Author: Papa Giorgio
Why Men & Women See Things Differantly (Prager U)
Israeli Soldier Points Gun At Little Girl? More Palestinian Fauxtography
It has been a while for some FAUXTOGRAPHY (see my many posts on my older blog), so here is the most recent one — which is NOT the one the Wall Street Journal fell for, via The Blaze:
A multitude of websites have posted the photo and presented it as authentic including: Australians for Palestine, Palestinian Libra, and a boycott Israel (BDS) website
A pro-Israel blogger tracked down the original photos which show a wider shot of the scene of the street theater performance.
The Blaze Continues:
That blogger linked to an Israeli site Tazpitwhich discussed the photo in June after seeing it posted on the Facebook group called “Freedom Will come to Palestine.” The photo prompted comments condemning Israel including, “Disgusting! Hope the Israelis rot in hell!!” Tazpit wrote:
The soldier in the photo appears to be holding a Kalashnikov AK47 which is not used by the Israeli army, but used often by the Palestinian police forces and terror organizations. The IDF is known for using M16 and M4 weapons, and its uniforms are different from the soldier’s uniform that appears on the photo.
Tazpit quoted an Israeli government spokesman who said:
“Unfortunately, the use of such photos is a known method, trying to harm Israel’s image on the internet and is part of the social networks war of information”.
The use of fake photographs to score PR points in the Arab-Israeli conflict was highlighted after blogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs discovered a Reuters photographer in Lebanon had used Photoshop to digitally alter two pictures during the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006.
Amazing! Love the Whales Reaction at the end
A Chris Christie Intervention for Bubbles
In case you do not know what Miks’s nickname is, see HERE
MachoSauce Productions Promote a Proper Understanding of Capitalism
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Praises Islamo-Fascism and Helps Crush the Spirit of True Freedom and Feminism
“This is the most wonderful time in which to live and be among the young people who are helping your country and bringing about change during this exceptional transitional period to a real democratic state,” Ginsburg said, according to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. “Think of the people who lived before you and did not have this opportunity because they lived under a dictatorial regime.”
Two things to note that have already happened before Justice Ginsburg’s praises:
…In a matter of months, Egypt’s ultra-conservative Salafists have beaten a path from marginalised religious sect to major political force…
We meet the president of the Salafist Al Nour party as he leads prayers at a mosque in Alexandria. “Before the revolution prayers were on more general subjects…now we are freer and we can be more frank,” Emad Abdul Ghafour tells us.
Like fellow members, he’s brimming with confidence. They’ve just scored 24% of the vote in Egypt’s landmark elections, making them the second biggest bloc in parliament. Not bad for a political party founded just nine months ago.
Hosni Mubarak’s departure in February 2011 has seen Egypt’s Salafists emerge from the shadows. Before, they operated in the half-light, in little mosques like these, the former leader’s security services – wary of Islamists – never far away.
Now, they can openly advocate their agenda. Their ideal society is that of the first Muslims, one based on a strict adherence to the Koran and Sharia law.
What is striking among the party’s leaders and supporters is the belief that this model will soon become reality. They’re buoyed by election results which have seen Egyptians vote overwhelmingly for Islam – the Salafists coming in second only to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The second is that the most popular movement in Egypt — the Muslim Brotherhood — is on the same page with the second most popular movement:
Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis agree that Sharia should be imposed on Egypt
Whatever their disagreements may be about how Sharia should be implemented, if the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis do succeed in imposing Sharia upon Egypt, we will see restrictions on the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the rights of women and non-Muslims. Wherever and whenever Sharia has been implemented, this has been the case. Yet in the U.S., we are forced to believe on pain of “Islamophobia” charges that Sharia is so multiform as to have no particular content and is fully compatible with Constitutionally protected freedoms — and on the basis of these false claims, anti-Sharia legislation is struck down.
