Rule 5 Rescue: Afternoon Ordnance Porn!

I'm a little short on hot cover girls at the moment. So, I just checked over at Theo Spark's for some Rule 5 material. Tonight's "Bedtime Totty" was a little too hot, but scrolling down we find this ultra cool video from the Oklahoma Full Auto-Shoot Trade Show:

Video Games - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

As always, this is a chance to send some link love to my blogging friends and allies.

I owe The Classical Liberal a big shout out, so enjoy, "What Everybody Ought to Know About Sarah Palin." Plus, No Sheeples Here! has been getting really hot with the Memeorandum action of late. See her post, "We The Common Trash" (featured at this Memeorandum thread last night).

Okay, I also need to thank Dan Riehl and Jonn Lilyea for the links, and don't miss Dan Collins' blog, Piece of Work in Progress, which is progressing along quite well.

Check out my friend Cassandra as well, Villainous Company. And Steven Givler too.

Maggie's Farm is always a good read, with lots of links are resources; but check The Rhetorican too, who's got a timely post up right now, "The Best Liveblogging of the Jackson Memorial..."

And more Rule 5 video-blogging at TrogloPundit, "Yeah, but…if the instructor isn’t wearing anything, will the instructees really listen?'

And don't forget to visit some of my other friends:

Jammie Wearing Fool, Dr. Helen, Laura Elizabeth Morales, Charles G. Hill , Blueshelled, The Nose on Your Face, All-American Blogger, Paco Enterprises, The Conservatives Who Say F*ck, Joust The Facts, Panhandle Poet, Steven Givler, The Astute Blogger, Chris Wysocki, Moonbattery, Sweating Through the Fog, Three Beers Later, PA Pundits, Sister Toldjah, Blazing Cat Fur, The Daley Gator, Just One Minute, Dave's World, The Oklahoma Patriot, Right Wing Sparkle, Conservatism With Heart, Duck of Minerva, Wolf Howling, Right Wing Nation, Right Wing Nuthouse, Melissa Clouthier, Steve Bartin's Newsalert, The Western Experience, ShrinkWrapped, The Average American, Paco Enterprises, Ken Davenport, Doug Ross Journal, The Blog Prof, Fausta's Blog, Clueless Emma, Obob's World, Seymour Nuts, Red State, Dr. Sanity, The Desert Glows Green, Not One Red Cent, Vinegar and Honey, Dan Collins, Scott Kingsmore, The Astute Bloggers, The BoBo Files, Grant Jones, Tapline, New Testament News, Wizbang, William Jacobson, Phyllis Chesler, Right View from the Left Coast, Generation Patriot, Macsmind, Flopping Aces, Edge's Conservative Movies, Stop the ACLU, Snooper's Report, Grandpa John's, Cranky Conservative, Jimmie Bise, Little Miss Attila, Moe Lane, Private Pigg, Pundit & Pundette, The Rhetorican, R.S. McCain, Saber Point, Stephen Kruiser, Suzanna Logan, GrEaT sAtAn'S gIrLfRiEnD, TrogloPundit, Villainous Company, PoliGazette, Prying 1, Paula in Israel, Pamela Geller, Vanessa's Blog, Pat's Daily Rants, Bob's Bar & Grill, Power Line, Melanie Morgan, Dave in Boca, Neo-Neocon, Right in a Left World, Flag Gazer, Stephen Green, The Tygrrrr Express, The News Factor, Israel Matsav, The Conservative Manifesto, Gates of Vienna, Sparks From the Anvil, Gateway Pundit, Political Pistachio, Liberty Pundit, Not One Red Cent, Right Truth, Dave's Notepad, The Red Hunter, Maggie's Farm, The Next Right, This Ain't Hell, Stop the ACLU, Politics and Critical Thinking, Riehl World View, Midnight Blue, Caroline Glick, The Griper, FouseSquawk, The Other McCain, Cheat Seeking Missiles, Roger Simon, Classical Values, Samantha Speaks, Grizzly Mama, The Capitol Tribune, The Patriot Room, The Real World, RADARSITE, Serr8d's Cutting Edge, Bloviating Zeppelin, Born Again Redneck The Educated Shoprat, St. Blogustine, Yid With Lid, Pondering Penguin, Betsy's Page, The Anchoress, Ace of Spades HQ, Right Wing Sparkle, Thunder Run, The Classic Liberal, Conservative Grapevine, Cassy Fiano, Jim Treacher, NetRightNation, Q and O, Urban Grounds, Ed Driscoll, Cold Fury, Michelle Malkin, Neptunus Lex, Neo-Neocon, The Liberty Papers, The Monkey Cage, Law and Order Teacher, Mike's America, AubreyJ, Dan Collins, Track-a-'Crat, The Jungle Hut, Wake Up America, Dan Riehl, Nikki's Blog, Big Girl Pants, Maggie's Notebook, Hummers & Cigarettes, Mark Goluskin, Jawa Report, Darleen Click, The Skepticrats, Sarge Charlie, Thoughts With Attitude, Kim Priestap, Swedish Meatballs Confidential, Five Feet of Fury, Amy Proctor, Blonde Sagacity, Liberty Papers, TigerHawk, Point of a Gun, Right Wing News, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Nice Deb, Becky Brindle, Fishersville Mike, Monique Stuart, No Sheeples Here!, Dana at CSPT, Glenn Reynolds, Obi’s Sister, Right Truth, Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels, Chicago Ray, Ace of Spades HQ, Natalie's Blog. Ann Althouse, Pirate's Cove, and Diminished Expectations.

Unmanned Drones and Human Tolerance

From London's Telegraph yesterday, "Unmanned Drones Could Be Banned, Says Senior Judge."

My friend Steven Givler provides a miltary analysis and critique, "'Use of Drones Intolerable,' According to British Judge" :

Death From Above

We're at work. We're standing, eyes glued to one of the screens on the wall above us. Different images flicker elsewhere on the wall, but the one we're interested is grainy black and white video, transmitted live. We're watching because an indicator on the screen says the operator has designated a target. A moment later we get the word - a weapon has been released. Someone is about to die.

This scene has repeated itself many times over the last few days. It's one of few experiences that I've found is not diminished by repetition.

Am I remorseful? Do I feel for the men who, in a matter of seconds, will cease to exist? The place in my heart that would be occupied by remorse is scarred by images of a hostage slaughter house. The part of my mind that might harbor compassion is imagining a makeshift video studio, where Al Jazeera cameramen drank tea to the sounds of innocents' life blood gurgling in their windpipes.

The people we watch die are blissfully unaware. What are they discussing on that street corner? What is he thinking as he drives that car? Do they, for the split second before impact, wonder at the sound of wind, rushing over the stubby wings of the warhead? Even if they do - even if they hear the missile, homing inexorably from a vehicle so far away they never saw it, their brief shock is nothing to me. The searing flash, the concussion that separates their body from their soul bothers me not a bit. It is merciful.

It is not the weeks or months-long separation from friends and family, being held like livestock for a bargain that will never be struck. It is not the desperate sickness that invades the heart, knowing you will never see your family again. It is not the terror of knowing your captors consider you most valuable when your head is severed, dangling from their bloody fist in a television commercial for evil. It is not the grinding by of countless hours of loneliness and fear.

It is quick. It is better than they deserve. Far from regret, I am grimly satisfied at my role in this process.

Maybe it shocks you that I can appreciate beauty, love my family, and calmly contemplate killing men. It shouldn't. The understanding of good and evil and the willingness to act in the differentiation between them is fundamental to those more appealing characteristics.

I'm still me.

The full essay at the link.

Steven is a Major with the United States Air Force, and an Assistant Air Attache at the U.S. Embassy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Thanks to Steven and all of our men and women who fight for us everday.

Obama U.S.-Russia Nuke Partnership Belies 'Realist' Foreign Policy Creds

We've heard much applause of late for "Obama's Realism on Iran."

Stephen Walt, perhaps our most important contemporary realist scholar, recently praised President Obama's "measured tone" on Iran as "sensible."

Daniel Larison, whose foreign policy I recently critiqued, adds this:

Obama does seem to understand that foreign policy is a matter of state interests, and that Iran and America have some shared interests regardless of the shape of the government in Tehran. His foremost responsibility is to secure American interests, and reasonably enough this involves rapprochement with Iran, so you’d better believe that he is not going to put the cause of Mousavi ahead of that of the United States.

It's unfortunate, but from my perspective the current rage for a realist orientation to foreign affairs is simply a cover for those inclined to pacifist isolationism (with sprinklings of Israel-bashing for good measure). This new realism is adopted to "provide academic cover to a postmodern epistemology of appeasement and weakness."

I'm a student of realism as well. I've always loved the theory's parsimonious rationalism. We've seen the paradigm expand in the last couple of decades to include all kinds of emendations and offshoots, but the fundamentals of practical realism endure.

I'm thinking about this in reading Henry Kissinger's interview at Der Spiegel, "Obama Is Like a Chess Player." To Kissenger, one of the 20th century's greatest realist policymakers, President Obama is less the realist than a potential Wilsonian idealist. And hence, his foreign policy could promote the same crises and disasters that the country saw in earlier decades of international politics. Here's Kissinger on Obama's current moves in world politics:

SPIEGEL: Do you think it was helpful for Obama to deliver a speech to the Islamic world in Cairo? Or has he created a lot of illusions about what politics can deliver?

Kissinger: Obama is like a chess player who is playing simultaneous chess and has opened his game with an unusual opening. Now he's got to play his hand as he plays his various counterparts. We haven't gotten beyond the opening game move yet. I have no quarrel with the opening move.

SPIEGEL: But is what we have seen so far from him truly realpolitik?

Kissinger: It is also too early to say that. If what he wants to do is convey to the Islamic world that America has an open attitude to dialogue and is not determined on physical confrontation as its only strategy, then it can play a very useful role. If it were to be continued on the belief that every crisis can be managed by a philosophical speech, then he will run into Wilsonian problems.

Well, if Cairo was Obama's "first move," it's not in Iran where we can measure the administration's foreign policy acumen. It's in Russia. And it's there where we're seeing Obama running into those "Wilsonian problems" of which Kissinger warns.

President Obama is now wrapping up this week's U.S.-Russia summit. He signed yesterday, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a rough draft of a new nuclear arms-control treaty. In a speech today, the President said:

America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia. This belief is rooted in our respect for the Russian people, and a shared history between our nations that goes beyond competition ....

So as we honor this past, we also recognize the future benefit that will come from a strong and vibrant Russia. Think of the issues that will define your lives: security from nuclear weapons and extremism; access to markets and opportunity; health and the environment; an international system that protects sovereignty and human rights, while promoting stability and prosperity. These challenges demand global partnership, and that partnership will be stronger if Russia occupies its rightful place as a great power.

Yet unfortunately, there is sometimes a sense that old assumptions must prevail, old ways of thinking; a conception of power that is rooted in the past rather than in the future. There is the 20th century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists, and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another. And there is a 19th century view that we are destined to vie for spheres of influence, and that great powers must forge competing blocs to balance one another.

These assumptions are wrong. In 2009, a great power does not show strength by dominating or demonizing other countries. The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chess board are over. As I said in Cairo, given our independence, any world order that -- given our interdependence, any world order that tries to elevate one nation or one group of people over another will inevitably fail. The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game -- progress must be shared.

That's why I have called for a "reset" in relations between the United States and Russia. This must be more than a fresh start between the Kremlin and the White House -- though that is important and I've had excellent discussions with both your President and your Prime Minister. It must be a sustained effort among the American and Russian people to identify mutual interests, and expand dialogue and cooperation that can pave the way to progress.

In both words and tone, the president's speech evinces the same Wilsonianism that led to the disastrous institutional paralysis of the interwar era. It is the same kind of happy talk that we might find in the text of the Kellogg-Briand Pact. And for President Obama, this is not the talk of a president seeking to increase a momentary burst of bilateral comity and opportunity. It's not a Reykjavik moment marking a great thaw in decades of Cold War hostility, paving the way for a epochal change in the international system. We're at no crossroads to the end of great power competition. No, with this administration's strategic moves in Moscow, we're seeing the beginning implementation of Barack Obama's plan for a nuclear-free world.

Recall the New York Times article published over the weekend, "Obama’s Youth Shaped His Nuclear-Free Vision." According to the piece, President Obama ...

... has begun pushing for new global rules, treaties and alliances that he insists can establish a nuclear-free world ....

.... no previous American president has set out a step-by-step agenda for the eventual elimination of nuclear arms. Mr. Obama is starting relatively small, using a visit to Russia that starts Monday to advance an intense negotiation, with a treaty deadline of the year’s end, to reduce the arsenals of the nuclear superpowers to roughly 1,500 warheads each, from about 2,200 ....

But reducing arsenals, he insisted, would be the first step toward giving the United States and a growing body of allies the power to remake the nuclear world.

It's extremely difficult for me to fathom how anyone can praise the adminstration's quest for universal disarmament as "realist." As any student of international politics will tell you, there are no permanent friends or enemies in foreign policy, only permanent interests. In one of the seminal pieces of literature from last three decades, Joseph Grieco hammered neo-institutional idealism in world politics. He noted that "the fundamental goal of states in any relationship is to prevent others from achieving advances in their relative capabilities." Indeed, states cannot be indifferent to changes in the relative material position of their potential adversaries. Even if mutual understandings toward armament reductions produce absolute gains, who actually gains more? As long as internatioanal anarchy holds, one actor may take advantage of a gap in relative capabilities to seek advantage and ultimately enslave those states now newly disadvantaged.

Moreover, the goal of a nuclear-free international system is sheer fantasy. As Kenneth Adelman remarked recently, "If they’re dreaming of a world with no nukes, why not one of no war? Peace on earth, everywhere, forevermore."

And here's Ralph Peters on Obama's new preliminary arms control agreement:

PRESIDENT Obama went to Moscow desperate for the appearance of a foreign-policy success. He got that illusion -- at a substantial cost to America's security.

The series of signing ceremonies in a grand Kremlin hall and the litany of agreements, accords and frameworks implied that the United States benefited from all the fuss. We didn't.

We got nothing of real importance ....

President Obama even expressed an interest in further nuclear-weapons cuts. Peace in our time, ladies and gentlemen, peace in our time . . .

We just agreed to the disarmament position of the American Communist Party of the 1950s.

This discussion puts the lie to all of the fawning accolades for Barack Obama's careful restraint and keen discernment of American national interests.

The fact is that this president is selling out U.S. national security. This is not surprising, of course: "For the first time in US history, we have a president who hates his own country. A president who is on the side of America's enemies, not on the side of America."

See also, Atlas Shrugs, "Media Laps Up Obama's Weak and Hopelessly Naive Capitulation to Russia." See also, Memeorandum.

The Coming Second American Revolution?

From Mark Di Ionno, "Growing Numbers at Anti-Tax 'Tea Parties' Shows a Fed Up Public":

When historians track the beginnings of the second American Revolution, their search will take them to Morristown, N.J., just like the first time.

And like the first, it will have started with a tax revolt, and anger at an unresponsive government.

Something is happening in this country. And it would be not only arrogant, but unwise, for our elected officials to ignore it.

In the past, movements like the July 4 national Tea Parties were usually sparsely populated by libertarians, radicals and reactionaries. This movement has them too, but with a whole lot more regular folks. The crowd Saturday at Morristown Green was sizable and made up of the put-upon American middle class. Instead of pitchforks and muskets, they were armed with signs, that if nothing else, show many still believe in the visions of the Founding Fathers ....

The Tea Party movement is becoming a national phenomenon. They started locally, in a few cities in a few states, just this year. But the idea is spreading as fast as the internet can take it. On April 15, tax day, there were 750 across the country. For July 4, there were 1,505. Now, a Sept. 12 taxpayer march on Washington is being planned. The number of local organizers running Tea Party groups has swelled to well over 2,000 throughout the 50 states. These could soon be the grassroots seeds of a third political party, one designed to reform government, and bring it back to basics.

Also, from Dr. Jack Wheeler at Atlas Shrugs, "The Coming Second American Revolution":

Clearly, we are no longer living in a world of normal reality. For the first time in US history, we have a president who hates his own country. A president who is on the side of America's enemies, not on the side of America ...

We have a media who reveres and worships as a demi-god a president who hates his, and their, country.

We have a government spending trillions of dollars it does not have in a seemingly determined effort to destroy everyone's life savings via inflation.

We have a Congress that passes the largest tax increase in the history of the world (literally) via a 1,300 page Climate Bill that no one has read and based on utterly fraudulent science.

We have a governor who goes so around the bend that he trashes his wife, four children, his career and life for some broad in Argentina.

We have a people who go completely bananas with grief over the suicide of a washed-up pedophilic fruitcake ex-rock star.

This is societal quantum weirdness, a dissociation from normal reality, of which additional examples could be endlessly provided. Yet extreme, unhinged, over-the-top weirdness is normally what you get when you get close to a tipping point, close to the bursting of a bubble.

Madnesses of crowds are most often economic, such as the dotcom craze or the housing bubble. A lot of folks lose a lot of money, and that's it. But when such a madness pervades an entire society, the consequences can be far more dramatic. Such a madness is often the runup to a revolution.

Revolutions are chaotic, dangerous things. We were blessed-by-Providence lucky in our first one in 1776. We got freedom and George Washington, while the French with theirs in 1789 got the guillotine and Napoleon. Which will we get in the coming Second American Revolution?

More at the link.

Added: From Heidi at Big Girl Pants, "Power Is Not a Means, It is an End. A Parable For Today."

Los Angeles Braces for Jackson Rioting: House Resolution Honors 'King of Pop'; Irony as Staples Welcomes Ringling Bros. Circus!

You heard it here first, in any case, but here's this: "Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Jim MCDonnell insists Jackson fans will get no sympathy from officers, who fear the crowds could turn violent." Also, from the Los Angeles Times, "Staples Center at Core of Wide Security Cordon in Downtown L.A."

Plus, from KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Fans to Say Goodbye to Michael Jackson":

There's some congressional action as well: The Hill has the "Full text of Michael Jackson resolution." But Representative Peter King picked the wrong time to ask, "Would you leave your children alone with Michael Jackson?" And Jackson fans are a ready political constituency: "Michael Jackson Fans Raise Money To Defeat Peter King."

And if that's not enough:

Los Angeles city officials, burdened with a budget gap of half a billion dollars, said on Monday they were worried about the public cost of controlling the big crowd expected at the memorial for pop star Michael Jackson.

City Councilman Dennis Zine estimates the city could face $2.5 million in police and other expenses for the event on Tuesday at a downtown sports arena.

"Michael was a phenomenal entertainer, but why should the taxpayers of Los Angeles pick up this extremely high tab for security?" Zine told Reuters.

See also, "Tab on memorial running high in Los Angeles: City officials looks to Jackson's corporate connections to help foot bill."

An interesting side note, "Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey starts a run at Staples Center on Wednesday. In the predawn hours before Jackson's memorial, the elephants will walk from the train station to the arena."

Here's the television listings:

PRE-MEMORIAL SERVICE

6 a.m. "American Morning" (CNN) kicks off with Kiran Chetry in Los Angeles.

7 a.m. "The Early Show" (CBS) with Maggie Rodriguez and Harry Smith joins in from the Staples Center, and so does Meredith Vieira on "Today" (NBC).

11 a.m. MSNBC has Chris Jansing reporting live.

12 p.m. MTV and VH1 air a collection of Jackson's greatest hits and interviews; Shepard Smith starts coverage on Fox News Channel; BET begins "Forever the King: Memorial to Michael Jackson" with celebrity guest interviews; Anderson Cooper, Larry King, Don Lemon and Soledad O'Brien are on CNN; "The Bachelor" host Chris Harris anchors on TV Guide.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

1 p.m. The service at the Staples Center has no end time, but some are projecting 2:30 p.m.; networks and channels airing the service include ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel, E!, TV Guide, TV One, MTV, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, Telemundo and Univision.

POST-MEMORIAL SERVICE

6:30 p.m. "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" has coverage, as does "Nightly News With Brian Williams" (NBC).

9 p.m. "20/20" (ABC) has a special edition hosted by Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters.

10 p.m. "Primetime: Family Secrets" (ABC) focuses on the custody battle over Jackson's children with Debbie Rowe; "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" (Fox News Channel) reports from Los Angeles; Lester Holt reports on "Dateline" with reaction from fans.

Check back here for potential riot coverage.

Political Science at LBCC: Training the Next Generation of Leaders

"I love it - slouching behind his keyboard in his junior college office, hurling threats like some 1930's tough guy in a bar fight. Well, I guess that's all it takes to be a conservative intellectual."

**********

Readers might recall my post from a couple of months back: "You're a Professor, Really?"

In addition to the "I can't believe you're a professor" slur, I also get put down as "he's only a junior college professor." TBogg at Firedoglake perfected it into snark, with "JuCo Toynbee." The comment at top is from radical leftist Green Eagle, who joined the attackers during my recent go-'round at Brain Rage.

But as I've noted many times, when the leftists slam community college professors, it's a particularly good indicator of their indifference to students of lower socio-economic status. Actually, leftists are all about radical power (and not about not caring, citizenship, and community-building). You'd think leftists would be the first to respect those who work with the disadvantaged. But it's generally not the case. The "junior college" repudiation is a dime-a-dozen during the online debates.

It's funny too. There's really no better place for someone to truly experience our incredible diversity than on the average community college campus: In almost ten years, I've had battered women come to me seeking help and personal counseling. I've mentored women making the transition from welfare to work, as part of my college's workforce development programs. As the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported, "The college serves about 530 such students per semester and has the capacity to serve 1,500 per year." A couple of summers ago, I had a rebellious classroom. It was a difficult situation. A lot of students were unruly, and management was an issue. A student came to my office to share her thoughts. She felt for me. She was a black woman who had lost her daughter to violence. Her baby was strangled at five years old. She was coming back to college after years of alcohol and drug abuse. Our lectures and discussions on civil rights were thrilling. She felt empowered. She was happy to be clean and getting back on track. I almost cried after hearing her story. And she was only unusual in that she openly shared her experiences with me. Lord knows how many of the other stories of hardship and trauma that I've never heard about.

Our demographics are as diverse as anywhere in the country. A 2001 study found Long Beach to be the nation's most diverse city "in a ranking of the 65 biggest cities in the United States." And a U.S. Census report in 2004 found "that a roughly 13-square-mile area of southern Los Angeles County from North Long Beach to Bellflower to Artesia is among the most linguistically varied swaths of territory in the nation." It's not unusual, during classroom discussions on immigration reform, for students to regale first-hand stories on the entrenched poverty and socio-economic islolation found in the region's unassimilated ethnic enclaves.

I'm getting more and more veterans from our recent wars as well. I couple of semesters ago I had a student who did two tours in Iraq. He went back for his second tour after recoving from a grenade attack that blew off his left calf. THESE GUYS LOVE MY TEACHING. One of my former students is a regular commenter at my blog. I mentioned him previously, in my post on Glenn Beck's recent "survival scenarios" (see, "Worst Case Scenario? Preparing for Anarchy in America").

Sadly, many students come to my classes unable to read. My second year teaching I had a young woman - she looked like she could have been a sorority hottie - who could not write a single paragraph on a page. I asked her what happened. Was she getting help? She said her parents were longshoremen. She came from a Long Beach white working-class background. I sat her down in all seriousness and indicated that she was nowhere near college reading and writing ability. I made sure she was in touch with the appropriate staff on campus, so she'd have the remedial resources to help her succeed. Every now and then I get term papers from students who have obviously never written a formal report. They can't perform basic word processing functions, such as formatting double-spacing. I've had some students - of all racial backgrounds - turn in papers handwritten - and these are formal writing assignments. Not only did they not have access to a PC at home, they simply hadn't used one before.

Faculty who work with student populations like this are more than teachers. For many students, community college professors are the most highly trained people they've met. Most students don't address me as "Dr. Douglas," because they have no idea what that professional title really means; nor do they understand the kind of educational training required for the doctoral degree. It's meaningless for most entering community college students. They call me "Mr. Douglas," and that's perfectly fine, respectful even.

It's really an honor to work with such a population, and often in the daily grind of teaching I forget that. I get tired of discipline and classroom management issues, and that's not to mention the same kind of apathy and entitlement that we find in classrooms across the country, irrespective of income or race.

