Monday, January 31, 2011

Why They Hate Her So

Have you ever actually paid attention to what she says?

Obama’s Message to America: The Era of Big Government is Back, Now Help Me Pay For It: "Consider what his “big government greatness” really amounts to. It’s basically a corporatist agenda – it’s the collaboration between big government and the big businesses that have powerful friends in D.C. and can afford to hire big lobbyists. This collaboration works in a manner that distorts and corrupts true free market capitalism. This isn’t just old-fashioned big government liberalism; this is crony capitalism on steroids. In the interests of big business, we’re “investing” in technologies and industries that venture capitalists tell us are non-starters, but which will provide lucrative returns for some corporate interests who have major investments in these areas. In the interests of big government, we’re not reducing the size of our bloated government or cutting spending, we’re told the President will freeze it – at unsustainable, historic levels! In practice, this means that public sector employees (big government’s staunchest defenders) may not lose jobs, but millions of Americans in the private sector face lay offs because the ever-expanding government has squeezed out and crippled our economy under the weight of unsustainable debt.

Ronald Reagan said, “You can’t be for big government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy.” President Obama’s proposals last night stick the little guy with the bill, while big government and its big corporate partners prosper. The plain truth is our country simply cannot afford Barack Obama’s dream of an “exceptionally big government” that may help the big guys, but sticks it to the rest of us.

- Sarah Palin"
I'm old enough to remember how much they hated Reagan. She keeps quoting Reagan. Any questions?

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Other Than That Though

Overwhelming majority of Americans in both parties tell GOP to heed the 'tea party' | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times: "Contrary to the Obama administration's offshore drilling moratoriums, two-thirds of Americans favor a new energy bill to expand domestic exploration and drilling.

The president outlined a vast new program to rebuild what he called a 'crumbling' infrastructure. Americans oppose more stimulus spending and think reducing the deficit is much more important.

Americans oppose giving existing illegal immigrants 'a path to legal status' and prefer halting the flow of illegal immigrants before addressing the problems of those already here.

And on Obama's proudest achievement, his signature healthcare legislation, only 13% like the idea of keeping it as is. Everyone else favors minor changes, major changes or tossing out the entire thing.

Other than that though, the president's 62-minute speech seems to have gone over really well."

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History vs Neuman

Roger’s Rules » Alfred E. Neuman in the driver’s seat: "“History,” as Andy rightly observes, is rarely a Manichean contest between good and evil. It’s not a choice between the pro-Western shah and Iranian freedom, but between the shah and Khomeini’s ruthless Islamist revolution. It’s not a choice between the pro-Western Musharraf and Pakistani freedom, but between Musharraf and a tense alliance of kleptocratic socialists and Islamists. Back in the 1940s, it was not a choice between the British-backed monarchy and Egyptian freedom, but between the monarchy and a conglomeration of Nasserite pan-Arab socialists, Soviet Communists, and Brotherhood Islamists. And today, the choice is not between the pro-American Mubarak and Egyptian freedom; it is a question of whether to offer tepid support to a pro-American dictator or encourage swift transition to a different kind of tyranny — one certain to be a lot worse for us, for the West at large, and for our Israeli ally: the Muslim Brotherhood tempered only, if at all, by Mohamed ElBaradei, an anti-American leftist who willfully abetted Iran’s nuclear ambitions while running the International Atomic Energy Agency."

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Meat

Mad Meat Making Scientist Proves Climate Doomsayers Wrong | Via Meadia: "However, the reason that I’m skeptical about the climate doom scenarios has nothing to do with the tendency of climate change prediction to lapse into unfalsifiable propositions where everything that happens or can happen is considered evidence that a hypothesis is true — or even with the propensity of the climate ‘fixes’ they propose to collapse into expensive heaps of incompetence and fraud.

It doesn’t even have to do with the ugly links between the climate change movement and the European farm lobby, a group whose policies of protection and subsidy in the name of the environment some think kill more innocent people in the developing world every year than most diseases.  Ethanol here, the Common Agricultural Policy in Europe, protectionism everywhere and always in cahoots with the greens: nothing here to think about or investigate, friends.  Just good folks doing good things.

No, I’m skeptical of these prophecies because of something else:  meat."

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O How Unconstitutional It Is!

Judge uses Obama's words against him - Washington Times: "In ruling against President Obama‘s health care law, federal Judge Roger Vinson used Mr. Obama‘s own position from the 2008 campaign against him, when the then-Illinois senator argued there were other ways to achieve reform short of requiring every American to purchase insurance.

“I note that in 2008, then-Senator Obama supported a health care reform proposal that did not include an individual mandate because he was at that time strongly opposed to the idea, stating that, ‘If a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house,’” Judge Vinson wrote in a footnote toward the end of his 78-page ruling Monday."
Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...

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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Did I Forget To Mention The cOrruption?

WOLF: Tawdry details of Obamacare - Washington Times: "If you would like to know what the White House really thinks of Obamacare, there’s an easy way. Look past its press releases. Ignore its promises. Forget its talking points. Instead, simply witness for yourself the outrageous way the White House protects its best friends from Obamacare.

Last year, we learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had granted 111 waivers to protect a lucky few from the onerous regulations of the new national health care overhaul. That number quickly and quietly climbed to 222, and last week we learned that the number of Obamacare privileged escapes has skyrocketed to 733.

Among the fortunate is a who’s who list of unions, businesses and even several cities and four states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee) but none of the friends of Barack feature as prominently as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

How can you get your own free pass from Obamacare? Maybe you can just donate $27 million to President Obama‘s campaign efforts."

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Sympathies

ElBaradei: Hit the road, Mubarak; Update: Muslim Brotherhood backs ElBaradei? Update: What ElBaradei means to Iran « Hot Air: "Here’s a reminder of where ElBaradei’s sympathies lie in the Iranian nuclear crisis.  Covering up Iran’s weaponization efforts, and doing it so ineptly that France and Germany publicly protested ElBaradei’s omissions, hardly stokes confidence in either ElBaradei’s inclination or ability to stand up to the Muslim Brotherhood, if it comes down to that — and if he’s not totally in bed with the Ikhwan as many suspect, it certainly will come down to that.  For that matter, it doesn’t provide much confidence in ElBaradei’s executive abilities at all, even without the complications of radical Islamists."

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High Speed railrOading


Moonbattery: Comrade Obama Coming After Guns: "The only sure way to prevent a maniac from going berserk with a gun would be to make sure no one has any access to them. After that, Big Government will put an end to traffic fatalities by making sure no one has access to a car. We can deal with home invaders with conflict resolution techniques, and get around by government-approved high-speed rail."

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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Led Boots and Minds

Power Line - Whole Lotta Dumb: "Fontova quotes a story from 'Castro's captive (literally!) media' reporting that Page's visit 'included tours of historic sites, and purchases of souvenirs such as the famous photograph of Che Guevara.' Fontova concludes on this discordant note: 'Today the world's largest image of Jimmy Page's souvenir icon adorns Cuba's headquarters for Cuba's KGB-trained secret police, a gang of Communist sadists who jailed and tortured at a rate higher than Stalin's own KGB and GRU--and many of their victims were guilty of nothing worse than listening to music by Jimmy Page.'"

