As they keep doing this kind of behavior on a near daily basis now, they do not realize that America has grown tired of this and their patience will eventually wear thin. Because the left is losing power and their true agenda is now exposed in the light of day for the Communist agenda that it is, they are desperate to achieve that ever elusive and imaginary Utopia their leader has promised. When in reality, all they accomplish by doing this is to unite the opposers to Obama's agenda even more.Well, yeah. All in self-defense, of course.
Not to mention the fact that some day, probably soon, they will pick on the wrong person and find out what it feels like to have your ass beat, and good.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Ann Althouse Attacked at Wisconsin Capitol Singalong
Butter Cow
Protection Racket: 'Responsibility to Protect' Becomes a Doctrine
The world has mostly enjoyed peace since 1945, but that owes nothing to the UN and everything to American power, exercised mostly in the form of guarantees to Japan, NATO, and other allies, rather than in shooting wars. In this era when violence within states is far more common than between them, cases of extreme abuse will sometimes cry out for outside intervention. But the traditional doctrine of humanitarian intervention, invoked by the United States and other democracies at their own discretion, is likely to offer a more usable basis for such action than the shiny new version called R2P, which places all authority in the paralytic hands of the United Nations Security Council.It's a good piece. RTWT.
And recall David Rieff, at National Interest, "Saints Go Marching In."
African Indigents with Massive Erect Cocks?
It's freak Irish commie Henry Farrell, at Crooked Timber, '“The Duty of Journalists is to Tell The Truth”.'
Henry "erect cocks" is alleging that the Irish Independent's Kevin Myers is --- wait for it! --- racist. See, "Feral rioters all have one thing in common -- a lack of father figures." (It's a good piece, but no talking honestly with the left's "elite" opinion police.)
Anyway, I left a comment for Henry "erect cocks," which is probably not likely to make it out of the moderation queue, naturally:
Oh, bugger off, Henry. You’ll change your commie leftist beliefs about as fast as Michael Moore trims down to a slim 180 pounds American.RELATED: Melanie Phillips has some updates, thank goodness.
And “African indigents with massive erect cocks”?
Quite a racist flourish there yourself. Sure would look great in the pages of, say, Foreign Affairs, eh?
Candice Swanepoel Victoria's Secret Bikini Photoshoot
Friday, August 12, 2011
Blah, Blah ... More Progressive Hysteria About 'Broken' Politics
Of all the endlessly repeated conventional wisdom in today’s Washington, the most lazy, stupid, and ubiquitous is that our politics is broken. On the contrary. Our political system is working well (I make no such claims for our economy), indeed, precisely as designed — profound changes in popular will translated into law that alters the nation’s political direction.Keep reading.
The process has been messy, loud, disputatious, and often rancorous. So what? In the end, the system works. Exhibit A is Wisconsin. Exhibit B is Washington itself...
The terrorists broke it.
Rioters to Be Stripped of State Benefits in Britain's Online Petition
Sarah Palin at Iowa State Fair
See Daily Caller, "Palin at Iowa State Fair: I’m still undecided on 2012" (at Memeorandum).RELATED: At The Other McCain, "Herman Cain Speaks at Iowa State Fair."
On the Road to Vegas for Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil
The show's tomorrow night. I'll have regular blogging tonight, once I get set up in Vegas.
PREVIOUSLY: "The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil." Plus, "'A Day in the Life'," and "Impressions: The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil."
Are You Reading Theo Spark?
There's been a lot of great blogging over there once again.
See, "Pic Dump..."
Also, "Cartoon Round Up...", and "Bonus Babe..."
BONUS: Have you checked out Great Satan's Girlfriend lately? What are you waiting for?!! "After AFPak."
'Both Gingrich and Paul have a nasty demeanor of a sort that, I think, will never make it to the White House...'
See, "The Iowa Debate."
Previously, "Ron Paul at GOP Debate: 'There Was No Al Qaeda in Iraq'," and "Newt Gingrich at GOP Debate: 'Put Aside the Gotcha Questions'."
Ron Paul at GOP Debate: 'There Was No Al Qaeda in Iraq'
Anyway, a big write up at NYT, "8 From G.O.P. Trade Attacks at Iowa Debate."
'Stop it B!'
Craptalker-in-Chief
This one's good for some extra giggles:
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Bill Whittle in Newport Beach!
Newt Gingrich at GOP Debate: 'Put Aside the Gotcha Questions'
I'm watching, so more later ...
Conservative Happy Hour with Bill Whittle
I'm sure he'll have a bang up presentation, given all that's been in the news just this last week. And for questions and answers, I'll be interested to see if he has an emendation to his optimistic take on American exceptionalism, seen here, in part, at his outstanding video presentation: "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 7: American Exceptionalism."And tune back in here later tonight for a report and more regular blogging!
Bert and Ernie Not Gay, Will Not Marry
But see ABC News, "Bert and Ernie Do Not Have Sexual Orientation, Says 'Sesame Street'."
