Tuesday, July 31, 2012

So it begins: Obamacare forcing states to cap, cut prescription drug benefits for seniors and the poor

But they're the party of compassion, don't ya know:

A new report from Kaiser Health indicates states are now moving in the direction of capping or cutting prescription drug benefits.

Illinois Medicaid recipients have been limited to four prescription drugs as the state becomes the latest to cap how many medicines it will cover in the state-federal health insurance program for the poor.

Sixteen states impose a monthly limit on the number of drugs Medicaid recipients can receive and seven states have either enacted such caps or tightened them in the past two years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KHN is a program of the foundation). The limits vary across the country. Mississippi has a limit of two brand-name drugs. In Arkansas adults are limited to up six drugs a month. Since June, Alabama has had the nation’s stingiest Medicaid drug benefit after limiting adults to one brand-name drug. HIV and psychiatric drugs were excluded. On Aug. 1 the state will relax the limit to its previous level — four brand-name drugs — after the restriction saved more money than expected and the state received money as part of a settlement with a pharmaceutical company.

Other states with Medicaid drug limits are Arkansas, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

Rationing issues in Obamacare have long been a concern of pro-life groups. Although the death panels — the voluntary advanced care planning that pro-life advocates have been concerned about because it could have doctors financially motivated to promote less medical care and lifesaving treatment — occupied most of the debate, the National Right to Life Committee says other provisions cause concern.

Joe Biden really was right for once. If your life depends on these prescription drugs, Obamacare really is a big f***in' deal.


Hat tip: BadBlue.


Auto industry pundits: GM's results will be horrible due to unsellable electric cars and global cooling, but mostly unsellable electric cars

You think GM's stock price is at an all-time low now? Dude.

It’s not that people are leaving GM. It’s how they leave. Two weeks ago, Opel chief Karl-Friedrich Stracke presented numbers to Dan Akerson. Akerson fires him. Opel gets two interim chiefs in a week. Last Thursday, Opel’s new design chief Dave Lyon doesn’t even start his job. Today, media in the U.S. and Germany report that Lyon had been escorted from the building and to a waiting car by GM’s head of personnel. A day later, global marketing chief Joel Ewanick suddenly leaves. Instead of wishing him all the best for his future endeavors, GM spokesman Greg Martin puts a knife in Ewanick’s back: “He failed to meet the expectations the company has of an employee.”


It took them two years to come to that uncivilized conclusion? Ewanick was hired as U.S. marketing chief in May 2010. Apparently, he exceeded expectations, because half a year later, Ewanick was promoted to global chief marketing officer. The leaked reasons for Ewanick’s ouster. Facebook and soccer, don’t ring true. In a normal company, when a marketing chief decides not to put ads on Facebook and to ditch football for soccer, a Facebook and football loving CEO simply would call the marketing chief and ask whether he’s serious. The same day, there would be a comment that the marketing chief was misquoted, in a normal company.

It all looks like Dan Akerson is panicking. The GM stock is at an all-time low. GM is losing market share. When July numbers will be announced this week, GM won’t look so good, industry oracles say.

And all this time I thought the central planners in Washington could outperfrom the free market, what with their genius ideas like Chevy Volts that cost $250,000 apiece to produce.


Hat tip: LVN.

Crikeys: illegal aliens released by the Obama administration have killed 19, raped 142, and committed a total of 60,000 crimes

Which is pretty much what you could have expected, because lawlessness begets lawlessness.

The Obama administration released illegal immigrants who went on to commit more crimes, including charges of 19 murders, 3 attempted murders and 142 sex crimes, the House Judiciary Committee said in a report Tuesday.

All told, the nearly 47,000 illegal immigrants the administration was notified of but declined to deport between 2008 and 2011 under its Secure Communities program had a recidivism rate of 16 percent, the committee said.

They were just part of the nearly 160,000 immigrants — most of them here legally — who were flagged by Secure Communities during the three year period but who were either not eligible to be deported or who the administration decided to release. Those immigrants went on to be charged in nearly 60,000 more crimes, according to the committee and the Congressional Research Service, which issued a report on the matter.

...In June President Obama announced yet another policy that shields most illegal immigrants age 30 and under from deportation. That policy won’t fully take effect until the middle of August, but it has already had an effect on those being deported.

As Heather Mac Donald reported in 2004, illegal immigration has been linked for decades to significant levels of violent crime.

Police commanders may not want to discuss, much less respond to, the illegal-alien crisis, but its magnitude for law enforcement is startling. Some examples:

• In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.

• A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern California is illegal; police officers say the proportion is actually much greater. The bloody gang collaborates with the Mexican Mafia, the dominant force in California prisons, on complex drug-distribution schemes, extortion, and drive-by assassinations, and commits an assault or robbery every day in L.A. County. The gang has grown dramatically over the last two decades by recruiting recently arrived youngsters, most of them illegal, from Central America and Mexico.

• The leadership of the Columbia Lil’ Cycos gang, which uses murder and racketeering to control the drug market around L.A.’s MacArthur Park, was about 60 percent illegal in 2002, says former assistant U.S. attorney Luis Li. Francisco Martinez, a Mexican Mafia member and an illegal alien, controlled the gang from prison, while serving time for felonious reentry following deportation.

