of these government spending projects are real or fake? | Bankrupting America: "Put yourself to the test.� Click below to watch our man-on-the-street video.� See if you can outwit the Rebel Economist before she stumps you. So what is it: REAL or FAKE?"


What could go wrong? They clearly know more than you do! Either that or our dear leaders are completely batsh*t insane.

I can tell you which one I'm betting on...

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hammering Your Eyes Open

Moonbattery: Holding a Hammer: "The song was cowritten (on his own time) by 26-year-old teacher Bryan Glover — excuse me, I meant ex-teacher. After the video was circulated, he was fired amid shrieks of 'racism.'

If you can find any racism in the video above, you just might be a liberal. If you can find any fascism in America under Obama, you just might have your eyes open."
Go support him at holdingahammer.com as it's by definition his new job.

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You Still Haven't Watched "The Soviet Story" Yet Have You?

Tea Party Group Hit With Death Threats - Washington Whispers (usnews.com): "One of Washington's principal supporters of the Tea Party movement, former GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, has been receiving death threats and profanity-laced phone calls as it gets involved in the fall elections. The number and intensity have reached such heights that the organization is leaving its downtown location near the FBI and moving to a high-security building near the U.S. Capitol.

'FreedomWorks and Dick Armey receive dozens of threatening and harassing calls and E-mails each day. Many imply violence and use of weapons,' spokesman Adam Brandon tells Whispers. 'As we get closer to the election we expect the harassment to increase.'"
It can be found here. Run, don't walk to get a copy. It's coming to a town near you. Literally.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Lurched

Power Line - Thoughts on Afghanistan: "This put me in mind of probably the most searing post we've ever done here, by Scott, which tells the sad story of Sirik Matak, former Prime Minister of Cambodia, who made the mistake of trusting the United States government:
Dear Excellency and Friend:

I thank you very sincerely for your letter and for your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion. As for you, and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection, and we can do nothing about it.

You leave, and my wish is that you and your country will find happiness under this sky. But, mark it well, that if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is no matter, because we are all born and must die. I have only committed this mistake of believing in you [the Americans].
Prime Minister Matak was shot and left to die by Communists. A worse fate awaits a great many Afghan women, and no small number of Afghan men, if we decide that we are tired of dealing with such a backward culture."
I'm going to check out my 8th grader's new history textbook for this story. Somehow I suspect I won't find it...

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Dark Commentary

Intel CEO: U.S. faces looming tech decline | Politics and Law - CNET News: "Intel chief executive Paul Otellini offered a depressing set of observations about the economy and the Obama administration Monday evening, coupled with a dark commentary on the future of the technology industry if nothing changes.
Otellini's remarks during dinner at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum here amounted to a warning to the administration officials and assorted Capitol Hill aides in the audience: Unless government policies are altered, he predicted, 'the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here.'
The U.S. legal environment has become so hostile to business, Otellini said, that there is likely to be 'an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth, much like we're seeing today in Europe--this is the bitter truth.'
Not long ago, Otellini said, 'our research centers were without peer. No country was more attractive for start-up capital... We seemed a generation ahead of the rest of the world in information technology. That simply is no longer the case.'"
If you read the article, there's some fluff in the middle by the reporter trying to make it seem like things were just as bad under the evil W before grudgingly reporting reporting the quotes that U.S. corporate tax rates s*ck wind. And it is true that W was far from a genius in doing what it would really take to make the U.S. competitive.

But at least he didn't seem to awaken each morning with a fire in his belly to send us back to the dark ages.

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Bankrupting America

Instapundit - Blog Archive - PUBLIC PULSE: HOW AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT THEIR GOVERNMENT. …: "PUBLIC PULSE: HOW AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT THEIR GOVERNMENT."


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And They Always Have To Be On

Dying industry tries to regulate its way back into your life | Washington Examiner: "Wasn’t Barack Obama going to change Washington? Because it really doesn’t get any worse than this:
The National Association of Broadcasters is lobbying Congress to stipulate that FM radio technology be included in future cell phones.

In exchange, the NAB has agreed that member stations would pay about $100 million in so-called performance fees to music labels and artists. Radio stations would be required to pay performance royalties on a tiered schedule with larger commercial stations paying more than smaller and non-profit stations.
Wow, this would be a lot like forcing all Americans to pay inflated premiums for full-service health insurance plans with ridiculously low deductibles. (Huh? We did?)

Anyway, the big broadcasters get what they want. The artists get what they want. The only guy not represented at this table seems to be the guy who’s going to have to pay more in the future for a heavier, bulkier cell phone.

Next up: FM radios in every toaster! FM radios in every laptop! FM radios EVERYWHERE. And they always have to be ON!"
They don't call him "Dear Leader" for nothing, do they? Starting to wake up yet? Oh, I forgot. Your TV is always on already, isn't it?

TURN. THE. D*MN. TV. OFF! NOW!

USE. YOUR. BRAIN!

