7.0 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Eastern Japan, Reportedly No Danger of a Tsunami

◼ A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 earthquake hit off the shores of Japan's southern Pacific island. The Meteorological Agency says the offshore quake Sunday struck about 230 miles below the sea surface. The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. - FOX

Fer yer 2012 preparations...

Countdown

◼ Online Clock

Happy New Year, East Coasters!

What does it take?

◼ Afghan Child Bride Beaten and Tortured: “My Mother-in-Law Pulled Out My Nails” (Video)

Horrible. An Afghan 15 year-old child bride describes being locked and tortured by her husband and in-laws. Sahar Gul was married off to a 30-year-old man around seven months ago, when she was just 14 years old.

FOURTEEN.

REMEMBER: "Women are bellwethers of society and, in fact, sometimes they do play the role of canary in the coal mine. They know when communities are fraying and when citizens fear for their safety," she (Hillary) told a Georgetown University event.

EIGHT YEARS AS FIRST LADY. YEARS IN GOVERNMENT. YEARS CAMPAIGNING. YEARS NOW AS SECRETARY OF STATE.

AND...how many bellwethers does it take?

He who controls the spice...

◼ Iran to test-fire missiles in key oil waterway - Breitbart

Iran, which has been carrying out war games in the Strait of Hormuz over the past week, has said that "not a drop of oil" would pass through the strait if Western governments follow through with planned additional sanctions over its nuclear programme.

The US State Department said on Thursday that Iran's threat to close the waterway, through which more than a third of the world's tanker-borne oil passes, exhibited "irrational behavior" and "will not be tolerated."

The naval manoeuvres launched by Iran in the strait on December 24 have so far included mine-laying and the use of aerial drones, according to Iranian media.

Let's see if our President can unseal te private divorce records when it counts. Not just in an election.

How ruthless is he? When it counts.

Big Brother is here. How the feds are tracking your kid

◼ Student privacy at risk from Feds - NY Post

Would it bother you to know that the federal Centers for Disease Control had been shown your daughter’s health records to see how she responded to an STD/teen-pregnancy-prevention program? How about if the federal Department of Education and Department of Labor scrutinized your son’s academic performance to see if he should be “encouraged” to leave high school early to learn a trade? Would you think the government was intruding on your territory as a parent?
Under regulations the Obama Department of Education released this month, these scenarios could become reality. The department has taken a giant step toward creating a de facto national student database that will track students by their personal information from preschool through career. Although current federal law prohibits this, the department decided to ignore Congress and, in effect, rewrite the law. Student privacy and parental authority will suffer.

How did it happen? Buried within the enormous 2009 stimulus bill were provisions encouraging states to develop data systems for collecting copious information on public-school kids. To qualify for stimulus money, states had to agree to build such systems according to federally dictated standards. So all 50 states either now maintain or are capable of maintaining extensive databases on public-school students.

Get it?

And remember last week - ◼ California 'qualified' for "Race To The Top" monies. Not a dime of which is going to educate your kids, but is instead being used for the creation of 'cradle to career data systems.'

Only One Taker On the Paid Upgrade

◼ At IOwnTheWorld: You know you have to click

Ditching Java might be a good move

◼ As unpatched Java vulnerabilities are frequently taken advantage by exploit kits and users often forget to update Java, F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen says that maybe it's time to consider doing without it. - net-security.org

All in all, you might need Java for only a handful of pages or web applications you usually visit or use, so Hypponen advises leaving Java on your system but removing the Java plugin from the browser you use every day, then using another browser for only these sites and services.

He also points out that a move to Chrome should be considered, as Google's browser does not only block many Java exploits, but also doesn't use an Adobe Reader plugin to render PDF files and has a good sandboxing feature.

Champagnes for the Holidays

◼ Ted Loos reviews a dozen of the best bubblies to sip on New Year's Eve - Epicurious

Get The Look: Rent The Runway

◼ Should you like to dress like the First Lady, but fear having to go on food stamps after wasting your entire unemployment check on a sundress, you can rent a Sophie Theallet dress from internet retailer Rent the Runway (you have to give it back), for around $125. - NakedDC

As she accompanied Barack and family to church services on the Kaneohe Bay Marine Base on Sunday, Michelle sported a Resort Collection ◼ Sophie Theallet sundress, which, at the time it was purchased in late 2009, cost between $1K and $2K. Similar dresses from the Resort 2012 collection sell for that much and more. ◼ Bookmark Rent The Runway

Computers implanted in brain could help paralyzed

◼ It sounds like science fiction, but scientists around the world are getting tantalizingly close to building the mind-controlled prosthetic arms, computer cursors and mechanical wheelchairs of the future. - SF Gate

Researchers already have implanted devices into primate brains that let them reach for objects with robotic arms. They've made sensors that attach to a human brain and allow paralyzed people to control a cursor by thinking about it.