Thanks to the Obama administration's unconstitutional implementation of the "DREAM" Act by executive fiat, you can be sure that more innocent Americans will die or suffer violent crimes.

Remember in November.



Larwyn's Linx: California: the Road Warrior is here

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

Nation

California: the Road Warrior is here: Hanson
Obama's Ultimate Cover-up: Kincaid
WH Spokesman calls Bin Laden bombshell 'a fabrication': Nice Deb

Good luck finding a doctor under Obamacare: NRO
Hate Chicken: FreedomWorks
Mourdock Offers ‘Simple’ Economic Solutions but Not ‘Easy’ Ones: RWN

Pelosi Claims Jews Care Only About Money: RWN
How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Freedom: Foundry
If Obama’s Lost the Secular Humanists …: RSM

Economy

In Obama's World, The Government Owns Your Paycheck: IBD
Stanley Kurtz exposes Obama's war on the suburbs: Breitbart
GM Is Using Evil ‘Subprime Loans’ To Boost Sales: S&L

Philly Councilman Spends $29K To Tweet, Calls Residents "Idiots": Katz
Happy 100th Birthday, Milton Friedman: AllAm
Only Obama: Western

Scandal Central

Report Names Five Behind Fast and Furious: Nice Deb
Federal Court finds Obama appointees interfered with New Black Panther prosecution: Exam
Federal Court: DOJ Official May Have Lied About the New Black Panther Case: Tatler

Climate & Energy

Study: Half of U.S. Warming is Fake: RWN
Kansas City Power Light Wants 12% Increase to Pay for Govt Regulations: MagNote
Weather station temperature claims are overheated, report claims: Fox

Media

NBC Calls for Twitter to Censor Guy Adams for Tweets Criticizing NBC Executive: Blaze
The Right's Dirty Little Secret: Atlas
Why the Right Wing Blogosphere Doesn't Cover Islam — UPDATE! 'Weasel Zippers' is Mystery Blogger: AmPower

The Most Striking Thing About Mitt Romney's Overseas Trip: Power Line
Obama Press Secretary Marries ABC Reporter: WS
Help Us Get Twitter’s Attention to Free the Dead @INSTAPUNDIT Twitter Account. #RespondTwitter: Tatler

Anderson Cooper Crosses the Line: Gaffney
Still Waiting for Outrage: CDN
Dick Morris: 'I Guarantee Bill Clinton Is Going to Cast His Ballot for Mitt Romney': NB

World

Why does Obama use the word "terrorize" for Aurora murders but not for Fort Hood jihad?: HySci
If Mitt Romney had talked about Palestinians the way Obama spoke about Pennsylvanians: LI
How Far is the ECB Really Prepared to Go to Save the Euro?: WallStreetPit

Capital of Israel? Don't Ask the White House: IBD
Krauthammer: Romney speech in Israel was a “master stroke”: Scoop
Non-existent WMDs: UK experts to help Iraq destroy last of Saddam's chemical weapons: Fox

Sci-Tech

Microsoft's radical new business plan is hidden in plain sight: ZDNet
Researcher demonstrates highly persistent hardware backdoor: Net-Security
Mulvenon: Stuxnet was Hiroshima: Fierce

Cornucopia

The House That Obama Built: Picture Book: Cube
What to do if your Hoover's sucking air: MOTUS
Saying Goodbye: Quinton Report

Image: Power Line
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Texas: Tuesday is Cruz Day!

QOTD: "Spurred by the conclusion of a recent report that said that given the fact that China is the de-facto manufacturer of most IT equipment in the world, it could easily backdoor any computer well before it's shipped to its buyers, security researcher Jonathan Brossard decided to prove the practicality of such backdooring.

He set out to create a backdoor that is persistent, stealthy, portable, cheap, that allows remote updates and provide remote access, and whose creation and deployment cannot be attributed to any individual or state.

The result was Rakshasa ("demon" in Hindu), a proof-of-concept malware that is able both to replace a computer's motherboard BIOS and to infect the firmware embedded in other peripheral devices through PCI expansion ROMs, thus ensuring its stealthiness and persistency in case the BIOS was ever flashed." --Zelkja Zorz

Monday, July 30, 2012

Questions, I've got questions

Here are a few I spotted over yonder:

Why does President Obama use the word "terrorize" for the Aurora murders but not for the Fort Hood jihadist??

Is the DOJ trying to buy an Illinois prison again in order to house Gitmo terrorists??

Does NYC Mayor Bloomberg really know more about breast-feeding than Moms?

Was Milton Friedman really a fiscal moderate?

Hey remember when Hillary Clinton was all for Jerusalem being the capital of Israel??

And, most importantly:

Why Don’t Our Representatives Represent The Constitution??


"Savor their sweet tears of despair"

Whoa. Reason asks the provocative question: "Do 3D Printers Make Prohibitions Impossible?"

The Web thingies are buzzing with news that a 3D printer — sort of a first-generation Star Trek replicator — was used to make a gun that actually goes bang when you pull the trigger. Aside from the sheer cool factor, the development makes it clear that a wide range of bans, restrictions and prohibitions are becoming increasingly unenforcable.

