Friday, May 4, 2012

Fauxcahontas at Harvard Lore School

It looks like "Fauxcahontas" is the new nickname for the shameless fake minority Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

Michael Graham has the moniker at his Boston Herald piece, "See the pale-faced Warren redden: Dances with truths about her ethnicity."

And see Mark Steyn, at the O.C. Register, "Fauxcahontas and the melting pot":

Harvard Flaw
Have you dated a composite woman? They're America's hottest new demographic. As with all the really cool stuff, Barack Obama was doing it years before the rest of us. In "Dreams from My Father," the world's all-time most-unread bestseller, he spills the inside dope on his composite white girlfriend:

"When we got back to the car she started crying. She couldn't be black, she said. She would if she could, but she couldn't. She could only be herself, and wasn't that enough..."

But being yourself is never going to be enough in the new composite America. Last week, in an election campaign ad, Barack revealed his latest composite girlfriend – "Julia." She's worse than the old New York girlfriend. She can't even be herself. In fact, she can't be anything without massive assistance from Barack every step of the way, from his "Head Start" program at age 3 through to his Social Security benefits at the age of 67. Everything good in her life she owes to him. When she writes her memoir, it will be thanks to a subvention from the Federal Publishing Assistance Program for Chronically Dependent Women but you'll love it: Sweet Dreams From My Sugar Daddy. She's what the lawyers would call "non composite mentis." She's not competent to do a single thing for herself – and, from Barack's point of view, that's exactly what he's looking for in a woman, if only for a one-night stand on a Tuesday in early November.

Then there's "Elizabeth," a 62-year-old Democratic Senate candidate from Massachusetts. Like Barack's white girlfriend, she couldn't be black. She would if she could, but she couldn't. But she could be a composite – a white woman and an Indian woman, all mixed up in one! Not Indian in the sense of Ashton Kutcher putting on brownface makeup and a fake-Indian accent in his amusing new commercial for the hip lo-fat snack Popchips. But Indian in the sense of checking the "Are you Native American?" box on the Association of American Law Schools form, which Elizabeth Warren did for much of her adult life. According to her, she's part Cherokee and part Delaware. Not in the Joe Biden sense, I hasten to add, but Delaware in the sense of the Indian tribe named in honor of the home state of Big F—kin' Chief Dances With Plugs.

How does she know she's a Cherokee maiden? Well, she cites her grandfather's "high cheekbones," and says the Indian stuff is part of her family "lore." Which was evidently good enough for Harvard Lore School when they were looking to rack up a few affirmative-action credits. The former Obama Special Advisor to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former Chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel now says that "I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group, something that might happen with people who are like I am," and certainly not for personal career advancement or anything like that. Like everyone else, she was shocked, shocked to discover that, as The Boston Herald reported, "Harvard Law School officials listed Warren as Native American in the '90s, when the school was under fierce fire for their faculty's lack of diversity."

So did the University of Texas, and the University of Pennsylvania. With the impertinent jackanapes of the press querying the bona fides of Harvard Lore School's first Native American female professor, the Warren campaign got to work and eventually turned up a great-great-great-grandmother designated as Cherokee in the online transcription of a marriage application of 1894.

Hallelujah! In the old racist America, we had quadroons and octoroons. But in the new post-racial America, we have – hang on, let me get out my calculator – duoettrigintaroons! Martin Luther King dreamed of a day when men would be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their great-great-great-grandmother's wedding license application. And now it's here! You can read all about it in Elizabeth Warren's memoir of her struggles to come to terms with her racial identity, Dreams From My Great-Great-Great-Grandmother.
That is too much!

See also Hillary Chabot, at Boston Herald, "Harvard won’t say if Liz Warren listed as minority." (Via Memeorandum.)

Michelle Malkin Destroys Juan Williams in #OWS Debate on Hannity's

Man, this is just brutal, via Jim Hoft.

Michelle tears into Williams when he invokes the tea party as a comparison to #Occupy.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Meet Julia: The Big-Government Dependency Robot and Dream Woman of Leftist Ideology

This story was burning up Twitter earlier. And see Twitchy here and here.

The Photoshop via Washington Free Beacon.

David Harsanyi nails it, "Who the hell is "Julia," and why am I paying for her whole life?":

Julia
In the new Barack Obama campaign piece The Life of Julia, voters can "Take a look at how President Obama's policies help one woman over her lifetime -- and how Mitt Romney would change her story." It is one of the most brazenly statist pieces of campaign literature I can ever remember seeing.

Let's, for the purposes of this post, set aside the misleading generalizations regarding policy in the ad (no one is innocent on that account, obviously). What we are left with is a celebration of a how a woman can live her entire life by leaning on government intervention, dependency and other people's money rather than her own initiative or hard work. It is, I'd say, implicitly un-American, in the sense that it celebrates a mindset we have -- outwardly, at least -- shunned.

It is also a mindset that women should find offensively patronizing. When they're old enough, I hope my two daughters will find the notion that their success hinges on the president's views on college-loan interest rates preposterous. Yet, according to the "Life of Julia," women are helpless without the guiding hand of Barack Obama.
See also Lonely Con, "Julia – From the Cradle to the Grave."

And see Michelle's entry, "Another Obama tall tale: “The Life of Julia”."

BONUS: Don't miss "The Life of Julie: Take a Look at Mitt Romney's Policies Help One Woman Live Her Own Life --- and How President Obama Would Hijack It," an alternative version, at Suitably Flip.

Do You Like Good Music?

Well, that's a lot of blogging for the morning.

Enjoy Arthur Conley until later, "Sweet Soul Music":

Do you like good music
That sweet soul music
Just as long as it's swingin'

Oh yeah, oh yeah
Out here on the floor now
We're going to a go go
Ah dancin to the music
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Lou Rawls y'all
Ah don't he look tall y'all
Singin' loves a hurtin' thing now
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Sam and Dave now
Ah don't they look boss y'all
Singin' hold on I'm comin'
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Wilson Pickett
That wicked picket Pickett
Singin Mustang Sally
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Otis Redding now
Singing fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on James Brown now
He's the king of them all, yeah
He's the king of them all, yeah
Oh yeah, oh yeah...

Chinese Dissident Chen Guangcheng Questions Handling of Case After Leaving American Embassy

Smart diplomacy, or something.

The video c/o Telegraph UK, "Chen Guangcheng leaves US embassy 'after threat to beat his wife to death’."

At the Wall Street Journal, "Activist Challenges U.S. Deal":

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng left the U.S. Embassy in an unusual deal under which he would stay in China, but within hours Mr. Chen and his allies were questioning the deal's pledge of safety and challenging U.S. handling of the case.

A day of twists began early Wednesday, when U.S. officials said after days of silence that Mr. Chen had been under American protection since last week and had left of his own accord to seek medical treatment. They asserted that under a deal with the Chinese, reached on the eve of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials, authorities would let Mr. Chen and his family settle in an unspecified place in China far from the local authorities in Shandong province whom he fled on April 22.

Photos showed a smiling Mr. Chen holding hands both with Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell outside the embassy and with U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke as he was escorted to a Beijing hospital.

But from the hospital, Mr. Chen gave a different impression. Speaking to several news organizations, the activist, a self-taught lawyer who campaigned against forced abortions, sounded shaken as he asked for new protections.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Chen said U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would have sent his family back to his home province if he stayed in the embassy and at one point said his wife would have been beaten to death. He told the AP he feared for his safety and said, "Help my family and me leave safely.''
Well, that doesn't sound so great.

More at the Los Angeles Times, "Pall cast over U.S.-China deal over Chinese dissident."

Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' Goes for $119.9 Million at Auction

Geez, you'd think we were in the middle of an economic boom.

See the New York Times, "‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million":

The Scream
It took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The Scream” to sell for $120 million, becoming the world’s most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction.