And see All Facebook, "Facebookers Fiercely Debate Bert And Ernie Marriage."
RELATED: "Bert and Ernie wed? An idea divorced from reality."
Mitt Romney Heckled in Iowa
More at London's Daily Mail for the details, "Mitt Romney shouts at heckler as he remains in pole position for president nomination ahead of GOP head-to-head debate."
EXTRA: Robert Stacy McCain's on the ground in Iowa, "Mitt-Mania In Des Moines." Also at Memeorandum.
Prime Minister David Cameron Vows Crackdown on Rioters
Social media's not the problem. And amazingly, some folks are still debating the causes of the rioting, as if sheer hooliganism and evil needed further explanation. More at London's Daily Mail, "Unmask the thugs! Looters will no longer be able to cover up, says PM as he also promises a crackdown on social media AND cash for the rioters' victims."
Obama's Path to Reelection Narrows
From Ronald Brownstein, at National Journal:
Newly released state-by-state approval numbers for President Obama suggest that in 2012 he could face fewer options for assembling an Electoral College majority and increased pressure to capture racially diverse states. As a result, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, among others, appear to be evolving into critical battlegrounds on the campaign map.Nice.
The polling results, released earlier this week by Gallup, underscore both the stability of each party’s Electoral College base and the shifting roster of swing states that could decide the 2012 contest.
In all, the compilation shows that Obama’s approval rating exceeds his disapproval rating in states with 301 Electoral College votes--well down from his 365 total in 2008 but still enough to win. That total, however, includes North Carolina, where Obama’s approval and disapproval ratings are virtually even, and Georgia, where Republicans remain skeptical that he can seriously compete, despite signals from his reelection campaign that it intends to. If those two are removed from the list, the states in which Obama’s approval number exceeds his disapproval rating provide exactly 270 Electoral College votes, the bare majority needed to win.
Image Credit: The People's Cube.
'Descent Into Evil'
What makes the present such a frightening time is that a number of nightmarish phenomena that we had thought consigned to the dustbin of history are reappearing. Rioters in the streets. Burning buildings. Plunging markets and the threat of depression. The scent of socialism in the air.
Who, as of, say, 1989, could have imagined that in barely 20 years, what was then known as the Free World could sink so far?
What we are seeing in London and other English cities is an outpouring of evil. To try to explain evil as the result of something else is almost always a mistake.
The U.S. Still Has a Promising Future?
But check Michael O'Hanlon, at Los Angeles Times, "Despite Problems, the U.S. Still Has a Promising Future":
Amid all the talk of gloom and doom in the United States, with the stock market's near-crash and the renewed threat of a double-dip recession, it is worth pausing to remember that the United States remains the greatest country on Earth. It is also the country with the most promising future. I make these assertions not as a matter of national pride, but as an analytical conclusion.And he makes an excellent argument. The problem --- and I know it's a problem, because I'm just like O'Hanlon on this --- is that his analysis is almost completely structural. That is, O'Hanlon's looking at all this recent turmoil from a comparative power analysis interpretation, which almost systematically excludes internal political determinants. We can extrapolate from past patterns of America's remarkable exceptionalism and global preponderance and expect things to flow along fairly well simply because for all our troubles, no single other nation matches America's bounty or prospects. But the debt downgrade, as Danial Henniger points out today, is the ultimate signal that American hegemony is shrugging. To use Mark Steyn's analogy, we're like a prize fighter who's been hammered, and the opponent's sitting at the opposite stool, counting the seconds until the bell rings to come over for another round of pummeling. That's to say, for example, when Britain fell from preeminent status after WWI, and most definitely at the conclusion of WWII, the mantle of global political and eocnomic leadership passed to a benign power across the Atlantic, the United States. The U.S. had not only resisted the hegemonic role during the 1920s, but after WWII we did just about everything in our power to restore the defeated European nations and Japan to economic vitality and competitiveness. As America declines now --- and I'm using decline now for the first time really in agreement --- there's is no commensurate situation of the leading power passing the baton to a friendly rising power, as we experienced in 1945. China and Russia cooperate where possible but will seek advantage from America's weakening position, as power politics dictates, and that's while at the same time China is paradoxically hemmed in further from America's debt problems (mutual vulnerability forms a trace element of U.S. power internationally). And of course toss into the mix President Obama's hellbent agenda of making the United States the unexceptional nation, and well, let's just hope he's out in one term, November 6th, 2012. And the key factor for the electorate is the massive Democrat debt overhang. We're heading into a double-dip recession, some say. The Fed, for example, promised zero percent interest rates until 2013 because it expects no growth. The only thing good about this is that it almost guarantees that the Democrat ticket will lose next November. Even then, Republicans have been nearly as addicted to spending as the Democrats, with G.W. Bush's Medicare prescription drug expansion being Exhibit A. And the debt overhang will accelerate the collapse of U.S. world leadership unless two things happen: (1) we cut spending, and (2) the economy grows at a sustained pace of growth, say at three percent annual GDP for a decade or two, and then some. I can't see things turning around unless we have a combination of those two things, and without that we'll see a steady erosion of both U.S. global influence and a decline in the U.S. standard of living at home.
