Snapped Shot

Britain is going broke. Which, coincidentally, is what happens to every other nation that dared to try Karl Marx's tired old ideas.

As many times as this history has been repeated, you'd think somebody in power would've figured it out by now.

The stark evidence of the growing imbalance between what the Government raises and what it spends is likely to intensify the political row over the public finances and may strengthen calls for cuts in spending.

Treasury figures show that welfare payments will exceed income tax receipts by almost £25 billion. Normally, income tax receipts comfortably cover the benefits bill.

In 2009/10, the Treasury is expecting to take in £140.5 billion in gross income tax receipts. Social security benefits are projected to be £164.7 billion.

The disparity between tax revenue and welfare costs was identified by Andrew Brough, a fund manager at Schroder Investment Management, who suggested that the amount of money spent on social protection could soon exceed that raised from both income tax and national insurance.

I bolded that last part to make sure that all of you who trust Barack Obama with your "national" insurance understand what's coming our way.

Fausta has the whole scoop. From what I can gather, the incredibly pro-Chavez president of Honduras has been overthrown by the Honduran military. He was recently trying to push a referendum through the country which was in flagrant violation of their Constitution, and after clashing with military leaders over getting the illegal ballot out to the citizenry, it would seem that they had finally had enough of his chicanery.

Currently, President Zelaya is deposed to Costa Rica, where he is loudly denouncing the military's actions.

Other world leaders are speaking up in President "Constitution-violation" Zelaya's defense, including the European Union, Hugo Chavez, the Cuban Communist government, and our own President "Captain Un-America" Obama.

To think that the White House is now siding with Latin American communists truly makes one aware that we've entered a frightening new age.

Duke Energy, the major power supplier for much of North Carolina, has announced its intention to raise electrical costs for its customers by over $500 million, due to increasingly likely micromanagement of the Green Sector (formerly known as our "energy production capability.") But hey, there's good news:—Customers stand to save a fortune once the rates go up:

“[W]e estimate that by participating in appropriate energy conservation programs, the average North Carolina residential customer (using 1,000 kWh a month) can save about $5 per month…”

500 million dollars divided by 4 million customers equals $125 that North Carolinians will be expected to add on to their already expensive power bills, per year.

In the midst of a massive economic downturn.

Fortunately for North Carolinians everywhere, Duke Energy (or rather, the Federal Department of Pointless Micro-Management) has outlined ways that customers can use to save $60 per year. Which amounts to less than half of the price hike (which, I will add again, is on top of already expensive bills).

"Going green" continues to be one of the biggest scams in the history of our nation. How much better must we feel to know that our government is the one that's scamming us?

Thanks to Steven.

The German magazine Berlingske has discovered that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters in Iran have been fudging the coverage of the pro-Mahmoud rallies in Tehran. Given the fact that the Iranian government is also furiously suppressing all dissent, I guess this isn't all that surprising. It's a good reminder that Iran sucks at teh Photoshop, at least.

Of course, the fact that the Iranian government feels compelled to digitally insert fake people into a photograph could be a sure-fire sign that they're losing control of their population. Dictatorships that can't even astroturf a protest with real people are barely worthy of the name.

Update: Yeah, I am pretty bloody slow. What can I say? I'm still trying to wake from my blogging slumber over here...

Imagine for yourselves what the news coverage would have looked like if even a single pro-lifer showed up to protest George Tiller's memorial service. After doing that, take a moment to watch this video. If you don't get angry, then I really must ask that you turn your Absolute Moral Authority card in at the door on the way out.



That being said, I second Pamela's remarks:—Spread the word about this video to everyone you know.

They will not hear one single word about it otherwise.

I've had some personal issues crop up that are going to demand more of my attention, so unfortunately, I'm going to be absent for even longer than I had planned. (Yeah, like I haven't been gone enough already, right?)

My goal is to eventually get Snapped Shot back into the swing of news commentary, as well as the detailed photo analysis (and mockery) that you've all come to know and love. If you're interested in coblogging with us to help make that happen, I'm always open to staffing around here. The pay's great, by which I mean, zero.

Anyway, look forward to seeing y'all again once everything settles down over this way. Please do stay in touch!

Regards,
Brian [LinkedIn, Facebook]

Cap'n Fish informs me that the haughty Toyota Prius seems to be developing something of a reputation as an "unreliable" car.

It's funny:—Hippies far and wide have boastfully sung the praises of the Prius, and looked down upon we Oil-Burners as if we were neanderthal carbonites intent on burning the forests and nuking the moon.

(Okay, so some of us would like to do the latter. I would say "so sue us," but if you do, Frank will send Dick Cheney's squad of laser-carrying dinosaurs after you. So it's better if you don't.)

On the other hand, right-leaning (they call themselves "Crunchy") conservatives eco-nazis harp on how "high-tech" the Prius is, and how completely superior it is to the antiquated bricks that you and I drive.

And yet, lo and behold, our haughty puffmobile seems to be confronted with the exact same time-worn problem that faces every other technological solutions to date:

The humble software bug.