Bidders could be heard speaking Chinese and English (and, some said, Norwegian), but the mystery winner bid over the phone, through Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s executive vice president and vice chairman of its worldwide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department. Gasps could be heard as the bidding climbed higher and higher, until there was a pause at $99 million, prompting Tobias Meyer, the evening’s auctioneer, to smile and say, “I have all the time in the world.” When $100 million was bid, the audience began to applaud.

The price eclipsed the previous record, made two years ago at Christie’s in New York when Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” brought $106.5 million.

Munch made four versions of “The Scream.” Three are now in Norwegian museums; the one that sold on Wednesday, a pastel on board from 1895, was the only one still in private hands. It was sold by Petter Olsen, a Norwegian businessman and shipping heir whose father was a friend, neighbor and patron of the artist.

The image has been reproduced endlessly in popular culture in recent decades, becoming a universal symbol of angst and existential dread and nearly as famous as the Mona Lisa.
See also The Financial Times, "So, what does ‘The Scream’ mean?":
“The Scream” is one of the most disturbing images to come out of the history of modern art. It depicts a moment of psychic calamity, of shattered nerves. Munch intended, when he first created the image in 1893, to record “the modern life of the soul”; and what a fraught, anxiety-ridden vision it was. For decades his distorted vision was regarded as an eccentric by-way of expressionism, laden with Nordic gloom and unnecessary cosmic pessimism.

Yet here we are, the world’s hyper-rich leading art collectors seemingly poised to make “The Scream” one of the most valuable artistic images ever created. A vision from the haunted dusk of the 19th century has found its moment more than 100 years later. Munch has hit the mainstream. We are finally strong enough to stomach his scream. Someone, somewhere in the world is busy planning to pop this icon of human disintegration above the fireplace, at enormous cost. We are, it seems, past the age of water lilies and sunflowers. The swirling chaos and vacant expression evident in Munch’s most famous work has become a touchstone for our troubled times.

Nearly 30 Percent of Jobless Americans Plagued by Long-Term Unemployment — Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative Finds 3.9 Million Out of Work For at Least a Year

At Los Angeles Times, "Long-term unemployment affects nearly 30% of jobless Americans":

Photobucket
Nearly 30% of jobless Americans have been out of work for at least a year, according to the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative report on the first quarter.

The report found that of the 13.3 million unemployed workers in the country, 3.9 million had been jobless for all or most of 2011. That's more people than live in Oregon.

That 29.5% long-term unemployment rate is slightly off the peak reached in the third quarter of last year, when 31.8% of jobless Americans were out of work for a year. But the current rate is still more than triple the 9.5% from the beginning of the recession.

"The longer workers remain unemployed, the more likely they may lose skills and professional contacts, making workforce reentry even more challenging," researchers wrote in the Pew report. "Skill erosion may lead to lower future income for individuals and, for the economy as a whole, lower productivity and lost output."

Older workers were more affected than most, with nearly 44% of former employees older than 55 out of work for longer than a year. Compare that to 21.4% of workers between 20 and 24 in the same boat.
Way to go, Baracky!

PHOTO CREDIT: Doug Ross, "The Obama Depression Series Redux."

The Rise of One World Trade Center

Via Small Dead Animals:


PREVIOUSLY: "1 World Trade Center Will Soon Overtake Empire State Building as New York City's Tallest Building."

#OWS Stages May Day Dud in Bid to Revive Movement

The New York Post points and laughs at Occupy Wall Street, "OWS bums are a big joke: Hard workers enjoy good laugh as May Day skirmishes fizzle":

Occupy Wall Street’s call for May Day mayhem largely fizzled yesterday — but at least provided a good laugh for hardworking people gazing from their office windows at the demonstrators’ antics as cops took a few dozen into custody.

“How can anyone take them seriously? They look like homeless people,” quipped Financial District bartender Kimberly Leo.

“I saw one woman complaining about not having a job, but she had a shirt with the word “nympho” on it,” Leo, 26, said. “These people need a change of wardrobe and a shower.”

The daylong demonstrations featured several thousand protesters doing little more than snarling traffic in sporadic gatherings around the city.

More than 50 of them had been arrested by last night after a handful of clashes with the police armies that flooded the streets.
The biggest flare-up came at around 2 p.m., when 100 protesters with black bandanas over their faces sprinted north from Sara Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side while knocking over trash cans and banging on cars.

They had a giant sign that read, “F--k the police.”

Elliot Epstein, 19, allegedly bit NYPD Chief Thomas Galati during a scrum on Sixth Avenue and Waverly Place in Greenwich Village.

“[He] fled from an arresting officer, knocked over a scooter cop, and fought with a lieutenant who tried to stop the perp,” a police source said.

After biting Galati, he “then began spitting on Chief Galati and the lieutenant,” the source said. He was hit with a slew of charges including assaulting a police officer.

Another round of dust-ups occurred around 8 p.m. when hundreds of protesters marching south on Broadway were kept from turning onto Wall Street.

One protest leader hopped onto the barricades, and just inches from the cops, shouted, “This is what it looks like to live in a police state!”

Nearby, a demented demonstrator kicked out the driver-side rear window of a police car.

And many who attended the group’s “General Assembly,’’ which drew nearly a thousand people to the area near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Water Street, initially refused to leave at the 10 p.m. curfew. At least six were arrested after cops had to force them to disperse.

The OWS gatherings started at around 8 a.m. in Midtown, where Rich Rollison marched with his daughter, Jude, 9, whom he plucked out of her West Village school.

“I hope that the 1 percent pays their taxes,” said a smiling Jude.

'Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang' — Los Angeles Riots Boost Gangsta Rap

I don't know.

I think hardcore rap music became hip after I'd reached my prime as a music listener. And I'm not convinced rap's had all that positive a social influence, frankly. That said, I'm listening to it more today than ever, since my boys like hip hop.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Rhythm of the Street: Gangsta Rap Was a Ready-Made Soundtrack, and Its Words Grew Stronger Afterward":
The L.A. riots of 1992 arrived with its soundtrack in place. Sanctioned police brutality, a grim job market, gang life, a decimated school system, the toll of crack on poor neighborhoods and racial tensions were all being documented by West Coast rappers long before Rodney King's beating by Los Angeles Police Department officers was documented on tape. Inner-city kids were infusing hip-hop — a genre that arose out of the Bronx in the last '70s — with hard-core, L.A.-centric rhymes about gangs and the crack-addled neighborhoods around them.

"Even before the riots … voices in L.A. hip-hop were foretelling what was to come," said director John Singleton, whose 1991 film "Boyz n the Hood" was one of the first empathetic looks at South L.A. life for many Americans. "So many people who didn't grow up black and poor couldn't understand why it happened. You can live in a different part of L.A. and never understand that frustration. But if you listen to 'F— tha Police,' you hear where they're coming from."

The riots gave marginalized music from the hood a global stage and sudden mainstream legitimacy. The music born of the very conditions that precipitated the riots now transcended South L.A., and major labels began signing and promoting West Coast artists like Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. For better or for worse, the Southland style that became known as gangsta rap changed the trajectory of pop music by becoming the '90s definition of cool.