So, yes, Michael O'Hanlon makes a good case for continued optimism, but a more thorough analysis must consider the current failures of the American political system, and most importantly, the epic failures of the Democrat Party's expansionist, economic-killing social welfare policies.
More on this later ...
Norway's Anti-Semitism
In the wake of Anders Breivik’s massacre of his fellow Norwegians, I was amazed at the speed with which the leftist media throughout the US and Europe used his crime as a means of criminalizing their ideological opponents on the Right. Just hours after Breivik’s identity was reported, leftist media outlets and blogs were filled with attempts to blame Breivik’s crime on conservative public intellectuals whose ideas he cited in a 1,500 page online manifesto.Continue reading. It's a devastating indictment of Norway.
My revulsion at this bald attempt to use Breivik’s crime to attack freedom of speech propelled me to write my July 29 column, “Breivik and totalitarian democrats.”
While the focus of my column was the Left’s attempt to silence their conservative opponents, I also noted that widespread popular support for Palestinian terrorists in Norway indicates that for many Norwegians, opposition to terrorism is less than comprehensive.
To support this position, I quoted an interview in Maariv with Norway’s Ambassador to Israel Svein Sevje.
Sevje explained that most Norwegians think that the Palestinians’ opposition to the supposed Israeli “occupation” is justified and so their lack of sympathy for Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism was unlikely to change in the wake of Breivik’s attack on Norwegians.
Since my column was a defense of free speech and a general explanation of why terrorism is antithetical to the foundations of liberal democracy – regardless of its ideological motivations – I did not focus my attention on Norwegian society. I did not discuss Norwegian anti- Semitism or anti-Zionism. Indeed, I purposely ignored these issues.
But when on Friday, Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide published an unjustified attack on me on these pages, he forced me to take the time to study the intellectual and political climate of hatred towards Israel and Jews that pervades Norwegian society.
That climate is not a contemporary development.
Rather it has been a mainstay of Norwegian society ...
The Espen Barth Eide commentary is here.
I've said it once or twice, but I refrained from blogging on Norway's Labor Party, and the youth camp activists gunned down by Breivik. The agitprop on display on Utoeya that day was pro-Palestinian and pro-terror. Caroline Glick gets down to the bottom of it, and anti-Jewish tendencies there have a long pedigree, sadly.
Main Street Bank, Kingwood, Texas, to Go Out of Business
Main Street Bank lends most of its money to small businesses and is earning decent profits. But the Kingwood, Texas, bank is about to get out of the banking business.Continue reading.
In an extreme example of the frustration felt by many bankers as regulators toughen their oversight of the nation's financial institutions, Main Street's chairman, Thomas Depping, is expected to announce Wednesday that the 27-year-old bank will surrender its banking charter and sell its four branches to a nearby bank.
Mr. Depping plans to set up a new lender that will operate beyond the reach of banking regulators—and the deposit-insurance safety net. Backed by the private investment firm of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, the company won't be able to call itself a bank, but it will be able to do business the way Mr. Depping wants.
"The regulatory environment makes it very difficult to do what we do," says Mr. Depping, who last summer saw his bank hit with an enforcement order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
If you're reading Mark Steyn's After America, this story is yet another eerie example, found in the book, of the kind of stifling anti-American regulatory burdens shutting down innovation and growth in this country. Perhaps Depping will do better in his new venture, but the move to shutter the bank is an real indictment of job-killing government oversight.
Tania Gail Interviewed on 'The Snark Factor'
Scroll forward at the audio embed to about 7 minutes, seriously.
Robert Stacy McCain Covers Mitt Romney in Iowa
And a Romney campaign ad, "Civility":RELATED: At New York Times, "With Return to Iowa, Romney Heeds Call of G.O.P. Strategists."
Charles 'Dale' Ostrander, 12 Years-Old, Survives After More Than 20 Minutes Under Water
At ABC News, "Boy Survives After 25 Minutes Underwater, Rescued by 12-Year-Old Girl."
Dr. Benjamin Abella, director of clinical research in the Center for Resuscitation Science at the University of Pennsylvania, said rather than a miracle, Ostrander's survival may be due to the fact that the waters in which he was submerged were sufficiently frigid.Also at Daily Mail, "'He just spoke... it was amazing': 'Miracle' boy plucked from the sea stuns doctors with incredible recovery after spending 20 minutes under water."
"A number of studies have shown that hypothermia -- reduced body temperature -- is highly protective of the brain when it is starved for oxygen and blood flow," Abella said. "The water that bathed him was certainly quite cold, and its likely that his core body temperature dropped during his cardiac arrest event."
Abella said Ostrander's age and overall health may have also factors in his survival.
Democrats Doubt Barack Obama's Reelection Chances
President Barack Obama is facing mounting doubts within his own party about his re-election prospects, with fellow Democrats beginning to ask if Hillary Clinton would have made a better president.I coulda told you that!