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The Last Step Before The Brotherhood

Power Line - Meet the New Boss: "Following up on yesterday's announcement by President Mubarak, Egyptian state television said today that Mubarak's cabinet has resigned. It announced further that aviation minister Ahmed Shafiq has been named as the new Prime Minister, while Mubarak has also, for the first time, appointed a Vice President: Omar Suleiman, the head of military intelligence and a Mubarak confidante. This is no youth movement; Suleiman is 74 years old, and today's announcements are consistent with the conventional wisdom that the Egyptian military remains firmly in control. With respect to Suleiman, this may be noteworthy:
As Egypt's intelligence chief, Suleiman was in charge of the country's most important political security files, and was the mastermind behind the fragmentation of Islamist groups who led the uprising against the state in the 1990s."
Odds are now about 90% that the Muslim Brotherhood -- you can just call it Al Qaida -- will take over Egypt if the kleptocracy falls.

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Friday, January 28, 2011

Hosni On The Red Phone

Instapundit » Blog Archive » BOOKWORM: The Egypt crisis; or, the Community Activist and foreign policy. I was going to open t…: "And reader Mike Puckett emails: “Didn’t Hillary once say something about a call at three AM? I think that call is coming in now.”"

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Sitting Together

Power Line - State of the Union: "Michael Ramirez depicts the state of the union, and puts last night's attempt at bipartisanship in perspective. Click to enlarge:"

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Guess Which?

Instapundit » Blog Archive » A TYRANNY OF THE HEAVILY ARMED? America is no longer a democracy. It is now a tyranny of the heav…: "ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Scot Echols writes: “So let me see if I’ve got this right. Is Piven pissed off that the Tea Party protests weren’t violent?” I’m pretty sure that’s not it, but that’s an understandable mistake . . .

MORE: Dodd Harris sends this helpful illustration:"

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BOOM! Down It gOes!


Whoa!… Sarah Palin on Obama’s SOTU Speech: “WTF Was Spot-On… There Were a Lot of WTF Moments In That Speech” (Video) | The Gateway Pundit: "BAHAHAHAHA. Boom, down goes the Winning The Future slogan."
Dem thar pointy haired fellas in dat White House sure are da smart ones ain't they? I jes don know how lil 'ol Sarah can keep up wit dem.
HT IOwnTheWorld.

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crOnie Special


Moonbattery: Open Thread: "Via iOwnTheWorld, on a tip from TED."

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2.7 Zero

Power Line - Silence of the Bam: "Assuming that Obama's freeze, if enacted promptly, could reduce the 2011 deficit by $40 billion, that would represent 2.7 percent of this year's deficit. The CBO's latest warning underscores the President's failure to address, in any meaningful way, the fiscal crisis that he did much to create and that is now engulfing his administration."

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Expletives Withheld

Obama to Congress: Fix that presidential campaign fund I won’t use « Hot Air: "Two weeks ago, the White House announced that Barack Obama’s re-election campaign would open its doors in March to start raising funds for the 2012 campaign.  Obama intends on raising a billion dollars to win a second term, the Wall Street Journal reports, and that requires an early start.  So today’s message to Congress to fix the public financing system for presidential elections rings a tad bit hollow, to say the least:
The Obama administration issued a statement strongly opposing a House bill that would eliminate the public financing system for presidential primaries and campaigns, arguing the system must be “fixed rather than dismantled.”"
The biggest scam artist of them all.

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Under The Big Top


gold silver stocks analysis precious metals bear market - Money Talks: "When Bernanke sought to halt or reverse the primary bear market with super-liquidity (QE1 and QE2), a few vestiges of the bear refused to be erased. The two vestiges were -- chronic unemployment and sick housing. The bear market proved to be like a water mattress. You compress one area, and another area pops up."

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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

crOnies

Barack Obama's weak jobs pick--Charles Gasparino - NYPOST.com: "The naming of General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt to head the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is supposed to show the country that President Obama really is serious about dealing with the nation's economic woes through the free market system, rather than the government programs and handouts that characterized his first two years in office.

Except it doesn't.

Sure, Immelt brings a lot of business experience to the post -- he's spent many years in the trenches of one of the world's biggest companies, and his last 10 as its CEO. Problem is, this isn't necessarily the kind of experience needed to deal with 'jobs and competitiveness.'

Rather, Immelt's selection underscores the inherent flaw in Obamanomics: It favors the crony capitalists at the banks and large corporations that feed off government bailouts and contracts at the expense of entrepreneurs and small businesses, who in the past have pulled the nation's economy out of recession and created jobs."

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Monday, January 24, 2011

Accidentally O Purpose

Power Line - Unintentional Triumphalism?: "The Epoch Times quotes a Chinese psychiatrist living in Philadelphia, Yang Jingduan: 'In the eyes of all Chinese, this will not be seen as anything other than a big insult to the U.S. It's like insulting you in your face and you don't know it, it's humiliating.' In his letter, Wei said that so-called patriotic Chinese -- supporters of the Communist party and the dictatorship -- were ecstatic over 'My Motherland' at the White House. One such 'patriotic Chinese' exclaimed, 'The right place, right time, right song!' (This is a phrase with roots in CCP propaganda, as the Epoch Times article explains.)
The Obama administration's conduct of foreign policy is often referred to as 'dumb diplomacy.' But to be insulted without even knowing it, even though a billion others do, is dumb even by Obama standards."
One of my Dad's favorite sayings was to point out that something was done "accidentally on purpose".

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Other People's Money (Part 83,829)

Socialists To America: We Won, Get Over It: "I have to say, I like our track record of knowing what will work economically and what won't better than theirs.

We may have to live with only trying to fix liberal fiscal messes like Social Security and Medicare but we can still kill and must kill health care before it's too late.

Of course in the end conservatives will 'win' one way or another. Either we get to do what has to be done or to paraphrase Margret Thatcher, we'll just run out of other people's money and kill them that way."

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Ugly Truths

Socialists To America: We Won, Get Over It: "We may have to live with only trying to fix liberal fiscal messes like Social Security and Medicare but we can still kill and must kill health care before it's too late.

Of course in the end conservatives will 'win' one way or another. Either we get to do what has to be done or to paraphrase Margret Thatcher, we'll just run out of other people's money and kill them that way."

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Sunday, January 23, 2011

The 8/10ths Advantage

Instapundit » Blog Archive » NORM AUGUSTINE: America Is Losing Its Edge In Innovation. In fact, scientists and engineers are …: "NORM AUGUSTINE: America Is Losing Its Edge In Innovation.
In fact, scientists and engineers are celebrities in most countries. They’re not seen as geeks or misfits, as they too often are in the U.S., but rather as society’s leaders and innovators. In China, eight of the top nine political posts are held by engineers. In the U.S., almost no engineers or scientists are engaged in high-level politics, and there is a virtual absence of engineers in our public policy debates."

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VDH Gets O Once More

Instapundit » Blog Archive » VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: IGNORE OBAMA’S SPEECH:
We all know what is coming in 2012 — the most well…: "We all know what is coming in 2012 — the most well-financed, Wall Street-subsidized, vitriolic camping in modern memory, in which Obama’s rivals will be metaphorically reduced to caricatures of racist, selfish, and cruel nativists. The 2011 Tucson speech will have about as much resonance with Obama’s impending campaign style as the 2004 oration affected his 2004-9 political behavior. . . .