For suburban fans who'd been consuming N.W.A's music as a race-music expression of white teenage angst, the televised revolution in L.A. made it clear that the lyrics weren't just outlandish fiction set to hard beats. They were rooted in bitter truths, a hard reality that L.A. was a two-tier city with gross inequities in both wealth and possibility.
One, two, three and to the fo'
Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre are at the do'
Ready to make an entrance, so back on up
(Cause you know we 'bout had to rip shit up)
Gimme the microphone first, so I can bust like a bubble
Compton and Long Beach together, now you know you in trouble
Ain't nothin' but a G thang, baaaaabay!
Two loc'ed out G's so we're craaaaazay!
Death Row is the label that paaaaays me!
Unfadable, so please don't try to fade this (Hell yeah)
But, uh, back to the lecture at hand
Perfection is perfected, so I'm 'a let 'em understand
From a young G's perspective
And before me dig out a bitch I have ta' find a contraceptive
You never know she could be earnin' her man,
And learnin' her man, and at the same time burnin' her man
Now you know I ain't wit that shit, Lieutenant
Ain't no pussy good enough to get burnt while I'm up in it
(yeah) Now that's realer than real-deal Holyfield
And now all you hookas and ho's know how I feel
Well if it's good enough to get broke off a proper chunk
I'll take a small piece of some of that funky stuff

[Hook: Snoop Doggy Dogg]

It's like this and like that and like this and uh
It's like that and like this and like that and uh
It's like this and like that and like this and uh
Dre, creep to the mic like a phantom...

Katie Pavlich Discusses Obama's Bloodiest Scandal

An interview with Glenn Reynolds:


And the book is here: Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up.

'Do It for Trayvon Martin!' — Virginian-Pilot Refuses to Cover Black-on-White Racial Violence; Paper Claims Didn't Want to Treat Its Employees 'Differently From Other Crime Victims'

Tom Maguire has a report at JustOneMinute, "A Paper of Cowards."

Turns out that the publisher of the Virginian-Pilot was recently confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.

Wouldn't want to jeopardize a cabinet appointment, or anything.

Plus, see also Bob Owens at Pajamas Media, "‘Justice for Trayvon’: 15 Whites Beaten By Gangs of Black Thugs … So Far":
The assaults on a pair of Virginian-Pilot reporters in Norfolk, Va., two weeks ago at the hands of 30 black youths, reported for the first time Tuesday, are the latest in a series of attacks driven by a warped sense of racial vigilantism hiding behind calls of “Justice for Trayvon.” At least 15 whites have been beaten not just with fists, but with potentially deadly weapons including hammers and lengths of chain. Many of the victims have been hospitalized, some may never fully recover, and one lingers on the verge of death.

David Forster and Marjon Rostami are just the latest victims of brutal beatings tied to the Trayvon Martin shooting, and some Virginians are outraged that the newspaper did not report the attack for “politically correct reasons.” The attack was revealed not as news, but in an opinion piece.
Shoot, I wouldn't even know about this story if it hadn't been for bloggers.

Hopefully no one else succumbs to blog burnout any time soon.

CSU Faculty Union Calls Strike for All 23 Campuses in Cal State System

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "California State University faculty vote to authorize strike."
LONG BEACH — California State University faculty have voted to authorize a two-day strike at all 23 campuses, which would be the largest such walkout in state history, if contract talks fail.

The California Faculty Association, which represents professors, librarians, counselors and other staff, announced the strike vote Wednesday at a noon press conference at Cal State Long Beach. The authorization was overwhelmingly approved by 95 percent of those who participated in a two-week voting process that ended on April 27.

About 70 percent of the 12,501 union members voted, according to CFA officials. The CFA represents more than 24,000 employees, but not all are union members.

The decision followed 22 months of unsuccessful contract negotiations.

"The message to Chancellor (Charles) Reed is absolutely clear: The CSU faculty have run out of patience and it is time to address the issues before us so that our faculty can get back to the business of providing quality higher education to the students of California," said CFA President Lillian Taiz.

The rolling strike would affect all 23 California State University campuses this fall. Under the plan, campuses would go on strike for two days each, one immediately following another.
It's going to be a circus at some of these campuses, with faculty unions going all "Occupy" on the Cal State administration. Recall I covered the one-day strike at CSU Dominguez Hills last year: "'Down With Capitalist Education!' — California Faculty Association Strikes at Cal State Dominguez Hills."

MORE at The Fresno Bee, "CSU faculty members agree to strike authorization."

Conservative MP Louise Mensch Condemns 'Misogyny and Bullying' on Twitter

Well, the left's war on women knows no borders.

At Telegraph UK, "Louise Mensch MP exposes shameful bullying of women on Twitter after personal attacks":
Conservative MP Louise Mensch has condemned "misogynistic" internet trolls after being inundated with online abuse, including sexist insults, sexually graphic comments and violent threats.
Louise Mensch
The insults, most of which are too explicit to be repeated, included references to her appearance, sexuality and even threatened criminal violence.

Some other accused her of engaging an intimate relationship with Rupert Murdoch while others speculated crudely as to whether they found her attractive.

The comments, made on Twitter and including a vast array of sexist name-calling, have provoked a wave of outrage on the social media website, as supporters leapt to her defence.

Mrs Mensch, who condemned the criticism as “misogyny and bullying”, has now highlighted some of the choice comments herself in a bid to expose online trolls.

In doing so, she told her 50,000 followers: “Women too often shamed into silence. Sod it.”

Using the hashtag #feminism, she said: “I've added a few more favourite tweets to show the misogny. I could do this all day.”

She told one abuser: “It’s misogyny. You should be ashamed of yourself. I suppose you consider yourself left-wing and progressive do you?”

After receiving support from hundreds of commentators, she later wrote: “Wow. Thank you all Twitter for the support. I appreciate it.

“It happens to so many women. I just grabbed some examples.”
Continue reading.

And follow Ms. Mensch on Twitter.

PHOTO CREDIT: Louise Mensch MP.

Mitt Romney Disappointed in Obama's Jabs on Osama bin Laden

At CBS:

Mitt Romney hit back at President Obama Tuesday for his campaign's suggestion the presumptive Republican nominee may not have ordered elite forces to go after Osama bin Laden, saying he was "disappointed" the issue had become political.

"I think them taking credit for the right decision is entirely appropriate. I think trying to attack me on that basis is disappointing and the wrong course," Romney said in an interview with "CBS This Morning."

Romney was asked about a new ad featuring former President Bill Clinton touting Mr. Obama's decision to order the now famous SEAL Team 6 into bin Laden's compound in Pakistan a year ago.

The ad then quotes Romney from his first run for president, when he told an interviewer in 2007 that it is "not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."

The issue has become front and center in the political campaign in the past few days leading up to Tuesday's anniversary of bin Laden's death.

"Of course the right course was to assassinate, execute Osama bin Laden and that is precisely what happened, and I congratulate the president for doing so. And I am confident and that of course I would have taken exactly the same decision," Romney said, "any thinking American would have ordered exactly the same thing."
Well, let's just hope Romney does go all John McCain or anything. You know, we wouldn't want to be too harsh on old Baracky!

The News Corp. Scandal: 'The Trouble With MPs Who Want to Dictate Media Ownership'

At the Wall Street Journal, "Fit and Unfit to Publish" (via Google):
America's Founders wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution so that government couldn't control the press. That wisdom is worth recalling in the wake of a British parliamentary committee's assertion Tuesday that Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company."

Think about that one: Six members of an 11-member political committee deign to dictate who should or shouldn't run a media company. The language in that phrase "not a fit person" is clearly intended to influence regulators who must meet a "fit and proper" standard in deciding who can own a British broadcaster. Mr. Murdoch is CEO of News Corp., which owns this newspaper as well as 39% of BSkyB, the British broadcaster. The regulator is currently reviewing BSkyB's license. It's hard to imagine a clearer case of politically pressuring a regulator to push out an unpopular owner.

The "not a fit person" broadside was too much for four Tory MPs on the panel, who dissented on that point. (The Tory committee chairman abstained.) One of the dissenters, Louise Mensch, was quoted in the Financial Times as saying the line "was stuck in on the basis of no evidence presented to committee whatsoever."

That underscores the partisan nature of the decision by six Labour and Liberal-Democrat MPs to exceed their charge of exploring whether the committee had been misled and instead to condemn Mr. Murdoch.