London Riots Make Front Page at Los Angeles Times
Facing a storm of criticism for remaining on vacation while his city burned, London Mayor Boris Johnson returned Tuesday to tour Clapham, a well-off south London neighborhood that was one of many stunned by three nights of hopscotching riots that left one man dead and littered the urban landscape with hundreds of damaged businesses and residences.Also at the paper, upper right, "Divided Fed Has Surprise for Markets." And then below that, "Angst on Main Street Threatens Recovery."
The shaggy-haired conservative was greeted by crowds of furious store owners asking where police were as their livelihoods were destroyed.
"I felt ashamed," he said after viewing the damage, "that people could feel such disdain for their neighborhoods."
Community leaders, sociologists, police and lawmakers were left groping for a meaning for the worst social unrest to hit London in a generation. The riots laid bare a phenomenon that has stirred deep unease in Britain in recent years: "yobbery," the anti-social behavior of a generation believed to be so alienated from the norms of civilized society that pockets of some cities live in fear.
And at bottom is a story about long-shot GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger, "No Illusions, Just a Message for Gays":
Karger finally came out to his parents in 1991, after nursing a friend who died of AIDS. They accepted him, Karger says, but never seemed entirely comfortable. So he kept closeted, which was also better for business. Although he told his business partners — "it wasn't a surprise, and didn't change who or what he was," says one, Lee Stitzenberger — maintaining his secret kept Karger's sexuality from becoming a campaign issue.Karger might be a nice guy personally, but he's aligning himself with the progressive hate industry. And the Times is wrong on Mitt Romney. Romney recently "came out" and signed onto the pledge from the National Organization for Marriage to oppose gay marriage.
When his parents died and he retired, Karger finally came out publicly. It was 2006 and he was 56 years old.
There was no grand announcement. He simply took a lead role in the unsuccessful campaign to save a Laguna Beach gay bar, the Boom Boom Room. Three years later, he founded Californians Against Hate to oppose Proposition 8, the measure banning same-sex marriage, and used his expertise to expose secret funding of the measure by the Mormon Church.
To some extent, his presidential campaign is an extension of that effort. By nudging Mitt Romney, the GOP front-runner and a prominent Mormon — preferably on stage, in front of a national TV audience — Karger would like to stop the church crusade against same-sex marriage. In his view, Romney could make that happen with a phone call.
Romney's feelings are unknown. His campaign declined to comment.
And last but not least, the one piece of front-page news that reflects the flip side of social decay, "Outlines of Downtown Stadium Deal Approved." There's a cool little graphic as well. We were just down there for X-Games and I was really impressed with the upbeat climate around Staples Center. That graphic looks like the stadium would be kinda crammed in there tight, although I'd have to spend more time downtown and get familiar with the area. The main thing though is that it would likely bring NFL football back to L.A., and needed jobs and civic vitality to go with it. That's the reverse of the social breakdown that seems to be breaking out everywhere these days.
America as Less Than No. 1
See Danial Henniger, at Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. is far from finished. The private economy—from the biggest corporations to innumerable dreamers launching start-ups—is fit and eager. But make no mistake: The U.S. has taken a hard hit to its 65-year status as the world's pre-eminent nation.RTWT.
I'll have more on this topic in upcoming posts.
'Our Debt Pool': People's Choice #5 at Power Line
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Lucy Pinder Rule 5
'I don't call it a riot... I call it an insurrection of the masses of the people...'
Not surprisingly, BBC is now apologizing for suggesting that the bloke might have been involved. See Telegraph UK, "London riots: BBC apologises for accusing Darcus Howe."
We are witnesses the Mad Maxification of society in the early 21st century.
London Calling to the Zombies of Death
And at Telegraph UK, "11-year-old looter in court as PM condemns 'sick society'." Also, at New York Times, "Cameron Threatens Sustained Police Measures in Riots."
'Always Proud' — Sarah Palin Bus Tour Rolls Into Iowa
Palin's re-emergence in Iowa just hours before the debate is a reminder that the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee intends to remain part of the presidential discussion as long as possible, despite being largely dismissed by party insiders.No doubt. In fact, it's getting pretty crowed in the Hawkeye State.
RELATED: Robert Stacy McCain continues his reporting, "Iowa Notebook: Romney Coming to Town; Pawlenty and the ‘Plausible Chance’ Trick."
VIDEO Flashback: Armed Korean Grocers Defend Property During 1992 Los Angeles Riots
Click here to go straight to the video.