In the coming decades, scientists say, the field of neural prosthetics - of inventing and building devices that harness brain activity for computerized movement - is going to revolutionize how people who have suffered major brain damage interact with their world.

Rolling Meadows teen's killing in Mexico sends dread through Mexican community

◼ Some fear homeland's violence will prevent them from going back — even - Chicago Tribune

Mexico is lost to the druglords.

Can you spot the Muslim?

What church does Obama attend?

Fire hazard fears over compact fluorescent lamps - after they've stopped working

◼ Compact fluorescent lamps, which will gradually replace traditional incandescent bulbs, are a fire hazard that could burn down your home, experts have warned. - Daily Mail via Lucianne

The lamps (CFLs) use electricity to heat an element in the lamp’s base that leads the mercury vapor gas in the coils to emit light. But when a CFL can no longer produce light, the electronics in its base will still try to function, sometimes leading to overheating, smoke and fire. Fires from the old incandescent bulbs, on the other hand, are virtually nonexistent...

Kiss your freedom goodbye, one drop at a time

◼ New laws: No caffeine in beer, shark fins in soup - Washington Times

Rick Perry's right - we need a citizen legislature that works three months out of the year. And focuses on REAL issues like solving the state's budget problems.

In California, they have time to worry about the recreational use of cough syrup, but can't cut spending. They can dream up extensions to nanny-state laws (your kids now have to be strapped in a car seat til they're 8), that's easy, and they do it all day long, but actually do the tough stuff, not so much.

Vote them all out.

So every business should hire Jehovah's Witnesses or atheist to work holidays

There's no reason for closing down on Christmas day when there's a ready supply of non-believers who can work with no ill-effects.

In the "This Is sad" category: Las Vegas Teacher’s Union To Fire 1,000 To Protect Cushy, Overpriced, Taxpayer-Subsidized Insurance Policy

◼ Las Vegas Teachers’ Union May Force 1,000 Layoffs to Preserve Its Profitable Insurance Company - Big Government

While the Great Recession has affected almost all Americans, Nevadans may be the hardest hit. The state leads the nation in unemployment (13 percent) and home foreclosures (three times the national average).
Because of the faltering economy and slowed tax revenue, the Clark County School District needs to cut $78 million from its budget over the next two years. The district must do this either by freezing teacher pay and finding a more affordable employee health insurance carrier, or by laying off 1,000 educators as early as next month.

◼ Lawmakers in Maine, Wisconsin and Michigan have recently taken steps to give school districts more freedom to accept competitive bids for employee health insurance, thereby ending or at least eroding the expensive monopoly held by union-affiliated insurance companies. - Pat Dollard

Letting School Districts "switch to Geico' saves taxpayer's money and saves teacher's jobs, something the Unions long ago stopped caring about.

State Legislatures Take on “Judicial Hellholes” that Undermine Business

◼ Some state legislatures are taking a stand against abusive litigation practices that drive up costs for consumers and discourage business, according to a new report from the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF). - NetRightDaily

(T)he nation has a long way to go before abusive litigation practices are brought to heal as the report makes clear. The following areas have been identified as the top “judicial hellholes” for 2011: the states of California and West Virginia, along with local jurisdictions, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, South Florida, Madison and St. Claire Counties in Illinois, and New York City and Albany, New York.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Another year has passed us by, and I just wanted to take a minute to say "thanks", both to Rose, for hosting this blog and inviting me to be a contributor here, and to everyone else who reads and comments on it. Just a few short years ago, unless you worked for a magazine or newspaper, voicing an opinion or expressing an idea was relatively futile venture. With the advent of the internet, and the blogs that came with it, regular citizens have been empowered with the ability to reach out to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people with a simple series of keystrokes. Many wonderful new ideas, philosophies, and viewpoints have been brought out of the shadows and into the public eye as a result, and that can only be good for America, and the world.

So, it is with that in mind that I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. The coming year promises to be a trying time for many of us. The future of our great country hangs in the balance, but we have the tools at our disposal to shine the light of truth into the darkness and corruption that has enveloped us and tip the scales our way. We must work diligently over the coming months to expose those who would strip us of our rights and our freedoms, and replace them with people who understand the principles that have made America the greatest country in the world. We must do everything in our power to restore our Constitution and Bill of Rights to their rightful place as the governing documents in this country, and drive the people who despise our liberty and our way of life back under whatever rock they crawled out from under, because the penalty for complacency and failure is unimaginable.