But the problem goes beyond partisanship to the larger risks this poses to a vigorous free press. Even a fair-minded, nonpartisan political inquiry into who can or cannot own a printing press or broadcast license is bound to have a chilling effect on media coverage of government. The potential for political intimidation is great.

Imagine if the government of one of the new European democracies were pursuing a similar campaign against an independent media owner. We can write the BBC condemnation ourselves. Come to think of it, various Europeans have been rightly critical of a similar squeeze on media ownership by the Turkish government and a new media law in Hungary.

Or imagine if a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives decided to opine on the fitness of Carlos Slim, the controversial Mexican billionaire-monopolist, to invest in the New York Times? The media denunciations of the politicians would be loud and deserved.

None of this is meant to sweep away the hacking scandal at the defunct News of the World tabloid that the parliamentary committee had been investigating. The hacking—and its handling by the London police and News Corp.—has been under criminal investigation for many months. Several journalists have been arrested, though so far no one has been charged in the current probe. We assume that if crimes were committed, they will be prosecuted—and the accused given the chance to defend themselves.

The investigations have also turned up evidence of a failure at News Corp. to get to the bottom of the hacking scandal early and with enough vigor. This is no small matter...
PREVIOUSLY: "News Corp. Board Declares Support for Rupert Murdoch After Parliamentary Committee Slams Mogul's Fitness to Lead."

Israel's Survival: 'Back to the Future'

Via Theo Spark:

Kelly Brook Tumblr Encore

A follow up to my earlier entry, "Kelly Brook Tumblr Rule 5."

Her Tumblr page is here.

tumblr_m2jft9w7qp1rtoil0o3_1280

Kate Upton Cat Daddy

Well, London's Daily Mail reported that YouTube pulled the clip, but Theo has it, so here you go:


And here the Daily Mail report, with a Vimeo clip, just in case: "Too sexy for this dance! Sports Illustrated cover girl Kate Upton's hip hop moves in tiny bikini go viral... (and the video is quickly banned by YouTube)."

Masked Occupy Anarchist Throws Bricks, Injuring Bystander, in San Francisco May Day Protest

Via Zombie:


Added: This might not be a "bystander." See Big Government, "Friendly Fire: Occupier Hits Occupier with Brick to Face..."

BWAHAHAHA!! The American Prospect On the Verge of a Glorious Financial Crash and Burn

And it couldn't happen to a more pathetic radical left-wing rag.

John Hawkins reports, "There Are No More Indispensable Political News or Opinion Sources."

RTWT at the link.

And here's the awful, awful announcement from the magazine, "A Critical Moment for The American Prospect":
Dear readers and friends of the Prospect,

Media stories have started to appear saying that The American Prospect is facing a major financial challenge and may be forced to fold. The stories are true. The next four weeks will determine whether the Prospect will be able to build on its 22-year legacy of influence or whether it must retrench or even close. Between now and May 31, the Prospect must raise $500,000 and have $700,000 of additional support pledged for the new fiscal year that starts in July. If we do not find those commitments, the Prospect as we’ve known it will cease. This is real. And the stakes are high.
Look, these should be fat times for the Democrat-Media-Complex, what, with all the Democrat hacks up in Washington running the show. You'd think the pickings would be better than ever. Except, well, there is that pesky little thing called the market. And no matter how many times leftists deny this is a center-right nation, the fact is the progressive product sells only with the requisite helpings of coercion and lies.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Elizabeth Warren's Oppression Olympics: Candidate Says Being Native American 'Part of My Story', New Campaign Ad Highlights Ties to Obama

Oh boy, this is getting unreal.

See the New York Times, "Warren Says She’s Proud of Being American Indian":

Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday defended her decision to identify herself as a minority in a directory of law professors in the 1980’s and ’90s, saying that she hoped it would help her “meet more people who had grown up like I had grown up” ....

Although she denied any linkage between her heritage – a genealogical record suggests that she is 1/32 American Indian — and her professional life, Ms. Warren defended its importance to her family roots.

“I have lived in a family that has talked about Native American, talked about tribes, since I’ve been a little girl,” Ms. Warren said. “Being Native American has been part of my story, I guess, since the day I was born.”
Oh brother.

Yeah, she's a real Native American alright.

Michelle has that, "“Sacaja-whiner:” Elizabeth Warren and the Oppression Olympics":
Elizabeth Warren is the Harvard law professor running for Senate in Massachusetts as a Democratic populist-progressive champion. But don’t call her “Elizabeth Warren.” Call her “Pinocchio-hontas,” “Chief Full-of-Lies,” “Running Joke” or “Sacaja-whiner.”

Warren has claimed questionable Native American minority status for years to reap career “diversity” benefits. Now, Cherokee leaders, campaign rival GOP Sen. Scott Brown and an army of Twitter detractors have called her out for gaming the racial-preference system. Live by identity politics, die by identity politics.

The Boston Herald reported last Friday that Harvard administrators “prominently touted Warren’s Native American background … in an effort to bolster their diversity hiring record in the ’90s as the school came under heavy fire for a faculty that was then predominantly white and male.” When asked for proof of her tribal heritage, Warren’s campaign first denied that she had ever bragged about it. But from 1986 to 1995, Warren listed herself as a minority professor in a professional law school directory.

While the Democrat’s team scrounged for evidence over the weekend, Warren stalled for time by asserting that she didn’t need to provide documentation because family “lore” backed her up. Someone told her a story, you see, and magically conferred native status upon her. Through narrative, all things are possible! (Notorious “fake Indian” Ward Churchill is wondering why he didn’t think of this alibi first before the University of Colorado at Boulder fired him for academic fraud.)

On Tuesday, Warren finally discovered a great-great-great-grandmother supposedly “certified as Cherokee” and a random cousin somehow involved with a museum that preserves Native American art. There’s also a great-great-grandfather somewhere in Warren’s dusty genealogical records who spent time on a Cherokee reservation. Because walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins is now just as good as being born in them....

Once again, the left’s incurable love affair with oppression chic is on naked display. It’s an Olympic competition of the haves to show their have-not cred.
Continue reading.

Former NFL Linebacker Junior Seau Dead in Apparent Suicide

I really liked this guy when he was with San Diego.

Used to watch them quite a bit. He was a freakin' stud. I had no idea he was having personal problems.

See Daley Gator, "Junior Seau Dead at 43 From Gunshot Wound to Chest."

And at TMZ, "JUNIOR SEAU DEAD - Cops Suspect Suicide."


And check the Los Angeles Times, "Junior Seau's shooting death: Chargers in 'shock and disbelief'."

News Corp. Board Declares Support for Rupert Murdoch After Parliamentary Committee Slams Mogul's Fitness to Lead

At Fox News, "News Corp Board Voices Unanimous Support For Murdoch."

And here's the front-page report from this morning's Wall Street Journal, "News Corp. Blasted In U.K.":

LONDON — A U.K. parliamentary committee report issued Tuesday said Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company" and found that three former News Corp. executives misled British lawmakers over the depth of the phone-hacking scandal.

The report from Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee sketches out details of a coverup the company allegedly carried out as it sought to contain the fallout from revelations that its now-closed News of the World tabloid illegally intercepted cellphone voice mails in pursuit of information.

The report had especially harsh words for the 81-year-old Mr. Murdoch—although the rebuke divided members of the committee along party lines. "Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking," according to a passage inserted despite the opposition of Conservative members. "He turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications." The corporate culture "permeated from the top," it added.

Three former executives from News International, the company's U.K. newspaper unit, were singled out for misleading Parliament during testimonies on phone hacking in 2009: Les Hinton, a longtime Murdoch lieutenant who served as the unit's executive chairman for 12 years before leaving in late 2007 to head up News Corp.'s newly acquired Dow Jones & Co. unit, which publishes The Wall Street Journal; Colin Myler, the News of the World's editor from 2007 to 2011; and Tom Crone, the tabloid's top lawyer. All three men have left News Corp.