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Welcome To Human "Rights" According To Hillary

Power Line - The US Reports to the UN on Human Rights: "In Iran they stone you, in Saudi Arabia they try to get a hospital to sever your spinal cord, and in Africa you get raped by U.N. peacekeepers. Here, the government encouraged banks to lend more money than borrowers were able to repay. But it's all human rights for the Obama administration.

The problem with this partisan identification of human rights with favored political measures is that it demeans real human rights--the right to self-government, freedom of speech, security against arbitrary arrest and various kinds of abuse. Obama is already on record, criticizing the Constitution and the civil rights movement for protecting only 'negative rights,' which means freedom, and arguing that 'positive rights,' which means the right to other people's money, should be assured as well. The State Department's self-assessment is entirely consistent with that view."
Did I forget to mention that both Hillary and Obama are Alinsky disciples?

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Off Budget And Out O Their Minds

Instapundit � Blog Archive � PETER WALLISON: When Economic Policy Became Social Policy. “Watching the Treasury conference on ho…: "PETER WALLISON: When Economic Policy Became Social Policy. “Watching the Treasury conference on housing finance earlier this week, I was struck by the gloomy thought that we will never get out of this housing mess until we are ready to face facts. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s remark that the demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was caused by their pursuit of short-term profits was not a constructive contribution to the resolution of the major issues before us. In reality, Fannie and Freddie were doomed by a badly designed government housing policy, and government efforts to disguise its responsibility with a false narrative will only make a solution more difficult. . . . When in 1992 Congress dragooned Fannie and Freddie into lowering their underwriting standards, it confused the economic goal of creating a viable national mortgage market for good quality mortgages with the social policy of increasing home ownership by making mortgage credit available to low-income borrowers. The added benefit for Congress was that it could achieve the social goal without budgetary consequences; the operations of Fannie and Freddie were and still are off-budget.”
You do realize that FedGov is just one big Enron and pretty much all of the politicians would be in jail in any rational world? But then we all know we don't have a rational world don't we?

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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Barney Frank Is Not In Jail Why Again?

RealClearMarkets - Barney Frank Comes Home to the Facts: "Some would say Frank's mea culpa is politically motivated in advance of an election where bailout nation and big government are public enemies number one and two. Of course, poll after poll shows that the $150 billion Fan-Fred bailout, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could rise to $400 billion, is detested by voters and taxpayers everywhere.

In fact, these failed government agencies are in such bad shape that they can't even pay Uncle Sam the dividends owed under the conservatorship deal reached two years ago. That's right. In order to pay a $1.8 billion dividend on Treasury department stock, Fan and Fred had to borrow $1.5 billion from - you guessed it - the Treasury.

Then there's this head-scratching detail: In an absolutely outrageous move last Christmas Eve, President Obama signed off on $42 million in bonuses for the top twelve Fannie and Freddie executives, including $6 million apiece for the two CEOs. (Hat tip to attorney Stephen B. Meister.)"
Because people have the memory of fleas and believe his horsepuckey.

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These People Apparently Don't Count Any More ... Just Move On Now...

Moonbattery: We Remember: "September 11 will not be forgotten no matter what happens. The only question is how it will be remembered: with reverence for the fallen, or as an Islamic victory."

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Basic Needs

Guest Post: Hyperinflation, Part II: What It Will Look Like | zero hedge: "One of the effects of Chile’s hyperinflation was the collapse in asset prices.

This would seem counterintuitive. After all, if the prices of consumer goods and basic staples are rising in a hyperinflationary environment, then asset prices should rise as well—right? Equities should rise in price—since more money is chasing after the same number of stock. Real estate prices should rise also—and for the same reason. Right?

Actually, wrong—and for a simple reason: Once basic necessities are unmet, and remain unmet for a sustained period of time, any asset will be willingly and instantly sacrificed, in order to meet that basic need."
If you never read much about hyperinflation, this is what to read. Oh, and part the first also please. And even if you think you know that it's coming you need to read it too. Capiche?

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Awestruck

Power Line: "4. Mesko acknowledges the role of his mother in researching colleges for him: 'Mom was always about academics.' As in so many immigrant families, you can't overemphasize the importance of a good education.

5. Like Mesko when his high school coach told him about football opening college doors, Mesko's parents were incredulous: 'Before his senior season, Mr. Mesko had become the nation's top punting prospect. Indiana offered him a scholarship, then every Ivy League school offered him admission. 'My parents were awestruck,' Mr. Mesko recalls. 'This was really possible!'' You gotta believe!

6. Ivy League schools may not be the perfect fit, even for an outstanding student: '[T]he Columbia University coach told him, 'We can't guarantee you the NFL, but we can guarantee you Wall Street.' Mr. Mesko wanted a shot at both, so he enrolled at Michigan, one of the nation's top public universities.' He took two degrees at Michigan. You can't overemphasize the importance of a good education."
I'm not against immigration. In fact, if we could get more like this I'd be for trading a lot of our current "citizens" for them...