That's Crenshaw Boulevard and 59th Street, which was the epicenter of the rioting. And checking Wikipedia's entry:
Koreatown experienced the hardest crime and destruction of the ordeal. Hundreds of Korean owned businesses were looted, damaged or burnt down and an unknown number of Koreans physically attacked. By the second day of rioting, the LAPD and County Sheriff had been overpowered by the number of rioters forcing the departments to pull all units from patrol. As violent rioters next turned its attention to firefighters, the LAFD also recalled their teams. This left unchecked crime and fires which quickly expanded. The Korean American community, seeing the police force's abandonment of Koreatown, organized gun-wielding groups to protect businesses and area residents. Open gun battles were televised live as shopkeepers defended their business from the crowds of violent looters.Commenters at my blog and elsewhere have stressed the absence of citizens' gun rights in Britain. And the National Post reports now that Londoners are looking to self-defense after the police proved worthless in defending life and property: "Groups of Londoners vow to take law into their own hands." Check that essay. British authorities are worried that "vigilante" violence could get out of control. Right. That's after half the city burned down. An armed society is a polite society. See also, "The government’s duty is to protect law and order, not rioters."
More Mark Steyn Mania!
And at American Glob, "VIDEO: Mark Steyn Explains the UK Riots and More On Hannity."
BONUS: I've meant to post on Melanie Phillips as well, but Blazing Cat Fur beat me to it: "Melanie Phillips on the UK Riots."
Looter Alexis Bailey Walks Into Lamppost While Fleeing Paparazzi in Shame
Full details at London's Daily Mail, "A primary school worker, postman, a young dad, a boy, 11, ... all among the first looters fast-tracked through the courts."
Mila Kunis: 'People Can Lose Weight If They Want To'
More at WeSmirch.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.
Republicans Holds Four of Six Contested Seats in Wisconsin Recall Elections
RELATED: Don't miss Chicago Boyz, "This is What Democracy Looks Like." (Via Memeorandum.)
Adriana Lima Launches New Victoria's Secret Bra Called 'The Showstopper'
See Celebuzz, "Adriana Lima Models Showstopper Bra for Victoria’s Secret (PHOTOS)."
U.S. Debt Downgrade Leaves China in a Bind
The Chinese government has built what is now the world's second-largest economy in part by keeping its currency cheap in order to subsidize exports. To do that, it has bought gobs of U.S. Treasury bills and other securities. Any big move on China's part to unload its $1.2-trillion-plus trove of American debt would only result in a self-inflicted wound: sinking the value of the dollar further and eroding the value of its own reserves.
For the moment, at least, the economic and political consequences of dumping dollars are likely to keep Beijing from taking any such drastic action.
"There really isn't a better choice than U.S. Treasury bonds," wrote Huang Yiping, professor of economics at Beijing's Peking University, in a commentary published Monday in the influential financial magazine Caixin. "The basic requirements for foreign reserves are safety, stability in value and liquidity. Although U.S. Treasury bonds might not meet the first two criteria right now, the problem is still that we do not have a better choice."
Belladonna Rogers: 'Conservatives and Gay Marriage'
The radical LBGT agenda is best defined by such a person as President Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings program intended to sexualize school chidren. Kevin Jennings agenda would be held in high regard by the NAMBLA pedophiles. Closer to home Scott Brown replaced Lesbian Senator Cheryl Jacques who went to Washington to head up the LBGT Human Rights Campaign. The mission of the Human Rights campaign is to ram gay rights down the throat of the American people. Scott Brown in turn defeated Cheryl Jacques chief of staff Chief of Staff, and openly homosexual Angus, McQuilken. He is also the Chief of Staff of Planned Partenhood League of Mass. Funny how much of this ties together. I believe that we may be on the eve of a new revolution.Chrisler's spouse is also discussed here: "The FISTGATE Report." No one is saying gays can't make a family. It's a lie though to entertain the notion the gay family values are mainstream. They're not. And gays activists must use subterfuge and thuggery to ram that agenda home. Related: At Nampion, "Please Don’t Hurt The Gerbil – New And Improved 2011 Version."
Ezra Levant and Kathy Shaidle on Mark Steyn's 'After America'
And more at Pundette's, "Steyn Mania!"
Norway, Free Speech, and the Counter-Jihad
And fro Pamela's introduction at Atlas Shrugs:
Please read the rebuttal that Robert Spencer and I wrote in response to the scurrilous Norway blood libel made against us by media shills and Islamic supremacists. We submitted our piece to publications that damned us and others -- the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the New York Post, National Review, the American Spectator, the London Spectator, the Guardian, and the Wall Street Journal. Nyet. The notorious Guardian, the New York Times, and the Washington Post have published any number of articles smearing us, but would sooner strap on a homicide bomb than let us challenge their lies.
Allow me to extend my deep thanks to the one fine and decent editor who had the integrity to run it, Thomas Lifson of the singular American Thinker.
Street-Corner Hot Dogs on the Way Out in New York?
If you’ve passed through the city in the past century or so, you might expect that pushcart to be serving what everyone (even a drooling aficionado) likes to call a “dirty-water dog,” a hot frank plucked with tongs from a metal vat full of warm, salty liquid.
The delivery system is simple. The cooking method is rudimentary. And the result, with the way that soft bun sops up spare droplets of broth, is so essential to the New York gestalt that visiting world leaders must take a ceremonial bite for the cameras when strolling our sidewalks.