The committee said a number of statements News International executives made in 2009 were untrue, including the claim that illegal voice-mail interception was limited to one reporter and the assertion that phone hacking had been investigated thoroughly by the company. The report says News Corp.'s instinct throughout the affair was to "cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing and discipline the perpetrators."

During a news conference, the committee said all of its 10 voting members supported the report's conclusions about Messrs. Hinton, Myler and Crone. But Conservative Member of Parliament Louise Mensch said the committee's Conservative MPs voted against the final report largely because of the line saying Mr. Murdoch isn't a "fit person" to run a global company. Ms. Mensch said the report should therefore be seen as "partisan."

In a statement, News Corp. said: "Hard truths have emerged from the Select Committee Report: that there was serious wrongdoing at the News of the World; that our response to the wrongdoing was too slow and too defensive; and that some of our employees misled the Select Committee in 2009." But it called some of the report's commentary "unjustified and highly partisan."
Continue reading.

Seattle May Day Protests Show True Face of Occupy Movement

Michelle Malkin was burning up Twitter yesterday during the "mostly peaceful" #OWS May Day protests.

This shot below is just one of the many on-the-ground photos from Foolish Reporter:

Nike Attack

There's video here.

And at Twitchy, "Eye on Occupy: Reckless in Seattle (and beyond)."

BONUS: At the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Seattle mayor has home vandalized after violent city protests."

New York Post Rips Obama's Football-Spiking Junket to Afghanistan

The controversy is at BuzzFeed, "New York Post Mocks Obama's Afghanistan Trip" (via Memeorandum).

And here it is, "Shameless":
Are there no depths to which Obama won’t stoop to get re-elected?
No. Absolutely none.

Read it all at the link.
Obama Ka-Bull

North Carolina Amendment One Same-Sex Marriage

Once again the progs are going bathsh*t crazy, this time amid the controversy over North Carolina's Amendment 1.

Some pastor is now rightly disavowing his stupid remarks about beating up your gay kids. See: "Berean Baptist pastor disavows advice to punch gay kids as a joke." (At Memeorandum.)

And that story gives gay radical extremist Pam Spaulding an opening, "This is the ‘Christian love’ we are up against: NC Baptist preacher calls for beating the gay out of kids."

Meanwhile, despite the circus antics on both sides, a large majority of the state's voters favor the amendment. See PPP, "Amendment One still up 14 points in N.C.":

Raleigh, N.C. – There has been no movement on North Carolina’s proposed marriage amendment since PPP last released a poll a week ago.  Likely primary voters are still planning to vote for the amendment by a 14-point margin, this time 55-41, rather than 54-40.

Opposition is rising slightly with Republicans, independents, and African Americans, from 17% to 21% with the GOP, from 43% to 46% with independents, and from 39% to 43% with black voters.  Democrats on the whole are opposed by a 54-42 spread.  Reports of strong youth turnout in parts of the state could be a good sign for opponents; voters under the age of 30 oppose the amendment by 26 points, while the elder age brackets all support it by spreads of nine to 24 points—though that is down from margins of 16 to 32 points last week.

The good news for the amendment’s opponents is that more voters are now aware of the amendment’s consequences, and if all voters were informed of those consequences, the amendment would fail by a 38-46 margin, the same as last week.  A 40% plurality now knows that the amendment would ban both same-sex marriage and civil unions, versus 36% in the previous survey.  Those who know what the amendment would do are against it by 22 points, but they are outweighed by the strong support from the uneducated.
That's a tough amendment, but it's up to the voters. I think civil unions are fine personally. But we'll see. I think North Carolina wants to put up a big, burly firewall against the radical left's gay rights extremism, and that's probably the way to go, considering everything else these days.

From the Heritage Foundation: 'America at Risk'

See, "America at Risk: Military Went to War in Iraq With Unarmored SUVs."

President Obama's Speech from Bagram Air Base

The New York Times has an analysis, "A Visit Well Timed to Future Uncertainties in Afghanistan":

KABUL, Afghanistan — The moment that President Obama chose to visit Afghanistan for the first time in 17 months was a rare chance for him to make the most of a brief window when relations between the two governments are improving after months of crisis, and when the likely fallout of the coming NATO withdrawal is still months away.

In the background, however, lurk a host of concerns about how things could go once the bulk of American troops leave and the pipeline of foreign aid slows to a trickle, which is expected to happen by the end of 2014. Both will increase the country’s already deep sense of precariousness. And there is concern, too, about whether what once were cornerstone American goals in Afghanistan — establishing reliable security forces, hobbling the insurgency, curbing endemic corruption, securing enduring rights for women and minorities — are now unrealistic given the looming deadline.

“None of the tensions between the United States and the Karzai government have gone away,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, a strategic analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, in an essay published Tuesday on the center’s Web site. “The broader problems with Afghan governance and corruption are not diminishing. Progress in creating effective Afghan forces is increasingly questionable, the insurgents are clearly committed to going on with the fight, and relations with Pakistan seem to take two steps backward for every apparent step forward.”

Mr. Cordesman continued, “As for American domestic politics, there seems to be growing, tacit, bipartisan agreement to drift toward an exit strategy without really admitting it.”
RELATED: From Michael Cohen, at Foreign Policy, "Hi, I Killed Osama bin Laden and I Approve This Message."

And from Allahpundit, at Hot Air, "Football spiked: Obama to address nation on Bin Laden anniversary live from Afghanistan."

Heroes Don't Spike the Football

Video c/o The Astute Bloggers:


And see Michael Mukasey, "Obama and the bin Laden Bragging Rights." Also, at Betsy's Page, "Obama's spiked football."

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Richard Grenell Resigns as Romney's National Security Spokesman — Policy Positions, Not Anti-Gay 'Hounding', Explain the Departure

See the report at the Washington Post, "Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney spokesman, resigns."

And Jennifer Rubin really went to town on the right for allegedly "hounding" Grenell out of the Romney campaign, "EXCLUSIVE: Richard Grenell hounded from Romney campaign by anti-gay conservatives" (via Memeorandum).

But actually, there's not a lot of evidence that hard-right conservatives "hounded" Grenell from the campaign. (Allahpundit has a huge roundup, "Openly gay foreign-policy spokesman for Romney campaign resigns; Update: “He wasn’t under wraps”.")

Sure, there was some pushback, but it was pretty localized around a few figures on the religious right, Bryan Fischer, for example ("Re: Richard Grenell: Romney has some splaining to do"), and Tony Perkins, "Conservatives Engage in Some Hire Learning":
Most conservatives have been anxious to see how the Romney campaign would react now that the strongest social conservative, Sen. Rick Santorum, is out of the race. Would the Governor try to fill the void left on values issues or would he stick to his more moderate approach? Some people believe that question was answered last week with the selection of Richard Grenell as Mitt Romney's foreign policy spokesman. Grenell, who served in President Bush's administration, specialized in the U.N., but the areas where he disagreed with his old boss are what concern conservatives most.

Grenell, who has been very open about his homosexual lifestyle, publicly condemned the Bush administration (shortly after leaving it) for opposing a U.N. resolution urging the full acceptance of homosexuality. While Bush (like nearly two thirds of the U.N. member states) refused to endorse the measure endorsing homosexuality, President Obama signed it shortly after taking office. Since then, his State Department, under the direction of Hillary Clinton, has tossed aside the cultural and religious beliefs of other countries to promote homosexuality as a basic human right, while downgrading the importance of religious liberty. Clearly, the strategy is for the State Department to force these policies (which most U.S. states reject) on the international stage and then build pressure on the U.S. to adopt measures like Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and same-sex "marriage."

