Warm 'n Fuzzy Conserva-Puppies

PJ News Break

2012-02-02T10:05:00.001-05:00

Warren Buffet's Phoney Challenge Discussed

2012-01-31T19:07:00.000-05:00

Who's Really Behind The War On Newt?

2012-01-31T18:34:00.002-05:00

Elliott Abrams Caught Misleading on Newt - Jeffrey Lord

Gov. Jerry Brown is Just as Clueless the Second Time Around

2012-01-31T18:30:00.000-05:00

Obama - Thick-Skinned or Thin-Skinned?

2012-01-30T07:38:00.000-05:00

Amazing Grace (a cappella) - Hayley Westenra

2012-01-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Doris Day with Andre Previn Trio - Close Your Eyes

2012-01-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

The 'Buying Votes Through Entitlements' Bubble

2012-01-27T07:10:00.000-05:00

Dems Refusing To Show Up For Work...

2012-01-26T06:17:00.000-05:00

Indiana Dems Go AWOL to Slow Labor Bill

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings) Anti-union measure would make Indiana right-to-work state

(Newser) – As Indiana Republicans push an anti-union bill at the statehouse, Democrats are fighting tooth and nail—by staying home. Many skipped floor sessions twice yesterday; without 67 members present, the state House can't legally advance its agenda, the New York Times notes. Republicans are trying to make Indiana a "right-to-work" state in an effort they say would prevent workers from being forced to join unions and bring more jobs to the state. But Democrats argue that the legislation would ultimately cut employees' pay. ------Read more

The Real Truth About Newt's Ethics Case

2012-01-25T11:03:00.001-05:00

Byron York, The Examiner - The Romney campaign has been hitting Newt Gingrich hard over the 1990s ethics case that resulted in the former Speaker being reprimanded and paying a $300,000 penalty. Before the Iowa caucuses, Romney and his supporting super PAC did serious damage to Gingrich with an ad attacking Gingrich's ethics past. Since then, Romney has made other ads and web videos focusing on the ethics matter, and at the Republican debate in Tampa Monday night, Romney said Gingrich "had to resign in disgrace."

In private conversations, Romney aides often mention the ethics case as part of their larger argument that Gingrich would be unelectable in a race against President Obama.

Given all the attention to the ethics matter, it's worth asking what actually happened back in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The Gingrich case was extraordinarily complex, intensely partisan, and driven in no small way by a personal vendetta on the part of one of Gingrich's former political opponents. It received saturation coverage in the press; a database search of major media outlets revealed more than 10,000 references to Gingrich's ethics problems during the six months leading to his reprimand. It ended with a special counsel hired by the House Ethics Committee holding Gingrich to an astonishingly strict standard of behavior, after which Gingrich in essence pled guilty to two minor offenses. Afterwards, the case was referred to the Internal Revenue Service, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter. And then, after it was all over and Gingrich was out of office, the IRS concluded that Gingrich did nothing wrong. After all the struggle, Gingrich was exonerated.
[snip]
At the center of the controversy was a course Gingrich taught from 1993 to 1995 at two small Georgia colleges. The wide-ranging class, called "Renewing American Civilization," was conceived by Gingrich and financed by a tax-exempt organization called the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Gingrich maintained that the course was a legitimate educational enterprise; his critics contended that it had little to do with learning and was in fact a political exercise in which Gingrich abused a tax-exempt foundation to spread his own partisan message.

The Gingrich case was driven in significant part by a man named Ben Jones. An actor and recovered alcoholic who became famous for playing the dim-witted Cooter in the popular 1980s TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, Jones ran for Congress as a Democrat from Georgia in 1988. He won and served two terms. He lost his bid for re-election after re-districting in 1992, and tried again with a run against Gingrich in 1994. Jones lost decisively, and after that, it is fair to say he became obsessed with bringing Gingrich down.

Ben Jones - "Cooter"

Two days before Election Day 1994, with defeat in sight, Jones hand-delivered a complaint to the House ethics committee (the complaint was printed on "Ben Jones for Congress" stationery). Jones asked the committee to investigate the college course, alleging that Gingrich "fabricated a 'college course' intended, in fact, to meet certain political, not educational, objectives." Three weeks later, Jones sent the committee 450 pages of supporting documents obtained through the Georgia Open Records Act.

That was the beginning of the investigation. Stunned by their loss of control of the House -- a loss engineered by Gingrich -- House Democrats began pushing a variety of ethics complaints against the new Speaker. Jones' complaint was just what they were looking for.[...] ----Read More

It's remarkable that liberals make charges of ‘political influence’ in the classroom when the entire public education system is based primarily on left leaning indoctrination.