The Evolution of Tyranny Against Women
Via LR:
From one comment from the video site:
From a young Iranian woman suffering from Islam rules in Iran to all my sisters in the world especially TUNESIAN AND EGYPTIAN : It’s not just about Hijab that would make you suffer, it starts with Hijab which is a tool to control you then comes other forms of restrictions and limitations, violating all your basic rights. The aim is to make a good society for men not women and children….
The Good and the Bad from Indiana: They Are the 23rd State to Become a Right-to-Work State ~ Awesome! (and, Republicans Fight Against Smoking Law-To No Avail)
This great news comes from Libertarian Republican:
Governor Mitch Daniels signed legislation passed by the Republican-controlled legislature late Wednesday, making Indiana the 23rd state in the nation to have Right-to-Work.
From the Muncie Free-Press”Right to Work the law in Indiana”:
Right to Work is now the law in Indiana, making it the first Rust-Belt state to pass the measure that prohibits labor contracts requiring workers to pay union dues.
Smoking law makes its way through their state senate, take note it is the Republicans holding out for freedom (via Libertarian Republican):
The vote on the House side was 61 to 34. Most of the No votes came from Republicans. Here’s a partial list of some Republican Reps. who we know voted pro-liberty: Reps Culver, Dermody, Kubacki (photo), Friend (photo), and Wesco. (Note – Each one of these Reps. from their websites is a “family values” conservative.)
Apple iPhone 4S and the Scotland Problem (Language Warning!)
The California [Taxpayer Funded] Bullet Train vs. Private Business
West Coast Blog has this story about the final cost — so far — of the California boondoggle known as the Bullet Train:
Bullet Train From SF to LA Doesn’t Cost $33.6 Billion Anymore… Try $100 Billion!
Ok, so that headline may sound like Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies. How many of you actually read it in the Dr Evil voice? But even though it wasn’t Dr Evil speaking the headline, it sure feels like he is controlling the budget for high-speed rail project in California.
The high-speed rail project was approved to build a bullet train, very similar to those in Europe and parts of Asia, to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. It would cut the traveling time between the two cities from 5-6 hours (by car) down to 2 Hours 40 Minutes. When it was passed 3 years ago, the estimated cost was $33.6 Billion broken down as follows:
$15 Billion – Federal Government
$5 Billion – Local Government
$10 Billion – Private Investors
Remainder – California
But in the last 3 years, the California High-Speed Rail authority has had problems raising money from private investors. Surprise? Not only has the project had trouble finding investors, the estimated date of completion of 2020 has been pushed back to 2033. This delay in time has caused the majority of the cost increases and estimated costs are now expected at $100 Billion. FYI: the entire California state budget is only $86 Billion.
Take note the almost instantaneous ballooning effect of the total cost via government meddling, here is the L.A. Times giving the most recent total cost update:
As the price tag for California’s bullet train has soared to nearly $100 billion, a central argument for forging ahead with the controversial project is an even loftier figure: the $171 billion that promoters recently estimated will be needed for new roads and airports if no high-speed rail is built….
….The bullet train is aimed at meeting future transportation needs of the state….
Newsflash! People are leaving California, not coming to it!
Another L.A.Times story says this:
…When the first business plan surfaced, it projected a $34-billion cost. By 2009, the estimate had jumped to $43 billion, in part because the authority included future inflation in the estimated cost of building the system over the next decade.
In August, the authority released two planning documents that signaled even higher costs. The cost of building only the first two segments in the Central Valley had jumped in price by as much as 100%, not including future inflation…
And HotAir points out the death knell for this type of liberal thinking:
CA auditor warns bullet train project financing “increasingly risky”
Few people probably noticed the absence of “high-speed rail” from Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech last night. The issue took a prominent position in SOTU speeches in 2011, when Obama dedicated five paragraphs to pushing it, and in 2010, when Obama promoted the high-speed rail project in Florida that Governor Rick Scott killed. Last night’s mentions: zero.