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Welcome To The Brotherhood


Imam Rauf's Newly Discovered Explosive Audio Tapes - Atlas Shrugs: "Steve Emerson has unearthed 13 hours of audio tape of Imam Rauf. Emerson and his team of investigators has spent the past four weeks going through the newly found material. Rauf is a 'radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep's clothing.
Among the shocking revelations Emerson's team will reveal next week -- they found Rauf:
Defending wahhabism - a puritanical version of Islam that governs Saudi Arabia

Calling for the elimination of Israel by claiming a one-nation state, meaning no more Jewish State.

Defending Bin Laden's violence

Demonstrating that there is a lot more to this man than merely a cleric.
The American public now sees the 'deception perpetrated by all these Islamic groups that claim they are against violence and terrorism and insist that their rights be respected but in reality are fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood.'"
Follow the link and then click to listen to his 30 minute interview with Bill Bennett. NOW. You need to understand what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is going on.

I could have predicted this -- could you?

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HellO

Instapundit - Blog Archive - VIDEO: Unemployment Spreads. …: "VIDEO: Unemployment Spreads."


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Friday, August 20, 2010

A Tale O Little People

A nation of laws? | Questions and Observations: "According to a draft policy document now being circulated among a limited group of stakeholders, ICE chief John Morton intends to prohibit not only his officers, but also local officers with 287(g) immigration authority, from busting illegal aliens who are discovered as a result of traffic violations.

Read the document as I have – that’s pretty much what it says. They will not, except in specifically listed exceptions, issue a detainer and take into custody illegal aliens who only violate traffic laws.

They tell you that in writing. No attempt to avoid the fact that they’re simply deciding what they will and won’t enforce when it comes to the letter of the law. They’re just not going to do it.

You know, just like the DoJ decided not to enforce the laws about voter intimidation when it dropped the charges against the Philly Black Panthers caught on video tape in the act.

Apparently, the law is only for the little people and those who aren’t a favored group of the present administration and its political appointees and cronies."
Of course, there's a second and even bigger problem that would kill us even if the bureaucracy was filled with even non-bozos much less angels: LEGAL. SYSTEM. FAILURE.

There are multiple aspects to this but the largest is the fact that other than basic multiplication and a vague admiration for compound interest, lawyers are pretty much innumerate. (A small subset of lawyers are patent attorneys and typically also have engineering degrees -- obviously I'm not talking about them.)

The bottom line is that the legal code is simply way too thick, complex and contradictory to fit inside the tenable bounds of reason much less survive the judgement of complexity theory -- did I forget to mention mathematics? It would not be sustainable even if it wasn't shot through with corruption and rampant power madness. Which of course it is.

Sayonara little ones.

Hopefully you won't be shot through the back of the head and dumped in a mass grave this go around ... Did I forget to mention that Lenin was a lawyer?

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Outsourced


Moonbattery: Outsourcing Isn't Always a Bad Thing: "If only…"

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Extreme

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A Prayer For ANWR

Big Hollywood - Blog Archive - Jon Stewart Uses Maxed-Out Race Card Against Ground Zero Mosque Opponents: "Either way, I’d like to propose adding Islamic prayer centers to every industry these Leftists newly enamored with religious and property rights always oppose. For example, with Islamic prayer centers in every WalMart, we can forever put an end to hostile hippie protests throughout the nation. And how about an Islamic Prayer Center and Drilling Platform at ANWR?
I’d also like to propose a new nuclear power plant be built next to Jon Stewart’s home. We’ll add an Islamic prayer center to the facility and call him a bigot when he opposes it."

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Rest Of Us

Moonbattery: Are We Still Americans?: "We were when we elected Reagan."

WTWT.

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Ramirez Rocks


Power Line - Drunk Driving: "P. J. O'Rourke said that giving tax money to Congress is like giving whiskey and car keys to a teenager. That hasn't deterred President Obama from automobile analogies, as he is currently going around the country warning voters not to give the keys to the car back to Republicans because they're the ones who drove us into the ditch. That is debatable, of course, and I suspect that many wonder, if where we were up through 2006 was the ditch, where have the Democrats taken us since then? Michael Ramirez offers his own automobile image, which is reminiscent of O'Rourke's adage; click to enlarge:"

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Monday, August 16, 2010

QOTD: Prince O Fools

Quote of the day – Prince of fools edition | Questions and Observations: "'The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. … The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. … The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. … It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.' – Prager Zeitung"

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WHAT?

RealClearMarkets - The Hidden Truth About the Bush Tax Increases: "During the eight years of the Clinton Administration the Federal government collected a total of $5.66 trillion dollars in individual income taxes. During the eight years of the Bush Administration the Federal government collected approximately $7.45 trillion dollars in individual income taxes. The rich - that is, the top 1% of taxpayers - not only forked over a trillion dollars more to Uncle Sam under Bush than under Clinton, their share of the income tax burden increased from 33% to 38%.

But wait, there's more.

During the eight years of the Clinton Administration the rich paid income taxes at a blended rate of 20.6%. During the eight years of the Bush Administration the rich paid income taxes at a blended tax rate of 21.3%."
That's right. You've been brainwashed to within an inch of remembering to even breathe. This is a definite RTWT. Beyond RTWT in fact for those who need to brush up on their math skills.