From ExtremeTech:

An American gunsmith has become the first person to construct and shoot a pistol partly made out of plastic, 3D-printed parts. The creator, user HaveBlue from the AR-15 forum, has reportedly fired 200 rounds with his part-plastic pistol without any sign of wear and tear.

HaveBlue’s custom creation is a .22-caliber pistol, formed from a 3D-printed AR-15 (M16) lower receiver, and a normal, commercial upper. In other words, the main body of the gun is plastic, while the chamber — where the bullets are actually struck — is solid metal.

The lower receiver was created using a fairly old school Stratasys 3D printer, using a normal plastic resin. HaveBlue estimates that it cost around $30 of resin to create the lower receiver, but “Makerbots and the other low cost printers exploding onto the market would bring the cost down to perhaps $10.” Commercial, off-the-shelf assault rifle lower receivers are a lot more expensive. ...


...HaveBlue's schematic, which he used on what's considered a relatively low-tech StrataSys 3D printer in these fast-moving times, are available at Thingiverse.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have used a relatively low-cost system to synthesize chemical compounds, with the intention of developing the means to create custom drugs. That may well mean the end of the orphan drug problem around the word, and very real price drops on pharmaceuticals... From the BBC:

Researchers have used a £1,250 system to create a range of organic compounds and inorganic clusters - some of which are used to create cancer treatments... Longer term, the scientists say the process could be used to make customised medicines.

They predict the technique will be used by pharmaceutical firms within five years, and by the public within 20...


[The process] also holds out potential for evading yet another class of legal prohibitions on recreational drugs.

Think of it — a world of plenty, with easy localized manufacture of almost anything you might need. It's a world in which "that should be illegal" becomes a punch line.

The next time your control freak friends start in on their latest litany of should-be-banneds, tell them that their arguments are now irrelevant. Tell them why. And savor their sweet tears of despair.

To paraphrase Nicholas Negroponte, we are seeing the convergence of the "atom business" (physical intellectual property) with the "bit business" (virtual I.P.).

And virtual I.P. is exceedingly difficult to protect, as the RIAA found out.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com/Money.

Fashion Corner: Dear Hillary Clinton...

Our first guest-blogger from the fashion industry, "Rogue Intern", sends us the following dispatch from Manhattan's apparel district.

Dear Hillary Clinton,

While we may not always agree with your bizarre policies, we can’t even hide it anymore: we love your wardrobe.

You’ve undoubtedly become a fashion icon in the political world (move over, Jackie O), and your signature colorful pantsuits are as androgynous as you are. Watch out Prada and Balenciaga, pantsuits will never be the same.
And what a bold choice, Hil. You’ve really proved that you ain’t no stay-at-home trophy wife (we know you hate those) in those loose-fitted blazers and impeccably ironed slacks. We also love your gallant haircut; the term “coiffed to perfection” wouldn’t even do it justice.

We’re just gonna throw this out there Hillary, if you like it you can take it, if not, just throw it right back. We’d like to further address you as the First Lady... of Rainbow Pantsuits.

Respect. So just keep doing your thing, never fire your stylist and please never run out of hair wax. Oh, and Hil? This goes without saying, but you look wayyyyy better than Lewinsky. That’s for damn sure.

--Rogue Intern


Funniest Newsweek Cover EVAH!

Everything old is new again. In this case, the ludicrous Newsweek Magazine, slipping ever leftward, attempts to replay its failed 1988 tactic of positioning George H. W. Bush as a wimp. Never mind that Bush 41 was an accomplished fighter-bomber pilot during World War II and nearly perished during a mission over Chichi Jima after being shot down (two of his mates died in the crash and many of his fellow pilots were captured by the Japanese and tortured to death).

So the wimp meme didn't work out too well for Newsweek in '88.


Which is why the geniuses are trying the same game-plan again, having failed to raise credible questions about Romney's leadership, ethics, business acumen, or executive experience.

It's especially hilarious, coming as it does on the heels of the Obama administration's latest embarrassment: a new book by Richard Miniter reveals that Action Obama canceled the Bin Laden 'kill' raid three times at the urging of... Valerie Jarrett.

Which leads me to create this cover:


The Looking Spoon suitably dispenses with Newsweek using a host of real wimp covers. Here's a small sampling:


Don't miss the entire collection.

Suffice it to say that Newsweek is now a cheap imitation of The Onion.

And I wonder if that movie about the Bin Laden hit will show Jarrett calling the shots for Mr. Obama.


Hat tip: Reaganite Republican.

Larwyn's Linx: In Chicago, it seems mass murder is okay as long as it happens in slow motion

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

Nation

Mass murder is okay as long as it happens in slow motion: Papa Todd
DOJ Weasel Keeps Weaseling: AmSpec
New Low: 14% Say Kids Will Be Better Off Than Them: Rasmussen

Injunction issued against HHS via business owner's complaint: Foundry
Chris Christie Hosts Radical Imam; Reaffirms Support: Radical
Constitutional, Tea Party, social conservatives back Cruz in TX: WKnight

Economy

Is Fresno California’s Next Bankrupt City?: Driscoll
Shared Sacrifice: Michelle Wears $7K Jacket to Latest Soiree: GWP
Bypassing Government Roadblocks To Your Personal Prosperity: ZH

Euro Zone ‘Witching Hour’ Arrives in September: Tatler
Private Sector: Obama's Time 'Behind Enemy Lines': Breitbart
Stockton, CA May Herald Flood of City Bankruptcies: Mish

Enjoy the housing collapse? Because Dems want a replay: Elephant
LA Times' beclowns itself on Social Security: Bizzy
100 Days Until We Kick Some Ass To the Curb: Bruce

Scandal Central

DOJ: First Amendment conflicts with Sharia law: AmSpec
Pop Quiz: How Many of Obama’s Green Energy Companies Have Gone Bankrupt?: IMAO
Register to Vote at the Grocery Store... Seems Legit: Lady Liberty

Climate & Energy

Conclusive Proof Of Manmade Global Warming: Ace
Thanks to Democrats China Poised to Cut $15.1 Billion Oil Deal With Canada: Hoft

Media

Newsweek Circles its Final Swirls Down the Drain: AmPower
Invaders from Outer space: Sultan Knish
Suddenly, NY Times Realizes Obamacare Prompts Doctor Shortages: Breitbart

The Cruelest Anti-Obama Billboard Ever Erected: IMAO
Busted: Mr. Pfeiffer and the White House blog: Krauthammer
CBS, NBC Hype Romney 'Controversy' and 'Error' in Israel, Ignored Obama Gaffe in 2008: NB

Why CNN is a failure: Power Line
HuffPo Editorial Director Howard Fineman: Romney Supporters ‘Xenophobic’ and ‘Nativist’: RWN
One Picture to Explain Gun Control to Liberals: IMAO

World

Outing the Muslim Brotherhood: AIM
Upcoming DC Report: Obama passed on the Bin Laden kill three separate times at Jarrett’s Urging: Nice Deb
In Israel, Romney Declares Jerusalem is Capital: AP

Valerie Jarrett Blocked Three Bin Laden Kill Raids: RWN
Romney may not have blasted Obama but Netanyahu sure did: Matzav
PM tells Romney: Sanctions have not moved Iran one iota: JPost

Mitt’s Olympic Gaffe–Or Was It?: CDN
London Mayor’s Olympic Sized Failure After Mocking Romney Critique: Sooper
The NHS and the Opening Ceremonies: Ace

Sci-Tech

iPhone 5 finally shown off completely assembled: BGR
This HDMI Cable Represents The Edge Of Human Stupidity: Consumerist
Visualized: the iDevice influence on Apple's bottom line: Engadget

Cornucopia

We Need Progressive Olympics!: Cube
Now is my moment: I am the Won you’ve been waiting for!: MOTUS
One Picture to Explain Gun Control to Liberals: IMAO

Image: 16 of the Creepiest Comic Book Scenes Ever
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" begins by drawing a picture of a complacent world of men who give little thought of what might be out there, who pay no attention to the "envious eyes" of the invaders that "slowly and surely drew their plans against us". We are aware and unaware of being at war, of passing men and women on the street who are slowly and surely drawing up their own plans against us. In the movie theater, we revisit that terrible knowledge that we are engaged in a war with no natural end under a hundred disguises. We recreate September 11 in our ten-dollar nickelodeons every summer and look to the sky. But it isn't aliens we are watching for. It's planes." --Daniel Greenfield

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Bombshell revelation: Obama canceled Bin Laden 'kill' raid three times at the urging of... wait for it... Valerie Jarrett

Update: The post is live now and it's truly shocking.

At the urging of Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden on three separate occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011 Navy SEAL mission, according to an explosive new book scheduled for release August 21. The Daily Caller has seen a portion of the chapter in which the stunning revelation appears.

In ”Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him,“ Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the “kill” mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. Obama’s close adviser Valerie Jarrett persuaded him to hold off each time...

Miniter, a two-time New York Times best-selling author, cites an unnamed source with Joint Special Operations Command who had direct knowledge of the operation and its planning.

Obama administration officials also said after the raid that the president had delayed giving the order to kill the arch-terrorist the day before the operation was carried out, in what turned out to be his fourth moment of indecision. At the time, the White House blamed the delay on unfavorable weather conditions near bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

But when Miniter obtained that day’s weather reports from the U.S. Air Force Combat Meteorological Center, he said, they showed ideal conditions for the SEALs to carry out their orders.

“President Obama’s greatest success was actually his greatest failure,” Miniter told The Daily Caller Friday. ”Leading From Behind,“ he said, traces the arc of six key Obama administration decisions, and shows how the president made them — and, often, failed to make them.

Great to know that Valerie Jarrett -- the military genius -- is now responsible for national security. Nice Deb reminds us that the so-called "White House Insider" accurately described this scenario at the time of the raid .

Original post:

Looks like this might have accidentally leaked a bit too soon (the story's been pulled for the moment), but stay tuned to The Daily Caller tomorrow for this blockbuster story:


It would appear that even Obama's one signature "achievement" -- giving the order to kill Bin Laden -- was very nearly a SCOAMF.