So I simply rejoice when I get heartwarming e-mails from students who have been accepted to university political science or graduate programs. I received an e-mail today from a student a few years back who was planning on transferring to Cal State Long Beach. But after her experience in my class, and in the classes of a number of other outstanding faculty mentors, she raised her sights on transfer to USC. She took a double major there, in political science and social policy. She contacted me in June for a letter of recommendation, and I got this in my inbox this afternoon (shared by permission):

Good Afternoon Dr. Douglas,

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I found out last Friday that I was accepted to the Master's Program at Cal State Dominguez Hills : ) Thank you very much for writing a letter of recommendation for me. I will start the program this fall.

I am super excited and grateful to have your continued support!

These notes provide the single most rewarding moments as a community college instructor. This student worked extremely hard. When she was admitted to USC, her parents wrote a personal letter to the college adminstration and faculty mentors to thank them for helping their daughter "make it." These probably aren't the kind of stories you'd get from parents of Harvard-bound students (or Berkeley-bound super-achieving suburban high-school students, etc.).

Another student of mine is currently featured on the front of my college's webpage, at http://www.lbcc.edu/. I've uploaded the picture and copied the story below for posterity. Ashlee Redden was mentored by my colleague Paul Savoie, who is current the faculty director of the campus Honors Program. I was fortunate to have Ashlee take my American Government survey course in 2007. Ashlee also took my Introduction to World Politics course in Fall 2008. Now she's headed to UCLA for her upper division studies in political science. Ashlee wants to attend law school. She's putting herself though college, working as a waitress while attending classes in the daytime.

Ashlee's full story is below. I'm saving the entire original story from the college's website for good keeping. I'm proud of her.

I'm also proud to be teaching at Long Beach City College. I'm proud of the work that I do. And I'm proud of my dedicated colleagues.

My political science department webpage is here. I hope readers will keep this story in mind next time you hear the left's Democratic-elitists attack those "faux intellectuals" teaching at "junior college"!

**********

Long Beach City College Professor Paul Savoie considers the
LBCC Honors Program to be the ultimate lifetime warranty. "As the coordinator of the honors program, I tell my graduating students to think back to their Long Beach City College experience," said Savoie. "Throughout their time at LBCC it's an exciting dimension of their personal and educational lives, and while they all face bumps in the road, they learn how to overcome the obstacles here, so that is something they will use the rest of their lives."

Recent honors program graduate Ashlee Redden readily agrees with Savoie. "The honors program helps all of their students," she said. "The program gave us so many opportunities, and the staff and faculty were always there to help with a smile." Redden is now heading to UCLA this Fall.

More about the LBCC Honors Program If you plan to transfer to any competitive university, your first step should be to apply to the LBCC Honors Program. For over a quarter of a century, high-achieving LBCC students have flocked to the college's Honors Program for the intellectual challenge it offers. Students who complete the program earn priority consideration for admission to select public and private universities. Generous financial aid packages are available to those students who qualify based on outstanding scholastic performance and financial need. Participating private schools have set up scholarships available only to Honors transfer students who meet the selection criteria.
HONORS CLASSES
Honors courses are specifically designed to build critical and creative thinking skills through an intimate, interactive classroom experience. Students receive training in reading, writing, analysis and synthesis, boosting their readiness for success in upper division courses.
APPLICATION PROCESS
In order to enroll in Honors classes, the student is required to complete the application process. For the Spring semester, applications must be received by November 30, 2008 (before November 1, 2008, for admission decision before beginning of registration). To qualify, all students must place in English 1 (through the LBCC Assessment test), and need to meet one of the following criteria:

1. For new students, a sliding scale of grades (overall GPA) and test scores (SAT or ACT or equivalency):
   GPA SAT TOTAL* OR ACT COMPOSITE*
   4.0 800 20
   3.9 850 21
   3.8 900 22
   3.7 950 23
   3.6 1000 24
   3.5 1050 25
   3.4 1100 26
   3.3 1150 27
   3.25 1175 27
   Students who believe they are eligible for the Program based on other criteria may make an appointment to see the Honors Coordinator after filling out the application. However, students must be close to the minimum requirements based on the SAT/ACT and GPA, have excellent letters of recommendation, and offer academic evidence showing why they believe they should be allowed to enroll in the Honors Program.
2. For continuing students, 3.00 overall GPA in 12 or more Long Beach City College units (courses numbered 1- 99) or by petition through the Honors Program Office (L203A).
3. Classes are also open to honors students who are members of the Lakewood, Millikan, and Wilson High Schools' Distinguished Scholars Program, and/or are high school seniors, and have met the qualifications for the Honors Program.

To receive an application, call (562) 938-4354 or visit http://honorsprogram.lbcc.edu/application.html

Visit the Honors website at http://honorsprogram.lbcc.edu/application.html

Miliband Calls Detentions 'Unacceptable and Unjustified': Protests Will Not End in Iran, Says Mousavi; White House Caves on Israel Green Light!

The British government is speaking firmly against the actions of the Tehran regime. From the BBC, "Iran Frees Eighth Embassy Worker." Neoconservative Foreign Secretary David Miliband warns, "There is no place for this sort of intimidation or harassment":

Also, from May this year, "David Miliband 'Queries' Barack Obama's Iran Policy."