Sen. Rubio's Take On SOTU Speech

2012-01-25T08:16:00.001-05:00

California Take Heed

2012-01-25T08:06:00.000-05:00

The Powerful Motions Of Nature

2012-01-25T08:05:00.000-05:00

Things That Have Happened In 1000 Days

2012-01-24T20:03:00.000-05:00

Group Interaction Can Lower Your Intelligence

2012-01-24T05:54:00.000-05:00

"People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything." - Thomas Sowell

Daily Mail- Interacting within a group – such as taking part in jury deliberations or mingling at a cocktail party - can lower your intelligence, with women being particularly susceptible, according to researchers.

Scientists at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate how the brain processes information about social status in small groups and how perceptions of that status affect expressions of cognitive capacity.

In other words, whether ‘feeling’ less intelligent than others can affect your decision-making.

‘You may joke about how committee meetings make you feel brain dead, but our findings suggest that they may make you act brain dead as well,’ said Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and the Computational Psychiatry Unit at the institute, who led the study.

[snip]

The women and men both had the same baseline IQ scores, but more women fell into the lower performing group.

Lead author Kenneth Kishida added: ‘Our study highlights the unexpected and dramatic consequences even subtle social signals in group settings may have on individual cognitive functioning. [...] read all here

1000 Days & Still... No Budget!

2012-01-23T19:12:00.000-05:00

Canadian Energy Advocate Explains the Keystone Pipeline Issue

2012-01-23T06:52:00.001-05:00

ht - iOTW

Bach, Violin Concerto in A minor

2012-01-22T08:21:00.000-05:00

...Lara St. John, 1st mvt., BWV 1041

Obamacare to Seize More Individual Responsibility at Taxpayer's Expense

2012-01-21T07:56:00.000-05:00

The Hill- Most healthcare plans will be required to cover birth control without charging co-pays or deductibles starting Aug. 1, the Obama administration announced Friday.

The final regulation retains the approach federal health officials proposed last summer, despite the deluge of complaints from religious groups and congressional Republicans that has poured in since then. Churches, synagogues and other houses of worship are exempt from the requirement, but religious-affiliated hospitals and universities only get a one-year delay and must comply by Aug. 1, 2013.

“This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services."

Congressional Republicans slammed the decision as an assault on religious freedom.

"This ruling forces religious organizations to violate the fundamental tenets of their faith, or stop offering health insurance coverage to their employees," said the Republican Policy Committee. "Time will tell whether those institutions choose the former or the latter course — but neither option should be necessary, if the administration had not taken such an unbending approach to appease its liberal base."......read more

Daniel Hannan: A Warning To America

2012-01-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

FULL 35 MIN. INTERVIEW HERE

Profile: Obama the Sociopath

2012-01-18T07:59:00.001-05:00

Spending Spree refuses to 'Face the Arithmetic'

2012-01-18T07:59:00.000-05:00

Newt Hits Pitched Race Card Out of the Park

2012-01-17T07:27:00.000-05:00

Valerie Jarrett Exploits Church Service & MLK Day To Praise Obama and Revile Republicans

2012-01-17T07:09:00.000-05:00

The so-called "separation of church & state" apply only to certain people, Democrats have no problem making political speeches in churches. These poor attendees at Ebenezer Baptist Church have no idea that they're merely being tenderized and seasoned by Valerie Jarret.

As another Martin Luther King Day passes, we still see runaway slaves in America:

Woolery: U.S.A. NOT a Democracy

2012-01-16T08:14:00.000-05:00

Meanwhile, in Egypt...

2012-01-16T08:13:00.000-05:00

Egyptian soccer game:

Elvis Presley - Run On

2012-01-15T08:40:00.000-05:00

Britain's Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher

2012-01-14T07:06:00.000-05:00

President Reagan's best partner in liberty and global leadership.

Debussy, Second Arabesque (piano solo)

2012-01-13T09:21:00.000-05:00

Second Arabesque, by Claude Debussy, performed by Stephen Malinowski, accompanied by an animated graphical score.
FAQ ...

Q: What do the shapes mean?
A: The different note styles indicate the way the notes are used in the piece. The main 4-note motive (which begins the piece) is indicated with highlighted circles with black lines that are drawn to connect them as they are played. Other melodic material is shown with solid-color circles connected by thin colored lines. Static chords and notes (those which mostly function harmonically and not melodically) are shown with white ellipses surrounded by color.

Q: What do the colors mean?
A: Each pitch class (C, C-sharp, D, etc.) is assigned a color according to a system called "harmonic coloring" in which the colors of the "color wheel" are assigned to notes of the "circle of fifths." This system is described in more detail here: (Read more)

Under the MSM Radar: Jihad in Academia

2012-01-13T09:07:00.000-05:00

Somebody That I Used to Know - Walk off the Earth (Gotye - Cover)

2012-01-12T17:11:00.000-05:00

Thrifty use of musical instruments...

Amazing Unseeable Biological Animation

2012-01-12T13:35:00.002-05:00

Straight & Fast Flight of a Bumble Bee

2012-01-10T05:05:00.000-05:00

Is Obama Trying to Redirect Anger?

2012-01-09T06:07:00.000-05:00

Washington Post - Chris Christie says Obama is faking anger
EXETER, N.H. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday called President Obama the “most pessimistic man I’ve ever seen” and said he is faking anger to win reelection.

Christie, appearing alongside GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney at a campaign rally at a high school here, accused the president of a cynical effort to redirect the anger of the American people by appearing angry himself.

“I have a suggestion for the president: He doesn’t do angry well,” Christie said. “He understands that the American people are angry and they’re scared and they’re worried about the future. So he’s decided, in the most cynical reelection strategy that you could ever think of, that he doesn’t care if you’re angry, he just wants you to be angry at somebody else.” [...read more]

Epiphany (Jan.6 ) Music / BNL Live

2012-01-08T05:23:00.002-05:00

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Barenaked Ladies

Obama's Abuse of Power

2012-01-07T18:12:00.000-05:00

Keiko Matsui - Forever Forever

2012-01-07T05:10:00.001-05:00

Punch Brothers: Manchicken

2012-01-07T05:03:00.001-05:00

"Deadbeat Nation"

2012-01-06T12:50:00.000-05:00

video h/t iOTW

Fox Business, January 06, 2012 -
Florida Senator Marco Rubio sent this blistering letter to President Obama faulting his “failed leadership” for America becoming a “deadbeat nation.”[snip]

Dear Mr. President: Any day now, news reports suggest you will ask Congress to approve yet another increase in the debt ceiling. The expected request is another $1.2 trillion, adding to a three year debt binge that has totaled $4.5 trillion on your watch and that has enabled our overall debt to surpass $15 trillion. Your latest request will push the federal debt limit well above $16 trillion.

This pending request will be the sixth time during your Presidency that Congress is being asked to keep allowing government and spending to grow at rates that are unsustainable. In other words, you have made it a routine part of your job to ask for more room to spend without any plan to reduce our debt.

Instead of making debt ceiling increases a routine Washington exercise, we need to make it routine to actually spend no more than we take in. Until then, I will oppose your request to continue borrowing and spending recklessly.

As I wrote in The Wall Street Journal in March 2011, I will oppose a debt ceiling increase unless such an authorization is accompanied by a real plan to tackle our debt. Ideally, such a plan would feature both pro-growth elements and spending restraints, including fundamental tax reform, regulatory reform, meaningful cuts to discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and reforms to save Social Security and Medicare. [...Read more]

Obama Continues His Pursuit To Weaken Our National Defense

2012-01-06T10:12:00.000-05:00

Washinton Times - OBAMA TO SHARE SECRETS
President Obama signaled Congress this week that he is prepared to share U.S. missile defense secrets with Russia.

In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign policy authority.

As first disclosed in this space several weeks ago, U.S. officials are planning to provide Moscow with the SM-3 data, despite reservations from security officials who say that doing so could compromise the effectiveness of the system by allowing Russian weapons technicians to counter the missile. The weapons are considered some of the most effective high-speed interceptors in the U.S. missile defense arsenal.

There are also concerns that Russia could share the secret data with China and rogue states such as Iran and North Korea to help their missile programs defeat U.S. missile defenses. [...read all]

Obama's Submission to Taliban?

2012-01-05T13:25:00.000-05:00

NRO, Andrew C. McCarthy, The administration is working with a Muslim Brotherhood jurist

The surrender is complete now. The Hindu reports that the Obama administration has turned to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s leading jurist, to mediate secret negotiations between the United States and the Taliban.