Free Sign for Businesses That Prohibit Concealed Carry

Spotted at Moonbattery:



Highlights: Romney's Speech in Jerusalem

These are highlights of remarks delivered earlier today by Mitt Romney at Jerusalem Foundation in Jerusalem, Israel.

...It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Our two nations are separated by more than 5,000 miles. But for an American abroad, you can’t get much closer to the ideals and convictions of my own country than you do in Israel. We’re part of the great fellowship of democracies. We speak the same language of freedom and justice, and the right of every person to live in peace. We serve the same cause and provoke the same hatreds in the same enemies of civilization.

It is my firm conviction that the security of Israel is in the vital national security interest of the United States. And ours is an alliance based not only on shared interests but also on enduring shared values.

In those shared values, one of the strongest voices is that of your prime minister, my friend Benjamin Netanyahu. I met with him earlier this morning and I look forward to my family joining his this evening as they observe the close of this fast day of Tisha B'Av.

It’s remarkable to consider how much adversity, over so great a span of time, is recalled by just one day on the calendar. This is a day of remembrance and mourning, but like other such occasions, it also calls forth clarity and resolve.

...It was Menachem Begin who said this about the Ninth of the month of Av: “We remember that day,” he said, “and now have the responsibility to make sure that never again will our independence be destroyed and never again will the Jew become homeless or defenseless.” "This," Prime Minister Begin added, “is the crux of the problems facing us in the future.”

So it is today, as Israel faces enemies who deny past crimes against the Jewish people and seek to commit new ones.

When Iran’s leaders deny the Holocaust or speak of wiping this nation off the map, only the naïve – or worse – will dismiss it as an excess of rhetoric. Make no mistake: the ayatollahs in Tehran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object, and who will look the other way.

My message to the people of Israel and the leaders of Iran is one and the same: I will not look away; and neither will my country. As Prime Minister Begin put it, in vivid and haunting words, “if an enemy of [the Jewish] people says he seeks to destroy us, believe him.”

...It would be foolish not to take Iran’s leaders at their word. They are, after all, the product of a radical theocracy.

Over the years Iran has amassed a bloody and brutal record. It has seized embassies, targeted diplomats, and killed its own people. It supports the ruthless Assad regime in Syria. They have provided weapons that have killed American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has plotted to assassinate diplomats on American soil. It is Iran that is the leading state sponsor of terrorism and the most destabilizing nation in the world.

We have a solemn duty and a moral imperative to deny Iran’s leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent intentions.

We should stand with all who would join our effort to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran – and that includes Iranian dissidents. Do not erase from your memory the scenes from three years ago, when that regime brought death to its own people as they rose up. The threat we face does not come from the Iranian people, but from the regime that oppresses them.

Five years ago, at the Herzliya Conference, I stated my view that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability presents an intolerable threat to Israel, to America, and to the world.

That threat has only become worse... today, the regime in Iran is five years closer to developing nuclear weapons capability. Preventing that outcome must be our highest national security priority.

I want to pause on this last point. It is sometimes said that those who are the most committed to stopping the Iranian regime from securing nuclear weapons are reckless and provocative and inviting war.

The opposite is true. We are the true peacemakers. History teaches with force and clarity that when the world’s most despotic regimes secure the world’s most destructive weapons, peace often gives way to oppression, to violence, or to devastating war.

We must not delude ourselves into thinking that containment is an option. We must lead the effort to prevent Iran from building and possessing nuclear weapons capability. We should employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course, and it is our fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. In the final analysis, of course, no option should be excluded. We recognize Israel's right to defend itself, and that it is right for America to stand with you.

These are some of the principles I first outlined five years ago. What was timely then has become urgent today.

Let me turn from Iran to other nations in the Middle East, where we have seen rising tumult and chaos. To the north, Syria is on the brink of a civil war. The dictator in Damascus, no friend to Israel and no friend to America, slaughters his own people as he desperately clings to power.

Your other neighbor to the north, Lebanon, is under the growing and dangerous influence of Hezbollah.

After a year of upheaval and unrest, Egypt now has an Islamist President... [and as] you know only too well, since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, thousands of rockets have rained on Israeli homes and cities. I have walked on the streets of Sderot, and honor the resolve of its people. And now, new attacks have been launched from the Sinai Peninsula.

With Hezbollah rockets aimed at Israel from the north, and Hamas rockets aimed from the south, with much of the Middle East in tumult, and with Iran bent on nuclear arms, America's vocal and demonstrated commitment to the defense of Israel is even more critical. Whenever the security of Israel is most in doubt, America's commitment to Israel must be most secure.

...Israel and America are in many respects reflections of one another... We both believe in democracy, in the right of every people to select their leaders and choose their nation's course.

We both believe in the rule of law, knowing that in its absence, willful men may incline to oppress the weak.

We both believe that our rights are universal, granted not by government but by our Creator.

We both believe in free enterprise, because it is the only economic system that has lifted people from poverty, created a large and enduring middle class, and inaugurated incomparable achievements and human flourishing.

...You have embraced economic liberty. You export technology, not tyranny or terrorism. And today, your innovators and entrepreneurs have made the desert bloom and have made for a better world...