Perhaps the White House didn’t have a good answer as to why their pet rail project in California has become so expensive and bloated that the state auditor issued a warning hours before the SOTU began about its financing becoming so “increasingly risky” that state lawmakers should consider whether to proceed (via Andrew Malcolm):
In the latest in a series of cautionary reports by outside agencies and groups, the auditor’s report finds that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has made some progress in addressing planning and fiscal concerns but still has important work to do to ensure that the project can be built as promised.
“The program’s overall financial situation has become increasingly risky, in part because the authority has not provided viable funding alternatives in the event its planned funding does not materialize,” the auditor’s report says.
The authority has secured $12.5 billion for the first leg — from Los Angeles to San Francisco — of what is planned to be an 80-mile network, according to the report says. But it notes the projected cost of that phase has risen to between $98.1 billion and $117.6 billion.
The auditor warns that the state has no clear way to raise the $105 billion in funding necessary to complete the project, but that’s just half of the problem:
“The success or failure of the program” depends on obtaining up to $105 billion in additional funding, which has not been identified, the report says. It also finds that cost estimates for the initial phase do not include operating or maintenance outlays, which the auditor estimates could total $97 billion between 2025 and 2060.
Use EBT Cards In Strip Clubs? GOP: No | Dems: Yes
(Language Warning)
This from Sweetness & Light:
….this update from CBS News:
House bans welfare recipients’ money from strip clubs, liquor stores
[…]
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that prohibits welfare recipients from using their government subsidy in strip clubs, liquor stores and casinos.
The measure easily received the necessary support of two-thirds of House members, with 395 voting in favor and only 27 opposing.
So this was a very bi-partisan vote. Funny how CBS doesn’t use the word. But we thought bi-partisanship was wonderful.
House Republicans introduced and promoted the proposal as a way to eliminate government wasteful spending. It has passed the House before, and they re-introduced it again hoping it will become part of a bill to extend the payroll tax credit, which both the House and Senate is expected to debate this month.
The Senate has not agreed to take up the measure….
This is an old debate that is wrapped up well by state Senator Bob Dutton (31st Dis., California), in his post…
Democrats Kill Bill to Limit Welfare Recipients From Purchasing Alcohol/Tobacco with EBT Cards (4-2011):
An effort by Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) to move California closer to making sure that those who receive welfare use those taxpayer funds as effectively and efficiently as possible was killed by Democrats during a hearing of the Senate Human Services Committee this week.
Senate Bill 417 would have prohibited those who receive welfare from using their Electronic Benefits Card (EBT) for the purchase of alcohol or tobacco products. Currently, those with EBT cards receive both their food stamps and welfare money, called CalWORKS benefits, on the ETB card. While current law does not allow recipients to use their food stamp portion of their benefits to purchase alcohol or tobacco, they can buy those items with the CalWORKS funds.
“You would think a simple common sense reform like trying to make sure taxpayer money is not used for the purchase of alcohol and tobacco would find bi-partisan support,” Senator Dutton said.
Abuses of the EBT card has received national attention over the last year, after the Los Angeles Times reported how millions of dollars of taxpayer money was being withdrawn with EBT cards from Indian Gaming Casinos, strip clubs, cruise ships, and Las Vegas. While the Governor issued an Executive Order to stop the use of EBT cards at these locations, it did not address stopping the purchase of alcohol or tobacco.
“These funds are designed to help the neediest in California meet their basic requirements of providing food, clothing and shelter,” Senator Dutton said. “I doubt there’s not a taxpayer in this state who believes purchasing alcohol or tobacco with welfare money constitutes a basic need and should be allowed.”
I also wrote on this topic after the L.A. Times broke the story, which states:
The Capitol Casino, which occupies a pair of small rooms a few blocks from the legislative chambers in Sacramento, appears on the social services website showing where clients can get money. Each room has an ATM: one is so close to a poker table that a player with long arms could lean back and withdraw cash without leaving his chair; the other is a few steps from the blackjack table.
At the Casino Royale on the outskirts of Sacramento, the first thing patrons pass as they walk to the gaming floor is the ATM with a sign next to it saying, “Exceed your ATM daily limit here!!”….
What is the liberal response? Here it is: