Time to paint swing state North Carolina Red

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Pat McCrory for Guv may help GOP prez candidate take the state

From Eric Dondero:

This poll just coming out from the left-leaning polling firm PPP, (via Hedgehog)

GOVERNOR – NORTH CAROLINA (PPP)
Pat McCrory (R) 48%
Bev Perdue (D-inc) 39%

No doubt this has enormous implications for the presidential race. With Florida and even Virginia moving into the GOP column, the Obama campaign has increasing pressure to hold North Carolina. It's darn near impossible to come up with a winning electoral strategy for Team Obama without NC.

Who is McCrory?

Pat McCrory is a former 7-term Mayor of Charlotte. He holds claim to having been the prime mover in bringing the NASCAR Hall of Fame to Charlotte.

He is run-of-the-mill moderate-to-conservative. He ran in 2008 against Purdue, and lost. Ironically, there was a strong Libertarian Party candidate in the race who polled near 10%.

There hasn't beem much to excite libertarians about McCrory. However, this somewhat encouraging note from Creative Loafing - NC in August:

According to observers from both parties, the former Charlotte mayor has moved farther and farther to the right in order to shore up support from the GOP's ultra-conservative Tea Party factions, as he looks toward a rematch with Gov. Bev Perdue in 2012.

It seems McCrory has linked up with the libertarian group Americans For Prosperity and longtime libertarian Republican and fmr. state rep. Art Pope.

He now firmly supports anti-voting fraud measures like voter i.d., deep spending cuts, and North Carolina opting out of federally-mandated Health Care.

Palin turns it around on Occupy

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They're no different. They want a bail-out too

From Politico.com, Sarah Palin: ‘Occupy Wall Street’ wants a bailout

They say, `Wall Street fat cats got a bailout, so now I want one too.’ And the correct answer is, no one is entitled to a bailout,” Palin said at a dinner Thursday with donors in Florida, CBS reports.

“The American dream, our foundation, is about work ethic and empowerment, not entitlement.”

Editor's note - Our friend and part-time contributor Stacy McCain has exclusive video up this morning at TheOtherMcCain.com of "smelly" Occupiers attempting to crash the Ronald Reagan dinner of AFP in D.C. last night. It's an absolute must see!

A Sanford from SC defends Herman Cain

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"Thank you Herman Cain for running and for inspiring better dialogue"

Excerpted from TheState, guest column by Jenny Sanford, "fresh face, a bold message, and a choice" Nov. 3:

Time will tell if Herman Cain becomes the next political newcomer to be elected, and I, for one, am thankful he’s in the presidential race.

I know this story well. A “fresh face” appears on the political scene and puts forth new proposals that challenge the status quo and then is attacked viciously on his proposals and then his character. Many of these challengers don’t make it; some shouldn’t. Others win and fight to improve things in our nation only to be worn down over time, to tire of fighting the system, becoming more cautious, political and hollow. Thus the system creates empty suits, adept at giving sound-bites to the media and talking points to voters and raising money to be reelected. Understandably, few modern-day politicians put forth big ideas or proposals to truly shrink or reform our government, preferring instead to obfuscate or to punt to committees. Thank you Herman Cain for running and for inspiring better dialogue.

H/t NR, photo ftsnews

Greek prime minister announces referendum on bailout package

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SPECIAL GUEST REPORT!

by Rick Murphy

Personal debt problems can be cured by debt settlement for the people of US. However, the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou definitely isn’t getting any easy way out. In a recent economic decision, Papandreou has decided to hold a referendum on the EU bailout deal which although is a controversial plan but has won unanimous support from cabinet. He had announced in a late night cabinet meeting that the referendum is meant to be a clear mandate both inside and outside Greece on the course that Greece is going to take in its participation in the euro. He also announced that no one will be able to doubt the course that Greece takes within the euro and the market turmoil resulting due to his announcement of the referendum will be short lived. The cabinet had voted on that the referendum will take place as soon as possible.

Many stocks, both euro and global saw a downturn on financial markets following the announcement of Papandreou. His move brought into question the survival of crucial efforts in order to hold back the sovereign debt crisis of the euro zone. Asian stocks extended the wave of selling on 2nd November following the announcement. The leaders of the leading European nations, France and Germany were caught unawares by the gamble which has quite a lot of things at stake. They summoned the Greek prime minister to talk over the crisis in Cannes on Wednesday so that they can push in front of a summit of the G20 major world economies for implementing the bailout deal quickly.