...I believe that those who oppose these fundamental rights are on the wrong side of history. But history's march can be ponderous and painfully slow. We have a duty to speed and shape history by being unapologetic ambassadors for the values we share.

...I believe that the enduring alliance between the State of Israel and the United States of America is more than a strategic alliance: it is a force for good in the world. America's support of Israel should make every American proud. We should not allow the inevitable complexities of modern geopolitics to obscure fundamental touchstones. No country or organization or individual should ever doubt this basic truth: A free and strong America will always stand with a free and strong Israel.

Storyboard: My Proposed Political Ad


Just 14% of Americans believe their kids will be better off than they were, an all-time low...


Since Barack Obama took office, millions of Americans have dropped out of the workforce...


Long-term optimism about the U.S. economy has fallen to it's lowest level since 2009...


Little wonder, since real unemployment remains at an unacceptably high level of 15 percent, despite trillions in so-called stimulus spending.


Likewise, confidence in the housing market has fallen to its lowest level this year...


And what does President Obama propose? Higher taxes on small businesses, more government spending, and more of the same failed policies that lost America its AAA credit rating.


If you have had enough of President Obama's failed policies, vote the straight Republican ticket. It's the only way to be sure.


Larwyn's Linx: Will Department of Social Justice Impose Sharia?

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

Nation

Will Department of Social Justice Impose Sharia?: MB
The Top 10 Most Dangerous Liberals: Events
RNC Ad Warns of Obama’s Second Term Plans: “Again”: NoisyRm

What Every Citizen Must Know About Our Debt: CDN
The State As a Fantasy: ZH
Freedom Works Event Proves Tea-Party Alive and Well: RWN

100 Days Left Till General Election: RWN
Reward: $50,000 for Khalidi tape of Obama at anti-Israel gala: Breitbart
Jindal: Obama "Most Incompetent President Since Carter": Shark

Economy

No joke: White House replicates subprime crisis policies: Rush
What Are the Odds Your Employer Will Drop Health Coverage?: Foundry
Bone-Chilling: Krugman wants to head the Fed: WZ

Millions flee California because of progressive tax system: DC
Blowing the whistle on the federal Leviathan: Will
Obamacare medical device tax kills company's expansion plans: Fox

Scandal Central

Obama still campaigning on the taxpayer dime (illegally): RS
ATF Director Follows Up on Whistleblower Remarks: MainJustice
New details on Fast and Furious coming this week from reporter Sharyl Attkisson?: FAM

Climate & Energy

Record number of coal-fired generators to be shut down in 2012: DC

Media

Levin interviews Paul Kengor, connecting Jarrett, Axelrod, and Obama to communist mentors: Scoop
NBC Edits Out Olympics’ Tribute to Victims of Terrorism: Sooper
Oh, my: even left-wing Political Wire reports Claire McCaskill in big, big trouble: PolWire

Always the Last to Know: Driscoll
Time Magazine, of all periodicals, hammers left-wing Chicago and Boston mayers for wronging Chick-Fil-A: RWN
AP Headline: 'Unemployment Could Stay High'; Opening Sentence: 'High Unemployment Isn't Going Away': NB

World

Obama Blasted for Failure to Visit Israel: Beacon
Krauthammer: No Pro-Israel Person Will Support Obama 'Unless He's Been In A Coma For 3-and-a-half Years': Fox
NHS did not deserve to be so disgracefully glorified in this bonanza of left-wing propaganda: DailyMai

Commie Punks Protest Olympics: RSM
Norway’s Love Affair With Communist Thugs: GoV
An ill wind blows between US and Israeli intelligence over attack on Iran: DEBKA

Sci-Tech

Census introduces API to make information more accessible: FCW
Subway iPad theft leaves reporter with broken jaw: Tuaw
HP manufacturing gaffe provides rare, unsanctioned look at Chinese assembly line: Verge

Cornucopia

Eye Candy at the Olympics: Waznmentobe
Vote for the Hottest Woman on the Hill/2012: Stockton
Video: Obama and Biden speech excerpts inspire new Obama/Biden 2012 slogans: Malkin

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "The unconscionable behavior of the political class should be thought of as a contagious disease that infiltrates any industry that comes within influence of the state. Government contractors, lobbying associations, favored corporations, and even the press all seek to use the monopolized power of government to further their own interests. Instead of attempting to roll back stifling regulations, many of these firms simply wish to get in on the spoils of the great extortionary scheme. The results are always the same. Politicians pretend to be saving the people from cold-natured capitalism while politically-connected businessmen and bankers act as if their commercial success is completely of their own doing. The hidden truth is both act in tandem to fleece the average taxpayer." --James E. Miller

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Daddy Like: iPhone-sized Handgun

'Course, it's a "last line of defense" sorta thing, but still:

Heizer Defense Double Tap


• The Titanium Tactical Pocket Pistol
• The first concealed carry .45 ACP born from aerospace technology and 100% USA made.
• 5/8 Inches Wide Hammerless No Snag Design
• The future of concealed carry firepower is now in your hands!