I wrote about Qaradawi at length in The Grand Jihad and, here at NRO, have regularly catalogued his activities (see, e.g., here, here, here, here, and here; [all links in original article] see also Andrew Bostom’s “Qaradawi’s Odious Vision”). For those who may be unfamiliar with him, he is the most influential Sunni Islamist in the world, thanks to such ventures as his al-Jazeera TV program (Sharia and Life) and website (IslamOnline.net). In 2003, he issued a fatwa calling for the killing of American troops in Iraq. As he put it,

Those killed fighting the American forces are martyrs given their good intentions since they consider these invading troops an enemy within their territories but without their will. . . . Although they are seen by some as being wrong, those defending against attempts to control Islamic countries have the intention of jihad and bear a spirit of the defense of their homeland.

Qaradawi urges that Islam must dominate the world, under a global caliphate governed by sharia. He maintains that Islam “will conquer Europe [and] will conquer America.” [...read more]

Earth is Closest to the Sun Today, Jan.5th

2012-01-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

EarthSky.org - When 2012 began on January 1, our planet Earth was very close to its perihelion – its closest point to the sun for the year. In 2012, Earth will be closest to the sun on Thursday, January 5 at 1 hour Universal Time (UT). Translating UT to Central Time in the United Sates, perihelion happens today, on Wednesday, January 4, at 7:00 p.m.

The word “perihelion” is from the Greek words peri meaning near, and helios meaning sun.

Earth is closest to the sun every year in early January, when it’s winter for the Northern Hemisphere. We’re farthest away from the sun in early July, during our Northern Hemisphere summer. So you can see that Earth’s distance from the sun isn’t what causes the seasons. On Earth, it’s mostly the tilt of our world’s axis that creates winter and summer. In winter, your part of Earth is tilted away from the sun. In summer, your part of Earth is tilted toward the sun. The day of maximum tilt toward or away from the sun is the December or June solstice. [...readmore]

Navy Unnecessarily Paying $15 per Gallon for Bio-Fuel

2012-01-04T09:29:00.001-05:00

WASHINGTON — (AFP) – Dec 5, 2011- The US Navy unveiled plans Monday for its biggest-ever biofuel purchase as part of an effort to reduce dependence on imported oil.

US Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the 450,000 gallons (1.7 million liters) were part of the "largest single purchase of advanced drop-in biofuel in government history." The biofuel also "comes from non-food sources and does not increase the carbon footprint."

The purchase aims to meet President Barack Obama's goal "to achieve more energy security by finding ways to lessen our dependence on oil and fossil fuels," Mabus said. [...article]

"...the current structure of government support for biofuels has a number of problems. First, it is not cheap or cost effective relative to other kinds of fuel. Even with subsidies, ethanol is pricey and energy-inefficient. Biofuels currently require 35% more energy per BTU than oil and 61% more per BTU than natural gas, with a comparable difference in economics. In other words, only through government subsidies can current ethanol production compete with traditional fuels. More importantly, with the subsidies in place, the industry has no incentive to find ways to operate more efficiently." [article]

What A Wonderful World With David Attenborough

2012-01-01T05:56:00.003-05:00

A celebration of Natural History on BBC One with David Attenborough.

Savoy Brown - Tell Mama

2011-12-31T22:29:00.001-05:00

Obama's Worst of 2011

2011-12-31T08:41:00.000-05:00

Aaron Goldstein, on December 28th, 2011 - Since I highlighted President Obama’s lowlights for both 2009 and 2010 why should 2011 be any different? (1)(2) There is, of course, plenty to write about and I shall only scratch the surface. If I have omitted anything, I have no doubt that my readers will draw it to my attention. Rather than list examples one by one I shall group them together in three categories – disagreeable, out of touch and vain.

Disagreeable

In January, following the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, President Obama won high praise for a speech he delivered at the University of Arizona in Tucson. (3) He was praised for this passage in particular:

But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. (4)

Well, it’s a shame that President Obama has made little effort to follow his own advice this year. Three months after the Tucson speech, Obama delivered another speech at George Washington University concerning fiscal policy. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan was invited to sit in the front row. Although not mentioned by name, Obama blasted Ryan’s fiscal plan in a setting where he could not publicly defend himself:

The vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America. Ronald Reagan’s own budget director said there’s nothing “serious” or “courageous” about this plan. There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And I don’t think there’s anything courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. That’s not a vision of America I know. (5)

While it is true that David Stockman criticized the Ryan Plan, he also said Obama’s attempt to reduce the deficit entirely on the top 2% of the population wouldn’t work either. (6) Yet President Obama managed to omit that small but crucial detail. But why let demagoguery be impeded by fact?

During the debt ceiling debate this summer, Obama told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor not to call his bluff, said he couldn’t guarantee that Social Security checks would be mailed out, and railed against tax breaks for purchase of corporate jets despite the fact they were in the Stimulus Bill which he signed into law. (7) (8) (9) By October, Obama was telling Americans that the Republican fiscal plan consisted of “dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance.” (10)

President Obama hardly confined his demagoguery to domestic matters. When Congress demanded to be consulted about American involvement in Libya, he questioned their patriotism. At the very same press conference where Obama ranted about corporate jets he also asserted that “no one should want to defend” Muammar Qaddafi and that Qaddafi had become a “cause célèbre” for some members of Congress. (11) This from a man who said during the 2008 campaign he would never question the patriotism of others. (12) It would seem that President Obama believes he is exempt from his own edicts. In other words, do as I say not as I do. ---Read more

The Ant and The Grasshopper...

2011-12-29T11:53:00.000-05:00

American Thinker - ...An Allegory For The Country - Monty Pelerin

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE OLD STORY: Be responsible for yourself !

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green'. Occupy the Anthill stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the SEIU group singing, We Shall Overcome. Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake, while he damns the ants.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. >>>>Read more

Former KGB Agent's Caution to America:

2011-12-29T09:22:00.000-05:00

The dust of the "Cold War" has yet settled. In both media and education, pro-statist influence is still alive employing old weapons (class-warfare) and modern weapons (AlGore-ish Greenism). This interview took place in the mid-80's yet still relevant:

Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov was a journalist for RIA Novosti and a former KGB informant from the Soviet Union who defected to Canada. After being assigned to a station in India, Bezmenov eventually grew to love the people and culture of India, while, at the same time, he began to resent the KGB-sanctioned oppression of intellectuals who dissented from Moscow's policies. He decided to defect to the West. Bezmenov is best remembered for his pro-American, anti-communist lectures and books from the 1980s. (source)

States Give Us Clues

2011-12-28T09:33:00.000-05:00

"State Champions" - Wild Bill for America

Milton Friedman Forewarns Us of Socialism's Inertia

2011-12-26T07:33:00.000-05:00

...Same ol' green-eyed monster keeps rearing its ugly head again despite Mr. Friedman's caution.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Mike Masse and Wendy Jernigan

2011-12-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

'Silent Night' (Oíche Chiúin) - Enya

2011-12-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

He'll Be Coming Down The Chimney -- Guy Lombardo

2011-12-24T07:52:00.001-05:00

...and His Royal Canadians

Sugar Plum Fairy by P.Tchaikovsky - Glass Harp

2011-12-24T07:49:00.001-05:00

Sarah Jarosz - Come on up to the house

2011-12-23T06:30:00.001-05:00

Three Years Under Obama

2011-12-22T20:11:00.000-05:00

"There has never in history been failure of this magnitude...never..."

Thank You! Mr. President

2011-12-22T19:42:00.002-05:00

Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon) Vietnam

2011-12-22T05:32:00.000-05:00

The Next Jimi Hendrix?

2011-12-21T18:47:00.000-05:00

New EPA Regulations Poised To Hike Energy Costs

2011-12-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON --
"More than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states will be forced to shut down and an additional 36 might have to close because of new federal air pollution regulations, according to an Associated Press survey.

"Those plants, some of the oldest and dirtiest in the country, produce enough electricity for more than 22 million households, the AP survey found. Their demise probably won't cause homes to go dark, however."

On October 30, 2008, Obama told a large crowd of cheering supporters: "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."

While we're at it...let's shut down the 32 dirtiest EPA offices and perhaps the 32 dirtiest politicians.

Acrobatic Gymnastics World Cup 2011

2011-12-20T19:30:00.000-05:00

Music gets a little annoying but there are some amazing stunts here:

North Koreans Weeping Hysterically Over the Death of Kim Jong-il

2011-12-19T21:29:00.000-05:00

Simply amazing!

North Korean Concentration Camps

2011-12-19T06:31:00.000-05:00

Part one of two:

North Korean Labor Camps Inside Russia

2011-12-19T06:07:00.001-05:00

VICE sheds light on N. Korean labor camps inside Russia in new video

From The Daily Caller - If you haven’t viewed the VICE documentary guides to various third world basket cases, you are really missing out.

They often give an inside look at places few reporters dare to go. Their latest release chronicles North Korean labor camps in the Siberia region of Russia.

The Daily Caller recently interviewed VICE’s Shane Smith about his most recent adventure:

You’ve traveled to many “exotic” places, but you call North Korea the “most fucked up place on Earth.” Given the stiff competition from places like Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Zimbabwe, that’s a serious statement.

