Build-A-Climate-Scare: Why You Should Boycott Build-A-Bear

Attention Santas:

This missive is directed at the guardians of, and donors to, tiny humans. If you fall into that category you likely are already familiar with Build-A-Bear, a world-wide corporation that provides the most innocent of services. They sell customizable stuffed animals. Make your own bear, dog…penguin. Cute concept.

So cute, in fact, that the Build-A-Bear empire sweeps across nearly every state and into 17 other countries. You’ll find their outlets in shopping malls everywhere and even some ballparks. The company also has a website called Build-A-Bearville.com where children can play an interactive video game that, on it’s surface, is unlikely to raise suspicion or sound alarms.

But when your unsuspecting tot logs on and hops a virtual train to the North Pole…you should know that he or she will be informed — by Santa Claus — that Christmas may be canceled this year due to Global Warming. Below is part two of the 3-part video.

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Tags: Al Gore, boycott, brainwashing, build a bear, christmas gifts
Posted Dec 22nd 2009 at 10:44 am in Culture, Environment | 50822788 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mflynn/2009/12/22/build-a-climate-scare-why-you-should-boycott-build-a-bear/Build-A-Climate-Scare%3A+Why+You+Should+Boycott+Build-A-Bear2009-12-22+18%3A44%3A38Maura+Flynn

The Rise and Fall of ObamaMarketing

In the summer of 2008, I noticed something I’d never seen before. All around midtown Manhattan, on various sidewalks, people were selling cheap plastic trinkets out of open briefcases propped atop folding tray tables.

To anyone who’s spent any time in New York City–where makeshift sidewalk vendors are more plentiful than Starbucks–that probably doesn’t sound so strange. But as someone who’s lived here since before the Reagan/Carter election, these vendors were different. Rather, the nature of what they sold was different.

Months before Barack Obama formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, the name “Obama” was already being stamped on or sewn into objects of every type, and these objects could be purchased just about anywhere you happened to be standing. Keychains, buttons, hats, t-shirts were all readily available. I saw Obama skateboards and heard rumors of Obama bongs. Eventually, companies usually seen selling things like pewter gnomes and porcelain kittens got into the game, hawking commemorative coins and Obama dinner plates on late-night cable shows.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Evan Coyne Maloney, Manhattan, mass-market advertisers, maura flynn
Posted Oct 13th 2009 at 9:15 am in Culture, Obama, Politics | 1595480 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/emaloney/2009/10/13/the-rise-and-fall-of-obamamarketing/The+Rise+and+Fall+of+ObamaMarketing2009-10-13+16%3A15%3A00Evan+Coyne+Maloney

Is CNN the New SNL?

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Tags: acorn scandal, Barack Obama, CNN, James Taranto, maura flynn
Posted Oct 7th 2009 at 6:15 am in Culture, News, Politics | 1384238 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mflynn/2009/10/07/is-cnn-the-new-snl/Is+CNN+the+New+SNL%3F2009-10-07+13%3A15%3A13Maura+Flynn

Just Act: A Response to Will Ferrell

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Tags: Andrew Marcus, Blades of Glory, Elf, Funny or Die, health care
Posted Oct 5th 2009 at 9:30 am in Featured Story, Healthcare, Obama, Political Humor, Politics | 1263481 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jdavid/2009/10/05/just-act-the-gravity-of-health-care/Just+Act%3A+A+Response+to+Will+Ferrell+2009-10-05+16%3A30%3A54Jon+David

ACORN Founder Wade Rathke: “There Is a Different Culture”

Earlier this week, ACORN founder Wade Rathke brought his traveling “everyone-is-against-us” road show to DC to promote his new book, Citizen Wealth. The book doesn’t contain surprises; a 200 page polemic laying out a stale progressive agenda for America. What was interesting though, was a rare glimpse from ACORN’s long-time Chief Organizer into the current scandal now overwhelming the organization. Rathke did not disappoint.

I should note that on a personal level Rathke is easy-going and downright charming. And having been around the political/policy block for decades, he’s mastered a tight control of messaging. A control that makes his successor, Bertha Lewis, sound like an amateur college activist by comparison. That said, his Q & A exchange was fascinating. (Video below from Founding Bloggers.)

But Rathke, for all his political prowess, does slip up. While extrapolating about why he and ACORN’s leadership made an executive decision not to disclose his brother’s nearly $1 million embezzlement, Rathke explains that they were afraid their opponents would “weaponize” the crime in order to destroy ACORN. He went on to suggest that the current turmoil engulfing ACORN justifies the decision to cover-up the embezzlement scandal for eight years. He clearly believes that the end (ACORN’s existence) justifies the means (a cover-up). Rathke still doesn’t appear to acknowledge his brother’s crime for what it was. He refers to his brother’s embezzlement as a “misappropriation” of funds. His moral calculus, while seemingly sincere, is disturbing. Other organizations that truly attempt to aid low-income families (without political agendas) should be alarmed.

Another item of interest came at the end of this interview clip. Rathke talked about the “subculture of organizing” and intimated that it was much different than the broader culture we inhabit. Taking a rare jab at ACORN, he noted that “There is a different culture,” a distinction he believes ACORN doesn’t fully appreciate. Different culture, indeed.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN embezzlement, acorn scandal, Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 9:22 am in ACORN, Culture, Featured Story | 1187464 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mflynn/2009/10/03/acorn-founder-wade-rathke-there-is-a-different-culture/ACORN+Founder+Wade+Rathke%3A+%22There+Is+a+Different+Culture%222009-10-03+16%3A22%3A00Maura+Flynn