And finally, why not an iota of presidential follow-up when in nanoseconds Obama’s own progressive supporters returned to form and took up the old successful hate tropes? Rep. Cohen (D-TN) was soon comparing conservative opponents to Nazis in their Goebbels-like propaganda that likewise would, we were to believe, result in a Holocaust-like denial of basic human compassion. Columnists in Slate were back to the old Jonathan Chait-style (“I hate George Bush. There, I said it”) of declaring their unabashed loathing for political opponents (“Why I Loathe my Connecticut Senator”). All that was left was the reemergence from his Atlanta peace center of a smiling Jimmy Carter, quoting scripture as he might yet again remind us that the elder Bush was “effeminate,” Vice President Cheney was a “militant,” the younger Bush was the “worst” president, and Israel is an “apartheid” state.
Running dogs, I think they used to call them."
If there was an ounce of interest by O Duce in having a new more civil tone he would have been all over Cohen's *ss. Fuhgeddaboutit my friends...

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Bad Luck (A Reminder)

Heinlein again. This should always and forever be on everyone's short list of quotes:

Instapundit » Blog Archive » REMINDER: A quote from Robert Heinlein: Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition …: "REMINDER: A quote from Robert Heinlein:
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”"

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Just To Be Clear

Welcome to lefty lunacy:

Instapundit » Blog Archive » SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: “It seems Glenn Back, by accurately quoting Francis Fox Piven, has gored t…: "And, just so people are clear, here’s what those Greek riots she was calling for Americans to emulate looked like:
At the same time, tens of thousands of protesters marched through Athens in the largest and most violent protests since the country’s budget crisis began last fall. Angry youths rampaged through the center of Athens, torching several businesses and vehicles and smashing shop windows. Protesters and police clashed in front of parliament and fought running street battles around the city.

Witnesses said hooded protesters smashed the front window of Marfin Bank in central Athens and hurled a Molotov cocktail inside. The three victims died from asphyxiation from smoke inhalation, the Athens coroner’s office said. Four others were seriously injured there, fire department officials said.
Praising riots involving Molotov cocktails and people burning to death? Fine. Criticizing a lefty on a cable TV network? Why that’s “hatemongering” and incitement."

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Saturday, January 22, 2011

That Dummy Jefferson Again

With one of his more recent disciples:

The PJ Tatler » The real political parties: "“Political tags–such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth–are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”

– Robert A. Heinlein"

“Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, Liberals and Serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, Whigs and Tories, Republicans and Federalists, Aristocrats and Democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still and pursue the same object. The last one of Aristocrats and Democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all.”

– Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Henry Lee, 1824)
Of course today both parties are the higher classes. And you are their sheep.

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Every Joke Becomes A Crime

Sarahnoia's equivalent in Europe:

Faster, Please! » “Islamophobia”: "Since our traditions of free speech are unlikely to be abandoned if there were an open debate, the would-be censors resort to legalistic maneuver;  they try to make criticism of Islam or of most any radical Muslim illegal.  Bruckner again: “On a global scale, we are abetting the construction of a new thought crime, one which is strongly reminiscent of the way the Soviet Union dealt with the ‘enemies of the people.’”

The establishment intellectuals and the other members of the ruling class don’t want to fight on the side of the opponents of “Islamophobia.” It’s so much easier to simply go along, taking refuge, as we have seen in the post-Tucson diatribes, in calls for “civility” that play directly into the hands of the enemies of free speech. As Bruckner warns, “our media and politicians are giving it their blessing. … Every objection, every joke becomes a crime.”"
I exists here too of course. Sarahnoia just tends to ride roughshod over it here is all...

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Money For Nuthin

Power Line - He melt for Obama: "The alliance between big government and big business should raise the hackles on the necks of ordinary citizens. In the cases of GM and Chrysler, we have seen a variety of wrongs committed with government power and taxpayer money. Harnessed to the power of government, big business can really get cracking.

It can sell products to big government. It can bulk up on direct and indirect subsidies derived from the labor of ordinary citizens. It can take pressure off pricing by creating barriers to entry for potential competitors. It can mitigate the difficulty of persuading ordinary citizens to buy what they are selling at a price that reflects market value.

Before the GM and Chrysler bailouts, GE chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt saw the money to be minted in environmentalism. GE would hold itself out as an environmental leader under the rubric of Ecoimagination. Then it would join up with big government, promote the global warming hoax and cash in on it through the regulatory regime of cap-and-tax."
My hackles have been raised for nearly 40 years. But the sheep apparently have had their hackles sheared off a long time ago.

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Used

“Congress used CBO to get the answer they wanted. I get that. I ran the CBO. They used me too.” - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine: "Last March, as House Democrats were preparing for their final votes on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Douglas Holtz-Eakin published an op-ed in The New York Times arguing that, despite Congressional Budget Office scores indicating otherwise, the president’s health care overhaul would in fact increase the nation’s budget deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars over the long term. Since then, he’s become one of the most prominent critics of the claim that the law will result in a smaller deficit, expanding his critique in co-written pieces for Health Affairs and, most recently, The Wall Street Journal.

Holtz-Eakin, who currently heads the American Action Forum, isn’t just any critic: From 2003 to 2005, he ran the Congressional Budget Office himself. His time at the CBO gave him great respect for the office's capabilities and the quality of its work. It also gave him firsthand knowledge of the scoring process, its inherent limitations, and the ways that determined members of Congress can use the process to their political advantage."

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I Suspect You Might Have Missed This One...

Ed Driscoll » Doesn’t Fit the Narrative, or Drive the Agenda: "Ever hear of Casey Brezik? Neither did I, until now.  At the American Thinker explains how a story that doesn’t fit the accepted MSM template doesn’t bubble up to the national news:
In September 2010 Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon was scheduled to speak at Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City.

At some point, wearing black clothes and a bullet-proof vest, 22 year-old Casey Brezik bolted out of a classroom, knife in hand, and slashed the throat of a dean. As he would later admit, he confused the dean with Nixon.

The story never left Kansas City. It is not hard to understand why. Knives lack the political sex appeal of guns, and even Keith Olbermann would have had a hard time turning Brezik into a Tea Partier.

Indeed, Brezik seems to have inhaled just about every noxious vapor in the left-wing miasma: environmental extremism, radical Islam, anti-capitalism, anti-Zionism and Christophobia, among others.

In his “About Me” box on Facebook, Brezik listed as his favorite quotation one from progressive poster boy, Che Guevara. The quote begins “Our every action is a battle cry against imperialism” and gets more belligerent from there.

On his wall postings, Brezik ranted, “How are we the radical(s) (left) to confront the NEW RIGHT, if we avoid confrontation all together?”

As good as his word, Brezik’s marched on Toronto in June 2010 to protest the G20 Summit, where he was arrested, charged, and deported. “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED,” he boasted."
Any questions why?

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That Stupid Jefferson

YouTube - NIA Economic News Update: "'If the American People ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power of money should be taken from the bankers and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs.' -THOMAS JEFFERSON"


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Friday, January 21, 2011

Gotterdamnanazi

iowahawk: Dear Nazi: "No longer will I sit idly while you and your doorknob hangers continue to repeat the Big Lie of 'satisfaction guaranteed.' I am writing to inform you that I have contacted the US Department of Interior to conduct a full independent investigation into Gutierrez Brothers' actions in this matter. Please be advised that you may be subpoenaed for records pertaining to mower height, pruning shear maintenance, and leaf blower emissions.

I would also advise your crewmen to heed the lessons of the Judgement At Nurenburg: although they may be spared the justice due their superiors, 'I was only following orders' is not an excuse.