In a recent column for the Washington Blade, Grenell hinted at where he falls on the marriage issue when he criticized gay and lesbian Democrats for supporting President Obama despite the fact that he hasn't done enough to redefine marriage. Still others point to Grenell's long-time partner and his desire to tie the knot, "It's not an option for us... but hopefully someday soon it will be." While past performance is not a guarantee of future results, there is strong evidence that Grenell would lobby for foreign policy more in line with the current administration than the last Republican one.
And see the comments from Gary Bauer as well, "Unforced Error, Governor":
While Governor Mitt Romney is clearly enjoying a bounce in the polls and a boost in momentum, his campaign still has some work to do when it comes to reassuring the conservative base and values voters. That's why his appointment of Richard Grenell, who worked in the Bush Administration, to be his spokesman on national security issues was a disappointment to many conservatives.

I share their disappointment not because Grenell is gay. He is not weak on defense. In fact, former Ambassador John Bolton is defending Grenell today. Conservative pro-family leaders are disappointed because Grenell has been an outspoken advocate of redefining normal marriage. For the overwhelmingly majority of folks who support Governor Romney that issue is starkly clear -- marriage is the union of one and one woman. But Grenell once caused a controversy by trying to have his partner listed as his spouse when he worked at the U.N.

Thankfully, Grenell is not going to be making policy on domestic issues. But his appointment was disappointing because it comes at a time when the Romney campaign should be reaching out to the conservative base. Instead, this appointment seems like a slap at the base.

Moreover, Grenell is known for having an acerbic personality, and critics have described his comments in social media as being "catty." He may be competent, but he is creating controversies on multiple fronts where the Romney campaign can least afford them.

That said, we should not exaggerate this. Homosexuals were part of the Reagan Administration and the Bush Administrations. Our concern is policy. One of the ways Governor Romney can reassure values voters is to make more statements in his speeches that speak to their concerns about the sanctity of life, the meaning of marriage and the importance of faith and family.

Pointing this out does not hurt Mitt Romney. I am making this observation precisely because it is so important that he defeat Barack Obama. There is no path to victory for a Republican presidential candidate that does not involve massive turnout by pro-family voters. The only way Mitt Romney will end up with a majority on Election Day -- and I will do everything I can to make sure that happens -- is to unite economic, defense and social conservatives behind his candidacy.
And with reference to Grenell's "catty" comments via social media, Politico's got that: "Twitter-happy Romney flack Grenell resigns."

And see Matthew J. Franck, "Who Is Richard Grenell Anyway?"

Finally, here's this from BuzzFeed, "In Romney's Gay Rights Mess, Silence Wasn't An Option: The candidate stayed mum while his gay aide was being blasted by the right. Now gay rights groups blame Romney, whose aides say it was never about sexuality."

It's clear from a look at Memeorandum that Grenell's departure is another chance for the left to frame the narrative that Republicans are "homophobic bigots." Unfortunately, there's a lot more folks like Jennifer Rubin willing to give the left a hand. The bottom line is that pro-gay marriage advocacy is a far left-wing position. If Republicans attempt to add gay marriage to their platform the voters will find them wanting. If voters are going to base their votes on progressive policy positions, they'll go with the real thing: the radical extremist gay-rights agenda of the Democratic Party. The GOP can try to co-opt the left's position on gay rights, but no matter what they do they'll still be branded as "haters" and anti-gay "bigots." Besides, a majority of Republicans continue to favor the traditional definition of marriage. Bauer is right: The GOP needs to unite economic, defense, and social conservatives around Romney's candidacy. It's not about sexuality. It's about policy.

May Day Protests Planned Across the U.S.

The Washington Post reports, "Occupy movement prepares for nationwide general strike," and at Bloomberg, "Occupy Wall Street Plans Global Protests in May Day Resurgence."

And see The Lonely Conservative, "Commie May Day Protests and Occupations Going Global."

She's not kidding!

Here's Teresa Gutierrez of the Workers World Party: "VIVA MAY DAY! - OWS Unites With Immigrants and Working Class."



PREVIOUSLY: "Occupy Wall Street: The Communist Movement Reborn."

MI6 Spy Gareth Williams Most Likely Died from Poisoning, Suffocation or Strangulation

At Telegraph UK, "MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'probably died from poisoning or asphyxiation'."


And earlier at the New York Times, "Death of Spy, Zipped Into Bag, Spawns Theories and Inquest."

Perhaps Trying to Politicize the Anniversary of Osama bin Laden's Killing Might Have Been a Mistake

The video's via Politico, "Arianna Huffington: Obama ad ‘despicable’."

And see Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Maybe Running on Bin Laden Won’t Work":

As Alana noted earlier, the fact that some influential liberal pundits are backing away from the Obama campaign’s claim that a President Romney would have let bin Laden live, illustrates the contempt that this shameless slur has generated. If Arianna Huffington thinks it’s a bad idea, imagine how the rest of the country thinks?

Elizabeth Warren May Be Able to Claim 1/32 Native American Ancestry

The Boston Globe reports, "Geneologist says Warren may be able to claim Cherokee heritage...":
A record unearthed Monday shows that Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has a great-great-great grandmother listed in an 1894 document as a Cherokee, said a genealogist at the New England Historic and Genealogy Society.

The latest shred of evidence could validate her claim that she has Native American ancestry, making her 1/32 American Indian, but may not put an end to the questions swirling around the subject.

Intense focus in Warren’s heritage comes as the Democratic candidate has faced several days of scrutiny about whether she has represented herself as a minority in her academic career.

The Boston Herald reported Friday that Harvard University Law School had promoted Warren as a minority hire when the school was under fire for a lack of diversity in its faculty.

Warren said on Friday that she did not know the school had done so and that she did not recall using her Indian ancestry to advance her career.

But the Globe and other outlets reported Sunday that Warren had listed herself as a minority professor between 1986 and 1995 in the Association of American Law Schools desk book, a major reference for legal professors.

A Harvard Law School spokeswoman, Sarah Marston, said Monday that the school would not comment on Warren or why it chose to promote her heritage. The Warren campaign last night sent statements from deans and faculty at four universities where Warren taught, attesting that her ancestry never came up in the hiring process.
And wouldn't you know it, the New York Times is all too happy to play up that angle, "Elizabeth Warren's Ancestry Irrelevant in Hiring, Law School Says."

Wow! That's a huge surprise that Warren and the law school establishment would look to deny any significance to the claims of Native American ancestry. Given that Warren's about as lily white as you can be, this whole thing blows up the left's diversity scam in education and hiring. What a total farce.

And see earlier, from Instapundit, "MORE ON ELIZABETH WARREN’S CLAIM OF “MINORITY” STATUS...", and "Plus, I, for one, salute Harvard Law School for having the courage to hire Professor Dances-With-Occupiers."

Plus, at Althouse, "James Taranto theorizes that Elizabeth Warren 'downplayed her alleged Indian roots after coming to Harvard to avoid the stigma of 'affirmative action''."

Also, from Legal Insurrection, "Confirmed – Elizabeth Warren knowingly self-identified as Native American on law association forms," and David Bernstein at Volokh, "Elizabeth Warren Update" (via Memeorandum).

BONUS: From Howie Carr, at the New York Post, "Harvard’s ‘Populist’- Liz Warren’s Pathetic Pose."

'Forward' — The Obama Campaign's New Web Ad

The Weekly Standard has the conventional take, "Obama Campaign Takes on Tea Party."

But you gotta love this, from Big Government, "Comrades! Obama's New Slogan: Forward!":

The communist themes of the "forward" slogan are not the first time a member of the Obama team has expressed admiration for Chairman Mao. Former White House communications director Anita Dunn--who has continued to advise the White House after she left in 2009--famously listed Mao as one of her "favorite philosophers."

Perhaps President Obama would have done better to take campaign advice from his friend and White House guest, Paul McCartney: as the Beatles once said: "But when you go carryin' pictures of Chairman Mao/You aint' gonna make it with anyone anyhow."
See also Lonely Conservative, "Figures! Obama’s New Campaign Slogan Has Long Communist History" (via Memeorandum).