Many of the people who seek to impose their concept of "change" upon us, and limit our God given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the same people who seek to take the "Christ" out of Christmas, and drive God out of our lives. I wonder how many of them will spend the coming Christmas holiday with friends and family anyway, ignoring the reason for the season, and exchanging their gifts and good cheer, without giving a single thought to what it all means? I certainly hope they enjoy themselves. They will be doing it at our expense ...

Define "Payroll Tax"

Well, one thing is for certain, they can no longer deny that it is a flat-out tax, no longer an "investment" in your own retirement.

And is the ONE tax that everyone pays. Even Govt. which had long exempted itself.

ACORN, Voter Fraud, and Democrats ... They're Synonymous

◼ Democrats Plead Guilty in New York Voter Fraud Case - FOX News

"A total of four Democratic officials and political operatives have now pleaded guilty to voter fraud-related felony charges in an alleged scheme to steal a New York election.

The latest guilty pleas expose the ease with which political insiders can apparently manipulate the electoral system and throw an election their way, by the forging of signatures of unsuspecting voters that are then cast as real votes.

"The phrase they use is: 'making sure they vote the right way,'" said a source close to the case, which is unfolding in Troy, N.Y."

I don't know exactly what sort of penalty these people are likely to receive for their actions, but in my opinion, corrupting an election at any level is a heinous crime. On a federal level, it is a fundamental violation of the rights of all Americans, and strikes to the very core of our existence as a nation. It is treasonous, and should carry the same penalty as any other form of treason.

15 Things That Even Liberals Should Be Willing To Admit

◼ "I am curious to see whether the liberals here at Huffington Post would be willing to admit in the comments that all of these statements are not only true, but fairly uncontroversial. Maybe we agree on more than we think." - John Hawkins/RightWingNews

Some things should be outlawed - for all of time

Why not say it?

Who should Tucker Carlson bring to dinner with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers?

◼ Tucker Carlson wins online auction for dinner with Bill Ayers - Daily Caller

Carlson’s winning dinner bid entitles him to bring up to six people. The dinner must be arranged at a mutually agreed-upon date before October 2012.

He gets to bring six people... who should they be?

But what does she say about Sharia Law? About Honor Killings?

◼ Clinton says U.S. to help women broker peace - Reuters

Clinton said a new U.S. plan, signed by President Barack Obama, would help train and give more voice to female community members who often have a strong sense of how to address dangers and strains in conflict zones.

Forget Sharia, Hillary - How about how your fellow countrywomen get treated? Like Sarah, for instance?

Women were being shot in the streets in Iran and Obama (and Hillary) said nothing. He came out against the cops over his own perceived racial injustice, but he never breathed a word when Sarah Palin and other conservative women were denigrated here. Three years into his term, and oh, it must be time for re-election, let's talk up women.

We know he's suddenly rediscovered church, and this year's Christmas trees aren't decorated with Mao Tse Tung, but rather with ornaments created by the children of soldiers, so let's not pretend any of it is real. Pretending to suddenly care about 'empowering women.' Hah. Tell that to Neda, and apologize to Sarah. Then you can talk.

"Women are bellwethers of society and, in fact, sometimes they do play the role of canary in the coal mine. They know when communities are fraying and when citizens fear for their safety," she (Hillary) told a Georgetown University event.

Yeah. Bellwethers.

Flowers for Algernon

◼ “Super memory” pill–and possibly an Alzheimer’s cure–could be around the corner - Yahoo

Scientists have isolated a gene in mice that works to give them "super memories" and reverses the course of several degenerative mental illnesses like Alzheimer's. And because of the similarity of mice and human brains, a powerful brain pill for humans may now not be far off.

◼ Discovery could lead memory-enhancing pill out of realm of science fiction Vancouver Sun

The milquetoast language of these endorsements

◼ Nikki Haley talks about why she endorsed Mitt Romney - Philip Rucker/Washington Post

“What’s been the nicest surprise is how much he’s changed. I supported him in ‘08, but it’s really amazing to look at the change in what was a candidate back in 2008 to now see him evolve into a leader. You know, as a candidate, he talked about what he could do. Now he’s talking about what he’s gonna do. It’s not figuring it out the first day. He knows the first 30 days, 60 days. This is a man that understands all the problems that exist in our country and he already knows exactly what he’s gonna do when he gets there. It’s pretty impressive.”

Is it?

◼ Sobriety, wisdom and judgment." - Des Moines Register

I really couldn't find a decent pull quote in this endorsement. It seems to be damning with faint praise. But try this:

In giving its endorsement on Saturday, the paper cited Romney’s "sobriety, wisdom and judgment" and noted that he graduated from the Ivy League, finishing "in the top 5 percent in his MBA class at Harvard."