Water-heated wieners can be found on countless blocks of the city, and plenty of people are still ordering and devouring them. The other day, Gerri Queren, an airline employee from Queens, was picking up one with sauerkraut and mustard near the southeastern corner of Central Park.
“This is like a staple of New York,” she said. “It’s a little soggier, but it’s the way New York is.”
But the way New York is has been changing. Parents who insist on wholesome, natural franks in Central Park are one of many challenges quietly, slowly chipping away at the street-corner dominance of the dirty-water dog.
Re-Education Camps
The camps. Progressives love the camps. The world knows what happens in the camps. And the left wants you to forget why they need the camps. Kevin Robbins ASFL wants you to turn away from the camps. Socialism kills. Now time for your reeducation:Hat Tip: LCR.
W. James Casper H8® — Was That Wrong?
And actually, no need to even read the whole thing. Laughingstock Racist = Repsac3 is the blogosphere's George Costanza: "Was That Wrong?"
Stalking, sponsoring workplace intimidation, recruiting attackers against my economic livelihood, posting my college administration's contact information with directions to harass, and hosting commenters spiking the football after workplace contacts: Was that wrong? Oh no, not at all, if you've got the situational ethics of the progressive nihilists. ASFLs. These are the exact same kind of people who'll strip you to your shorts and rob you blind. Fuckers. Don't ever knuckle under to these asshats. Never submit to the mob.
P-51 Mustang Red Nose
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Kate Upton Tuesday Rule 5
Texas Hotties for Rick Perry!
See, "Young Minions of the Sith Lord of Texas."Also at the Des Moines Register, "Rick Perry to make Iowa speech on Sunday." And at Politico, "Rick Perry to make 2012 intentions clear Saturday."
2011 Jeep Liberty 2x4
'All Summer Long'
And we were trying different things
We were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long...
Markets Plunged Despite President Obama's Reassurance
The Federal Reserve sent investors lurching from worry to hope as it warned that the economy would remain weak for some time but said it was prepared to take further steps to shore it up.See also LAT, "Dow gains 429 after remarks from Fed."
The Fed's statement, which included plans to keep interest rates near zero for at least the next two years, ultimately sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 4%, its biggest daily gain since March 2009. Yields on Treasurys dropped as money poured in.
Trading was chaotic. Investors were initially discouraged by the Fed's announcement just after 2:15 p.m. EDT, disappointed that policy makers didn't announce any new initiatives and disheartened by the Fed's gloomy appraisal of the economy. That sent the Dow down more than 200 points within minutes.
Then, just as quickly, the market rebounded as traders focused on a phrase low in the Fed's statement, which said the central bank had discussed a "range of policy tools" that it was "prepared to employ." That prompted speculation that the central bank might soon step in with additional measures aimed at spurring the economy. In the last hour of trading, the Dow shot up 500 points, closing with a gain of 429.92 points, or 4%, at 11239.77. In Asia Wednesday morning, Tokyo shares opened higher, rising 1.9% at the start of trading.
When in doubt, parse the Fed's statements (and ignore President Barack "Steve Urkel" Obama).
London Riots Day 4: Manchester and Midlands on Fire
See also Amusing Bunni, "Save Our Streets," Daley Gator, "Would I be wrong to ask just one question concerning the UK riots?," JammieWearingFool, "Heroes of London: 'It Was Like Being in a War'," Right Wing News, "There’s Nothing Wrong With The Government Shooting Looters & Rioters Down Like Dogs In The Street," and Saberpoint, "Massive Rioting in the U.K., Black on White Violence: What's the Solution?" Also, at New York Times, "Cameron Deploys 10,000 More Officers to Riots," and "London Riots Put Spotlight on Troubled, Unemployed Youths in Britain." (At Memeorandum.)
Britain Descends to Hell
Police Overwhelmed in London Riots
And at Telegraph UK, "London riots: why did the police lose control":
The police have become so sensitive to the issue of race that it is impairing their ability to do the job.
See also Lonely Conservative, "Riots Rattle London."
PREVIOUSLY: "London Riots Continue for Third Day."Farrah Fawcett Barbie Becomes Instant Collectors' Item
Some of the proceeds go to the Farrah Fawcett Foundation for the benefit of cancer research.
RSM Covers Herman Cain in Iowa
And now he's got some more great blogging, on the Herman Cain presidential campaign. See "Sioux City: Herman Cain Begins Iowa Bus Tour With Noon Speech to Jewish Group," and "Denison: Overflow Crowd Hears Herman Cain Slam Obama: ‘That’s Not Leadership!’"Check for updates at The Other McCain.