Sincerely,

Representative Steven Cohen
Washington, DC"
Heh. RTWT.

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Gassy?

Power and Control: Biofuel Breakthrough?: "I have just been notified by my friends at Talk Polywell of a break through in the biologic generation of liquid fuels. The Globe and Mail reports on the breakthrough (although my friends at Talk Polywell think the report is garbled by a not entirely science literate reporter).
In September, a privately held and highly secretive U.S. biotech company named Joule Unlimited received a patent for “a proprietary organism” – a genetically adapted E. coli bacterium – that feeds solely on carbon dioxide and excretes liquid hydrocarbons: diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline."
Supposedly George Church is behind it. But color me cautious.

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The Never Ending cOrruption


NationalJournal.com - GE's Immelt to Head Obama's New 'Jobs and Competitiveness' Board - Friday, January 21, 2011: "President Obama today will name General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt chairman of the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, the White House announced overnight."
Read the Drudge link carefully if you don't understand my title.

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Thursday, January 20, 2011

You Know, The Bill Gross That Runs That Little Tiny Bond Fund Called PIMCO?

Yes, that Bill Gross uses the default word:

Bill Gross had a great sound bite at Forbes' annual investing roundtable:
I don't know if the U.S. has reached a desperate point, but it is employing instruments and vehicles and policies that smack of desperation. We are not looking at a default here, but at years of accelerating inflation, which basically robs investors and labor of their real wages and earnings. We are looking at a currency that almost certainly will depreciate relative to other, stronger currencies in developing countries that have lower levels of debt and higher growth potential. And, on the short end of the yield curve, we are looking at creditors receiving negative real interest rates for a long, long time. That, in effect, is a default. Ultimately creditors and investors are at the behest of a central bank and policymakers that will rob them of their money.
If you're not weeping yet you will be...

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The Fiat Herd

This is one of the best short explanations of fiat money and banking you will ever read. And I do mean short as in just a couple of minutes. Click through and RTWT:

Mike Krieger Explains Why Fiat Money is Immoral | zero hedge: "Today’s email is going to be a little different.  A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine from NYC who is not in the business but is on my weekly email distribution list asked me to explain fiat money and why I think it is the wrong way to go.  Below I am going to paste my response to her.  There is so much disinformation out there about money it is scary."

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It's A Slam Dunk I Tells Ya!


Moonbattery: Jared Loughner's Similarity to Tea Partiers: "No wonder the 'mainstream' media tried so hard to sell the idea that Jared Loughner was motivated by the Tea Party movement. Look at all the eerie similarities"
But it turns out he may have been right about mind control:
Good grief.

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O Ouch

Instapundit » Blog Archive » OUCH: “The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner hosted a dinner for the guy holding the 2010 Nobel Peace P…: "OUCH: “The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner hosted a dinner for the guy holding the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner in prison … and the media does not get the irony of this at all.”"

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Your Ly'in Eyes



Power Line - Not Just Uncivil, But Wrong: "Obamacare confers plenty of power on the federal bureaucracy to render private health insurance unprofitable, and thereby drive private carriers out of the market. Who, then, will be left? The federal government, just as Obama says he wants.

If there is a Joseph Goebbels on the scene here, it is anyone who says that we should pay no attention to the man in front of the curtain who says his goal is single payer socialized medicine."

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Exposing O's House Of Fraud

Moonbattery: The ObamaCare Fiscal House of Cards: "If Dem congresscritters tried this monkey business in the private sector, they would be imprisoned for fraud."


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Adrift


Kind of an eye-opening chart, huh?

Report: First two years of college show small gains - USATODAY.com: "Nearly half of the nation's undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don't make academics a priority, a new report shows.
Instructors tend to be more focused on their own faculty research than teaching younger students, who in turn are more tuned in to their social lives, according to the report, based on a book titled Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Findings are based on transcripts and surveys of more than 3,000 full-time traditional-age students on 29 campuses nationwide, along with their results on the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test that gauges students' critical thinking, analytic reasoning and writing skills."

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Ranked Voting! Do the numbers add up?

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), also called Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), will be on the Fort Collins City Elections ballot this April. Voters will decide if it will be used in future local elections. Credit should be given to the supporters for their success in getting this measure on the April ballot. Many, who signed that petition, and those who will now vote on this measure in April, will be surprised to learn that there are real and complex problems associated with RCV/IRV.

RCV/IRV lets voters rank their candidates from their top to last choices among several candidates. If a candidate does not get an absolute majority vote (50+1) during the 1st round/count then there is an instant runoff (Second Count). The candidate with the fewest votes is dropped and the votes made for that candidate are redistributed using voters 2nd choices. Other voters’ top choices remain the same. The redistributed votes are added to the counts of the candidates still in competition.

The process is repeated until one candidate has majority support.

The method sounds quite plausible, right? If you look into municipalities that have used it a totally different story emerges. Take Aspen Colorado which was used as an example of RCV/IRV while the petition was being circulated. City of Aspen officials cited numerous problems with their 2009 election and critics also cited that the procedure is flawed because it is prone to “non-monotonicity” a mathematical phenomenon that can cause a candidate who received fewer votes than other candidates to win”. As it turns out Aspen voters repealed the procedure in the November 2010 after just one May 09’ election cycle. Aspen voters reinstated the traditional voting method by 65.3 percent to 34.7 percent. (As stated in the Aspen Times, November 3rd 2010)

One of the more documented examples of how RCV/IRV disenfranchised voters is the town of Burlington Vermont. On March 2, 2010 Burlington voters voted to repeal IRV after having used it for just two election cycles. In a study of Instant Runoff Voting conducted by Anthony Gierzynski, PhD, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont, Gierzynski related the following voting paradox in the 2009 Burlington Vermont Mayoral election which precipitated the demise of RCV/IRV:

“…the 2009 mayoral election in Burlington witnessed several…perverse outcomes in what was only the second election Burlington ran using IRV. One candidate, who lost the election, Andy Montroll, was preferred over all other candidates in a head-to-head matchup. That is majority of voters ranked Montroll ahead of the winner Bob Kiss and ahead of the second place finisher, Kurt Wright, yet Montroll lost the election. Democrat Montroll was favored over Republican Kurt Wright 56% to 44% (930-vote margin) and over Progressive Bob Kiss 54% to 46% (590-vote margin) majorities. …In sum, it is unequivocally clear that IRV did NOT result in a majority winner in 2009”. (www.uvm.edu/˞vlrs/IRVassessment.pdf)

And there are others who’ve ditched RCV/IRV as well, Sunnyvale California, Cary North Carolina, Pierce County Washington, the Utah Republican Party, San Francisco and even Georgetown University. Wonder who is left using RCV/IRV? This is difficult to determine since many of the places listed on websites promoting RCV/IRV have since ditched the method.

Who is behind promoting this change? FairVote.org seems to be the organization pushing RCV/IRV. Their stated purpose is, “FairVote acts to transform our elections to achieve universal access to participation, a full spectrum of meaningful ballot choices and majority rule with fair representation for all.” If you look further into the reasons proponents want this change it seems to stem from the 2000 election in which Al Gore lost to George W. Bush. Ralph Nader was cited as being the spoiler in that race. If those who’d voted for Nader as a first choice had Gore as their second then Gore would have won. Some notable supporters are Senator John McCain, Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich. There is also some third-party endorsement by the Green Party and the Libertarian Party.