The Register said that, although Romney is not a Democrat, he has distinguished himself from others in the GOP field because "he offers smart and well-reasoned alternatives rather than simply proposing to swing a wrecking ball in Washington . . . His detailed policy paper on the economy contains 87 pages of carefully crafted positions on taxes, energy, trade and regulatory policy, complete with 127 footnotes."

As opposed to this:

◼ An Editorial: For President, Newt Gingrich - NH Union Leader

Truth be known, many in the liberal media are belittling the Republican candidates because they don't want any of them to be taken as a serious challenger to their man, Obama.

Readers of the Union Leader and Sunday News know that we don't back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job....

"We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing," said the editorial by publisher Joseph W. McQuaid.

"A lot of candidates say they're going to improve Washington. Newt Gingrich has actually done that, and in this race he offers the best shot of doing it again," he added.

“We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear,”

Now THAT'S an endorsement one can be proud of. And proud to have written.

We Have Rats in the Kitchen ...

◼ Rats in the Kitchen ... a Parable - American Thinker

For those of you who have difficulty with reality, or reading comprehension, let me explain the parable for you. Progressive liberals, and the dependent class they have created in America are the "RATS".

Hard-working Americans and their children are the "MAN".

What the man did is what MUST happen if America is to survive as a nation, and the longer we wait to do it, the harder it will be, and the more damage and suffering our nation will endure doing it.

Where this parable deviates from reality a bit is in the final paragraph, where the rats cease to invade the man's home. In reality, that would NEVER happen. The lust for easy and plentiful access to food and shelter is ingrained in a parasite's nature, leaving us with no choice but to remain ever vigilant. We must fend them off firmly and consistently, or face the consequences.

Gallup: 99% is really 34%

◼ On paper, the rhetoric of the Occupy Wall Street crowd should have led to revolution. - Don Surber

1% of the country controls more than 1% of the wealth. For shame. But the classic battle between the Haves and the Have Nots never materialized, and the Gallup Poll people found a reason for this: The overwhelming majority of Americans — 58% — say they are members of the Haves.

Only 34% believe they are members of the Have Nots.

But! Wait!! there's MORE!!!

Google "Let It Snow"

◼ Enjoy!

‘When the Legend Becomes Fact, Print the Legend’

◼ Barack Obama is a myth, our modern version of Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan. What we were told is true, never had much basis in fact — a fact now increasingly clear as hype gives way to reality. - Victor Davis Hanson/PJM h/t: Ploome

Who was this Churchillian president so much smarter than the Renaissance man Thomas Jefferson, more astute than a John Adams or James Madison, with more insight than a Lincoln, brighter still than the polymath Teddy Roosevelt, more studious than the bookish Woodrow Wilson, better read than the autodidact Harry Truman?

...That his brilliance is a myth was not just revealed by the weekly lapses (whether phonetic [corpse-man], or cultural [Austria/Germany, the United Kingdom/England, Memorial Day/Veterans Day] or inane [57 states]), but in matters of common sense and basic history. The error-ridden Cairo speech was foolish; the serial appeasement of Iran revealed an ignorance of human nature; a two-minute glance at an etiquette book would have nixed the bowing or the cheap gifts to the UK.

In short, the myth of Obama’s brilliance was based on his teleprompted eloquence, the sort of fable that says we should listen to a clueless Sean Penn or Matt Damon on politics because they can sometimes act well.... READ THE WHOLE THING AND WEEP

In their own words: SEIU Job Description: Train & Lead Members to Occupy State Buildings & Takeover Banks

◼ The SEIU is advertising on its site for SEIU Healthcare 775NW in Washington State. Among the job duties listed includes the training of members in civil-disobedience, peaceful resistance (how to get arrested), as well as the occupation and takeover banks and state buildings - RedState (image source)

◼ Leadership Development:

• Leading members and organizers to develop curriculum and lead leadership development trainings

• Train and lead members in non-violent civil disobedience, such as occupying state buildings and banks, and peaceful resistance.

• Implement leadership program with the goal of engaging 10% of members in active leadership and majority participation

Member Mobilization:

• Execute field plans mobilizing members around political campaigns, annual Leadership Convention, lobby days, regional meetings.

• Execute field plans for special campaigns including contract campaigns, ballot initiatives, COPE contributions, general membership growth and the broader campaign to fight for a fair economy.

• Plan and execute strategic direct action field plans including banner drops, bank takeovers, and capitol occupations with membership, other local unions, and coalition partners

Additional Responsibilities:

• Assignments to electoral, legislative and growth new organizing campaigns as required• Other duties as assigned

The ultimate OWS slogan: "We need more; you have more."