Nagasaki 66th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing
Joseph Fein Defends Pamela Geller
Glenn Greenwald wanted Gay marriage to be the norm in the United States. As a Social libertarian, I see no issue here. As a partisan, I see a weak person who won't even stay in his own country and fight for what he believes in. He expects others to do the heavy lifting. Speaking to partisans who think the same way you do on TV, radio and the Internet does not expand converts. (nor does sock-puppeting).I've highlighted in bold the key sentence, but check the whole post for the context. I'd have to talk to Joseph in person to see how he'd vote on a gay marriage proposition next time around (if it's not decided at the U.S. Supreme Court beforehand), but the key is that Joseph would consider changing his position because of the ideological and political violence of the progressive left's pro-gay marriage ayatollahs. I cringed the other day when Andrew Breitbart announced he'd boycott CPAC over the organization's exclusion of GOProud. It's not so much that GOProud is either in or out at CPAC (I think the group's a Trojan horse but I'd let them compete in the marketplace of ideas rather than exclude them). It's that for all of Andrew Breitbart's super aggressive battles against the institutional left, he obviously doesn't get it on this issue. My sense is that he's got friends who are gay. Fine. So do I. But that doesn't mean one has to capitulate to the progressive barebacking agenda. It's bears repeating and repeating again: Gay activists are the most venal, vicious, and unprincipled political organizers going. It's like Rick Santorum noted the other day, when he suggested that gays enjoy "super rights." Progressive gay activists are the left's ultimate bullies. They are in your face, attacking anyone with the slightest inclination toward tradition as a "homophobe" and "racist." They browbeat, intimidate, and harass to get their way. They've threatened to destroy livelihoods over the simple act of voting on a proposition. They's lied and cheated in public forums, for example, with the mock judicial process that reviewed Prop. 8 in Federal District Court. Basically, they've raped the political process to leverage a disgusting and morally reprobate barebacking, rim-station sexual agenda that majorities of voters have consistently rejected nationwide. Fully thirty states continue to prohibit gay marriage across the country, but the tentacles of deathly progressivism have worked their subterfuge in the more left-leaning states, using all manner of deceit and duplicity to carry the day. Most of all is the sickening progressive discrimination that is the centerpiece of folks like the disgusting perv Dan Savage. I wrote recently on his sick bigotry and hatred of regular people: "Gay Sexual Abandon and the Perverse Inversion of Values by Same-Sex Extremists." The gay progressive program of ideological bigotry works because society has been beaten down by political correctness. No one wants to appear intolerant. No one wants to be attacked as anti "civil rights." The problem of course, is that gay marriage isn't a civil right, although regular people have been so brainwashed by progressive Orwellianism they don't know what is good and moral, and to even speak up for something decent is to be viciously attacked, with people's very lives being threatened. So this is why I think Joseph's rethinking of his vote on Prop. 8 is such an incisive opening on this issue. If it were me I'd leave it to the states, and if the voters choose full gay marriage rights so be it. But the process is hijacked by extremists and thugs, and it's not likely those rights would come around through a free and fair democratic process. And thus those folks so happy to call themselves libertarian on the issue just end up being fellow soldiers in the left's campaign to destroy decency in this country.
I voted No on 8; I support any two consenting adults to be happy. But every time Andrew Sullivan attacks Palin's family, I always have to rethink that vote.
Now, compare Greenwald to Pam Geller.
London Riots Continue for Third Day
And again, stunning coverage at London's Daily Mail, "Britain burns at the hands of the mob as the PM finally flies home: Gangs armed with petrol bombs and poles on THIRD night of riots."
Also at ABC News, "Britain Burning: Riots Rattle London, Spread Across U.K."
Monday, August 8, 2011
Stock Market Plunges
The downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating sparked a global selloff on Monday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its sharpest one-day decline since the financial crisis in 2008.Interesting how Treasury securities remained a safe haven. That can't go on forever.
In scenes reminiscent of three years ago, selling accelerated as the day went on, and investors were forced to sell to meet margin calls from lenders demanding more collateral. The Dow ended the day down 634.76 points, or 5.5%, at 10809.85, its lowest close since last October. Trading volume of stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange hit the fourth-highest level in history.
It was the Dow's biggest percentage drop since December 2008 and its sixth-largest point decline ever. Other major stock indexes also fell heavily. Traders also dumped corporate bonds and industrial commodities.
Investors fled to the traditional refuges: gold, currencies of safe-seeming countries such as Switzerland, and, ironically, the very securities that Standard & Poor's downgraded on Friday, U.S. Treasury bonds. For most investors, Treasurys seemed a lot safer than stocks.
Tuesday morning in Asia, Tokyo shares opened lower, falling 3.4% in the first minutes of trading.
The Financial Stability Oversight Council, a group of U.S. regulators led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, held an emergency conference call Monday afternoon to discuss the financial-market volatility, a person familiar with the call said.
"There's probably as much uncertainty as we've seen since 2008," said Eric Pellicciaro of asset manager BlackRock's Fundamental Fixed Income division, which has $612.5 billion in assets under management. "There's a general feeling that policy options are few and far between. There's a feeling that fiscal austerity is coming at the worst possible time."
I'll have more on this tonight.