So the question is should this measure pass would it really do anything to change the current “first pass the post” system? Or would it add more complexity, expense and result in delays to our traditional voting system? Could switching to RCV/IRV eventually lead to doing away with the Electoral College System? Would the change create dissatisfaction among voters as indicated by the long list of municipalities mentioned above who tried RCV/IRV and have since ditched the method?

It would be advisable to do some research before you mark your ballot in April, just Google “Stop Instant Runoff Voting”. You may be surprised at what you’ll find.

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Slicing The Burden

RTWT:

Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe: What Congress Should Cut - WSJ.com: "The primary economic challenge today is that our government spends too much money it doesn't have, and it is involved in too many things it cannot do well and shouldn't do at all. This burden is manifested by a $1.3 trillion annual deficit and a $14 trillion national debt. The more pernicious effects of this fiscal drag are unseen: a debased dollar, massive (and hidden) unfunded liabilities, and a crushing burden on would-be job creators.

Milton Friedman correctly argued in 1999 that the 'real cost of government—the total tax burden—equals what government spends plus the cost to the public of complying with government mandates and regulations and of calculating, paying, and taking measures to avoid taxes.'"

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Monday, January 17, 2011

Face Off

Power Line: "Two unrelated stories in the news tonight remind us of the importance of the regulatory environment. First, Goldman Sachs announces that Americans will not be permitted to invest in Facebook:
Goldman Sachs decided to exclude US clients from the private offering of as much as $1.5 billion in shares of social-networking company Facebook, citing 'intense media attention.'

In a statement provided to The Wall Street Journal Monday, Goldman said the move came after officials at the New York securities firm 'concluded the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a US private placement under US law.'"
But don't worry. Government regulations have no unintended consequences.

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QOTD: Why You Ignore The Classics At Your Own Peril

Guest Post: Law And The State | zero hedge: "The more corrupt the State, the more numerous the laws. – Cornelius Tacitus"

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Sunday, January 16, 2011

I Do Not Like The Sarah Palin

Moonbattery: Sarah Palin Blood Libel: "Talking teddy bears recreate the debate as to whether Sarah Palin and the Tea Party were behind the Tucson Massacre:"


Nicely done.

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About That Jumbotron


HT Gateway Pundit

American Thinker: Clarice's Pieces: Another Memo from Leni Riefenstahl: "From: Leni Riefenstahl

To: Barack Obama und Frau Obama

Subject: Politische Kundgebung getarnt als eine Gedenkfeier (Political rally masquerading as a memorial service)

It's been two years since I last wrote.  Then it was about the Invesco Field Rally in Denver.  Now it's about that rally in Tucson.  If you don't mind a few harsh words from someone seasoned in such things, no matter that you tried hard, the tragic incident in Tucson was no Reichstag Fire, and while you made as much of it as you could, you need to hone your shtick a bit better in future.  I keep writing to you out of admiration for your political inclinations and skills, of course."
And that applause prompt on the Jumbotron at the memorial service means you are forever and truly an a**hat.

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Welcome To The Past

Hu calls currency system 'product of the past': "China's President Hu Jintao said Sunday the international currency system was 'a product of the past,' but it would be a long time before the yuan is accepted as an international currency.
Hu's comments, which came ahead of a state visit to Washington on Wednesday, reflected the continuing tensions over the dollar's role as the major reserve currency in the aftermath of the US financial crisis in 2008.

'The current international currency system is the product of the past,' Hu said in written answers to questions posed by The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

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Fueling The Crisis

Unilever chief warns over global crisis in food output - Telegraph: "In a speech on Tuesday, Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, will say that market distortions created by European Union subsidies work against the needs of the developing world.
He will also demand fewer subsidies for harmful first-generation bio-fuels and say that climate change must be tackled by companies changing to sustainable models of agriculture."
Of course the AGW part is nonsense but he is entirely correct about government planning causing market distortions. If you haven't yet read Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" you need to drop everything and read it right now else you'll just become another fleeced sheep in the next rounds of the (politically generated) "crisis". (Here's a short intro to "Road to Serfdom" and here's the Reader's Digest version [also available here].)

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O Inflating Wastage

Power Line - Memphis Blues Again: "They have (probably correctly) deduced that Democratic re-election prospects in 2012-14 are tied to the unemployment rate and the price of houses, and they will do anything to move those numbers, regardless of future damage. (Besides, a roaring inflation later is just another crisis that cannot be allowed to go to waste! Wage and price controls are lovely avenues for centralized power.)

It's little different than FDR in 1934-35 observing that businesses were sitting on cash instead of hiring people (because of the insane regulatory environment, among other things), and determining to pry that cash out of them. In those days he took the blatant approach -- the undistributed profits tax of 1936. Nowadays a more subtle approach is called for: in this case, inflation, which is essentially a massive tax on savings and retained profits.

It probably doesn't hurt that in addition the one party that does well in a strongly inflationary environment is he who owes loads of money (the debt is rapidly eroded by inflation) and who has an income that is fully indexed to inflation, meaning it automatically rises in lockstep with nominal prices and wages. That of course describes state and federal governments today."
Beauteous, ain't it? He loves it when a good plan comes together at your expense.

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

flunkOrama

I can hardly contain my shock:

Opinion: Elected Officials Flunk Constitution Quiz: "Elected officials at many levels of government, not just the federal government, swear an oath to 'uphold and protect' the U.S. Constitution.

But those elected officials who took the test scored an average 5 percentage points lower than the national average (49 percent vs. 54 percent), with ordinary citizens outscoring these elected officials on each constitutional question. Examples:
Only 49 percent of elected officials could name all three branches of government, compared with 50 percent of the general public.

Only 46 percent knew that Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war -- 54 percent of the general public knows that."

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Friday, January 14, 2011

Asteroid Update

Power Line - Epic Fail: "This Quinnipiac poll provides more evidence that hardly anyone buys the Democratic Party's spin on the Tucson murders. When asked 'What do you think is the main reason for the Arizona shooting; failure of the mental health system, lax gun control laws, overheated political rhetoric, or do you think this is a situation that could not have been prevented?' respondents answered:

* Mental health system: 23%
* Gun control laws: 9%
* Political rhetoric: 15%
* Couldn't have been prevented: 40%
* Don't know/no answer: 14%

If a large asteroid struck the earth, those 15 percent are the ones who would say it was Sarah Palin's fault."

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COTD: Washington Lost

MSNBC Marches Ahead With Its Own Set of Facts | The Agitator: "As any thoughtful libertarian will tell you, all laws are really just authorizations to use force to require, or prohibit, some behavior. Or, as George Washington said, ““Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. Government is force; like fire it is a dangerous servant — and a fearful master.”"

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Oops

But he's really a genius constitutional lawyer I tell ya:

Obama speech undercuts federal charge for judge's murder - Josh Gerstein - POLITICO.com: "It may have been inadvertent, but a passage in President Barack Obama's speech to a memorial service in Tucson Wednesday night could undercut a criminal charge federal prosecutors have leveled at suspect Jared Loughner for the death of U.S. District Court Judge John Roll in a shooting rampage Saturday."
And don't you forget it! Oh, I forgot. Roll was a Republican so it's OK.

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I'll Have To Get Back To You On That

Instapundit » Blog Archive » ANDREW KLAVAN: The History of Western Culture in 2 1/2 Minutes. …: "ANDREW KLAVAN: The History of Western Culture in 2 1/2 Minutes."