Which, oddly enough, seems to be a bazillion times as deadly when the software in question happens to be running the drivetrain of a 1.3 ton hunk of steel.

Who's laughing now, hippies?

I'm not sure what kind of idiot would think that staging a photo-op involving flying a jumbo jet over downtown Manhattan was a good idea, but I suspect that he tends to hang out in the Oval Office quite a bit.

I'd also suspect that news coverage of this event would be slightly negative, would it have been committed by a President John McCain.

Seeing how the press is treating Barack so far, I'm betting this snafu—and yes: causing the panicked evacuation of a building would be a prime example of a "snafu"—will hardly be worthy of mention at all.

Fresh out of the "things I never thought I'd see" file, here's a rare example of what an angry Christian looks like:

Christians shout as they pray during an "emergency special prayer meeting" in Seoul April 25, 2009. Hundreds of enthusiastic Christians gathered on Sunday to pray for disarmament of North Korea's nuclear programme and for economic growth of South Korea among other issues at the meeting organised by a christian group. North Korea has started to extract plutonium from spent fuel rods at its nuclear arms plant, its foreign ministry said on Saturday, further raising regional tensions already stoked by its defiant rocket launch this month. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won (SOUTH KOREA RELIGION MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT)

He definitely needs to work on his technique, if you ask me.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission looks like it will be discussing ISA's request to radically expand its rural campus this Thursday.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend or not, but you should be able to watch the meeting online via Channel 16.

ITEM SCHEDULED FOR DECISION ONLY

SE 2008-SP-025 – ISLAMIC SAUDI ACADEMY – Appl. under Sect. 3-C04 of the Zoning Ordinance to permit building additions and associated modifications to site design and development conditions to an existing private school of general education. Located at 11101, 11115, 11121, 11123 Popes Head Rd. on approx. 34.05 ac. of land zoned R-C and WS. Tax Map 68-3 ((1)) 61, 62, 63, and 64. SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT. D/O TO 5/14/09

The final decision is apparently scheduled for the 14th of May. No idea what impact Thursday's meeting will have on that date as of yet.

Previously: FCS on ISA, WaPo on ISA, Creeping Sharia, Expanding.

If by the "U.S. side" of the Mexican border, Reuters means Fairfax County, Virginia, then I'd say they're definitely on to something.

Not that we have a problem with gang activity here or anything.

The Associated Press has breathlessly announced that nearly 3 in 10!!! Americans think that Fox News is "too tough" on Obama, courtesy a new poll issued by Pew Research Center.

Question for the AP: If John McCain had won the election this past fall, and this Pew poll had returned similar results, would your organization have chosen to go with a slightly different angle?

NEWS FLASH: OVER 7 IN 10 AMERICANS THINK THAT FOX NEWS IS TOO EASY ON MCCAIN

I am left disgusted once again by what the media considers to be "journalism" these days.

Who would've guessed that allowing people to riot in the streets week in and week out would lead to a sense of entitlement amongst the aggrieved class?

Kashmiri protesters taunt Indian policemen during an anti-election protest in Srinagar April 17, 2009. Voting for India's general elections is scheduled to be held in three phases in the troubled Kashmir region starting April 30. REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli (INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR CONFLICT ELECTIONS POLITICS IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)

Nevermind the fact that these "protesters," as Reuters loves to refer to them, are constantly trying to cause extreme bodily harm to the local police force. That's not important in this story at all.

Your truth-seekers in the press would rather tell you how oppressed they are.

Can you feel their pain?

The Daily Telegraph and Reuters and our good friends at the Associated Press have posted a super scary story about how a woman in Mexico was arrested with an "anti-aircraft" machine gun.

This means that the story made it through at least two teams of editors, a battery of quality control "experts," and a number of other "professional" checks before it was printed, and thusly, that the information it conveys is of the highest possible quality.

Right?

Yeah, it would seem that once again, the blogosphere has caught yet another leg up on the "professional" press. Richard North of EUReferendum explains the reality of the story thusly:

Thirty seconds' visual inspection of the above picture tells you that the headline in The Daily Telegraph yesterday, based on a Reuters report, is a crock. "Mexican drugs war: woman arrested with anti-aircraft machine gun," it tells us, a claim so obviously and transparently wrong as to be laughable.

Even worse is the claim retailed in the text, where the weapon is described as a .50-calibre, anti-aircraft machine gun, which can fire 800 rounds per minute which is capable of penetrating armour from more than 5,000 ft.

For sure, the picture shows a machine-gun. But it is a WWII vintage .30 cal Browning M1919A4 on an M2 tripod (first introduced in 1919). It has a cyclical rate of about 4-500 rpm with an effective range of about 500 yards. It bears no comparison with the .50 cal (illustrated below).

Be sure to click on over and read the rest of Richard's excellent analysis.

If only the media spent as much time checking facts as it did pointing out scary-looking guns.

Update: Bob Owens beat me to this one by two whole days? That's what I get for being away from Ye Olde RSS reader for so long.