The real problem is the same as under Reagan -- even though revenues went up, spending went up even faster.

SPENDING. IS. OUT. OF. CONTROL.

The feedback loop is broken and now we're broke.

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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Omusement Rules

A follow-up on my reference to Neil Postman. Yes, he was a lefty and put Reagan with a Bozo nose on the original edition of "Amusing Ourselves To Death". If he was a righty he would have put Clinton on the cover instead. But the thesis is about the medium and remains uncorrected:

Amusing Ourselves to Death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "He also repeatedly states that the eighteenth century, being the Age of Reason, was the pinnacle for rational argument. Only in the printed word, he states, could complicated truths be rationally conveyed. Postman gives a striking example: The first fifteen U.S. presidents could probably have walked down the street without being recognized by the average citizen, yet all these men would have been quickly known by their written words. However, the reverse is true today. The names of presidents or even famous preachers, lawyers, and scientists call up visual images, typically television images, but few, if any, of their words come to mind. The few that do almost exclusively consist of carefully-chosen soundbites."
Can you remember anything O Duce has said other than perhaps "The Police acted stupidly"? But he's tall, looks nice and has a mesmerizingly deep smoker's voice...

TURN. OFF. THE. T. V. NOW. USE. YOUR. BRAIN. INSTEAD.

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How Can You Tell When A Politician Is Lying?

Power Line - Barack Obama, a synthesizer no more: "Obama even claimed that the show of respect towards Islam implicit in the building of a mosque at Ground Zero is one reason why we will win the fight against al Qaeda.

Obama has since 'clarified' his remarks, as he did in the case of Professor Gates. But this time the clarification is not a synthesis. Obama still endorses the thesis that the iman has the right to build the mosque at Ground Zero. And he still declines to endorse the thesis of the mosque's opponents - that putting it there is a very bad idea. On this, he professes agnosticism. Nor does Obama seem to have any intention of mediating, as he eventually did in the Gates case.

Obama, it is clear, masqueraded as a synthesizer in order to gain power. He took advantage of America's yearning for a president who will bridge our divisions. He never intended to be such a president. Rather, he intended to be the agent for one side of the debate -- a side I think is properly viewed as the antithesis to the traditional American narrative that we are good country with a good economic system.

It will be quite difficult, I suspect, for the American electorate to forgive Obama for his deception."
By the fact that their lips are moving of course. This is the first rule of politics, only perhaps challenged by the following (also see the right sidebar):
"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." - P. J. O'Rourke
But both of these are apparently insufficiently obvious to penetrate the mass brainwashing that our fellow innocents citizens have endured. Postman -- and by implication Huxley -- didn't know how right he was...

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

A hOle In Google

Moonbattery: Attention Google Moonbats…: "…you might want to fix your autocomplete:"




Don't worry, I'm sure it will be fixed soon. The O hOly One will be re-annointed lickety split.

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Trailer: Runaway Slave

Wow. Just Wow. Count me first in line to see it. H/T AoSHQ.

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O Laughable Fraud

Speaking of Jefferson:

Ace of Spades HQ: "A snippet of his speech that deserves to be singled out for special scorn.
Obama said that Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America.
'The first Muslim ambassador to the United States, from Tunisia, was hosted by President Jefferson, who arranged a sunset dinner for his guest because it was Ramadan — making it the first known iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago.'
How very disingenuous. We have here a fact presented not merely out of context, but so deceitfully as to be a laughable fraud."
RTWT. What context? Try this to start:
Back in 1785, John Adams, then America’s Ambassador to England, and Thomas Jefferson, Ambassador to France, met with the envoy from Tripoli, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, and inquired as to why American ships were targets of hostility. The answer they received was this:
“It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every Muslim who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise.
Unbelievable.

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COTD: The Ghost Of Thomas Jefferson

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown – Telegraph Blogs: "Is there anyone left who has not learned that the Federal Reserve is not federal, but a private bank? Thomas Jefferson abolished one central bank, which was replaced by the Fed in 1913.

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.'
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)"
This comment was found in "The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown – Telegraph Blogs".

The article is worth reading also of course. Interesting that it has 1424 comments mostly like this one ... and largely by Americans! But don't worry, our Gramscian "journOlists" aren't biased or anything and thereby causing American's to flee their product. Mais non!

Jefferson -- ironically one of the leaders of what has now become perverted into the so-called Democrat party of today -- was also the originator of this quote:
The man who reads nothing at all is better than educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
How appropriate is that as a commentary on today's American Pravda!?

And finally, I leave you to look up the author of this quote:
"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."
Surely you might be able to guess by now?

UPDATE: The Jefferson quote at the top is apparently an amalgam of excerpts from his letters. But those who think any of this doesn't accurately convey Jefferson's thinking may want to consider this quote from a letter to John Taylor:
And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
In fact, I had posted this quote before and should have noticed the overlap...

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Friday, August 13, 2010

Dumber Than Cash For Clunkers

Hard to believe anything could be dumber but he's right...

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Overhead

Greedy Capitalist Refuses to Create Jobs - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine: "Then the federal and state governments want a little something extra. They take $56 for federal unemployment coverage, $149 for disability insurance, $300 for workers' comp and $505 for state unemployment insurance. Finally, the feds make me pay $856 for Sally's Medicare and $3,661 for her Social Security.

When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits. Bottom line: Governments impose a 33% surtax on Sally's job each year."
And don't even think of the cost of providing a job that somebody can live well on...

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The Tunnel

New video: Can you tell which of these government spending projects are real or fake? | Bankrupting America: "Put yourself to the test.� Click below to watch our man-on-the-street video.� See if you can outwit the Rebel Economist before she stumps you. So what is it: REAL or FAKE?"


What could go wrong? They clearly know more than you do! Either that or our dear leaders are completely batsh*t insane.

I can tell you which one I'm betting on...

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The Friday Dump

Timothy P. Carney: Obama closes curtain on transparency | Washington Examiner: "President Obama has abolished the position in his White House dedicated to transparency and shunted those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who is openly antagonistic to the notion of disclosure by government and politicians."
What more do you need to say to sum up Dear Leader really?

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A Heritage Of Freedom

Rand Paul, libertarian? Not quite. - USATODAY.com: "Our current economic crisis, the recent bailouts and the overreach of the one-party rule in Washington have crystallized something for millions of Americans — that something has gone terribly wrong. And it didn't start in 2008. It goes back decades.

More and more power became centralized in Washington, D.C., as the federal government responded to every new crisis — from the Great Depression to the Great Recession of today — by expanding its reach deeper into all of our lives.

Now Washington forces us to buy health insurance while limiting our choices. Programs must fit its bureaucratic standards, effectively putting government in control of what medicines and treatments millions of Americans can get. The bailouts and federal takeovers of the past two years have made the federal government the nation's top mortgage lender and a major player in auto manufacturing, as well as Wall Street's ATM of first and last resort.

This departure from the limited government envisioned by the Founders has encouraged too many Americans to forget their heritage of freedom. When there is a problem, Washington tells us, more government is the solution."
Rand Paul has done a nice job here of summarizing what he calls "constitutional conservatism" and how government has lost its way.

And this rings particularly true:
What the Founders intended, and what many libertarians today want, is something different: a federal system that keeps decision-making close to the people. The federal government should not do what the states can do for themselves, the states should not do what local governments can do for themselves, and local governments should not do what families, faith groups and individuals can do for themselves.
RTWT.

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Thirty-One Months

The American Spectator : Peak Obama: "Thirty-one months after the start of the recession, last week's jobs report for July was a fiasco. The Labor Department reported yet another 131,000 jobs lost in July. The Department also revised the June report downward to show 221,000 jobs lost that month from 125,000. The unemployment rate remained at 9.5% only because 181,000 additional discouraged workers left the work force, and so were not counted as unemployed. That makes one million who have fled the work force since April.
As this column has repeatedly noted, the historic data recorded by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the average recession since World War II has lasted 10 months, with the longest previously being 16 months. What is President Obama's excuse for still losing hundreds of thousands of jobs 31 months after the recession began?"
Thirty-one months?! I have already posted the chart of what that looks like but here it is again so you can't miss it:

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Horse Parts

Instapundit � Blog Archive � FORGET READING THE BILLS: Now they’re not even naming them. It appears that our friendly Senator…: "FORGET READING THE BILLS: Now they’re not even naming them.
It appears that our friendly Senators were in such a rush to get this bill through that they forgot to name it. Jim Harper noticed this when the bill showed up as the oddly named The XXXXXXAct ofXXXX on his always excellent WashingtonWatch site. Apparently, the Library of Congress’ Thomas reporting system converted the underscores into X’s. And, yes, even The Congressional Record (pdf) notes that “This Act may be cited as the “_______Act of______”.
Caligula sent a horse to the Senate. We’ve only sent part . . . ."
Go ahead. Tell me I'm making this up. Please. < facepalm />

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L'Ancien Regime

The Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien R�gime: extravagant and out of touch with the American people – Telegraph Blogs: "What the great French historian Alexis de Tocqueville would make of today’s Obama administration were he alive today is anyone’s guess. But I would wager that the author of L’Ancien R�gime and Democracy in America would be less than impressed with the extravagance and arrogance on display among the White House elites that rule America as though they had been handed some divine right to govern with impunity."
RTWT. Note that there are 874(!) comments as I post this and it at least starts out looking like they're mostly Americans (the Telegraph is British) starved to ditch MSNBCNBCBSNYeT! Gardiner pretty much nails it too...

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Monday, August 9, 2010

Broken Windows And Broken Government

It's less than 4 minutes. And sad that this even needs to be put out, isn't it? (H/T Gateway)

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

They Said It Didn't Matter

NOTE: I found this in my email box today. I agree everyone needs to read it before going to the polls this November. No, Obama won't be on the ballot. But you will be voting for people who can stop his agenda. Please. --Bob

THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERYONE OF VOTING AGE.

Read it slowly and carefully so you will be sure not to misunderstand.

The Fundamental Transformation of America.

When Obama wrote a book and said he was mentored as a youth by Frank, (Frank Marshall Davis) an avowed Communist, people said it didn't matter .

When it was discovered that his grandparents, were strong socialists who sent Obama's mother to a socialist school where she was introduced to Frank Marshall Davis. He was later introduced to young Barrack Hussein Obama . People said it didn't matter. When people found out that Barrack Hussein Obama was enrolled as a Muslim child in school and his father and stepfather were both Muslims, people said it didn't matter.

When he wrote in another book he authored "I will stand with them (Muslims) should the political winds shift in an ugly direction" people said it didn't matter.

When he admittedly, in his book, said he chose Marxist friends and professors in college-- people said it didn't matter.

When he traveled to Pakistan , after college on an unknown national passport, people said it didn't matter.

When he sought the endorsement of the Marxist Party in 1996 as he ran for the Illinois Senate, people said it didn't matter.

When he sat in a Chicago Church for twenty years and listened to a preacher spew hatred for America and preach black liberation theology, people said it didn't matter.

When an independent Washington organization, that tracks Senate voting records, gave him the distinctive title as the "most liberal senator," people said it didn't matter.

When the Palestinians in Gaza set up a fund raising telethon to raise money for his election campaign, people said it didn't matter.

When his voting record supported gun control, people said it didn't matter.

When he refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done, people said it didn't matter.

When he received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan and Mummar Kadaffi and Hugo Chavez, people said it didn't matter.

When it was pointed out that he was a total newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing, people said it didn't matter.

When he chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary radicals, people said it didn't matter.

When his voting record in the Illinois senate and in the U.S. Senate came into question, people said it didn't matter.

When he refused to wear a flag, lapel pin, and did so only after a public outcry, people said it didn't matter.

When people started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises, people said it didn't matter.

When he stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, people said it didn't matter.

When he surrounded himself in the White house with advisors who were pro-gun control, pro- abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition people said it didn't matter.

When he aired his views on abortion, homosexuality and a host of other issues, people said it didn't matter.

When he said he favors sex education in Kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination, people said it didn't matter.

When his personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him, people said it didn't matter.

When the place of his birth was called into question, and he refused to produce a birth certificate, people said it didn't matter.

When he had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco--a man of questionable character and who is now in prison and had helped Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home-- people said it didn't matter.

When it became known that George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected, people said it didn't matter.

When he started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist/Communist, people said it didn't matter.

When he stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions were to "fundamentally transform this Nation" into something else, people said it didn't matter.

When it became known that he had trained ACORN workers in Chicago and served as an attorney for ACORN, people said it didn't matter.

When he appointed cabinet members and several advisors who were tax cheats and socialists, people said it didn't matter.

When he appointed a Science Czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mothers, people said it didn't matter.

When he appointed Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar who believes in "Explicit Consent," harvesting human organs without family consent, and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting, people said it didn't matter.

When he appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual, and organizer of a group called gay, lesbian, straight, education network as Safe School Czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice to teenagers, people said it didn't matter.

When he appointed Mark Lloyd, as Diversity Czar, who believes in curtailing free speech; taking from one and giving to another to spread the wealth; who supports Hugo Chavez, people said it didn't matter.

When Valerie Jarrett was selected as Obama's Senior White House Advisor and she is an avowed Socialist, people said it didn't matter.

When Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director said Mao Tse Tung was her favorite philosopher-- and the person she turned to most for inspiration, people said it didn't matter.

When he appointed Carol Browner as Global Warming Czar, and her being a well known socialist working on Cap and trade as the nation’s largest tax, people said it didn't matter.

When he appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign when this was made known, people said it didn't matter.

When Tom Daschle, Obama's pick for health and human services secretary could not be confirmed, because he was a tax cheat, people said it didn't matter.

When as President of the United States , he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, people said it didn't matter.

When he traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness, people said it didn't matter.

When his actions concerning the Middle-East seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel , our long time ally, people said it didn't matter.

When he took American tax dollars to resettle thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to the United States, people said it didn't matter.

When he upset the Europeans by removing plans for a missile defense system against the Russians, people said it didn't matter.

When he played politics in Afghanistan by not sending troops early-on when the Field Commanders said they were necessary to win, people said it didn't matter.

When he started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off, people said it didn't matter.

When he took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and used it to pay off organizations, unions, and individuals that got him elected, people said it didn't matter.

When he took over insurance companies, car companies, banks, etc., people said it didn't matter.

When he took away student loans from the banks and put it through the government, people said it didn't matter.

When he designed plans to take over the health care system and put it under government control, people said it didn't matter.

When he claimed he was a Christian during the election and tapes were later made public that showed Obama speaking to a Muslim group and 'stating' that he was raised a Muslim; was educated as a Muslim; and that he is still a Muslim -- people said it didn't matter.

When he set into motion a plan to take over the control of all energy in the United States through Cap and Trade, people said it didn't matter.