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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

COTD: The Real Slaves

Guest Post: Gold A Bubble? Think Again! | zero hedge: "'Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves.'
–Norm Franz, Money and Wealth in the New Millenium"

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Barry And Sarah Talk Violence

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Just Let Me Explain

Global warming reveals shortage of snow plows in Atlanta | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: "You can’t blame Atlanta for being unprepared for the effects of global warming. You never know what global warming is going to do next, but you can rest assured that no matter what happens — rain, snow, hot, cold, whatever — it’s the result of global warming. The biblical floods in Australia, where global warming was supposed to cause massive droughts? Global warming. Global cooling? Global warming. It’s all because of global warming.

Besides, Al Gore predicted this in his bestselling book, Yes, I Know What I Said Before, But Just Let Me Explain."

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The Product Of His Own Mind

Tucson shooting: Suspect Jared Lee Loughner was troubled - latimes.com: "Between last February and September, according to Pima Community College officials, Loughner caused five disturbances on campus that required police response.

On Sept. 29, there was a breaking point when campus police discovered a YouTube video in which Loughner proclaimed the college 'unconstitutional.'

(Subsequent Internet statements made by Loughner take issue with U.S. currency not being backed by gold or silver, question whether NASA's Mars Rover was faked, and charge the government with trying to control citizens with grammar. Those seeking a coherent philosophy will probably be frustrated, said Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League. 'So far, most of his beliefs appear to be the product of his own mind, primarily,' he said.)"

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Monday, January 10, 2011

Bonkers .. And Too Riled Up To Vote

Power Line - Loughner Friend "Explains Grudge Against Giffords": "Since hearing of the rampage, Tierney has been trying to figure out why Loughner did what he allegedly did. 'More chaos, maybe,' he says. 'I think the reason he did it was mainly to just promote chaos. He wanted the media to freak out about this whole thing. He wanted exactly what's happening. He wants all of that.' Tierney thinks that Loughner's mindset was like the Joker in the most recent Batman movie: 'He f***s things up to f*** s*** up, there's no rhyme or reason, he wants to watch the world burn."
I think it's fair to say that Loughner was not exactly a Tea Partier.

UPDATE: County records show that Loughner was registered as an independent voter but did not vote in the 2010 election. Obviously he was too riled up by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement to make it to the polls.
Let's face it -- this guy is insane. End of story.

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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Deluge Redux

Soon The Economic Deluge - Forbes.com: "The international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944 is on the verge of breaking down. It could still be saved by heroic measures, especially if these were taken in the United States. They would include an immediate slash in projected government expenditures, an immediate balancing of the budget, and a halt in any further increase in the stock of money.

But in the present political and ideological atmosphere, these measures are very unlikely.

Parallel measures are even more unlikely in Britain or in France. The government in Britain will never give up its socialistic obsessions. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy is caught in a chronic dilemma of either yielding to untenable wage demands or having his country paralyzed by strikes.

And nearly every other country, in varying degree, now operates on the fixed assumption that at least some inflation, some constant increase in its stock of paper money, is necessary to prevent an economic slowdown or setback.

The four paragraphs above--substituting "Charles de Gaulle" for "Sarkozy" and adding "Labor" before "government in Britain"--appeared at the beginning of a Los Angeles Times editorial written by Henry Hazlitt in March of 1969. The editorial concluded that the U.S. was certain to leave the gold standard and commence an inflationary devaluation, with resulting economic chaos."
This is a good place to start. Who knows? You might learn something.

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COTD: The Ones Who Have Never Read A Book

Lunatic Jared Loughner Wanted to Kill Cops… He Must Be a Tea Partyer! | The Gateway Pundit: "—”Another Pima classmate, Lydian Ali, said Loughner would frequently laugh aloud to himself during the advanced-poetry class they attended.”—

Advanced poetry class? Advanced poetry class! So now the left is claiming that tea partiers (the one’s that have never read a book, right?) are all now taking advanced poetry classes. I mean, not regular poetry classes, but advanced poetry classes. This is what the MSM is expecting me to believe?"
Untethered would hardly seem to begin describing this story line, huh?

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Sarah Palin's Fault (Part 96,393)

Good Lord:

Lunatic Jared Loughner Wanted to Kill Cops… He Must Be a Tea Partyer! | The Gateway Pundit: "We already knew that the Tucson shooter Jared Loughner was an anti-Christian, anti-Constitution, left-wing, pro-Marx, antiflag, “quite liberal” lunatic.
Today we found out that he also wanted to kill cops.

Using the state-run media model, we can therefore draw two conclusions from this information:
1.) He must be a tea partyer
2.) It’s Sarah Palin’s fault

...

The online accounts also contain bizarre discussions of a new currency and literacy, as well as threatening and despairing messages.

WOW! I’m glad i didn’t kill myself. I’ll see you on National T.v.! This is foreshadow …. why doesn’t anyone talk to me?..” he posted on MySpace Dec. 14.

On Dec. 13, he wrote: “I don’t feel good: I’m ready to kill a police officer! I can say it.”"
That's the "right" man. Always looking out to kill cops. Sigh ...

Look. This guy was just plain nuts. But if it wasn't another of the totalitarian left's tactics, I'd say people who try to float this crap attacking Sarah Palin and the right should be locked up in a mental hospital along with this loon. That is if they can qualify as adults.

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Chaos Reminded

We The Free: Featherweight Translations: "RTWT:
Simple Physics – In reality my feather blew up into a tree | Watts Up With That?: 'The realities and complexities and unknowns of climate science are described in the IPCC working Group 1 reports, but somehow get ‘lost in translation’ into the Summary for Policymakers, for example (and everyone knows very few politicians even read beyond the executive summary of anything).
IPCC (Chapter 14, 14.2.2.2, Working Group 1, The Scientific Basis)
Third Assessment Report: “In sum, a strategy must recognise what is possible. In climate research and modeling, we should recognize that we are dealing with a coupled nonlinear chaotic system, and therefore that long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.”'"

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Despicable Insanity Piles On Top Of Real Insanity


BRACE YOURSELVES: Democrat Fred Phelps and Westboro Hate Group announce plans to picket 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Greene’s funeral. A new low for Democrat hate groups. « HillBuzz.org: "The Left does some truly despicable things in this world, but this is a new low for Democrats.

Former three-time Democrat gubernatorial candidate Fred Phelps Jr. (commonly called just “Fred Phelps”) and his Westboro Hate Group have announced plans to disrupt the funeral of 9 year-old shooting victim Christina Greene.

...

Democrat Phelps (an enormous supporter of Al Gore’s, though the media conveniently leaves off that he’s a Democrat and instead likes to imply he’s a conservative, which he is not…he’s a Democrat, and ran repeatedly on the Democrat ticket unsuccessfully for several elected offices) disrupted the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards last month, because it is what he does."

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It Must Be Sarah's Fault

Flag-Burning, Anti-Religious, Marx Supporter Kills Bush-Appointed Judge… The Left Blames Tea Party & Sarah Palin | The Gateway Pundit: "“RT @ExJon: Constitution-hating, flag-burning, anti-religion, Karl Marx devotee murders Bush-appointed judge… It must be Palin’s fault!”"
We appear to be getting an unusually explicit demonstration today of the mental illnesses permeating our "betters".