There is no competition what-so-ever. North Korea has been in a lunatic time warp since the 1950′s. They are the only real Socialist-Cult-of-Personality-Absolute-Dictatorship left in the Stalinist or Maoist mold left on Earth. They are still at war with the U.S. and Japan to the point where they have threatened to nuke both of them and have repeatedly boasted that they could be in Seoul in and hour and a half (don’t even get me started about their underground invasion tunnels) and thereby start WWIII.

On top of all that, the country is run day to day by Kim Il Sung — “The Eternal President” — who has been dead since [1994] and his son Kim Jung Il, who is the largest private importer of Hennessy in the world and is madly in love with Elizabeth Taylor, Broadway musicals and 80′s slasher movies. The country is starving and has no power, yet every year they throw the Arirang Games, or “Mass Gymnastics,” where 150,000 people act out a simultaneous pantomime about the history of Korea, in the largest stadium on Earth to … no one. They won’t let anyone into DPRK, so there is no audience. Nice. Not to mention that every room, every subway car, every factory, every billboard, every TV ad is just pictures of Kim Jung Il and Kim Il Sung. They are literally everywhere — even the FLOWERS are named after them (kimjungillia). It is pure, unadulterated madness. No other country even comes close. (read more)

North Korean Labor Camps - Part 1: Video
BTW- "Dear Leader" is dead

Who And What Are Republicans? - Bill Whittle

2011-12-18T08:24:00.000-05:00

"Working Man"- New World Son

2011-12-18T08:21:00.001-05:00

Chopin, Nocturne, E minor, opus 72 #1, Piano Solo

2011-12-17T19:23:00.001-05:00

"Nocturne No. 19 in E minor, by Fryderyck Chopin, opus 72 No. 1, published posthumously. Performance and animation by Stephen Malinowski. (The colors are subdued, so I suggest you watch it full-screen in a dark room.)"

Department of Labor vs. America's Farm Kids

2011-12-17T06:52:00.000-05:00

The Republic- In this Nov. 28, 2011 photo, Luke Muller, 12, talks with his father, Matt Muller, while operating a tractor as they work on their family farm near Martha, Okla. Farm kids have spent generations while performing chores on the family farm. But now the U.S. Department of Labor is proposing regulations that would make many of those activities illegal for some farm kids under age 16.[...] Read more

(AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Nate Billings)

American Thinker- America was built by farmers, and to this day, farming is a generational industry for many. So why are federal agencies, led by President Obama appointees, intent on taking steps that will undermine and ultimately destroy our nation's agricultural heartland?

It's no secret that liberals hold fatty, high-carbohydrate dairy and corn products directly responsible for our nation's obesity rates. They blame farting cows for a depleted ozone layer and consider farming streamlined animal abuse. Yet the government's attempt to effectively ban farm kids from working on their own farms goes beyond outrageous.

Under new standards being advocated by the Labor Department, youths under the age of eighteen would be prohibited from working in hay lofts, giving shots, caring for baby animals, and being in the vicinity of animals whose behavior may be "unpredictable." For the estimated 1.3 million youths living or working on farms, this means no longer being able to perform routine chores if the farm is set up as a corporation or a business partnership. Today, the vast majority of family farms are legally structured in this manner.

Citing agriculture's high fatality rate, uninformed liberal elites have taken it upon themselves to create an image of uneducated, backwards farmers who are too stupid to protect themselves and their children.[...] emphasis mine

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Actual Pelosi Video, Not Fake!

2011-12-16T19:16:00.002-05:00

Pelosi: Extending Unemployment Benefits Will Create 600,000 Jobs--200,000 More Than Obamacare!

Just imagine how many jobs a permanent unemployment extension will create!

Sen. Rubio Rips Class-Warfare

2011-12-16T18:57:00.000-05:00

Rubio: "We Are a Nation of Haves and Soon-to-Haves"

Public Employee Unions' Perpetual Political Teat

2011-12-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money,
that will herald the end of the republic.” -Benjamin Franklin
"Once locked in, this cycle is nearly impossible to break. Unions and politicians are sitting on the same side of the negotiating table, and taxpayers—the ones paying for all of it—aren't even in the room."