◼ “Trinity has probably done as much or more for the protesters than any other institution in the area,” Mr. Cooper wrote on his parish Web site. “Calling this an issue of ‘political sanctuary’ is manipulative and blind to reality. Equating the desire to seize this property with uprisings against tyranny is misguided, at best. Hyperbolic distortion drives up petition signatures, but doesn’t make it right.” - Althouse via ◼ NYT

Essentially, the #Occupy parasites are thieves. And they'll steal from anyone, even a church. Why? because they want it.

The Chump Effect

◼ Reporters are credulous, studies show. - Weekly Standard

Entire journalistic enterprises, whole books from cover to cover, would simply collapse into dust if even a smidgen of skepticism were summoned whenever we read that “scientists say” or “a new study finds” or “research shows” or “data suggest.” Most such claims of social science, we would soon find, fall into one of three categories: the trivial, the dubious, or the flatly untrue.

...the allure of “science” is too strong for our journalists to resist: all those numbers, those equations, those fancy names (say it twice: the Self-Activation Effect), all those experts with Ph.D.’s!

To their credit, the Stapel scandal has moved a few social psychologists to self-reflection. They note the unhealthy relationship between social psychologists and the journalists who bring them attention—each using the other to fill a professional need. “Psychology,” one methodologist told the Chronicle of Higher Education, “has become addicted to surprising, counter-intuitive findings that catch the news media’s eye.”

That’s a scandal, all right. Stapel’s professional treachery is a scandal, too. But the biggest scandal is that the chumps took him seriously in the first place.

(2008) Barack Obama's Deputy Field Organizer for the West Side (OHIO)

Do you see the problem?

◼ California finally grabs school money from Race to the Top - Sacramento Bee

California shot and finally scored in the competition for more federal education dollars, as the state was one of nine winners named Friday in the Education Department's Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant program.

But don't count on the funds to relieve California of K-12 cuts. The state will receive $52.6 million, largely to build a new child-care rating system that measures learning environment, teachers and parent involvement, according to the California Department of Education.

In other words - The state will receive $52.6 million to piss away - $52.6 million to spend, without doing a SINGLE thing to solve the state's existing problems - $52.6 million to create more bureaucracy - $52.6 million to study studies done on other studies.

A "new child-care rating system" - maybe they can borrow Homeland Security's color-coding chart.

California and the eight other states will divvy up $500 million, with the money targeting K-12 school reform plans that, in the words of the Education Department, "raise academic standards, improve teacher and principal quality, build cradle to career data systems and turn around persistently low-performing schools."

Interesting. When did 52/43 become 50/50?

◼ AP-GfK Poll: Obama re-election odds roughly 50-50

The INTERESTING phraseology: The poll found Americans were evenly divided over whether they expect Obama to be re-elected next year.

FOLLOWED BY this sentence: For the first time, the poll found that a majority of adults, 52 percent, said Obama should be voted out of office while 43 percent said he deserves another term. The numbers mark a reversal since last May, when 53 percent said Obama should be re-elected while 43 percent said he didn't deserve four more years.

Obama's overall job approval stands at a new low, with 44 percent approving and 54 percent disapproving. The president's standing among independents is worse: 38 percent approve while 59 percent disapprove. Among Democrats, the president holds steady with an approval rating of 78 percent while only 12 percent of Republicans approve of the job he's doing.

ROUGHLY 50/50? Heh.

Sipsey Street under attack

◼ Sipsey Street Exclusive: Oh my, a Fed forensic audit of Sipsey Street, whatever shall I do? - sipseystreetirregulars

◼ Bill Whittle on Facebook

Unprecedented Uprising in Chinese Village Chases Out Communist Party

◼ For the first time on record, the Chinese Communist party has lost all control, with the population of 20,000 in this southern fishing village now in open revolt. This needs to go viral... - The Other McCain

◼ Inside Wukan: the Chinese village that fought back, Something extraordinary has happened in the Chinese village of Wukan. - Malcolm Moore, Wukan

Jon Huntsman & Newt Gingrich - Lincoln-Douglas Debate

◼ Livestreaming here

NO-O-O-O kidding!

◼ The union's president suggested in a letter to members that protesters were attempting to co-opt the union's cause to advance their own agenda. - Occupy protesters seek to shut West Coast ports - AP/Seattle Times

I'm glad someone has the guts to say it ...

◼ America's Communist President

Alan Caruba has an excellent essay on his site today. In it, he quotes Jeffrey T. Kuhner of the Washington Times as saying:

“There is only one problem with the White House’s narrative: It’s completely false. Mr. Obama is not a defender of the middle class but has been its mortal enemy. His policies have impoverished working-and-middle-class Americans.”

Other than the utterly brain-dead liberals, for whom facts are meaningless, most Americans understand, as Kuhner pointed out,

“His massive stimulus failed to restore economic recovery…his trillion-dollar deficits and skyrocketing debt have mortgaged the future of our children…Obamacare suffocates businesses, stifles job creation, and adds another unsustainable entitlement. It is creeping socialized medicine, which is wrecking the world’s finest health care system.”