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A Tale O Energy Slavery

Deep-Water Drilling Permits Down 88% in Gulf Since Obama Lifted Moratorium | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.: "Investor’s Business Daily reports that “regulators have made it nearly impossible for oil firms to restart operations and have slapped strict new rules on drilling even in shallow waters.” Former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, told CNN that “the moratorium is now lifted in name only,” warning that “the less we drill in the Gulf of Mexico the more dependent we become on crude oil from other countries.”

“The federal government has estimated that U.S. offshore oil production could drop 13% in 2011 because of regulatory delays and other new rules being put in place,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “Before the BP oil spill, offshore production this year was projected to increase by 6%.”"
You do know that the root word of "slave" is "slav" of course? And that you are now a virtual "slav" no matter your ancestry. (Even if you're Asian for instance -- see my last post).

Why was "slav" the root word? That would be because both the Western Europeans and the Muslims took the slavs captive of course. I'll leave it for you to figure out that a modern version the same alliance is enslaving you as we speak...

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In Praise Of Chinese Mothers

First you need to click through and RTWT:

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior - WSJ.com: "Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment. By contrast, the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they're capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits and inner confidence that no one can ever take away."
And only then you need to click over here and read this. But culture doesn't matter you see... (Two additional references here and here in case you're dim enough to think the real issue is race and not culture.)

After which you will be well equipped to be called a racist by know-nothing liberals when you mention anything about your new learnings touching on this subject at social gatherings. If you were able to follow your new accusers around -- which you'll be very happy you can't of course -- you might find that they display a lot of this behaviour (from the WSJ article of course):
For example, if a child comes home with an A-minus on a test, a Western parent will most likely praise the child. The Chinese mother will gasp in horror and ask what went wrong. If the child comes home with a B on the test, some Western parents will still praise the child. Other Western parents will sit their child down and express disapproval, but they will be careful not to make their child feel inadequate or insecure, and they will not call their child "stupid," "worthless" or "a disgrace." Privately, the Western parents may worry that their child does not test well or have aptitude in the subject or that there is something wrong with the curriculum and possibly the whole school. If the child's grades do not improve, they may eventually schedule a meeting with the school principal to challenge the way the subject is being taught or to call into question the teacher's credentials.
Nuff said.

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Saturday, January 8, 2011

6 O 6 O 6 ...

... shall be the number O the beast:

Obama to hand Commerce Dept. authority over cybersecurity ID | Privacy Inc. - CNET News: "STANFORD, Calif.--President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

It's 'the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government' to centralize efforts toward creating an 'identity ecosystem' for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

That news, first reported by CNET, effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates, including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The move also is likely to please privacy and civil-liberties groups that have raised concerns in the past over the dual roles of police and intelligence agencies."
Feeling up your junk was just the start. Unbelievable.

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Norman Thomas' Grandson Sees The Light?

Newsweek’s Evan Thomas: ‘The health care bill is a disaster’ | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: "Back in November 2009, Thomas admitted the health care reform bill had flaws, but still voiced his support for it. Now he has proclaimed it a failure.

“The health care bill is a disaster,” Thomas continued. “We’re sort of slowly learning – it’s not working. It’s interesting – they’re implementing it and it’s not working out at all as people anticipated. There’s all sorts of wildly wrong projections. As it’s being practiced – it’s failed.”"
Wow.

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The Real "Target List"

Lots of lefty blather about to get nullified. And by that I mean the truth will never be reported as per the usual "name that party" charades:

Ace of Spades HQ: "She's tweeting more -- unless she's just making up an ever-more elaborate lie, I think she's on the level.

Tami reports her as tweeting:

This is a circus. Good Morning America just called me. it's loughner just checked my year book. I haven't seen him since '07. Then, he was left wing. more left. I haven't seen him since '07 though. He became very reclusive. he had a lot of friends until he got alcohol poisoning in '06, & dropped out of school. Mainly loner very philosophical. As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy. he was a pot head & into rock like Hendrix,The Doors, Anti-Flag. I haven't seen him in person since '07 in a sign language class He was a political radical & met Giffords once before in '07, asked her a question & he told me she was 'stupid & unintelligent'

You know who had Gabrille Giffords on her 'target list'? I don't mean Sarah Palin, I mean this screechy little girl.

Who to primary? Well, I'd argue that we can narrow the target list by looking at those Democrats who sold out the Constitution last week. I've bolded members of the Blue Dogs for added emphasis.
I added italics to 'target list,' but Kos used that term."

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Da Fu Bears

Cartoon: Da Bears Talk China Currency Manipulation | zero hedge: "Who says the xtranormal bubble has popped? Today we present the latest 'bearish' cartoon with one particular take on Chinese currency manipulation. While we don't necessarily agree with the argument that Chinese monetary policy is the 'single most protectionist policy in the world' as China is merely holding up a mirror to the Fed's own monetary tools, it does provide some entertaining perspectives. On the other hand, the observation that China takes 6,000 jobs for every billion dollars in incremental trade deficit, is spot on."


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cOrrupt (Part 83,831)

Tim Carney Makes Jonathan Alter Sad - By Jonah Goldberg - The Corner - National Review Online: "Tim Carney Makes Jonathan Alter Sad"


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The New Jihad ...

... same as the old Jihad:

New rate of stratospheric photolysis questions ozone hole | Watts Up With That?: "“The Montreal Protocol may not have been necessary to save the ozone, but it had limited economic damage. It has caused much more damage in the way it has corrupted science. It showed how quickly a scientist or activist can gain fame and fortune by purporting to save planet earth.  We have the same situation with CO2 now, but CO2 is completely natural, unlike freons. Planet earth is quite happy to have lots more CO2 than current values, as the geological record clearly shows.  If the jihad against CO2 succeeds, there will be enormous economic damage, and even worse consequences for human liberty at the hands of the successful jihadists.”
LIKE GLOBAL WARMING THE DATA DOESN’T SUPPORT THE THEORY

The ozone hole has not closed off after we banned CFCs. See this story in Nature:

Scientific Consensus on Man-Made Ozone Hole May Be Coming Apart

As the world marks 20 years since the introduction of the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, Nature has learned of experimental data that threaten to shatter established theories of ozone chemistry. If the data are right, scientists will have to rethink their understanding of how ozone holes are formed and how that relates to climate change."
Whoops! And if you take the time to RTWT this little section might jump out at you:
The ozone crusade also had business opportunities for firms like Dupont to market proprietary “ozone-friendly” refrigerants at much better prices than the conventional (and more easily used) freons that had long-since lost patent protection and were not a cheap commodity with little profit potential”
As well at this comment:
Joe D'Aleo says:
January 8, 2011 at 9:26 am
One thing not mentioned was the ban also included the propellants used in inhalers for the many millions of people suffering from asthma (as I do) or COPD. The new formulations were no longer available in low cost generic form and the prices of the inhalers skyrocketed. Big pharma was all too glad to make the change and rake it in.
Hmmm. Our old friend "corporatism" with green paint. And on the rare occasions when it is outed you can bet on it being painted as that bad old capitalism. Ugghh.

I got a big laugh from my oldest son pointing out to his science teacher that the climate alarmist movie they were being shown was sponsored by one of the big oil companies -- immediately after the teacher telling the class that the those skeptical of the alarmists were bought off by big oil!

Let me think hard now -- higher prices for oil will leave more or less room for higher profits by big petroleum? Wait, wait, I just know I'll figure it out soon!