Monday, April 30, 2012

Progressives Are the New Reactionaries

An awesome essay, from Victor Davis Hanson, "The New Reactionaries" (via Instapundit):
Barack Obama is trying to turn back the way of politics to the era of the pre-reform Chicago machine. He was the first presidential candidate to renounce campaign-financing funds since the law was enacted. He opposes any effort to clamp down on voting fraud. Even his compliant media worries that the president’s current jetting from one campaign stop to another in the key swing states is a poorly disguised way to politick on the federal government’s dime. Bundlers are, as was the ancient custom, given plum honorific posts abroad. Obama has held twice as many fundraisers as the much reviled George Bush had at a similar point in his administration. Obama supporters now target large Romney givers and post their names with negative bios on websites, as if we are back to Nixon’s enemies of the people.

Workers at Non-UAW Plants Paid the Price in Obama/Big Labor Engineered U.S. Auto Industry Recovery

Michelle reported previously on the Obama-orchestrated attacks on non-union auto workers: "The Autoworkers Obama Left Behind."

And now here's this, at the Wall Street Journal, "UAW Freezes Rival Out of Rebound" (via Google):
MORAINE, Ohio—So robust is the recovery in the U.S. auto industry that virtually all the union workers who were laid off by Detroit auto makers during the crisis years can have their jobs back, if they want them.

Even General Motors Co.'s Lordstown, Ohio, complex, long known for its money-losing small cars and its bad labor climate, is running 24 hours a day, with more than 4,000 workers churning out hot-selling Chevy Cruze compacts.

But here in Moraine, the GM assembly plant closed for good. Despite being one of GM's most productive and cooperative factories, Moraine was closed following the company's 2007 labor pact with the United Auto Workers union. Under a deal struck by the UAW during GM's bankruptcy two years later, Moraine's 2,500 laid-off workers were barred from transferring to other plants, locking them out of the industry's rebound.

The trouble with Moraine: Its workers weren't in the UAW.

"We did everything we could to keep that plant open and keep our jobs," said Mitchell Wood, a 44-year-old father of two who used to attach tailgates onto sport-utility vehicles at Moraine. "But in the end, we didn't have a chance, not being in the UAW."

The plight of Moraine workers highlights the extraordinary role played by the UAW during the near-collapses and bankruptcy reorganizations of GM and Chrysler Group LLC. That role remains a political flash point today. Democrats have cast President Barack Obama and the UAW as saviors of America's auto industry. Republicans call the help a taxpayer-funded giveaway to the president's union allies.

What is clear is that the United Auto Workers—though weakened by decades of attrition and the rise of a nonunion auto workforce—was still powerful enough to play a big role in picking winners and losers and in shaping the industry that emerged from that critical period.

That is true for the thousands of UAW members who have been able to return to work at auto factories, from Lordstown to San Antonio, since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy. And it is true for people like Mr. Wood and his non-UAW co-workers at Moraine, who had little voice in the reorganization and no hope of recovering their old jobs.

Moraine workers could apply for a job at another GM plant, but would be treated as new hires, receiving half the wages of their old jobs and getting at the end of the line behind applications recommended by the UAW.

In the end, "we had to take care of our own members," says Cal Rapson, the former UAW vice president leading negotiations with GM. "It was unfortunate what happened to the others. But there wasn't enough to go around."
Continue reading.

Damned mofo union thugs.

Stand your ground conservatives. This is classic left-wing thug politics. Get in on the right side of the progressive power structure or you're screwed. Then the left blames the right as "anti-worker."

Screw 'em.

In the Mail: The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas

I started reading it last night, as did Glenn Reynolds, who links to John Nolte's review, at Big Government, "With 'Tyranny of Clichés,' Jonah Goldberg Delivers a Second Triumph."

Buy the book at Amazon.

It's good.

'That's Why God Made The Radio'

Via Darleen at Protein Wisdom:

Environmental Indoctrination

Via Pirate's Cove, "Brainwashed Kid Thinks It’d Be Better Off If Humans Were All Dead."

1 World Trade Center Will Soon Overtake Empire State Building as New York City's Tallest Building.

Well, this story's close to my heart.

At New York Times, "With a Steel Column, a Tower Will Reclaim the Manhattan Sky."

And check the photo of the skyline.

FLASHBACK: "Faith, Freedom, and Memory: Report From Ground Zero, September 11, 2010."

Sunday, April 29, 2012

California Lottery Edits 'Luck Has a New Look' Ad After Radical Feminist Groups Complain Against 'Glamorizing Violence'

I've been meaning to post on this for a couple of weeks. I was getting a kick out of the Lottery's "Luck Has a New Look" campaign, but then all of a sudden "Lady Luck" stopped slapping the dude at the bowling alley --- she blows him a kiss in the revised ad, which totally destroys the kinda film noir styling of the original clip.

I just saw the lame "blowing a kiss" version again and decided to check around, so here's this at the Los Angeles Times, "New lottery ad glamorizes violence, California legislators complain":

The leaders of the California Legislative Women's Caucus called for removal of a state lottery television ad that shows a woman slapping a man across the face, saying it sanctions violence.

"It is inappropriate for any entity, especially a state-funded Commission, to promote its products through the use of violence," state Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), the caucus chairwoman, and Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), the caucus co-chair, wrote to the head of the Lottery Commission.

The California Lottery's "Luck has a new look" ad shows a mysterious woman in black -- Lady Luck -- who walks up to a man playing a new scratcher lottery card in a bowling alley and then slaps him in the face, after which the guy yells "I won." Lady Luck walks away smiling.

The lawmakers note that the Legislature has taken a position against violence against women, but that they believe violence by women against men is also a serious problem.

"This commercial glamorizes violence under the auspice of "lady luck" and we find it offensive and counterproductive to society at large," they wrote, asking the lottery to better scrutinize the content of future adds to prevent "harmful messages that are paid for with public dollars."
Lame.

But typical from the utterly neutered world of political correctness, brought to you by the Democrat Party --- the party of nanny statism and abject hostility to independent thought and speech.

Drop the I-Word Campaign

Sometimes you have to shake your head at the left's complete and utter moral and intellectual bankruptcy. Here's the description of this campaign:
Drop the I-Word is a public education campaign powered by immigrants and diverse communities across the country that value human dignity and are working to eradicate the dehumanizing slur "illegals" from everyday use and public discourse. The i-word opens the door to racial profiling and violence and prevents truthful, respectful debate on immigration. No human being is "illegal."
But see Daley Gator for the smack down, "Oh, so it is the I-word now?":
Apparently the Left has decided, for all of us, since they are so, you know, intellectual, that the word illegal is now forbidden. I would have said illegal, but that would be, say it with me, RAAAAACIST! As I wrote last night, the Left wants to control the dialogue. And, in order to do that, they want to eliminate debate, and eliminating certain words, like illegal, makes it easier for them to obfuscate. When Liberals cannot argue, they try to intimidate, or censor, or change the conversation, this campaign against the I-word is all about that.
Exactly.

Also at Theo's, "Video - An activist on Bill O'Reilly tries to defend the Left's "Drop the I-Word" campaign where I = illegal!"

VIDEO: Rick Santorum Aborts Presidential Campaign

See Robert Stacy McCain, "Ashley Judd Makes Cruel and Tasteless Jokes About Abortion in Political Video."


And see Jill Stanek, "Stanek weekend question: Which pro-choice stars do you boycott, if any?"

Wisconsin Vote Is First Shot in Wider Union War

Yeah, a war on decency, a war on taxpayers, a war on women, a war on ...

Well, you get the picture.

