Olbermann: Sarah Palin is the 'Imaginary President of Right-Wing America'

William Jacobson describes the rude welcome received by WaPo blogger Dave Weigel when his findings didn't match the desired leftist talking points. Tasked with covering the conservative movement and Republicans in general, Weigel spent time delving into the Sarah Palin email hacking trial.

Weigel faced a nasty reception when his research determined that the conspiracy theories around Palin were baseless. He wrote, "Last night I appeared on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann to talk about a story that had been driven into the mainstream by the blog PalinGates. The story: Palin made three statements that PalinGates believed may have been false, and therefore grounds for perjury.... Today, PalinGates published a lengthy attack on me, including a screenshot of a friendly email I sent them before I went on the show, after my own reporting had convinced me that their first post was mostly baseless."

Welcome to the club, Dave. As an aside, this overall theme reminds me of the Karl Rove frogmarching fantasies entertained by a plethora of creepy losers.

Jacobson has a personal message for Weigel: "...thanks for being fair-minded in the face of Olbermann, whose dumbfounded reaction at 2:55 of the video [pictured above] -- upon hearing the bad news -- was priceless."

Olbermann's stuttering reaction to discovering that Palin would never be frogmarched out of the courthouse ended with a Tourette's-style outburst, almost as if a pejorative directed the governor's way would act as a soothing balm. He snapped out a nasty crack that Palin served as the 'Imaginary President of Right-Wing America', which Weigel ignored.

Dave, here's a gentle prediction: you'll never be invited on Countdown To No Ratings again.

You see, Strap-On Keith and reality have never been spotted in the same room at the same time.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Euro Pacific Capital: 'The economy is in worse shape than in 2008... credit risk in the U.S. is just as great [as] Greece'

To paraphrase the immortal Jeremiah Wright, Europe's debt chickens are coming home to roost.

Today the rating agency S&P downgraded the debt of Greece and Portugal by two notches apiece, with Greece's paper now worth about as much as a handwritten I.O.U. issued by a Nigerian Oil Minister. Greece is demanding that the International Monetary Fund and its European Monetary Union partners cough up a paltry $60 billion, while its public sector unions are helpfully rioting rather than working to enact austerity measures. In that respect, they're kind of like the SEIU, only with gyros for lunch.

The reaction back in the States was swift, with the Dow tanking 213 points as investors realized that our economic situation is, in the words of Carl Levin, really "s****y". U.S. federal and state debt levels, exacerbated by brilliant spending programs like cash-for-clunkers, basically mimic those of the poor European states.

Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital says that 2008's correction was only the wake-up call.

"A lot of people were confused – they thought the market going up was somehow ratifying what the government had done – that the stimulus and bailouts were good and the economy was improving – it's not," Schiff says. "The economy is in worse shape than in 2008."

Rather than resolved the crisis, all we've done is papered over problems in the banking system with "phony accounting" and "dug ourselves deeper into debt," says Schiff, a longtime deficit hawk.

The crisis of 2008 was merely the "overture" to the "real crisis" Schiff (still) sees coming: "The real crisis is going to be a currency crisis, a funding crisis, a sovereign debt crisis – and that's when we have to pay the piper," he says. "We're in very bad shape. Sovereign credit risk in the U.S. is just as great -- if not greater than [in] Greece."

"...In the short run, markets are typically wrong – they do the wrong thing. In the long run, the fundamentals win out... The fact the dollar is rising when it should be collapsing doesn't surprise me... it makes perfect sense; they same thing happened with dot.com stocks and condos in Vegas. The dollar is just as flawed and will collapse – it's only a question of when. The longer it takes to fall, the bigger the drop."

Schiff is concentrating on tangible assets and commodities like precious metals, oil and other hard goods scattered throughout the world. As if to confirm his assessment, gold hit $1,165 an ounce earlier in the day.

A few more delays in getting aid to Greece by the IMF-Euro consortium will lead to the chain meltdown of Portugal, Spain and Italy. Because while a single small country like Greece could potentially be salvaged, there will be no one to backstop an additional failing country -- or three.