When he finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State, people finally woke up--- but it was too late. Add these up one by one and you get a phenomenal score that points to the fact that Barrack Hussein Obama is determined to turn America into a Marxist-Socialist society.

All of the items in the preceding paragraphs have been put into place. All can be documented very easily. Before you disavow this do an internet search . The last paragraph alone is not yet cast in stone. You and I will write that paragraph. Will it read as above or will it be a more happy ending for most of America?

If you are an Obama Supporter don't be angry with me because I think Barrack Hussein Obama is a socialist. Far too many facts support he is indeed a Socialist.

If you seek the truth you will be richer for it. Don't just belittle the oppositio.. Search for the truth. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Constitutionalists, Libertarians all need to pull together or watch the demise of a free democratic society.

Pray for Americans to seek the truth and take action for it will keep us FREE.

Our biggest enemy is not China , Russia , North Korea , and Iran our biggest enemy is a contingent of politicians in Washington DC. The government will not help, so we need to do it ourselves.

Question....will you delete this, or pass it on to others who don't know about Obama’s actions and plans for the U S of A, so that they may know how to vote in November, and the ensuing years? It's your decision.

May the Lord direct your steps.

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Ignore The Guy Who Lit The Match

� Freddie, Fannie and the Third Rail of Housing Policy - Big Government: "Countrywide was the biggest supplier of loans to Fannie during the mania; in 2004, it sold 26 percent of the loans Fannie bought. Three years later, it was selling 28 percent. What Countrywide got out of the relationship was clear — a buyer for its dubious loans. Now the taxpayer is on the hook for those losses.
But what was in it for Fannie?
An internal Fannie document from 2004 obtained by The New York Times sheds light on this question. A “Customer Engagement Plan” for Countrywide, it shows how assiduously Fannie pursued Mr. Mozilo and 14 of his lieutenants to make sure the company continued to shovel loans its way.
Read the whole thing here. It is a good article. Of course, it would have been very helpful if this had come out, you know, while Congress was considering its bill to remake the financial services industry. Of course, the 2,000 page bill did nothing to address Fannie and Freddie. Because, you know, when our house burns down we should all just ignore the guy who lit the match."
Remember the banker with green eye shades who would never give anyone a loan? If only we could have him back...

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Doubling Down?

The end of responsibility - NYPOST.com: "This was the rumor last week. It sounds laughable. I don’t want to believe it. The Treasury Department denied it.

But when it comes to the Magic Kingdom that is the Obama administration, the fantastical has a way of coming true.

“From Washington to Wall Street,” Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis wrote on Thursday, “there are rumors that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth.”

That’s right. If you bet badly in the housing-market casino of the Aughties, the government is thinking of refunding some of your chips so you can play again. You may have heard something about a sub-prime real-estate bubble that popped and nearly took down the financial system with it? President Obama wants to double down."
The solution to being broke it to go deeper in debt of course. Why, only a loon could possibly disagree with that!

UPDATE: LOL! I missed this choice little line: "Obama often chides others for being irresponsible. When he does, the effect is a bit like Richard Nixon calling others ruthless."

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Unfair To Drunken Sailors

Moonbattery: I Want Your Money: "This fall we will finally have a reason to go out to the movies:"


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Parallels

China: What Goes Around, Comes Around: "August 8, 2010:�Chinese leaders are increasingly worried about another revolution. The signs are ominous, for the Chinese are avid students of their own history, and how it constantly repeats itself. So while China is getting rich, there is much corruption in the government, the military and even the universities. This has created a growing number of unhappy Chinese, and they have a lot of unemployed (often because of corruption) college graduates, and people who are cheated and exploited by corrupt officials on a regular basis, talking about change. Attempts to fix the core problem, corruption, are not working, and that is seen as menacing by many Chinese, as dynasties usually fall because they were weakened, and torn apart by rebels enraged by the corruption. That's how the communists gained power in the 1940s. But their virtuous new government began to show signs of corruption within a decade, and it's gotten much worse since communist economic policies were dumped three decades ago. What goes around, comes around."

Luckily, nothing like that ever happens here... RTWT.

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Outmoded

When Labor Is Capital: The Limits of Keynesian Policy — The American, A Magazine of Ideas: "From our more Austrian perspective, the Keynesian prescription will fail. Government spending tends to create or reinforce unsustainable patterns of production—temporary housing booms, transitory increases in auto sales, and the like. However, there is no reason to expect unsustainable patterns of production to stimulate the creation of sustainable patterns of specialization and trade. If anything, it would seem likely that government support for unsustainable patterns of production could make the market's recalculation problem more confusing. It will delay long-term recovery, rather than hasten it.

Some Keynesian economists have proposed an even more unlikely solution, which is to revive the New Deal program of government-created jobs, as in the Works Progress Administration. This idea represents a complete denial of the contemporary reality that labor is capital. Real employment in today's economy represents a long-term investment, not short-term make-work.

What needs to emerge are new, sustainable patterns of specialization and trade. Government does not have much incentive to create sustainable patterns of specialization and trade. In fact, the political system tends to favor subsidies to outmoded and unsustainable businesses."