Plus, this just in from the Washington Post, "Mousavi: Iran Protests 'Will Not End'":

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, appearing in public for the first time in nearly three weeks, vowed Monday that protests against the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "will not end" and predicted that the new government would face problems in the future because it lacks legitimacy.

And here's this from Laura Rosen at The Cable, "No Change in Iran Policy, White House Insists":

As White House and Office of the Vice President aides formed a united front against widespread media speculation about a change in policy signaled by Vice President Joseph Biden's statement on a Sunday news show that Israel is a "sovereign nation" that could "determine for itself" how to deal with threats from Iran, analysts said that Israel may be wary of any such green light in any case.

In e-mails and phone calls today, administration officials insisted that Biden's comments were neither a signal of any change in policy, nor any sort of freelancing. Asked if Biden's remarks might have been part of an intentional messaging campaign to step up pressure on Iran to negotiate over its nuclear program, officials gave an emphatic "no." But for all that, the remarks were widely seen both in Washington and abroad as a message intended less for Jerusalem than for Tehran.

Israel's "biggest nightmare" is that one day the U.S. government "‘would call it and say 'OK guys, take care of it,'" said Tel Aviv University Iran expert David Menashri in a call Monday arranged by the Israeli Policy Forum, a U.S. nonprofit organization that supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Asked by ABC's George Stephanopoulos if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was right to give Obama until the end of the year to see if engagement with Iran was succeeding before taking matters into his own hands, Biden said, "Look, Israel can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else." Repeated follow-up questions from Stephanopoulos elicited similar responses.

Some in the [Israeli] media are portraying [Biden's comments] as a 180-degree switch and as an indication that the administration is beginning to realize that 'engagement' may not work," said former Israeli Consul General to the United Nations Alon Pinkas. "That it is absolutely NOT a change, and if anything, it should be interpreted as a bad sign rather than a positive encouragement."

Biden's message "is the absolute worst-case scenario from Israel's policy-planning perspective," Pinkas elaborated. "'We will not prevent' means the U.S. will neither support nor encourage [Israeli attacks on Iran] or in other words, 'Do what you think is appropriate, but bear the consequences.'"

Although Israeli officials have expressed unending skepticism about the Obama administration's intentions to try to engage with Iran, and are often seen as chafing against Washington, Israel has conducted an intensive campaign over the past several years to make Iran's nuclear program an international rather than just an Israeli problem.
The reason, explains Georgetown University's Daniel Byman, is that Israel doesn't want to take on Iran by itself. "Militarily, this is a difficult operation," Byman said Monday, noting that Iran's nuclear program is widely dispersed, compared with Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, which Israel struck in 1981. "This is much farther geographically, and that means planes can't loiter as long. They would [presumably] be flying over air space [in Iraq] controlled by the United States. You have to put together a strike package that's much more difficult. It also requires superb intelligence that may be lacking."

"There was no intention to change the position, and nothing the vice president said in any way indicates a change in U.S. position," said a White House official of Biden's remarks Sunday. "What he said and what [chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael] Mullen said taken together reflect our position: Israel is a sovereign nation, Israel is an ally and Israel has a right to defend itself and other countries cannot dictate how it defends itself. That being said, it would not be helpful if Israel were to act against Iran." Any interpretation that Biden's remarks signaled a change in U.S. policy is "spin," he added.

Biden did, however, strike a different tone when answering a similar question back on April 7. Asked if he were concerned that Netanyahu might strike Iranian nuclear facilities, Biden told CNN: "I don't believe Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill advised to do that."

How to account for the seeming discrepancy? "Any tonal difference is not intentional at all," the White House official said.

Did Biden coordinate with the White House to pressure Iran to respond to the still-outstanding offer of talks with Washington? Again, the answer from the White House was no.

Washington foreign-policy hands, however, were skeptical that the message was not quite deliberate ...

More at the link.

Also, Christopher Hitchens, "Did the Toppling of Saddam Hussein Lead to Recent Events in Iran?" (via Memeorandum).

See my earlier report, "Update Iran: Executions Accelerate as General Srike Looms; Protesters Plead to West, Washington Sends Conflicting Signals!"

Leftist Haters Sink to Depths as Tea Party Movement Shines

Michelle Malkin received this "hate-tweet" from Jessi Ballard:

But the big news is that the tea parties keep getting bigger and bigger. Some of Saturday's rallies were the largest this year by far.

Recall my first-hand reporting on the April 15th tea parties. The enthusiasm then was phenomenal, but we didn't see a 15,000 turnout for any one event, much less 37,000.

The July 4th events were quite a success. The leftist media and the radical netroots wish otherwise, of course. Check out the spin at the Dallas Morning News: Tea Party Protest at Southfork Ranch Falls Short of Estimated 50,000 Attendees."

Right. Harebrained leftists can only pray for a conservative implosion.

See also Michelle's post, "Video: Sen. Cornyn Gets an Earful," via Memeorandum.

Update Iran: Executions Accelerate as General Srike Looms; Protesters Plead to West, Washington Sends Conflicting Signals!