• Titanium Frame with a MIL-STD finish that resists corrosion
• Two rounds in the chamber and integral grips house an additional two spare rounds
• Ported barrel reduces muzzle flip and recoil
• Slim, no-snag hammerless design for easy pocket carry
• Thumb latch auto ejects spent rounds
• 7 Patents pending including double-action trigger system
• 1911 Ergonomics and loaded rounds are visible
• Quick change - interchangable barrels

HEIZER Firearms has developed the world's smallest and lightest .45 ACP concealed carry pistol on the market today. Also available in 9mm.

Daddy like. Of course, Daddy likes him all kinds o' guns.


Hat tip: Bernie.

Simple Venn Diagram Explains Entire Democrat Party

This illustration comes to us from The Looking Spoon:

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

Bold differences, sharp contrasts.





Condescending Wonka and Other Memes

Spotted at Quickmeme:


Is it just me, or is the Chicago Tribune racially profiling?

Spotted at The Chicago Tribune, which reminds us "Arrest and booking photos are provided by law enforcement officials. Arrest does not imply guilt, and criminal charges are merely accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty and convicted."


Now, I have no idea whether these fine, upstanding folks are legal citizens or illegal aliens. Let's say, for the sake of argument, only one entered the country illegally and then injured or killed someone.

According to Eric Holder, sealing the border and protecting the citizens of the United States is somehow evil. As usual, he has it completely backwards.


"We tried our plan... and it worked!" -- Record 1 in 6 Americans on foodstamps or disability

Historic is one word I'd use to describe this administration, as more than 55 million Americans are now on foodstamps or disability:

America's transition into a welfare state continues, as May saw a new all time high number of American households, 22.3 million to be exact, enter technical poverty and collect foodstamps...


...At the individual level, 46.5 million Americans lived off foodstamps, a 222,157 increase in the month, or nearly three times the number of people who found jobs in June according to the BLS. Next month this too will be a record, as it is currently just 17,367 before the previous all time high set in December of 2011...


...The good news, and we use the term loosely, is that the average benefit per household rose from all time lows of $275.82 to $276.76. Surely, the bottom is in and just like housing, there is on blue skies ahead...

Combined foodstamp and disability recipients: 55,250,723.

So it turns out President Obama's recent statement -- "We tried our plan... and it worked!" -- was entirely accurate. That is, if his plan was the Cloward-Piven-inspired destruction of American capitalism.



Larwyn's Linx: Finding Hope

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

Nation

Finding Hope: Hale
Are Obama voters really as solid as they profess?: IBD
DNC Homepage: More Attack Ads Than Accomplishments: CBS DC

Why Obama Has No Intention of Losing This November: NiceDeb
JW Exposes Voter Participation Center Scandal: JW
Man with carry permit ends bloody stabbing spree with handgun: Riehl

Obama’s ‘gaffes’ are what he truly believes: Times
Tweet o' the Week: Glob
Conservative Grassroots Must Claim Texas Victory: DeMint

Economy

Shock: massive waste in fed jobs training programs: Foundry
Obama-Care Could Cost McDonald’s $420M A Year: S&L
‘Abysmal Failure’: RSM

Freak-Out Friday: GDP Report Seen Worst In Over Year: IBD
Mitt Reveals What ‘It’ Is: RSM
Teachers’ Unions Targeting Private Schools: HayRide

Scandal Central

When government chooses not to enforce the law of the land: Q&O
Justice Department Blocks Voter ID at Every Turn: Foundry
Eric Holder supports voter fraud: RWN

Climate & Energy

PETA Taking Bets On Grassley’s Death: Soylent (NSFW)
Oregon Man Sentenced to Jail for Collecting Rainwater on His Own Property?: Patterico

Media

NYT: We've got a bleeder!: Moe Lane
Is 2012 a rerun of 1980?: Power Line
What is this crap about?: CapPrev

British newspaper calls Obama “ineffectual, invisible, the weakest president in history”: IHTM
Yes, the left is happy a man died: Riehl
White Liberal Scolds White Conservatives on the “Black Dialect” of Half-Black, Half-White Guy: Sooper

Wreck-It Barack: Beacon
Tapper to Jay Carney: Hey, remember in 2004 when Obama wanted to bring the country together?: Hot Air
DOJ Violating Nepotism Rules – For The Third Time: S&L

World

The Muslim Brotherhood's American Defenders: Glick
Robert Spencer on Mark Levin speaks about Bachmann, McCain, and the Muslim Brotherhood: JihadWatch
Mark Levin: It is true, Bachmann WAS told to apologize or she might lose her intelligence committee post: Scoop

Repeal Obamacare to Save National Defense: Foundry
The Phony Outrage Over Romney’s Entirely Accurate Olympics Comments: Geraghty
British Embassy Confirms Krauthammer Right, White House Wrong: Churchill Bust Returned in 2009: Mediate

Official Won’t Say Whether DOJ Would ‘Criminalize Speech against Any Religion’ [i.e., Islam]: CNS
The Munich 11 Virtual Memorial: JSpace
Rep. Keith Ellison: Failing America & Supporting Terrorist Front Groups?: NoisyRm

Sci-Tech

Insync for Gmail Syncs Your Attachments to Google Drive (and Dropbox, Soon): LifeHacker
Tubbs And Crockett May Need To Borrow Your Handsome Bluetooth Brick Headset: TechCrunch
Is Google's Handwrite A Step Backwards?: SE Roundtable

Cornucopia

Best ad for a boxing gym ever. Seriously. Ever. (language warning): SF Egotist
Motorcyclist arrested after video that appears to show him speeding at 186 mph goes viral: Yahoo!
Explorers find sunken German U-Boat off coast of Massachusetts: AP

Non-Human Consciousness Exists Say Experts. Now What?: Singularity
That’s the Olympic Spirit: Winning!: MOTUS
What The Housing Recovery Will Look Like Under An Obama Second Term: Looking Spoon

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate!