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Monsters

Michelle Malkin � Taliban executes Christian medical team in Afghanistan; 6 American doctors among those murdered: "A Western team of Christian medical volunteers that provided eye care to poor villagers in remote northeast Afghanistan was lined up, stripped, and shot to death by the Taliban.
Monsters. Evil monsters.
Via the Christian Science Monitor:
The execution-style killings of 10 people working for a Christian medical team in a remote region of northern Afghanistan fit into Taliban insurgents’ stated shift in tactics: Target Western civilians, especially Christians, as “foreign invaders.”"

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Things Are Going To Get A Lot Worse

The Reference Frame: Guardian: Devil is driving climate deniers: "Reagan, the denier-in-chief, was caught as speading jokes about the USSR."

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A Reminder

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Saturday, August 7, 2010

hOles And Fiefdoms

The shock continues:

Hot Air � Why ObamaCare has gaping holes: AoSHQ’s Dave In Texas is a bit surprised that the voluminous new healthcare law does not, in fact, define health care:
Wait until the public discovers the government is now literally determining what qualifies as “health care” in America.

That isn’t a typo. ObamaCare mandates that insurers spend a certain percentage of premium dollars on benefits, but Democrats never got around to writing the fine print of what counts as a benefit. So a handful of regulators are now choosing among the tens of thousands of services that doctors, hospitals and insurers offer. Few other government decisions will do more to shape tomorrow’s health market, or what’s left of it.
The WSJ piece just quoted is addressing what will count as medical benefits for insurance “medical loss ratios” under the new law. However, we will see a variation on the same theme when the new Health Choices Czar gets down to the business of deciding minimum levels of benefits for insurance plans to be offered through the government-created Potemkin market known as the Health Exchange.
And successful Potemkinism means perpetuation:
"Indeed, Congress wanted to save those fights for later. Punting any issue likely to cause controversy keeps the Beltway carousel spinning. The interest groups already mentioned, plus those lobbying on everything to breast cancer to AIDS to chiropractic to medical device manufacturers will all be gearing up to lobby the vast new bureaucracies created under Obamacare for favorable consideration of one sort or another. Tossing the law’s hot potatoes to unelected civil servants allows Congresspeople to play the white knights, working the Rube Goldberg-esque machinery on behalf of their constituents and their donors. At the outset, this will be directed to establishing generous minimum benefits. Later, when the spiralling costs of the program produce plans for rationing care, pols will intervene to “save” valuable benefits from the bureaucratic reaper. The pols will also help steer groups to the crucial and costly counsel provided by their former staffers, to be employed at the K Street firm of “Don’t You Know Who I Am?”

In short, this process is how Congress disclaims responsibility for Leviathan it creates, as a way of squeezing money from the public to perpetuate their incumbency and their fiefdoms."
Any questions?

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What Problem?


Chart of the Day, and a scary one too | Questions and Observations: "Just in case you were wondering."

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Laugh Until You Cry...

iowahawk: Undocumented Imam's Refusal to Perform Interracial Gay Handicapped Wedding Leads to Charges of Racism: "NEW YORK - Charges of racism, sexism, and religious discrimination filled the air this afternoon outside the just-completed Cordoba House, the gleaming new $100 million 15 story mosque and Islamic cultural center near the ruins of New York's World Trade Center, following a tense 5-hour standoff prompted by the mosque's refusal to host a wedding between a lesbian African-American woman and her blind white transgendered partner.

Over 200 NYPD officers and multicultural crisis counselors were bused to the site to quell the simmering 17-way tensions between Muslim, Black, LGBT, immigrant, disabled, and lawsuit community activists. The scene was punctuated by outbursts of pushing and shoving, including a brief confused intramural scuffle among members of Reverend Louis Farrakan's Nation of Islam, but the only serious injuries reported was a hernia suffered by a legal aide distributing plaintiff's briefs. The incident resulted in one arrest, a 7-year old girl who was seen operating a lemonade stand without a permit."
Ripped from the day after tomorrow's headlines in our looming cesspool of competing interest group politics. RTWT. When iowahawk is on a roll, he's unstoppable...

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Friday, August 6, 2010

Today's ICE'y Shocker

Who'd a thunk it?

Belmont Club � On ICE: "The Washington Examiner reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “through their union … released a letter announcing its recent unanimous ‘vote of no confidence’ in ICE agency heads, accusing them of ‘misleading the American public’ regarding illegal immigration in order to further a pro-amnesty agenda.”

The National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council and its affiliated local councils cast a unanimous 259-0 vote of no confidence in ICE Director John Morton and Assistant Director Phyllis Coven, according to Fox News Channel’s Martha MacCallum.

The Center for Immigration Studies has further details of the letter’s contents. They accuse ICE leadership of abandoning its enforcement mission to pursue a goal of “amnesty by policy”."
The only surprise is that it's so bad that unions can't take it any more...

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Thursday, August 5, 2010

This Tea Party Business












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Sunday, August 1, 2010

How About Supporting Policies America Actually Likes?

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