Over 1000 International Scientists Dissent AGW Claims

2011-12-15T07:54:00.000-05:00

SPECIAL REPORT: More Than 1000 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims - Challenge UN IPCC & Gore - More than 1,000 dissenting scientists (updates previous 700 scientist report) from around the globe have now challenged man-made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore. This new 2010 321-page Climate Depot Special Report -- updated from the 2007 groundbreaking U.S. Senate Report of over 400 scientists who voiced skepticism about the so-called global warming “consensus” -- features the skeptical voices of over 1,000 international scientists, including many current and former UN IPCC scientists, who have now turned against the UN IPCC. This updated 2010 report includes a dramatic increase of over 300 additional (and growing) scientists and climate researchers since the last update in March 2009. This report's release coincides with the 2010 UN global warming summit in being held in Cancun. --------Read more

Obama Rates Himself 4th Best President...

2011-12-14T08:46:00.001-05:00

...or is it a four-way tie for first?

Cronyism in America

2011-12-14T08:46:00.000-05:00

Strategic Waiting Obama Style

2011-12-12T22:34:00.000-05:00

John Corzine: "The Smartest Guy..."

2011-12-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

Wall Street Trial On Trial

2011-12-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

Illegal Immigration: Moral Or Immoral?

2011-12-09T13:22:00.000-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson makes the case that "Illegal Immigration Is Immoral" drawing from eight rational and coherent subject points:

"Illegal immigration has been in the news daily during the Republican primary campaign, even though a depressed economy here, stronger border enforcement, and vast new finds of petroleum in Latin America may soon radically curtail the number of illegal entrants into the United States. But for now, conservatives are warned that coming down hard on illegal immigration (i.e., enforcing federal statutes) would lose them the all-critical Hispanic vote. Meanwhile, in California, some legislators want to grant de facto state amnesty to illegal residents. But lost in the continuing furor, pro and con, is the moral dimension. The strange notion has developed that supporting something as immoral as illegal immigration is somehow ethical. It is not, and there are several reasons why.

"1. Entry-level labor. Real wages for the working poor in the United States have been stagnant for decades, especially in the Southwest — largely because of the influx of millions of illegal aliens, who, at least for a time, will work for considerably lower wages than Americans. In the last three decades, we have written off an entire class of Americans on the premise that “They won’t do the work.” Here in a California of 10 percent–plus unemployment, everyone from farmers to landscapers complains from experience that the citizen poor cannot or will not work manually. But in theory, why should they, when employers have a constant option of undercutting their wages, and when expanding entitlements make entry-level work an unattractive alternative, both financially and socially? We have expanded social services and decreased workers’ incentives, and then we wonder that a subsidized welfare class lacks the spunk of people crossing the border illegally from an impoverished Mexico. Yet there is something abhorrent about the present American notion of giving up on incentives to promote American labor — among which would be the prevention of cheaper foreign workers entering the country illegally and undercutting wages. Advocacy for illegal immigration is now a de facto lack of concern for the American underclass." [...] >>>>>>> Read full aricle here

"Will ANYBODY Be Held Accountable" for 'Operation Fast And Furious'?

2011-12-08T08:26:00.002-05:00

...It depends on how deeply rooted the corruptive forces are in this administration.

New docs show Fast and Furious was going to be used to justify gun control measures - article
New York Dem. Congresswomen: Ummmm...huh?

"Bio Concrete"

2011-12-08T08:06:00.000-05:00

The 1% Includes Santa...

2011-12-07T19:50:00.000-05:00

Obama Comes Out of The Closet...

2011-12-07T19:45:00.001-05:00

...Shows his true colors against America's founding principles of limited government and free markets (as if we didn't already know). He justifies his declaration with the usual false narratives and straw men. He must now rely heavily that a majority of voters will not be paying attention to Europe's economic woes and note troubling similarities to his policies.

Obama’s Kansas speech: some suspect facts (article)

America's Amazing Untapped Energy Resources

2011-12-07T05:48:00.001-05:00

Still awaiting leadership in Washington...

ht- HotAir

Obama Breaks Away From Campaign To Hawaii

2011-12-06T08:02:00.000-05:00

[image from freerepublic.com]

Daily Mail Online - While most Americans are lucky to get a few weeks of holiday every year, it seems the country’s leader gets a little more freedom in the matter.

President Barack Obama has announced his Christmas vacation to Hawaii – for a staggering 17-day trip.

Obama, who visited the island just two weeks ago for an economic summit, will head to Honolulu on Saturday December 17 until Monday January 2.

The president, who was raised in Hawaii until he was six, will be joined by his wife Michelle and their daughters, Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10.

The White House travel office announced the president has no public events scheduled for the trip.

