Blog Heap of Links for the day 3 April 2012

The Obama campaign apparently has taken down a web video that featured an actress touting the fact the incumbent president wouldn't "have to worry" about re-election in a second term.

The video on the Obama campaign site was first reported on Tuesday by a Daily Caller article. The video was subsequently unavailable on the site.

[h/t SeaFoamGreen on Moonbattery]

Dean Singleton, chairman of the Associated Press board, introduced President Obama this afternoon at a speech to news editors in Washington. But Singleton didn’t just tell the audience the president was the next speaker—the supposed newsman offered lavish praise for the Democratic president. … went on to detail the challenges Obama faced, much in the same way Obama himself details his own presidency
[h/t Cuz BD]

80 In the greatest of all ironies the svr spent milliions of precious black market dollars etablishing and running a second rate spy ring to get secrets from the obama administration by cozying up to administration officials, when ALL THEY HAD TO DO IS ASK!

zero: "Hey med, jsut tell vald that is a sill waste of time if you need to know something i have not already told you jsut ask ok? all this cloak and dagger nonsense is wasting my time."

medvedev: :I will transmit your message to vlad."

President Obama made another joke in a speech to newspaper editors about his hot mic moment last week with his Russian counterpart. "It is a pleasure to speak to all of you, and to have a microphone that I can see," Obama said. "Feel free to transmit any of this to Vladimir if you see him."
[No shame. No embarrassment. No morals. No conscience. Remarkably pure evil. h/t Jane D'oh at Ace of Spades]

The idea of separated powers was first put down in plain language in our laws in the constitution of Massachusetts, which noted that the aim was to have a government of laws rather than of men. It is a mark of our cynical age that Mr. Obama would challenge these assumptions. One can attribute the error of judgment to the fear that once the Court gets its back up and decides to hold the Congress to the powers that are enumerated in the Constitution, it’s not just Obamacare that is in danger but the whole regime of runaway power in Washington.

Arizona will make it possible to prosecute you for posting something offensive on the net.

A. It is unlawful for any person, with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend, to use a telephone any electronic or digital device and use any obscene, lewd or profane language or suggest any lewd or lascivious act, or threaten to inflict physical harm to the person or property of any person. It is also unlawful to otherwise disturb by repeated anonymous telephone calls electronic or digital communications the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person at the place where the telephone call or calls communications were received.

[Joe Biden:] You know the bulk of the people who are shot with a weapon other than these drug gangs taking on one another end up being shot with their own weapon…

No. No they don’t….

A senior government official resigned Monday after a report concluded her agency improperly paid for an 'over-the-top' training session near Las Vegas that allegedly featured a mind reader, a clown, a comedian, bicycle giveaways and lavish after-hour receptions in resort suites for federal workers.

The White House accepted General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson's resignation after she dismissed two deputies and suspended other career federal employees over the $820,000 conference.

The 300-person event at the M Resort Spa and Casino in Henderson, Nevada, included $3,200 for a mind reader, $6,300 on commemorative coin sets, and $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle in 2010.

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - The Price Tower Art Center in January opened an exhibit displaying the work of Swedish-American architect and designer Greta Magnusson Grossman, known for her design of Swedish-inspired furniture. On Tuesday morning, the inspiration went a little further as three toddler-aged children got an opportunity to design miniature furniture — a table and a lamp stand — with Grossman's designs being the source of their inspiration.

[Five-neck guitar - photo, or photoshop?]

[Print newspaper advertising, 1950-2011 - chart]

Officials with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the demand for wind turbines in North America had stagnated, with new contracts difficult to obtain. The company is also in an ongoing legal battle with General Electric related to patent claims on wind-turbine equipment.

Oakland's Oaksterdam University was taken over by federal officials Monday.

Officers wearing U.S. Marshals, IRS and DEA jackets swarmed the Oakland medical marijuana facility on Broadway before 8 a.m. Investigators put yellow crime tape around the entire building.

The nearby Oaksterdam Museum was also being blocked off, according to NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith, as was the Oaksterdam gift shop and the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative.

179 The Army plans to stick with its current helicopter inventory over the next two decades, opting to wait until 2030 at the earliest to revolutionize a fleet flown hard around Iraq and Afghanistan. Army helicopters will receive upgrades over the next two decades, as they always have, but the austere budget environment has forced the Army to try and keep its current fleet in the air for as long as it can. Army aviation leaders have gotten the message that helicopters don't sit atop the service's modernization priority list. Any money the service has in its shrinking defense modernization budget will go to new radios, the Ground Combat Vehicle and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

They are ripping out Military apart piece by piece

The new World Trade Center has reached a milestone: The skyscraper being built to replace the terror-wrecked twin towers is now 100 stories high - on its way to becoming New York's tallest building. Another four feet, and it will surpass the Empire State Building.

The new World Trade Center has reached a milestone: The skyscraper being built to replace the terror-wrecked twin towers is now 100 stories high - on its way to becoming New York's tallest building. Another four feet, and it will surpass the Empire State Building.