Now that sort of thing could never happen here, because our beloved President and Democrat-controlled Congress are strong believers in the free market; they try to help businesses by minimizing the liability effect of trial lawyers; and they do their best to suppress the spread of unions -- especially the kind of public sector unions that are crippling Europe.


Update: Mish: "Given that the European Commission has been 100% wrong 100% of the time in its ability to yap away the problems in Greece, I take the opposite side of 'Greek Debt Crisis Won’t Spread Through Europe, Officials Say'."

Larwyn's Linx: They’re back! A gallery of open-borders extremists

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

They’re back! A gallery of open-borders extremists: Malkin
I Give Up on Michael Steele: RWN
Obama plays 'race card' in call for 2010 support?: Hot Air

The Arizona Uproar: AT
Obama’s irresponsible stance on Arizona’s immigration bill: DC
Changing the Debate: R&R

Economy

Wow: Dems Hid ObamaCare Costs From Public 'Til After Vote!: GWP
Oops: White House admits there are death panels: Patterico
Ban the Income Tax!: AT

House Democrats, Out on Limb for Obamacare, Hear Snap!: NRO
14 Fatal Flaws in the Dodd Finance Regulation Bill: Wizbang
One Hundred Sixty Five Thousand Words: Protein Wisdom

Climate & Energy

You Voted For Control – Well Done, Shmucks: iOTW
Meltdown of the climate-change bill: Times
Global Warming & Profiteering in the Obama Administration: PJTV

Media

Hate-Filled Fringe Wingnuts Make Death Threats, Incite Violence: Ace
Machiavelli shreds op-ed by Pelosi's cabana boy: Virtuous Republic
FreedomWorks’ hate mail over Geico firing quite nuanced indeed: Hot Air

But…I don’t have a birth certificate, school or employment records–you know, like the president?: Cold Fury
Olbermann hypocrisy machine strikes again: Sister Toldjah
School Choice and the Limits of Liberal Jewish Compassion: AT

World

Iran's Secret Uranium Deal with Zimbabwe: PJM
5 Arguments Republicans Should Use Against Obama’s Immigration Bill: RWN
Evidence: Yes, Abu Talhah al Amrike Really Did Threaten South Park Creators: Jawa

South Park Matters: AT
Anti-Catholicism, Again: The permanent scandal of the Vatican: WklyStd
National Security Adviser Archie Bunker: RSM

SciTech

Germans design "hands free" car steering system based on eye movement: Ace
Cops Bust Into Gizmodo Editor's Home And Seize Computers, Documents In iPhone Probe: Insider

Cornucopia

2nd Amendment Poster o' the Day: RWN
Video: inside a truck as it is overturned by Mississippi tornado: BlogProf
Threatened critters and their natural defense mechanisms: Furious

Image: EuropeNews
Today's Larwyn's Linx Sponsored By: Mind Numbed Robot's Robo-Love – Extreme Moving Edition

QOTD: "The Service Employees International Union of Nevada wants state legislative candidates who'll get behind federal bills to end secret-ballot union elections, provide amnesty to illegal immigrants and nationalize health care... The union lobbying strategy for 2011 and beyond is obvious: When the tax money is handed out, mimic the animated seagulls in "Finding Nemo" by squawking "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

Voters need to pay attention to these endorsements and understand what candidates must say to get them. Republicans must not only avoid the endorsements, but produce ads that trash the Democrats who win them.

In 2010, the support of public employee unions won't be a badge of honor for candidates -- it will be a disgrace." -- Glenn Cook

Irony-meter shatters: La Raza, MEChA and other racial separatist groups worry that law enforcement might use racial profiling to enforce laws

Legacy media continues its outstanding work of late, studiously ignoring outbreaks of violence at pro-illegal immigration protests in Arizona, while incessantly marketing the meme that enforcing centuries-old immigration law is 'racial profiling'.

Racial profiling?

Irony: Consider that the name of the dominant Latino lobbying group is National Council of La Raza ("The Race").

Irony: Consider that the motto of the dominant Hispanic student organization -- MEChA -- is Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada ("For the Race, everything, outside the Race, nothing").