At the New York Times, "Recall Election Tests Strategies for November":

AFLCIO Screw You
The combination of the squeeze on state budgets, high rates of unemployment and the conservative movement’s revived energy provided an opening for Republican efforts, often business-backed, to promote tough-on-labor legislation in key states. Those efforts have succeeded in rolling back gains made by unions over decades, prompting vows from labor to fight back with newly engaged members shaken from self-described complacency.

“The steelworkers will be working harder this year than in 2008, because we can see what can happen,” Michael Bolton, the director of the United Steelworkers unit representing 48,000 workers in Wisconsin and Michigan — including many hundreds in Koch facilities — said in an interview last week at his office in Menasha, Wis.

The steelworkers will be part of a broader effort that national union strategists say will fill the streets in battleground states with hundreds of thousands of their members, who will go door to door telling union colleagues — and, for the first time, nonunion households — why they should vote for Mr. Obama. The A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s political director, Mike Podhorzer, said his organization, which reached 25 million voters in 2008, would easily exceed that this year.

Officials for the steelworkers say it has been awkward at times to wage partisan battles against the family that owns the factories that employ them.

The union’s leaders recently agreed on a contract with Georgia Pacific that they considered fair. When liberal groups called for a boycott of Koch products late last year, a Steelworkers vice president, Jon Geenen, said it would harm “the wrong people,” writing of a “dilemma and a paradox,” namely, “While the Koch brothers are credited with advocating an agenda and groups that are clearly hostile to labor and labor’s agenda, the brothers’ company in practice and in general has positive and productive collective bargaining relationships with its unions.”

But, Mr. Bolton said, that has not stopped the union from telling workers at those companies what it believes to be the goal of the Kochs and their allies. “They want ineffective, weak unions,” he said, adding, “A lot of these bills didn’t directly affect our private sector members, but we realize that we would be the next.”

In an interview, Mr. Walker called that a “bogus argument,” saying he has no plans to pursue right-to-work legislation, as private sector unions have feared. Such legislation lets employees at unionized workplaces opt out of paying union fees.

“Private sector unions are my partners,” he said. Mr. Walker said that in restricting collective bargaining rights for government workers, save those in public safety, he was confronting a reality facing virtually all state governments with aging, unionized work forces: “We can’t sustain our budgets unless we make some reasonable changes.”

Mr. Walker said charges that he is doing the bidding of wealthy supporters like the Kochs are “the biggest joke out there.”
IMAGE CREDIT: Grandpa John's.

UPDATE: Walter Russell Mead has more: "Walker Gains in Wisconsin: NYT Shields Readers From Distressing News."

Apple's Tax Strategy Aims at Low-Tax States and Nations, Avoids Billions in Taxes Annually

Two things of note: (1) It's completely rational for Apple to establish accounting units outside of California, despite having its main headquarters in the state; and (2) there's a supreme irony in how the most hip of progressive companies operates no differently (if not more rationally) than the most "evil" of the Wall Street leverage kings or the hated Koch-style conservative business concerns.

Taxes destroy businesses and prosperity and if firms want to survive they have to do what it takes to avoid them. You'd think governments would understand this. But progressives just keep killing the geese that lay the eggs.

At the New York Times, "How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes" (via Memeorandum):
RENO, Nev. — Apple, the world’s most profitable technology company, doesn’t design iPhones here. It doesn’t run AppleCare customer service from this city. And it doesn’t manufacture MacBooks or iPads anywhere nearby.

Yet, with a handful of employees in a small office here in Reno, Apple has done something central to its corporate strategy: it has avoided millions of dollars in taxes in California and 20 other states.

Apple’s headquarters are in Cupertino, Calif. By putting an office in Reno, just 200 miles away, to collect and invest the company’s profits, Apple sidesteps state income taxes on some of those gains.

California’s corporate tax rate is 8.84 percent. Nevada’s? Zero.

Setting up an office in Reno is just one of many legal methods Apple uses to reduce its worldwide tax bill by billions of dollars each year. As it has in Nevada, Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands — some little more than a letterbox or an anonymous office — that help cut the taxes it pays around the world.

Almost every major corporation tries to minimize its taxes, of course. For Apple, the savings are especially alluring because the company’s profits are so high. Wall Street analysts predict Apple could earn up to $45.6 billion in its current fiscal year — which would be a record for any American business.

Apple serves as a window on how technology giants have taken advantage of tax codes written for an industrial age and ill suited to today’s digital economy. Some profits at companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft derive not from physical goods but from royalties on intellectual property, like the patents on software that makes devices work. Other times, the products themselves are digital, like downloaded songs. It is much easier for businesses with royalties and digital products to move profits to low-tax countries than it is, say, for grocery stores or automakers. A downloaded application, unlike a car, can be sold from anywhere.

The growing digital economy presents a conundrum for lawmakers overseeing corporate taxation: although technology is now one of the nation’s largest and most valued industries, many tech companies are among the least taxed, according to government and corporate data. Over the last two years, the 71 technology companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index — including Apple, Google, Yahoo and Dell — reported paying worldwide cash taxes at a rate that, on average, was a third less than other S.& P. companies’. (Cash taxes may include payments for multiple years.)

Even among tech companies, Apple’s rates are low. And while the company has remade industries, ignited economic growth and delighted customers, it has also devised corporate strategies that take advantage of gaps in the tax code, according to former executives who helped create those strategies.

Apple, for instance, was among the first tech companies to designate overseas salespeople in high-tax countries in a manner that allowed them to sell on behalf of low-tax subsidiaries on other continents, sidestepping income taxes, according to former executives. Apple was a pioneer of an accounting technique known as the “Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich,” which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean. Today, that tactic is used by hundreds of other corporations — some of which directly imitated Apple’s methods, say accountants at those companies.

Without such tactics, Apple’s federal tax bill in the United States most likely would have been $2.4 billion higher last year, according to a recent study by a former Treasury Department economist, Martin A. Sullivan. As it stands, the company paid cash taxes of $3.3 billion around the world on its reported profits of $34.2 billion last year, a tax rate of 9.8 percent. (Apple does not disclose what portion of those payments was in the United States, or what portion is assigned to previous or future years.)

By comparison, Wal-Mart last year paid worldwide cash taxes of $5.9 billion on its booked profits of $24.4 billion, a tax rate of 24 percent, which is about average for non-tech companies.
And which company is more reviled on the progressive left, Apple or Walmart? Amazing how things turn out for radical left-wing ideology sometimes. Everything's upside down with progressives. Frankly, I'm surprised this is even being reported by the New York Times. It goes against the paper's statist agenda.

White House Correspondents Dinner

Well, so much for the "correspondents." It's mostly celebrities.

See London's Daily Mail, "The night LiLo and Kim met Barack and Michelle: Wise-cracking President hosts star-studded White House Correspondents' Dinner."

And see the New York Times, "Much Fodder for Obama at White House Journalists’ Event." (Class-warfare hypocrites.)

Plus, at Twitchy, "Groan: When Meggie met Fluke-y." God, I'd take Sandra Fluke over that whale of Meghan McCain. Gross.

BONUS: Thank goodness for the lovely Erin Andrews, who tweeted from the event.

UPDATE: More from London's Daily Mail, some surprisingly good pictures of Lindsay Lohan, "What a difference a day makes! Lindsay Lohan makes up for missed flight and airport tumble as she glams up for White House bash in striking black gown," Plus, "Covered up for the president: Kim Kardashian plays it demure in high-necked green gown for star-studded White House Correspondents' Dinner."

Fighter Pilot

Via Maggie's Farm:


Also at Theo's: "Grab a beer, turn down the lights, turn off your cell phone, shut the door and watch full screen & High Definition and sound!"

Black Bear Tranquilized at University of Colorado Returned to the Wild

At USA Today, "Tree-falling bear has been returned to the wild."


And see Telegraph UK, "Black bear falls from tree after being sedated."