Atlas Shrugs has the latest report on the "new phase of the revolution" in Iran, "Crushing the Revolution Day 24 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Takes Control."

Also, Nice Deb's got the latest in the Tehran regime's executions, "34 More People Hanged In Iran, Many of Them Dissidents."

And we're seeing the regime adopt an increasingly belligerent line, "Iran Warns West Against Interference." Hardliners continue their propaganda efforts on the death of Neda Soltan, "Iran Police Chief Says Interpol Remarks Distorted." See also this breaking report: Reza Fiyouzat, "Consolidating the Electoral Coup in Iran."

But the opposition remains defiant. See, "Iranians Find New Ways to Keep Protests Alive." And it looks like a general strike will try to bring the country to a halt. Also, from the Times of London, "Iran Clerics Declare Election Invalid and Condemn Crackdown" (via Memeorandum).

Check Lara Setrakian's Twitter page for updates, and #IranElection. Many tweets plead for attention from the West. Also, "A Nobel Peace Prize for Twitter?"

Michael Ledeen provides some analysis, "The Storm Ahead":

The Iranian tyrant, Ali Khamenei, told his cluster of top advisers two days ago that it was time to totally shut down the protests, and he ordered that any and all demonstrators, regardless of their status, be arrested (although there is no longer room for new prisoners in Tehran’s jails; they are now using sports arenas as holding areas). He further ordered that all satellite dishes be taken down (good luck with that one; there are probably millions of them in Tehran alone). He ordered that the crackdown be done at night, to avoid all those annoying videos. By Sunday night, hundreds of new arrests had been made, including the regime’s favorite targets: students, intellectuals, and journalists.

His deadline: July 11th. He told his minions that if that were accomplished, the rest of the world would come crawling to him.

He may be right about most of the rest of the world, which has distinguished itself by its fecklessness, but he is certainly not right about his own people, who have sabotaged a major petroleum pipeline in Lurestan, and who are planning to go on strike in the next few days. I don’t know the provenance of the people who hit the pipeline (perhaps the fact that the political desk of the Tehran Times reported it is significant), but calls for strikes, building towards a big demonstration on July 9th, come from Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami.

Mousavi got a big boost over the weekend from an important group of senior clerics in the holy city of Qom. They branded the “elections” and the new government that will shortly be sworn in, as illegitimate. This is a serious matter, leading Stanford’s Professor Abbas Milani to say “This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic.” They are also explicitly siding with Mousavi, who released a detailed critique/expose of the fraud that confirmed Ahmadinezhad in office.
So Khamenei is under pressure, and he is not well equipped to deal with it. He has a serious cancer, and takes opiates to mitigate the pain. People around him are whispering that his decisions are poorly reasoned and often impulsive, and some of those close to him, including his son, are apparently issuing orders in his name. This sort of rumor is devastating for the sort of personal rule upon which the Islamic Republic rests. We’ll see in the coming days if the Mousavi forces are able to maintain and increase the pressure, and how Khamenei and his henchmen respond.

At the moment, there is evidence of some panic, as Iranian leaders are exporting their wealth.

Meanwhile, the American Government was sending conflicting signals to Tehran ....

More at the link.

Also, The Hashmonean, Obama vs The World: UK, France, Germany, Israel, Gulf States & Blogger Question Hope & Change."

Rolling updates throughout the day. Check Atlas Shrugs as well.

Where is the U.S. Ideologically?

One of the biggest netroots memes we saw after last year's election was the pushback against the idea of America as a "center-right nation." Radicals beat back against that line as if their life depended on it.

Here's this from Firedoglake, for example:

The Republicans are a hard-right party in a center-left country, which leaves them with two options: They can move left (not happening), or they can have their media friends bray about how America is a center-right nation until Obama and the Democrats move right to join them. I have a sinking feeling that that might actually work...

Here's Chris Bowers just after President Obama took office:

We have spent so long living under a government that was dominated by the right-wing of the Republican Party, that we are still having a difficult time coping with the new political reality. The right-wing is no longer the problem. The so-called "moderates" in Congress are.

Hubris, I guess?

President Obama obviously doesn't think the country's so center left (which explains his wimpiness on DADT, for example). Obama hammered the netroots hordes last week for eating their own, and Jane Hamsher responded with characteristic defiance, "Will MoveOn Cave To Obama’s Pressure?"

It's kind of funny, really. My sense is that once hardline radicals found a sympathetic Democrat in power, they thought they'd captured their own administration.

In any case, new polling data out today should help put things in perspective. Sean Trende has a full analysis at "What Emerging Progressive Majority?"

He builds on Gallup's new survey analysis out today, "Special Report: Ideologically, Where Is the U.S. Moving?"

I'll just quote the introduction. My real interest is to see the reaction on the left now that their balloon's popped:

Despite the results of the 2008 presidential election, Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become more conservative rather than more liberal, 39% to 18%, with 42% saying they have not changed. While independents and Democrats most often say their views haven't changed, more members of all three major partisan groups indicate that their views have shifted to the right rather than to the left.