Irony: Consider that MEChA itself (which stands for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán or "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán") has a charter that explicitly endorses the overthrow of the United States government and its replacement with a racially pure "master race" ("we are Aztlán").

Irony: Consider that all of this insanity operates under the aegis and sponsorship of the University of Arizona and the state's taxpayers.

Hosted on an official University of Arizona website is the official founding document of MEChA, helpfully entitled "El Plan de Aztlan" (PDF).

El Plan de Aztlan was adopted at the first National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver, Colorado, March 1969. The plan presented for the first time a clear statement of the growing nationalist consciousness of the Chicano people. It raised the concept of Aztlan, a Chicano nation, and the need for Chicano control of the Chicano community...

Reffering [sic] to the Democratic and Republican parties as "the same animal with two heads that feed from the same trough," the plan pointed out that to achieve the goal of self-determination, would require an independent political party with Raza nationalism as its "common denominator.

El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán

In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal "gringo" invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlán from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny.

...[Our] love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner "gabacho" who exploits our riches and destroys our culture.

With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlán.

Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada.

El Plan Espiritual de Aztl án sets the theme that the Chicanos (La Raza de Bronze) must use their nationalism as the key or common denominator for mass mobilization and organization. Once we are committed to the idea and philosophy of El Plan de Aztlán, we can only conclude that social, economic, cultural, and political independence is the only road to total liberation from oppression, exploitation, and racism. Our struggle then must be for the control of our barrios, campos, pueblos, lands, our economy, our culture, and our political life. El Plan commits all levels of Chicano society - the barrio, the campo, the ranchero, the writer, the teacher, the worker, the professional - to La Causa.

Nationalism

Nationalism as the key to organization transcends all religious, political, class, and economic factions or boundaries. Nationalism is the common denominator that all members of La Raza can agree upon.

Organizational Goals

1. UNITY in the thinking of our people concerning the barrios, the pueblo, the campo, the land, the poor, the middle class, the professional-all committed to the liberation of La Raza.

2. ECONOMY: economic control of our lives and our communities can only come about by driving the exploiter out of our communities, our pueblos, and our lands and by controlling and developing our own talents, sweat, and resources. Cultural background and values which ignore materialism and embrace humanism will contribute to the act of cooperative buying and the distribution of resources and production to sustain an economic base for healthy growth and development Lands rightfully ours will be fought for and defended. Land and realty ownership will be acquired by the community for the people's welfare. Economic ties of responsibility must be secured by nationalism and the Chicano defense units.

3. EDUCATION must be relative to our people, i.e., history, culture, bilingual education, contributions, etc. Community control of our schools, our teachers, our administrators, our counselors, and our programs.

4. INSTITUTIONS shall serve our people by providing the service necessary for a full life and their welfare on the basis of restitution, not handouts or beggar's crumbs. Restitution for past economic slavery, political exploitation, ethnic and cultural psychological destruction and denial of civil and human rights. Institutions in our community which do not serve the people have no place in the community. The institutions belong to the people.

5. SELF-DEFENSE of the community must rely on the combined strength of the people. The front line defense will come from the barrios, the campos, the pueblos, and the ranchitos. Their involvement as protectors of their people will be given respect and dignity. They in turn offer their responsibility and their lives for their people. Those who place themselves in the front ranks for their people do so out of love and carnalismo. Those institutions which are fattened by our brothers to provide employment and political pork barrels for the gringo will do so only as acts of liberation and for La Causa. For the very young there will no longer be acts of juvenile delinquency, but revolutionary acts.

6. CULTURAL values of our people strengthen our identity and the moral backbone of the movement. Our culture unites and educates the family of La Raza towards liberation with one heart and one mind. We must insure that our writers, poets, musicians, and artists produce literature and art that is appealing to our people and relates to our revolutionary culture. Our cultural values of life, family, and home will serve as a powerful weapon to defeat the gringo dollar value system and encourage the process of love and brotherhood.

7. POLITICAL LIBERATION can only come through independent action on our part, since the two-party system is the same animal with two heads that feed from the same trough. Where we are a majority, we will control; where we are a minority, we will represent a pressure group; nationally, we will represent one party: La Familia de La Raza!

Action

1. Awareness and distribution of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán. Presented at every meeting, demonstration, confrontation, courthouse, institution, administration, church, school, tree, building, car, and every place of human existence.

2. September 16, on the birthdate of Mexican Independence, a national walk-out by all Chicanos of all colleges and schools to be sustained until the complete revision of the educational system: its policy makers, administration, its curriculum, and its personnel to meet the needs of our community.

3. Self-Defense against the occupying forces of the oppressors at every school, every available man, woman, and child.

4. Community nationalization and organization of all Chicanos: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán.

5. Economic program to drive the exploiter out of our community and a welding together of our people's combined resources to control their own production through cooperative effort.

6. Creation of an independent local, regional, and national political party. A nation autonomous and free - culturally, socially, economically, and politically- will make its own decisions on the usage of our lands, the taxation of our goods, the utilization of our bodies for war, the determination of justice (reward and punishment), and the profit of our sweat.

El Plan de Aztlán is the plan of liberation!

Lest you think I'm cherry-picking some ancient document, the person who published the document did so on February 12, 2006 as evidenced by this file tag.

Click the image to zoom, but suffice it to say that it reads:

file:///Users/fernandoquinteroiv/Desktop/El%20Plan%20...o%20Youth%20Liberation%20Conference%20in%20Denver.htm (2 of 4)2/12/2006 2:19:24 PM

Let me get this straight:

Trying to enforce our laws and secure our borders against this sort of balkanizing, violent, racially charged crap like this is wrong?

Sorry, folks, I'll tell you what's wrong. Racial divides of any kind. Separating people by their race, not by the content of their character. Race: which the Democrat Party obsesses over and loves to exploit.

They can't seem to get it through their thick heads: we're all Americans. We love our country. And for us to have a country, we must have borders. It's as simple as that.

And, as you can tell from the tripe above, we're not the racists in these here parts.


Update: 'No, That Arizona Law Doesn't Create a Gestapo Dragnet.'

I rate the Obama Recovery a 'good, solid B+'

Tyler Durden spotlights the stellar performance of this year's individual tax withholding flows into the U.S. Treasury compared to the same periods in 2009.

We promised we would update the US Treasury individual tax withholdings comparison between 2009 and 2010 by 4 week bucket. Week 16 data is now out and the result is below. It speaks for itself.

...As for withheld corporate tax, we would discuss that too... if there was anything to discuss.

The world's investors are so confident in the steady leadership of the Obama-National Socialist Democrats that investors around the world are scrambling to get their hands on gold, "either in physical form or via ETF [Exchange Traded Funds]".

Investors bought 5.6 net tonnes of gold via exchange traded funds (ETFs) in Q1 2010, bringing the total amount of gold in the ETFs that we monitor to a new record of 1,768 tonnes, worth US$63.4 billion at the quarter-end gold price...

...ZKB Gold ETF and Julius Baer Physical Gold ETF, both listed on the Swiss Exchange (SWX), recorded the strongest inflows during the first quarter, adding 10.2 and 8.1 tonnes respectively, as interest in the Swiss-based securities continued. These funds remain small, however, compared to SPDR® Gold Shares, or GLD as it is known, listed on the NYSE Arca and cross-listed in Mexico, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong with 1,130 tonnes (worth US$40.5 billion) in assets.

Yep, that's some might fine Pezzydentin'.

America on Fiscal Suicide Watch

The Chicago Tribune offers some stunning illustrations that depict just how dire the country's financial situation is. I've modified the images a bit to indicate when the Democrats took over Congress (and the nation's wallet).

Click any of the images to see the full-sized graph at the Trib site.




If those charts don't getcha, consider this:

No country has ever survived the levels of debt that we're about to incur on the Obama plan for 2020. The interest alone on the debt is projected to be over $1 trillion -- and that's if interest rates don't go up significantly, which they will.

The only reason countries like Greece haven't yet imploded is the promise of a backstop by big brother, AKA the International Monetary Fund, AKA the U.S. But when the U.S. hits these levels, there won't be anyone to backstop us.

Welcome to Caracas, my friends!

The 10 Cars That Killed Detroit

Last week's claim that General Motors had repaid its loan to the American public was accompanied by a cacophony of self-congratulatory rhetoric by the administration. In his weekly address, the President lauded the move and claimed, "the auto industry has actually added 45,000 jobs – the strongest growth in a decade [and] GM announced that it paid back its loans to taxpayers with interest, fully five years ahead of schedule."

As RedState's Luke Matthews explains, the claim was as bold as it was fraudulent.

This truly a fantastic accomplishment. So, from hearing this stunning example of government efficiency and foresight, it would appear Government Motors is back on the profitability track. We can assume, can’t we, that GM has be making money to pay back the government bailout loans? We invested billions of dollars to save Government Motors and UAW Motors, er Chrysler, and that investment is paying off. Right?

But the automaker is a long way from regaining its old blue-chip status: It remains more than 70 percent government-owned and is still losing money — $3.4 billion in last year’s fourth quarter alone. And while its car and truck sales are up so far this year, that’s primarily due to lower-profit sales to car rental companies and other fleet buyers.

Wait a second. If GM is still losing money hand over fist, where is it getting these funds to pay back the loans? Is this really the glowing example of government wisdom Obama is touting?

Grassley said in his letter that a Securities and Exchange Commission form filed by GM showed that $6.7 billion of the tens of billions the company received was sitting in an escrow account and available to be used for repayment.

So, we loaned GM a whole bunch of money. They stashed some of that money in an escrow account.

And then they used it to pay back some of the money they owe the taxpayer. At least $60 billion's gone to the auto companies and methinks we won't be seeing that amount paid back for a long, long, long time. Like ever.

The epitaph of the auto companies -- the days when the U.A.W. and an idiotic, bloated management structure decided that whatever crap they shoveled out was good enough for you, the consumer -- is written in the US News & World Report list of Detroit's crappiest cars. Truth be told, the quality of GM and Chrysler vehicles is light-years ahead of their fat-dumb-happy heyday. But there's no forgettin' this "top ten".


One of our "winners"
I modified the list a bit, since it included Japanese cars that helped put a stake in the heart of Detroit (e.g., the Prius).

10. Ford Pinto: Hey, only a couple of hundred fuel tanks exploded. What's the big deal?

9. Chevrolet Cavalier: Here's a plan: let's go a decade without upgrading any technology plus try to pawn off a high-end model (the Cadillac Cimarron) on an unsuspecting public. AKA the rubes. AKA us.

8. Chevrolet Astro: Hey, we need a minivan! Let's slap some sheet-metal on a truck -- no one'll know the difference!

7. Ford Taurus: Introduced in '86 to great acclaim, Ford went on to ignore the sedan for two decades, until it ended up an Avis staple.

6. Jaguar X-Type: Speaking of the Taurus, may I introduce the Jag X-Type? Or, as some like to call it, The Brand-Killer.

5. Hummer H-2: Can you imagine the planning process? "First, we're betting gas prices will never increase. Second, let's show everyone what we think of the environment. Third, the guiding principle is to crush other drivers."

4. Chrysler Sebring: It's called the Sebring because the Vapid was taken.

3. Ford Explorer: it's not a 401K rollover, but it's almost as well known for its catastrophic tendency to crush passengers. And it helped spawn Detroit's addiction to SUVs that ultimately doomed the company.

2. Chevy Cobalt: What's it take to win the "Least Reliable Small Car" award from Consumer Reports? Or a two-star review from TAC? Or blogosphere reviews like "...the worst vehicle I have ever driven..."? Simple. It takes a Cobalt.

1. Chevy Vega: Some of the quotes from Car Talk's worst car list say it all.

"As near as I could tell, the car was built from compressed rust."

"My Chevy Vega actually broke in half going over railroad tracks. The whole rear end came around slightly to the front, sort of like a dog wagging its tail."

"Burned so much oil, it was single-handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."

* * *
What killed Detroit? There's a compelling argument that overregulation and Congressional idiocy played a central role. But these egregious examples of automotive mediocrity didn't help.