Newsweek Publishes 'Queen of Rage' Hit-Piece Cover Shot of Michele Bachmann
She's got a larger image of this wild --- and wildly inappropriate --- cover photograph of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. The key passage:
Rep. Bachmann is unabashedly conservative, willing to take both parties’ leaders to task, passionate about her work, popular with grass-roots activists on the Right, committed to reining in the size, scope, and power of government, and yes, expressive. For all this, she must be destroyed.Also:
Disseminating unflattering photos of conservatives isn’t journalism. It’s Alinskyite narrative-shaping.This comes of course as Michele Bachmann has rocketed to frontrunner status in Iowa. See Rasmussen Reports, "Iowa Caucus: Bachmann, Romney and Paul on Top." The poll samples likely causcus participants and has a 4-point margin of error. It's looking good for Bachmann.
RELATED: At the Other McCain, "Liberal Head-Explosion Warning VIDEO: Michele Bachmann Testifies for Jesus."
Update on Tottenham Riots
BONUS: A phenomenal report at London's Daily Mail, "Police and the riot blunders: Top officer flew off on holiday hours before mayhem and doubts emerge over shooting that sparked carnage."
Ross Douthat, Political Scientist
In reality, the next election may be no more transformative than 2008 turned out to be. The next Republican president may find himself as hemmed in and frustrated as President Obama has become. Meanwhile, America will still have a credit rating to fix, and a deficit to close.More at that link at top, and Douthat had a great piece a few days ago on the debt deal, "The Liberals’ Dilemma." Note especially:
... American liberalism risks becoming a victim of its own longstanding strategy’s success. Because yesterday’s liberals insisted on making universal programs the costly core of the modern welfare state, on the famous theory that “programs for the poor become poor programs,” today’s liberals find themselves defending those universal (and therefore universally-popular) programs at the expense of every other kind of government spending — including, yes, programs for the poor. It’s a classic example of putting liberal political interests ahead of liberal policy priorities. In the short term, the insistence on ring-fencing Medicare and Social Security has left Democrats defending a system that often just ends up redistributing money from the younger middle class to the older middle class while accepting caps on programs that might do more (both directly and indirectly) to help downscale Americans get ahead. In the long term, by postponing any reckoning with the cost of entitlements, it’s making it more likely that the inevitable crunch will hit the poorest recipients of Medicare and Social Security harder than it should.Read that whole thing. Basically, progressives will never cut entitlements because gargantuan socialist welfare states form the core of socialist existentialism.
Douthat's coming of his own as a New York Times columnist, by the way. He had cold feet or something after leaving The Atlantic, but he's been more consistent in posting some excellent commentary of late.
Killed U.S. Navy SEAL Team Was on Rescue Mission to Help Army Rangers Pinned Down by Insurgents
The downing of an American helicopter full of elite troops deepened concerns among some Afghans that it might symbolize an erosion of U.S. power at an uncertain crossroads in the nearly 10-year-old war.
In the rugged district of Wardak province where the U.S. Chinook helicopter crashed early Saturday, apparently after being struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, NATO and Afghan forces engaged in daylong skirmishes with suspected Taliban fighters, according to Afghan officials.
Wardak Police Chief Abdul Qayuum Baqizoi said there had been Taliban casualties in Sunday's fighting, but he did not know how many. Western military officials said only that the area was being secured.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for downing the helicopter within hours of the crash. Following confirmation from U.S. officials that the 30 American troops killed had included 22 members of the Navy SEALs, the Islamic movement reacted with jubilation.
"We killed America's most elite forces; we achieved one of our biggest goals," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Sunday in a telephone interview. "This shows that our efforts are unstoppable."
'New Age'
And don't just take it from me. Keith Morris says DOA blew his mind at the Starwood on Santa Monica Boulevard in 1980. I was there as well. DOA opened for X, who were huge at that time. But Keith makes me laugh when he says, at 2:25 minutes, "I was thinking, how the f*ck was X going to follow these guys?"
See what I mean?
Secrets to Longevity
Check with Neo-Neocon for an informative essay on the topic, "Want to reach 100? Just do whatever you want…":
…and hope for the best.HAT TIP: Instapundit.
The Alinksy-Obama Minions
EXTRA: At The Other McCain, "Liberals Spinning S&P Credit Downgrade: BLAME IT ON THE REPUBLICANS!"
Hamas-Linked CAIR Freaks Over Pamela Geller's New Book: Stop Islamization of America
See, "PRESS TV: LEADING SPOKESMAN FOR ISLAMIZATION HAMAS-LINKED CAIR RIPS GELLER'S NEW BOOK: STOP THE ISLAMIZATION OF AMERICA: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE RESISTANCE."
'Nothing From Nothing'
I'm not tryin' to be your hero
'Cause that zero is too cold for me, Brrr
I'm not tryin' to be your highness
'Cause that minus is too low to see, yeah
Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
And I'm not stuffin'
Believe you me
Don't you remember I told ya
I'm a soldier in the war on poverty, yeah
Yes, I am