The President's family covers the cost of a private beach front residence in Kailua, Oahu, for their vacation - a ‘Winter White House’ that costs up to $3,500 a day, or $75,000 a month.
But the local and federal taxpayers help pay the bill for travel and security.

Last year the trip cost more than $1 million,according to the Hawaii Reporter.
Obama announced the trip during a campaign fundraiser on Oahu's Leeward Coast during his stay on the island last month.

‘It is great to be home, great to feel that Aloha spirit,’ he said.
‘And Michelle and the girls will be back shortly for Christmas vacation, as we do every year. We'll see if Washington gets its business done, so I can get here as well. But that's always a challenge.’

It follows an 11-day stay in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, earlier this year, which is also believed to have cost the U.S. taxpayer millions.[...]

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Human - Dolphin Jetpack Toy

2011-12-06T07:29:00.000-05:00

The Indoctrination Continues

2011-12-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

Tara Nevins - Stars Fell On Alabama

2011-12-03T22:07:00.001-05:00

Is America Exceptional?

2011-12-03T07:40:00.000-05:00

Trump Admonishes Obama for Inconsiderate Fundraiser

2011-12-02T08:48:00.000-05:00

Obama - The Anti-Israel President

2011-12-02T08:19:00.000-05:00

Hannah Montana Breathes New Life Into OWS

2011-12-01T10:44:00.000-05:00

Nearing The Tipping Point

2011-11-30T16:34:00.000-05:00

Daniel Hannan Compares Euro-Constitution to America's

2011-11-30T10:22:00.000-05:00

Obama "is an Illusion"

2011-11-29T08:22:00.000-05:00

American Thinker, November 29, 2011-
Barack Obama is a dream. In 2008, the dream was hope and change. In 2012, it will be progress, thwarted by evil partisans and selfish greed. As Gertrude Stein said, "there is no there there." He needs enemies to draw attention from his lack of depth, for he is truly a mile wide and an inch deep. He is an illusion -- always appearing to be more than he is, always, more promise than reality. He is, and always has been, the sum projection of what others want him to be. Barack Obama doesn't exist, except in the hearts and minds of minions and sycophants.

Many ignore the truth, disregarding Mr. Obama's abject failure as president. Those of us with our eyes open, though, see right through the man. A transparent presidency is the one promise he kept, for he is the original evaporated man. Though he seemed so substantial at first, with the passage of time, it is obvious how much less there is to him. What we saw in the beginning was simply a projection of our own hopes and dreams. We saw what we wanted to see.

Now, when he looks into our eyes, he sees what he wants to see: his own reflection, the illusion of a great man. He needs this fantasy to define himself. After all, who is he, if not Lincoln, or JFK, or FDR, or Reagan? He has to be someone else; he can't be himself, because there really is no Barack Obama.

Barack Obama may be a dream, but that dream is a nightmare: class warfare sold as transcendent leadership; crony capitalism sold as green energy; forced unionization sold as a means to save the worker; control of health care to ensure his vision of what care we must have, even if that's less than what we need. Who lives and who dies, who should prosper and who should not -- all decided by our betters, all a part of his greatness, his vision, his grand plan. ---------Read more

Can Freedom Thrive Without Virtue?

2011-11-28T22:36:00.000-05:00

Bill Whittle explores the effects on our culture from diminishing teachings of virtue.

GPS, Relativity, and Nuclear Detection

2011-11-28T08:31:00.000-05:00

Extreme Body Roller Skating

2011-11-28T08:28:00.000-05:00

SEIU Extracting Dues From Unwilling Michigan Families

2011-11-27T10:35:00.001-05:00

Creeping fascism:

The Blaze - Robert and Patricia Haynes take care of their two children, who at the ages of 30 and 34 are more like children in adult bodies. That’s because they both have cerebral palsy, and rely on their parents to feed and change them — and likely will for the rest of their lives.

The Haynes family receives monthly checks from the state of Michigan through Medicaid, allowing the parents to care for their son and daughter themselves instead of institutionalizing them. But because a Michigan law classifies Robert and Patricia as “home health care workers,” they are considered public workers and therefore automatic union members — meaning the SEIU [see link] gets a $30 cut of the family’s Medicaid subsidy as union dues. .....(read more)

Forced To Join a Union: SEIU Getting Money From Michigan Medicaid Checks: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Russian chant - На реках Вавилонских

2011-11-27T05:04:00.001-05:00

Born Under a Bad Sign - Albert King & Steve Ray Vaughan

2011-11-26T21:56:00.002-05:00