QOTD: "Once this election boiled down to Chic-Fil-A, dogs riding on cars or being eaten and dancing horses, I knew it was the most vital one ever." --Jazz Shaw

Friday, July 27, 2012

How Low Can It Go? Don't Ask.

I refer, of course, to the economy. Or, rather, what's left of it:

GDP Report Worst In Over Year
Friday's Q2 GDP report will offer the most comprehensive picture of how quickly economic conditions have deteriorated, just days ahead of the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting.


Economists were predicting a second-quarter pace above 2% annualized a few months ago, but the consensus is now 1.2%. That would be the weakest in more than a year and down from 1.9% in Q1 and nearly 3% in Q4 2011.

A GDP rate less than 2 percent is basically nothing. For comparison purposes, the Reagan recovery -- after the height of the Carter recession -- saw GDP growth rates over 7 (seven) percent.

By the way, can I introduce you to my date for Cotillion?





Rahm-tastic: Six Shot, Five Fatally, Over 12 Hour Span Last Night in Chicago, the Gun Control Capital of the U.S.

The Second City, with gun control laws so outrageous that the Supreme Court struck them down, basically prohibits law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves with firearms.

Which doesn't seem to be working out too well, if the last -- oh -- 50 or 60 years are any indication.

Six people were shot and five of them died during a bloody 12-hour period between 4 p.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. Friday, according to Chicago police.

Among the dead: two men in their early 30s in a gang-related slaying on the Southeast Side, a 22-year-old former CPS basketball player who recently committed to a Division 1 school for basketball, a 35-year-old clerk at a West Side gas station and a 25-year-old man killed in a drive-by attack in the Park Manor neighborhood...

A 22-year-old Chicago man [Micheal Haynes] who recently committed to play basketball at a Division I school died after he was shot trying to break up a fight over a necklace Thursday afternoon, according to family and authorities... Haynes, a 6-foot-7 inch forward was set to play basketball for the 2012-2013 school year in New Rochelle, N.Y., for the Iona College Gaels, according to a statement from the school.

...The lone survivor of the violence was a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the 6700 block of South Carpenter about 11 p.m., police said. He was shot in the arm and torso and treated at Comer Children’s Hospital for his wounds, police said.

As I said the other day, an Aurora massacre occurs every 10 days in Chicago. And no one in vintage media cares.

Strange how criminals don't obey laws, eh? But I'm sure the Democrats' policies are for the children, no matter how many children have to die trying to prove their point.


Hat tip: The incredible BadBlue.com.

Chart: Repeal Obamacare to Save Our National Defense

In January, unless dramatic action is taken, the Defense Department will suffer even deeper, more devastating cuts. Consider: the one damn thing the federal government was chartered to do by the nation's founders, its most important mission, was securing the nation's citizens. And it has been put at dire risk by infantile, Utopian progressive fantasies of wealth redistribution and equality of outcome.

What's the easiest way to prevent the evisceration of our national defense?

Answer: Repeal Obamacare.

...The gross spending for Obamacare’s insurance expansions [now] totals $1.4 trillion for the 2013–2021 period—the same stretch in which $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts known as “sequestration” would apply...


[The CBO] also shows $400 billion in net 2013–2021 tax hikes, part of the onerous “Taxmageddon” also slated to start in January. Thus, the net cost of Obamacare would be about $1 trillion for 2013–2021. That’s how much could be saved by cancelling the planned spending and taxes in the President’s government takeover of health care.

...The cuts would [otherwise] shrink defense spending by about 10 percent through a crude, indiscriminate, and irresponsible mechanism. They must be replaced. What better substitute than two huge new entitlements that have not yet been implemented, that [more than] half the public doesn’t want, and that the government cannot afford? Take away Obamacare, and the entire sequestration is replaced almost dollar for dollar—without tax hikes.

...The Heritage Foundation previously listed the top five reasons for repealing Obamacare: (1) to stop adding deficits and debt, (2) to help prevent Taxmageddon, (3) to protect religious freedom, (4) to keep health care decisions with doctors and patients, and (5) to clear the way for patient-centered reform. Now make it an even half-dozen: (6) repeal Obamacare, and prevent an indefensible sequestration.

Repeal of Obamacare is paramount.

What can you do? Tell everyone you know to vote the straight Republican ticket.

Taking the Senate, holding the House, and giving Obama a pink slip will help save our national defense apparatus while repealing the Democrats' version of socialized medicine.

We need to do plenty of work on the RINOs, but this much is sure: Obama will devastate the military as surely as night follows day.