However, Papandreou was of a different view. He said that the partners of Greece would support its policies and urged the G20 meeting to agree on policies that ensured the upper hand of democracy over market appetites. The German prime minister was quoted saying to the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper that he was confident that the Greeks would support the government’s reforms in the referendum. According to him, if Greece accepts the burden and efforts that are required by the aid programs and if it wants to stay within the euro zone, then Germany will support it.

The immediate hurdle that Papandreou needs to cross is a confidence vote. He told the cabinet that it was his belief that he would win both the vote and hold the referendum as planned. Of the ruling PASOK socialists of Greece, 6 seniors were angered by the decision of Papandreou’s decision to cal a plebiscite on the 130 billion euro rescue package that was agreed on the previous week and said that he should make way for a "politically legitimate" administration. Following Papandreou's latest remarks made the euro fall by almost half a UD cent which showed that he had failed to do away with market worries about the debt crisis of the region.

Rick Murphy is a contributory writer associated with the Debt Consolidation Care Community and has written several articles for various financial websites. To get Debt related help visit: debtconsolidationcare.com Photo credit - Harbermonitor.com

Muslim Immigrants adding strains to struggling Greece

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“We had to close the park because it was overrun with immigrants,” Local Councilor Spyros Dianatos tells RT. “They’d piss everywhere in the park, near the church mural. No one could cross the park, everybody was scared, and no Greek people could come here. It was not a playground anymore.”

From RT News, Nov. 1:

Over the last few years, illegal immigration into Europe and Greece in particular has skyrocketed, whilst the Greek economy has plummeted.

“The crisis has led to unemployment, to poverty, increasing to a lot of people not being able to make ends meet,” Professor of Economics Tsakalotos Efklidis explains.

Faced with these tough economic conditions, it is not just extreme factions of society that have seen a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment...

The streets of Athens have become a kind of limbo now for illegal immigrants, who are struggling to make money and survive.

Edtior's note - Meanwhile, the mainstream media focuses solely on the economic side of the equation.

Bachman sharply critical of Islamic Sharia Law on Iowa radio

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"Sharia... does not have a place in a U.S. courtroom"

From ABC News, "Bachmann Opposed to Sharia Law, Says It ‘Usurps’ Constitution":

“It’s very troubling to see some United States justices bring in sharia law,” Bachmann said in a radio interview with WHO Radio in Iowa. “Sharia law … certainly does not have a place in a United States courtroom, nor should it be followed by United States judges.”

Bachmann was responding to a question from a caller who asked the GOP hopeful’s opinion on judges “sneaking sharia law into courts.”

“We surely must realize that [sharia] would be against our Constitution,” she said, “because that would usurp, and put sharia law over the Constitution, and that would be wrong.”

Editor's note - It's interesting Bachmann rival and "Constitutionalist" Ron Paul, has said little if anything on the subject of Sharia in the campaign.

At G20 Summit Obama shakes hands with Euro leaders; gives a big hug to Turkey’s Muslim leader

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From the Weekly Standard (via White House pool reporter):

entered the room at 1:15 and took to his left, heading to Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. They chatted for a few seconds before British Prime minister David Cameron joined them... European president Herman van Rompuy, European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan were watching. Eventually the Europeans got a handshake but Erdogan got the hug treatment.

Editor's comment - No, no, no. Obama's not a Muslim. Not a chance. Photo credit - Scoopit.com

Romney to roll out Fed Guv cutting plan today; gave some hints last night in NH

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"Slaughter the sacred cows" of NEA, PBS, NPR and Planned Parenthood

From Eric Dondero:

Mitt Romney is singing music to libertarian ears. A few high agenda items on the cut first agenda for libertarians, have been adopted by the former Massachusetts Governor.

He told USAToday:

"Washington is full of sacred cows that supposedly can't be slaughtered and electrified third rails that allegedly can't be touched..."

NewsMax (Romney Pitches Deep Arts Cuts, Ending Programs to Tame Debt) has further details of his large spending reduction plan to be unveiled later today. He will be speaking to the Koch-backed libertarian group Americans For Prosperity.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney proposed deep cuts in federal subsidies for public broadcasting and the arts and limiting government spending to only “essential” programs in a debt-reduction plan he said would pull the nation from a fiscal precipice.

The former Massachusetts governor said the program he outlined today would whittle down the rate of federal spending and slash $500 billion from the budget by 2016, the end of his first term if he is elected next year.

The more formal address on spending and debt will be delivered Friday at an event sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a tea party-aligned fiscally conservative group.

Editor's note - Ending Federally-subsidized leftist biased Pro-Islamist/soft on terrorism PBS, NEA and NPR is of the highest priorities for this particular website. The Romney campaign should be applauded.

Mike Jackson, CEO AutoNation almost a "libertarian Republican"

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Support of bail-outs?

From Eric Dondero:

He's not quite there yet. But we'll encourage him til he's all the way.

Appearing on CNBC the other day (via The Examiner - "Mike Jackson, CEO of Autonation, with strong libertarian leanings"):

"I'm pleased to announce we did retailed 18,500 new vehicles, anincrease of 6% driven by a 27% increase in premium luxury, primarily Mercedes-Benz and BMW, so apologies to occupy wall street. And we had a very strong month with the domestic up 12%, driven primarily by a significant increase in pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. So apologies to global warming. So we can't seem to get it politically correct."

When it came to discussing the bailout of GM and Chrysler, Mike had this to say, "I still believe -- and it pains me to say this as a libertarian Republican, the economy was so bad in '08 and '09. unfortunately, there had to be government intervention. And i'm glad we have an American automobile -- i'm glad we have an American automobile today."

Editor's comment - Mike, the economy is far worse today in 2011 than it was in '08.

Authorities in Oslo to "crack down" on immigrant men raping Norwegian women

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Top priority: changing lightbulbs in street lamposts

From Eric Dondero:

From theForeigner.no "Norwegian PM rallies to rape victims":

Oslo has seen approximately 50 assault rape cases in the past year. Reported rapes have increased by 84 percent since 2001, and there have been 929 in Norway on a national basis in 2011 so far... six new attacks, two of them without consent had been reported by Monday.

One woman in her 20s was raped at an apartment in Sandaker early on Saturday morning, after meeting a man on the Internet then voluntarily accompanying him home. The man, who is also in his 20s, was indicted and then released.

On Saturday evening, two 16-year-old girls reported two men raped them at Oslo S train station. Five males aged 16 to 20 were arrested on Saturday evening.

In other incidents, two men attacked and raped an 18-year-old woman in Vaterlandsparken early on Sunday morning near the Oslo Plaza hotel in Grønland in the city centre. The sixth victim, in her 20s, reported a person had tried to force her to give oral sex in a pirate taxi in nedre Grünerløkka.

One woman quoted says she'd rather be walking home behind a Norwegian man named 'Ola' than an Arab

police say foreigners committed at least two of the weekend’s attacks.

The Bislet rapists were born in Sri Lanka and Iran. Those arrested for the Oslo S rapes are from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the pirate taxi assailant is believed to be a Somali. Moreover, it is suspected foreigners committed 45 of the 48 assault rapes so far this year.

Norwegian-Somali Kadra Yusuf says her foreign roots make her feel very uneasy about the situation.

“I would far rather walk behind an “Ola” than and “Ahmed” if I’m on my way home late at night. I find saying this makes me feel extremely uncomfortable because I have brothers and friends who are dark-skinned, but it has become part of Oslo’s reality.”

Kitman provided this translation from a further local news reports via the anti-Islamist/libertarian blog Gates of Vienna.

Police step up the fight against the rape wave

Up until now it was impossible for the police to stop the wave of rapes in Oslo. Now chief of police Anstein Gjengdahl has had enough, and wants to strengthen departments related to violence...

Monday afternoon, after the complaints of assault-rapes over the weekend, leader of Gjengedahl Council Stian Berger Røisland convened a crisis meeting. Among the initiatives agreed upon was the installation of new light bulbs in the town, and traffic officers and guards to keep an eye out. The changing of light bulbs has already begun. (Emphasis added.)

Photo - Muslims immigrants in Oslo burning the Norwegian flag. H/t BNI.

Prohibition era bootlegging and illegal street peddling emerging for tobacco in NYC

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From Eric Dondero:

And so it begins... The first real signs that we are returning to the 1920s and prohibition. Only this time, it's tobacco.

From Reuters,"Taxed out" New York City smokers roll their own":

bootleggers, bodega owners and even corrupt cops peddling black market cigarettes. The high price of cigarettes has prompted tales reminiscent of the prohibition days of the 1920s when alcohol was illegal.

Smugglers often drive truckloads of smokes into the city from cheaper outlets, such as Indian reservations where no sales tax is collected, and affix fake tax stamps on packs.

A recent General Accounting Office report calculated that a trip from Virginia to New York City with a single case of 12,000 cigarettes -- about what would fit in the trunk of the average car -- could net $3,000.

"It's astonishing how much revenue is being lost to the black market," said Scott Drenkard, an analyst with the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan think tank.

New Yorkers are also resorting to an age old trick of just rolling their own cigarettes.

At Island Smokes, customers pay $3 a pack if they make a carton of cigarettes. By comparison, one pack of 20 cigarettes averages $11-$13 a pack in the city and can be as high as $15.

Predictably, the bureaucrats are getting pissed at all the lost revenue:

Joe Green, spokesman for the New York office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says untaxed cigarettes are not a victimless crime. He said tax revenue pays for education and other services and that stores selling contraband cigarettes put law-abiding stores out of business.

Asteroid Lutetia

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Rocks dislodged in a landslide on Lutetia. Click for larger. Credits: ESA 2011 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

 

Cool stuff!!

From the ESA site:

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has revealed asteroid Lutetia to be a primitive body, left over as the planets were forming in our Solar System. Results from Rosetta’s fleeting flyby also suggest that this mini-world tried to grow a metal heart.

Rosetta flew past Lutetia on 10 July 2010 at a speed of 54 000 km/hr and a closest distance of 3170 km. At the time, the 130 km-long asteroid was the largest encountered by a spacecraft. Since then, scientists have been analysing the data taken during the brief encounter.

Now for the good stuff and more amazing images . . .

Juno Update

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Juno's location on it's journey to Jupiter. Click for larger. Image: NASA

Juno is well on it’s way to Jupiter and as you will read in NASA’s update below the spacecraft is operating as expected. The image depicts about where Juno is relative to the Earth. I like the larger image (click the one above) because it illustrates nicely why it will not get to Jupiter until July 2016.

You can get the full size version of the image above and also see the Juno spacecraft’s current position and velocity using NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System 3D interactive (free web browser plugin required) or the NASA/JPL Solar System Simulator by going to the Juno webpage at NASA.

Here’s NASA’s update:

As of October 25, 2011 Juno was approximately 23.3 million miles (37.4 million kilometers) from Earth traveling at a velocity of 66,700 miles per hour (107,300 kilometers per hour) relative to the sun. One way travel time for a signal from Earth is approximately 2 minutes 5 seconds. The spacecraft is in excellent health and is operating nominally.

During the week of October 13-19 the Juno team completed coarse alignment of the spacecraft’s high gain antenna, or HGA with Juno’s spin axis. The HGA is the large, saucer-shaped antenna on Juno’s forward (top) deck. During these calibrations, mission controllers finely adjust the tilt angle of Juno’s three large solar arrays in order to carefully re-balance the spacecraft’s mass and bring the antenna’s pointing in to tight alignment with the spin axis.

Precise antenna alignment is important for gravity science operations at Jupiter, in which the HGA will be pointed directly at Earth in order to track minute changes in Juno’s acceleration within Jupiter’s gravity field.

Crepuscular Rays over India

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Crepusular Rays as seen from the ISS. Image credit: NASA / JSC / ISS Crew

Ever seen these? I’m sure you have and now you know what to call them.

These were seen from the above by crew members aboard the ISS and the photo was taken on October 18th as the ISS was passing over India.

You can get a larger version of the image here (links to the Earth Observatory page) or you can go to the main Earth Observatory page with the image and caption. I’ve included the caption (by William L. Stefanov, Jacobs/ESCG at NASA-JSC) below:

The sight of shafts of light streaming down from the heavens through a layer of clouds has provided many an artist, scientist, and philosopher with inspiration. Atmospheric scientists refer to this phenomenon as “crepuscular rays,” referring to the typical observation times at either sunrise or sunset.

The shadowed areas bounding the rays are formed by clouds or mountain tops that block the path of sunlight or moonlight. However, obstructions alone are not sufficient to create crepuscular rays. The light also must be scattered by airborne dust, aerosols, water droplets, or molecules of air, providing a visible contrast between shadowed and illuminated parts of the sky.

When observed from the ground, crepuscular rays appear to radiate outwards from the source of light due to the effects of distance and perspective. However, the rays are actually parallel. This astronaut photograph from the International Space Station provides an unusual viewing perspective from above the rays and a clear illustration of their parallel nature. The sun was setting to the west (image left) on the Indian subcontinent, and cumulonimbus cloud towers provided the shadowing obstructions. The rays are being projected onto a layer of haze below the clouds.