Let's root around in the memory hole shall we?:

  • The DDT scare: total garbage finally rescinded by WHO. Maybe 40 million dead?
  • The population and resources scare: more garbage. I'm guessing you never heard of Simon's bet with Ehrlich and Holdren (now the idiot O Duce's "science advisor"). No, hundred's of millions didn't die but you might want to check out Ehrlich's views on DDT.
  • The global cooling scare: garbage at the time but at this point we need to hope and pray that it's not true since the oligarch loons might lately have forgotten to tell you we live in a short respite from an Ice Age. How many hundreds of millions do you suppose will die if we limit greenhouse gases when we should be increasing them?
  • The ozone hole scare: nuff said already.
  • The AGW totalitarian scandal: and I do mean scandal. You might have noticed that all the same players in the cooling scare are now in the AGW scam. I'm frankly amazed that Svensmark and Kirkby are still allowed to live. Apparently CERN still has enough sway that it won't take lightly to having real physicist's touched in any way. Especially when the AGW political goons are about to be kicked out the door on their *sses by actual scientists.
Did I forget to mention that Orwell has been stuffed down his own memory hole?

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Pants O Fire

Calling Your Opposition Liars Does not Change the Facts about Fannie and Freddie « The Enterprise Blog: "What kind of organization is the Huffington Post? We’re not regular readers, but it’s astonishing that the Huffington Post would publish a libelous attack such as David Fiderer’s December 29 article without at least checking to determine whether there is any truth in his statement that we “lied” in our September 2008 Financial Services Outlook entitled “The Last Trillion Dollar Commitment: The Destruction of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” As participants in academic and scholarly work, we are used to challenges to data—that’s how the academic world operates—but to be called liars, which implies bad motives rather than simple error, is a disgraceful breach of all acceptable standards. It is a bad mark on the Huffington Post as well as the author of the article."
As linked to here, this piece of excrement is still in the Google cache. Any bets on whether Google soon sends it down the memory hole as being inconvenient?

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A Microscopic Promise Kept

Politifact: Score one promise kept by GOP House « Hot Air: "Who voted against it?  All thirteen were Democrats, including Jan Schakowski, John Conyers, Jim Moran, Edolphus Towns, and Minnesota’s own Keith Ellison.  It’s a measure of just how far outside the mainstream this handful of Representatives are.  Do they really believe that their constituents think that Congress should keep up its current level of spending on itself?  The vast majority of their fellow Democrats agree with the cut, which prompts the question of why the Pelosi-led House never bothered to propose it in the first place.

Of course, this was a rather easy promise to keep, since the negative impact will only be felt by the people who work in the House.  It also required no cooperation with the Senate or White House, since the House makes its own rules and budget.  Making the necessary cuts in the rest of the federal budget will prove much tougher, especially when the beneficiaries of federal largesse begin sharing tales of woe with the press.  But at least it was a promise kept, one small step in rebuilding the credibility of the GOP as a governing party."
I'll believe the bigger promises when I see them. Oh, and 5% is pretty much nothing in relation to the kinds of cuts that need to be made all throughout FedGov.

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Freezing In The Dark: Preview Edition


Gas Prices Under President Obama in Pictures | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.: "Fact: President Barack Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu wants to “figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” At the time he made the statement, gas cost $7 – $8 a gallon in Europe.
Fact: Since taking office, President Obama’s entire energy agenda has made a gallon of gas more expensive:

Immediately after taking office in 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, canceled 77 leases for oil and gas drilling in Utah.
The EPA announced new rules mandating the use of 36 billion gallons worth of renewable fuels (like ethanol) by 2020."
And exactly what part of this don't you understand?:


Premium is now over $3 in my neighborhood -- how about yours?

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Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Social Security Myth

Watch and weep:

Belmont Club » The Song Remains the Same: "Milton Friedman pondered the future of Social Security and publicly funded health care 30 years ago. How much of his argument has proved true? How much false?"



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cOrrupt

Are you getting it yet?

Power Line - Obamacare: A Uniquely Vicious Form of Corruption: "We've heard a lot about 'crony capitalism' in recent years, but this is something worse--crony socialism. The Obama administration is running, in effect, a protection racket--nice business you have here, too bad if something should happen to it. We're passing legislation that may destroy your business, but don't worry--if you pay us our protection money, we will give you a waiver. By American standards, this is corruption of a uniquely vicious sort."
If you don't you probably never will. RTWT.

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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Huck In The hOle

Moonbattery: Mark Twain's Great Works Rewritten to Conform to Political Correctness: "Under liberalism, watering down Twain's masterpiece into lukewarm mush may be the only way to get it back into schools.
Published in the U.S. in 1885, 'Huck Finn' is the fourth most banned book in schools, according to 'Banned in the U.S.A.' by Herbert N. Foerstal, a retired college librarian who has written several books on First Amendment issues.

Despite failing to conform to contemporary thought codes, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a key part of our culture. Here's what Ernest Hemingway had to say about it:
'All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn.' … All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.'"
And shock of shocks, Hemingway himself is being stuffed down the memory hole...

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Silence Of The Yellow Wolves

I'm guessing you might have missed this:

Media Slow To Show WikiLeaks Justified Iraq War - HUMAN EVENTS: "While the media have been quick to run with WikiLeaks’ U.S. State Department cable releases to undermine Washington’s efforts to effect stability in unstable parts of the world, it is slow, if not silent, in giving credit where credit is due. Although other credible sources confirmed it before WikiLeaks did, in receiving similar disinterested responses from the media, it should be clear now that President Bush’s concerns about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program were well-founded.

The controversy goes back to Bush’s State of the Union address in January 2003. In the speech, he said the British government learned Saddam had "recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This became one of several justifications leading to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq two months later — and one about which, Bush critics later claimed, he lied.

...

Five years after Joe Wilson’s op-ed claimed no yellowcake was sold to Iraq — the ease with which Saddam could have snapped his fingers and reinstituted his nuclear program became apparent. In July 2008, in an operation kept secret at the time, 37 military air cargo flights shipped more than 500 metric tons of yellowcake — found in Iraq — out of the country for further transport and remediation to Canada."

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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A Drive Through Your Future

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Ripped Down The Memory hOle

Yiminy Crismis:

If We Say It Is, It Is . . . - By Victor Davis Hanson - The Corner - National Review Online: "If you had gone to sleep in early 2006 and woken up today, you would learn that the filibuster is no longer a necessary brake on the tyranny of the majority but rather is a fossilized impediment to necessary progressive change. Recess appointments no longer result in “damaged goods” but are necessary protocols to get the talented by ossified ideologues in the Senate. If raising the debt limit beyond $9 trillion was once reckless and proof of a lack of leadership, exceeding $14 trillion is sober and judicious. Iraq is no longer lost, it is our “greatest achievement.” And just as Guantanamo and Predators are no longer constitutional affronts but critical tools against man-made disasters, so too the “fat cat” Bush tax rates ceased being impediments to spreading the wealth and evolved into necessary incentives for economic revival."
VDH nails another one. Did I forget to mention that even Orwell himself has been stuffed down his own memory hole?

H/T Powerline

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Monday, January 3, 2011

The Sum Of Good Government

From Jefferson's first inaugural address:

Thomas Jefferson: First Inaugural Address. U.S. Inaugural Addresses. 1989: "Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities."

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