There's much more. It's an excellent read, if you're willing to take the blinders off and open your eyes ...

"Scientists warn that time is running out to close the gap between current pledges on cutting greenhouse gases and avoiding a catastrophic rise in average global temperatures".... and they're right. Time IS running out.

Their sick game is being exposed, and they have to act before every last shred of credence is gone. ClimateGate, the wikileaks of the Warmista cult is revealing the "Inconvenient Truths" every day. It's been a sham built on distortions.

They have to ACT NOW!!! RRRRRRightWaay!!! Rrrrightnow! or we're all gonna die - or before you have time to realize jut how bad it is - for them.

◼ Draft U.N. climate accord emerges, debate turns ugly

Complete ABC News Yahoo Republican Iowa Debate

thx:nin

Miss the eclipse?

◼ watch it here
◼ Watch Saturday's total lunar eclipse on your computer - LA Times
Bookmark it for the next eclipse in May.

Anti-Corporate Totalitarian Wing of Democrat Party Proposes Constitutional Amendment to Censor Newspapers

◼ It shouldn't come as much of a surprise. These are the same radical Leftists who re-proposed the ill-named "Fairness Doctrine" and, that having received a royal flushing, are now marketing "local community standards" for broadcasters. - Doug Ross

◼ Proposed Constitutional Amendment Would Ban Editorials About Candidates or Ballot Measures by Nearly All Newspapers - Eugene Volokh/The Volokh Conspiracy

Nearly all newspapers, TV stations, cable networks, and rations (except of course for nonprofits such as NPR) are organized as corporations or other entities established for business purposes. Under section 3, they “shall be prohibited” from making expenditures “in any election of any candidate ... or the vote upon any ballot measure.” Since to write or print or broadcast anything, newspapers, networks, and broadcasters must spend money, this would ban — not just authorize Congress to ban, but itself ban — editorials supporting or opposing a candidate or a ballot measure.

...Now perhaps one could argue that, notwithstanding sections 1 and section 3, (H. J. RES. 90) business entities retain the “freedom of the press” even though they lose all other constitutional rights. But, as I’ve discussed in considerable detail in this article, the “freedom of the press” has throughout American history meant the freedom of all to use communications technology, not a freedom limited to any specific industry. So if business entities do still have “freedom of the press” rights, which leaves the New York Times free to exercise such rights, then other business corporations would have the same rights as well, including the right to rent space or time in newspapers and television and radio programs to express their views, much as newspapers, cable networks, and broadcasters have the right to use such space or time.

On top of that, the proposal would mean that any government could take corporate property — whether of big businesses or small closely held corporations — without paying any compensation at all, could take corporate property without due process, and more. That would be quite a constitutional amendment.

MVRDV Towers

◼ DOES THIS DESIGN OF TWO TOWERS REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING? - The Blaze

“MVRDV regrets deeply any connotations The Cloud projects evokes regarding 9/11. The Cloud was designed based on parameters such as sunlight, outside spaces, living quality for inhabitants and the city. It is one of many projects in which MVRDV experiments with a raised city level to reinvent the often solitary typology of the skyscraper. It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks nor did we see the resemblance during the design process. We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt, it was not our intention.”

Seriously.

We knew this all along ....

The day this story broke, my hackles immediately went up, because those of us who support the Second Amendment knew it was only a matter of time before the Obama administration made some sort of move against the rights of gun owners in America. This is shaping up to be one of the most outrageously blatant and illegal attempts to impose the left's anti-gun ideology on us in the history of this country.




Never let a good crisis go to waste, especially one that YOU'VE CAUSED, huh Eric?

EVERYONE involved needs to be called out on this. Despite their attempts to convince us otherwise, Eric Holder, and Obama himself, were complicit in this. They know it, we know it, and the Mexican Government knows it. They've lied, and people have died, but where is the MSM in all of this? Are they going to keep ignoring this story until the National Enquirer scoops them on it? This is an impeachable offense. It's time we expose, once and for all, this culture of lying and deceit that is DEFINING this administration and force these people to atone for their actions. These criminals are so obsessed with implementing their agenda that they consider the lives of innocent people to be inconsequential. They should all be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, for treason, and for each and every injury or death they cause.

How's that Hope and Change working out for 'ya?

◼ Obama Receives More Financial Sector Donations than all GOP Candidates Combined ... - PatDollard.com

◼ Obama Campaign "flush" with Wall Street Donations - Washington Post

"Obama has brought in more money from employees of banks, hedge funds and other financial service companies than all of the GOP candidates combined, according to a Washington Post analysis of contribution data. The numbers show that Obama retains a persistent reservoir of support among Democratic financiers who have backed him since he was an underdog presidential candidate four years ago."

15.6 MILLION DOLLARS? Now THAT is a lot of change ...

Better not tell the OWS'ers and all the other "progressive" fools that voted for Obama about THIS.....

Direct reprogramming of cells from one type to the other avoids that danger, because the cells never enter the pluripotent stage to begin with, Wilmut said.

This is not so much about the debate over fetal stem cells and adult stem cells as it is about media bias - again. When a Cloning pioneer urges shift away from embryonic stem cells, why is that not front page news? Who is afraid of having the discussion?

◼ Shhh, Don't Tell Anyone: Dolly the Sheep Pioneer Recommends Shifting Away From Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Newsbusters

Comment of the week. No. The Year.

"I'm Barack Obama and George Soros approved this message" LukeHandCool at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Bob Woodward says sitting next to Al Gore is 'taxing, unpleasant’

◼ Describing an event where he was paired up next to the monotone-talking ex-vice president, Woodward said, “Now, sitting next to Gore is taxing.” After some laughs from the crowd, Woodward continued, “In fact, it’s unpleasant.”

Woodward offered up another tidbit from the conversation with his dinner companion. The investigative reporter asked the politician, more than five years after leaving office, how much the public knows about what went on during the Clinton administration. Gore replied, “One percent.”

Woodward admitted that revelation made him feel a bit icky, saying, “I kind of died inside and have to confess to having an unclean thought.”

Be careful what you wish for .....

◼ Liberal Youth DECIMATED in Free Egyptian Elections - Associated Press

"Egypt's top reformist leader has said the liberal youth behind the country's uprising have been "decimated" in parliamentary elections dominated by Islamists and expressed concern about the rise of hard-line religious elements advocating extremist ideas such as banning women from driving.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize laureate and possible presidential candidate, said Sunday he hopes moderate Islamists will rein in the extremists and send a reassuring message to the world that Egypt will not go down an ultraconservative religious path.

"The youth feel let down. They don't feel that any of the revolution's goals have been achieved," ElBaradei told The Associated Press in an interview on the same day electoral authorities announced that Islamist parties captured an overwhelming majority of votes in the first round of elections last week. "They got decimated," he said, adding the youth failed to unify and form "one essential critical mass." "

So there you have it. Like most children, they threw their temper tantrum, and made their demands, but they were too immature to realize that "change" just for the sake of change is not always a good thing. They failed to think about who, or what, would take the place of the leaders they were determined to replace. Now, they will pay a severe and long-lasting price for their childish behavior and willful ignorance.

There is an excellent lesson to be learned here. Our youth threw their support behind Obama before they knew what they were getting, and they wound up regretting that decision. Apparently, they failed to learn anything from that mistake, because they came right back at us with another tantrum, trying to upset the status-quot with the OWS movement. Again, little thought was given to what their goal was, or what the potential risks of such an uprising might be. They just wanted "change", and were willing to risk the potential consequences of riots, insurrection, and anarchy, to get their way. Now, I don't care how much you despise the "establishment" or the "rich" or "Republicans" ... destroying the existing power structure in your own country prior to establishing a suitable replacement is a reckless and ignorant thing to do. Luckily, calmer heads prevailed, and the adults sent them packing with their tails between their legs.

I'd like to think that these spoiled brats have learned something, and will take the time to formulate a rational, workable PLAN that can be implemented through calm, reasoned legal action before they ever try to destroy America again. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem very likely. Over the years, our youth have repeatedly demonstrated that they're too self-centered and stupid to think about the consequences of their actions. Why would anyone think they will be any more mature the next time?

If they were wise, they'd take a close look at what has just happened in Egypt, and realize that this very sort of thing could have just happened here. They could have destabilized our government and brought violence and anarchy to this country, and found themselves living under martial law, dictatorship, or worse. Will they consider that the next time they decide to "protest" or "occupy" our cities? I'm not holding my breath....

Blasphemy, I know...

But you gotta see this ad from MoveOn.Org:



◼ Somebody didn't get the memo.

Dead Movement Walking:

◼ Top Ten New Media Moments That Brought Down #OccupyWallStreet - John Nolte/Big Journalism

...(Y)ou have to remember ’twas New Media that killed Obama’s astro-turfed, anti-American army of poopers, rapists, vandals, drug abusers and trespassers — and that without New Media the MSM would’ve gotten away with their evil (yes, really) master plan, which was to recreate the sixties’ anti-war movement. The whole of the MSM intended to give these Occupy degenerates the same oxygen they gave anti-war degenerates forty years ago. The worst people in the world would be spoon fed the encouragement and legitimacy required to spin them into something they are not. And all of this was going to be made possible through the covering up of a hundreds of sins both big and small.

The only problem for the MSM, though, is that this isn’t the sixties and, therefore, they no longer control every portal of mass communication. Thus, armed with our own cameras, the power to disseminate information without funneling through the media’s corrupt filter, and armed with THE TRUTH — video by photo by investigative report, Occupy collapsed under the exposed weight of their own hypocrisy, noxious beliefs, and craven misdeeds.

In the form of a victory lap, here are (the) top ten New Media moments: at the link.

10. The Copper-Pooper Photo That Went ‘Round the World
9. #OccupyWallStreet Cult Chant: ‘You Can Have Sex With Animals’
8. #Occupy Trust Fund Baby
7. ‘New York Times’ Reporter Busted As #Occupy Activist, Supporter
6. Anti-Defamation League Condemns #Occupy Anti-Semitism
5. Exposure of #Occupy Sexual Assaults, Including Alleged Rape of a Deaf Man
4. #OccupyOakland Threatens Reporter With Physical Violence
3. The ‘Kent State Moments’ That Collapsed Under New Media Scrutiny
2. The Occupy Wall Street Rap Sheet
1. ‘Crowdsource This’: Occupy’s Astro-turf Exposed In Massive Email Dump

By the hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands, citizen journalists took everything listed above (and more) and then went around the corrupt MSM in order to let the word go forth.
While the mainstream media told their lies and half-truths and chose whatever context would fit their pro-Occupy narrative, within seconds, real truths were emailed, posted on Facebook pages and blogs, tweeted and re-tweeted. With lightning speed, photographs and videos told the story the MSM attempted to cover up….

This is PRICELESS ....

◼ Adam Corolla Explains the OWS Generation

WARNING - Graphic Language

It's comforting to know that there is at least ONE person in the entertainment industry that recognizes what a bunch of losers these OWS protestors are....

Unbelieveable ....

◼ "Someone needs to pay for ALLLLLL my children ...."

This just defies explanation. If you take blood pressure medication, I suggest you take it before watching this video clip. One thing is certain ... if we continue to support, reward, and encourage irresponsibility like this, and we become outnumbered by people who think this way, America will be destroyed. Then, just exactly who WILL pay for all the children?

“While students were calling the protest ‘non-violent,’ the events on November 9th were anything but nonviolent. In previous student Occupy protests, protesters hit police officers with chairs, bricks, spitting, and using homemade plywood shields as weapons—with documented injuries to officers.”

◼ New Video Proof of Media Lies About UC Davis Protests - Trevor Loudon

The almost nine-minute video shows that the UC Davis campus police were encircled by the demonstrators, who tell the police to free some of their arrested comrades. “If you let them go,” the protesters say, “we will let you leave.” Later, the protesters can be heard chanting, “F— the police.”

Meanwhile, campus police are finally beginning to speak out. UC Berkeley police, who responded to threatening protesters on that campus with batons, said that officers were injured by chairs and bricks thrown by demonstrators.

You know - Davis is a tough school to get into. They have more applicants than openings, and many who are turned away are 4.0+ students.

If these guys aren't serious enough about their studies (which aren't cheap, by the way) there are plenty of others who would like a shot at attending Davis.

Meanwhile, after all this time, and all this provocation, the #occupy "Community Organizers" behind the scene have not gotten what they seek. The Kent State moment has not materialized. It is a testament to law enforcement all over this nation that it has not come to that. Perhaps Soros can hire some down-on-his-luck actor to play the part of a cop shooting someone. Then he can use Media Matters and MSNBC to send it viral.

Regardless - if that's your kid, are you happy to see him/her wasting time at #occupy and missing required classes? In what way, exactly, does this make the student more employable? Or are those outside agitators, and not students at all?

And, if the students fail in their assignment as pawns, will the Union muscle finally emerge from the shadows and force it to the point of breaking?

Or is it over?

Rorschach

What do you see in this picture?

RJ Reynolds v. FDA and the Hidden Danger of Denying Free Speech Protection to Corporations

◼ If RJ Reynolds is categorically barred from claiming that it has any right to refrain from speech, then what is left to prevent the political party presently in power from requiring all corporations (except maybe the institutional press) to spend money to promote their favored causes and even their candidates to the exclusion of opposing positions and candidates? - Patterico

And that is the hidden danger lurking in the position of those who oppose the outcome in Citizens United. Rather than getting corporations out of politics entirely as they claim, they are opening the door to politicians conscripting corporations into supporting their campaigns. The idea that a large class of speakers in our society should be unable to avail themselves of First Amendment protections is downright pernicious and represents yet another reason why the Supreme Court ruled correctly in that case.