Newt Gingrich Often Strayed from Conservative Beliefs

At Los Angeles Times, "Gingrich's record belies his conservative image":

For months, many Republicans have cast about for an alternative to Mitt Romney, decrying him as insufficiently conservative. Now they appear to have settled on a new front-runner — Newt Gingrich — who is no more conservative than Romney.

Both men have parted company with the party's most active voters on many of the same issues. Both backed requiring individuals to purchase healthcare insurance. Both supported the Wall Street bailout known as TARP and government subsidies for ethanol production.

Both agreed that human activity is contributing to climate change (though each has backtracked in recent months). In the past, both supported trading systems designed to cap carbon emissions. Gingrich has favored research using stem cells from fertility clinics, putting him to the left of Romney on that issue.

This year, Gingrich undercut his own candidacy by criticizing a House GOP plan to restructure Medicare as "right-wing social engineering" — though he pushed for a similar plan when he was House speaker in the mid-1990s. But unlike Romney, who supports moving to Medicare vouchers, Gingrich now favors letting seniors remain in the current system, a stance that puts him more in line with Democrats.

For some GOP voters it may come down to image: Gingrich, who boasts that he is more conservative than Romney, forged his by leading a partisan revolt in 1994 that brought Republicans to power in the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. And some Republicans have chosen to forgive his ideological straying because they appreciate his lacerating tone, far more brittle than Romney's.

Like other longtime politicians, Gingrich, 68, has evolved considerably over the years, shifting rightward with his party. He started out as a liberal Republican, working for Nelson Rockefeller's 1968 presidential campaign against Richard Nixon (there were few Republicans of any stripe in the South at the time, and Gingrich, who had recently moved to Louisiana, filled a void in the Rockefeller campaign there). His shift has caused some awkwardness: Just this week, Gingrich said in a CNN interview that he regretted his 1979 vote to create the federal Department of Education, a target for elimination by many conservatives....

His rivals for the GOP nomination argue that Gingrich's record doesn't match his conservative image. Rep. Ron Paul, after cataloging what he deemed to be repeated betrayals by Gingrich and Romney, said that there's "not a dime's worth of difference" between the two men. Rep. Michele Bachmann calls them "the great pretenders."

The trailing candidates are likely to amplify their critiques in a televised debate Saturday night, when Gingrich will for the first time defend his position as the clear GOP front-runner.

Stand Up to Alarmism Over Global Warming

At Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

And from Doug Powers, at Michelle's, "Barbara Boxer: Climate Deniers Endangering Humankind."

Occupy Agenda Requires Regressive Tax System

At Investor's Business Daily, "Tax Hikes On Top Earners Won't Pay For Safety Net":

As Occupy Wall Street turns its focus to D.C. this week, its long-term agenda seems to be higher taxes for the top 1% and firmer government support for everyone else.

If so, then what the protesters want — even if they aren't saying it and almost certainly don't even realize it — is higher taxes for the 99%.

America's progressive income tax system is not particularly well-suited to financing an expansive safety net. And that would remain true even if the income tax becomes a whole lot more progressive with Senate Democrats' plan to slap a surtax on income more than $1 million.

Just look at what you can — or can't — pay for with this so-called millionaire's tax and a reversal of the Bush top-earner tax cuts.

Continue reading.

Obama's Stimulus Boondoggle

An excellent video from Reason.tv (via Instapundit):

Rick Perry's 'Brokeback' Jacket

I posted the new Rick Perry "Strong" ad earlier --- it's the one where Perry defends his Christianity and hammers the gay rights extremists.

Well, there's a backlash, and it's trending at Memeorandum.

The gay lobby is hitting back. I think they got him pretty good on that "Brokeback" jacket thing, although this video below is pretty over the top. "Vagina penetrators"? As if there's something wrong with that compared to radical rim-station bung-hole bungee jumping:

Sarah Palin on Obama and the GOP Candidates

At Fox News, "Palin Warns GOP Candidates: Quit Attacking Each Other and Focus on Obama."

Check the whole video at the link. Palin adds:

I would advise our candidates to remember to focus on the problems that Barack Obama has caused this country. Quit nitpicking at each other. Some of these candidates, Sean, are playing right into the left's playbook. They are doing that opposition research and broadcasting it for the left. Instead, let us concentrate on the problems under Obama and how we can fix them.

Chinese Double-Standards and the U.N. Conference on Climate Change, Durban 2011

This was a New York Times the other day, "Outrage Grows Over Air Pollution and China’s Response."

BEIJING — The statement posted online along with a photograph of central Beijing muffled in a miasma of brown haze did not mince words: “The end of the world is imminent.”

The ceaseless churning of factories and automobile engines in and around Beijing has led to this: hundreds of flights canceled since Sunday because of smog, stores sold out of face masks, and many Chinese complaining on the Internet that officials are failing to level with them about air quality or make any improvements to the environment.

Chronic pollution in Beijing, temporarily scrubbed clean for the 2008 Summer Olympics, has made people angry for a long time, but the disruptions it causes to daily life are now raising questions about the economic cost, and the government’s ability to ensure the safety of the population.

“As a Chinese citizen, we have been kept in the dark on this issue for too long,” said Yu Ping, the father of a 7-year-old boy, who has started a public campaign to demand that officials report more accurately about Beijing’s air quality. “The government is just so bureaucratic that they don’t seem to care whether we common people live or die. And it’s up to us, the common people, to prod them and to put pressure on them so that they can reflect on their actions and realize that they really just have to do something.”

When the frustration of parents boils over, Communist Party leaders start worrying about their legitimacy in the eyes of the people. That was the case in 2008 when parents vented anger over deadly school collapses in the Sichuan earthquake and over adulterated milk.

The motionless cloud of pollution that has smothered the capital and its surroundings in recent days has frayed tempers. Long stretches of highway have been shut down because of low visibility, hobbling transportation of people and goods. Workers at Capital International Airport have faced crowds of irate travelers whose flights have been grounded. From Sunday to 11 a.m. Tuesday, more than 700 outbound and inbound flights were canceled, one airport official said. A tour guide, Wang Lanhuizi, 23, clutched dozens of passports from a stranded group. “I’m really worried, but there’s nothing we can do,” she said.

An announcement at the airport made no mention of pollution, attributing the cancellations and delays to “the weather condition.” That has long been the government line: the haze is fog, not fumes. But increasingly, Chinese know better. People like Mr. Yu, a newspaper editor, are lobbying officials to stop whitewashing their air quality reports.

And here's this from yesterday's Times, "At Climate Talks, a Familiar Standoff Between U.S. and China":

DURBAN, South Africa — China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has once again emerged as the biggest puzzle at international climate change talks, sending ambiguous signals about the role it intends to play in future negotiations. This week, the nation’s top climate envoy said that China would be open to signing a formal treaty limiting emissions after 2020 — but laid down conditions for doing so that are unlikely ever to be met.

China’s lead negotiator at the United Nations climate change talks here, Xie Zhenhua, said that China was prepared to enter into a legally binding agreement after current voluntary programs expire at the end of the decade, seemingly a major step. China has always contended that because of its rapid economic growth and the persistent poverty of millions of its citizens, it cannot be bound by the same emissions standards as advanced industrialized nations.

Mr. Xie outlined five conditions under which China would consider joining such a treaty as a full partner, the major one being that China and other rapidly growing economies must be treated differently from the so-called rich countries. But that has been a deal-breaker for the United States for years and is the central reason that the Senate refused to even consider ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 agreement whose goal, still unmet, is to limit global greenhouse gas emissions...

But no word about China's epic pollution-fueled hypocrisy from communist Amy Goodman, at The Guardian, "Derailing Durban's climate change conference."

Professor Aisha Karim Leads 'Communist Manifesto' Workshop at Occupy Chicago

From Lee Stranahan, at Big Government, "Chicago Professor’s Communist #Occupy Speech Reveals Selfish Union Agenda."

Mitt Romney Super PAC Off to Bumpy Start With Iowa Ad Campaign

Talking Points Memo (among others) posted on the ad, but the YouTube's been pulled, "Restore Our Future Hits Gingrich Hard In New Ad." And there's no sign of it at the Restore Our Future YouTube page. But William Jacobson has it. The ad mentions "NewtFacts.com," where we find a password protected (dead) link, the idiots:

More at Des Moines Register, "Pro-Mitt Romney group makes “massive” ad buy in Iowa."

Lindsay Lohan Playboy Cover Leaked

At Los Angeles Times, "Lindsay Lohan Playboy cover: A desperate bid for relevance?"

Actually, seems like the natural order of things these days. The leaked cover is here: "LINDSAY LOHAN'S PLAYBOY COVER REVEALED!"

UPDATE: At Coed Magazine, "Lindsay Lohan Playboy Pics Leaked Online."

Red Hot Chili Peppers Inducted Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

At Los Angeles Times, "Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers among Rock Hall inductees."

The unfortunate thing is how many great artists aren't in the Hall of Fame. See "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees: Where's Rush, KISS?"

John Lennon's Death 31 Years Ago Today

At Vancouver Sun, "John Lennon’s spirit still soars, Yoko Ono declares." And Telegraph UK, "Yoko Ono pays tribute to John Lennon on the 31st annivesary of his death."

And notes Sherri Donovan at The Sound L.A.:

John Lennon was killed 31 years ago today and, shortly afterwards, Roxy Music added his song "Jealous Guy" to their set while on tour in Germany, as a tribute. They recorded and released it a few months later... just a beautiful remembrance of John.

Lockdown Lifted at Virginia Tech After Two Shot to Death

I saw a headline earlier at one website or another, and I thought I'd landed at an archived page. But indeed there was another deadly shooting at Virginia Tech.

See Los Angeles Times, "Virginia Tech shooting: 1 of 2 dead might be gunman." And New York Times, "Violence Revisits Virginia Tech; Two Are Killed in Shooting."

Angels Sign Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson

Now that's what I'm talking about!

At Los Angeles Times, "Angels take it from the top with Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson":

They snag the most feared slugger and ex-Texas ace in what may be biggest one-day free-agent splash in MLB history. Team officials say it shows owner Arte Moreno's desire to win; teammates are giddy.

The Angels made perhaps the biggest one-day free-agent splash in baseball history and transformed themselves into legitimate World Series contenders Thursday, spending about $331 million to acquire the game's most feared slugger and one of its top pitchers.

Within a span of two frenzied early morning hours at the winter meetings, the Angels reached agreements in principle with first baseman Albert Pujols on a 10-year, $254-million deal and left-hander C.J. Wilson on a five-year, $77.5-million deal.

Bridesmaids in recent free-agent pursuits — the Angels failed in bids to sign Mark Teixeira, Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre the last two winters — the Angels nabbed the two stars with a massive investment that was $144 million more than the $183 million Arte Moreno paid to buy the team in 2003.

"I can't say in my wildest dreams I thought I'd be sitting here today," Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto, less than two months into the job, said at a news conference to announce the moves. "It's a tribute to the aggressive nature and quality of our ownership.

That's my team. I'm looking forward to next season. But the Angels are known for making the big off-season deals, especially for sluggers --- Mo Vaughn comes to mind --- so let's hope Pujols helps the Angels win a championship before he becomes an albatross.

Rick Perry to Make Last-Ditch Effort in Iowa

See ABC News, "Rick Perry to Roll Through 42 Cities in Iowa on December Bus Tour" (via Memeorandum).

And by the looks of Perry's new ads, he's going after the evangelical vote in a big way.

Unfortunately, this isn't going over too well among the radical gay rights lobby. See Towleroad, "Rick Perry Defends Ad, Doubles Down on Attacks Against Gays: VIDEO."

New Romney Ad Gets Personal on Faith and Family Values

The ad's seen as jab against Newt Gingrich and a turn towards a more aggressive campaign stance.

At New York Times, "New Romney Ad Turns Up Heat on Gingrich":

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s campaign on Wednesday opened a new, more aggressive phase to capture the Republican nomination by moving to draw sharp distinctions with Newt Gingrich in the final weeks before voting begins.

A new television advertisement that will begin running in Iowa this week focuses a gauzy spotlight on Mr. Romney’s family and could easily be viewed as a jab at Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, over his three marriages and his conversion to Roman Catholicism. The campaign has reserved airtime for new ads in New Hampshire as polls show Mr. Gingrich gaining there. And Mr. Romney has begun openly questioning Mr. Gingrich’s long ties to the Washington establishment.

More at the link.

Added: More from the Washington Post, "Romney launches coordinated assault on Gingrich."

The Case for Michele Bachmann

From Daren Jonescu, at Canada Free Press:

"Michele Bachmann is the clearest conservative voice in the primaries. She is the most legitimate representative of the Tea Party in this process."

Hey, I can dig it.

And yes, it is pretty freakin' sick for a lesbian parent to send her 8 year-old boy up to Congresswomen Bachmann to say "my mommy doesn't need any fixin'." But the gay rights extremists see this as a great chance to get some hate in against the EVIL!!! conservatives: "Watch: Michele Bachmann On Glenn Beck Calls 8 Year Old Boy's Act 'Shameless'."

Gingrich Leads Republican Rivals in Iowa

At New York Times, "In Iowa, Gingrich Is Gaining Favor, New Poll Shows" (via Memeorandum):

DES MOINES — Newt Gingrich enters the final four weeks of campaigning before the Iowa caucuses with Republican voters in the state viewing him as more prepared to be president than Mitt Romney, more attuned to their concerns and just as capable of defeating President Obama, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Mr. Gingrich is rated more favorably than any of the other six remaining candidates in the race among voters who say they are likely to attend the Republican caucuses in Iowa. He would be supported enthusiastically as his party’s presidential nominee by more voters than any of his rivals, the poll found, and is leading in the head-to-head competition as the campaign here builds.

But two-thirds of likely voters remain open to changing their minds, the poll found, with even more saying they are willing to embrace a candidate who is less conservative than they are in order to win the White House. And a large majority of voters say economic concerns are more important than social issues or immigration, suggesting that Mr. Romney has ample opportunity to make his case to voters.

A presidential race that has seen candidates abruptly rise and sharply fall is still remarkably unsettled here in Iowa, where the Republican nominating contest opens on Jan. 3. The outcome of the caucuses is likely to trim the field of candidates and help shape the contours of the primary race as it moves to New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond.

As the campaign intensifies through television advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts, the contest is hardly a Gingrich-Romney duel. Representative Ron Paul of Texas is essentially tied with Mr. Romney for second place, creating a combustible atmosphere as he and other rivals urgently work to slow the rapid ascent of Mr. Gingrich.

The voters who will render the first judgment on the Republican field have been carefully following the race — 7 in 10 say they have watched recent televised debates — and appear unified around the pursuit of beating Mr. Obama. Of the nearly 4 in 10 likely caucusgoers who say they get most of their information from Fox News, Mr. Gingrich is the overwhelming choice.

You know, we're still just shy of a month out from the Iowa caucuses, and it's not too late for Gingrich to peak. It's been a roller coaster for GOP candidates all year, so maybe it's Newt's turn. We'll see, either way. For now, though, he's in the driver's seat. See WSJ, "Gingrich Clocks Huge Gains in All Early Voting States" (via Memeorandum). And at Time Magazine, "CNN/TIME/ORC Poll: Gingrich Posts Massive Gains in Key Early States."

Obama Administration Blocks FDA on 'Morning After' Pill

At New York Times, "Plan to Widen Availability of Morning-After Pill Is Rejected."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. The administration's out of step on these issues and is freakin' over election year repercussions. See the editors at the Los Angeles Times (via Jill Stanek).

And from pro-abort extremist Amanda Marcotte, "Who to blame for the Plan B debacle?"

Model Lauren Scruggs Recovering After Horrific Plane Propeller Accident

There's video here, at ABC News: "Fashion Editor Walks Into Propeller, Survives," and "Lauren Scruggs, Who Walked Into Plane Propeller, Speaks For First Time Since Accident."

And at London's Daily Mail, "'I love you': Fashion editor, 23, utters first words and comes to terms with her horrific injuries after walking into a spinning plane propeller as family pray for her recovery," and New York Daily News, "Model maimed by plane prop takes first steps Wednesday."

Angels Aggressively Pursue Albert Pujols

Well, let's hope they're successful.

At Los Angeles Times:

The Angels, perhaps sensing they are about to lose free-agent pitcher C.J. Wilson to the Miami Marlins, jumped head-first into the bidding for slugger Albert Pujols on Wednesday night, according to two people who are familiar with negotiations but not authorized to speak about them publicly.

It appeared Pujols would be headed back to the St. Louis Cardinals after the Marlins reportedly pulled their offer, believed to be for 10 years and more than $200 million, off the table earlier Wednesday. The Cardinals are believed to have offered Pujols a nine- or 10-year deal for at least $200 million.

The Chicago Cubs are believed to be the only other team in negotiations with Dan Lozano, Pujols' agent, but it was unclear Wednesday night how aggressively they were pursuing Pujols.

And at USA Today, "Angels offer Albert Pujols 10 years, at least $210 million."

Britain's National Institute of Health to Ration Viagra

This is no joke.

Viagra is available privately, but the NHS is dogging those least able to pay for it out of pocket, the same people who are supposed to be better off with nationalization. Socialism sucks that way.

At Telegraph UK, "Viagra rationing to limit patients' sex lives":

With the Christmas holidays approaching fast, hard-working middle-aged couples could be forgiven for viewing the season of mistletoe and wine as a chance to spend a few cherished moments between the sheets.

But their amorous plans may be scuppered after penny-pinching NHS managers introduced new viagra prescription guidelines which could limit thousands of couples to having sex once a fortnight.

New policy documents advise GPs in parts of the country that patients in need of Viagra or similar drugs should be limited to two pills per month, down from the normal prescription of four.

Although the policy was described as a "recommendation" by NHS authorities, local medical committees told the GPs' magazine Pulse it was being handed down to family doctors as an "edict".

Erectile dysfunction medication is already stringently limited on the NHS and can only be prescribed to patients with certain conditions such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and prostate cancer.

According to the NHS some 2.2 million prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs were issued last year, with 14.5 million tablets issued at a cost of about £78 million.

NHS guidance acknowledges that there "appears to be no clinical reason to restrict the number of tablets" but it adds that, according to research, the average person has sex four times a month.
It says: "The average frequency of sexual intercourse in the 40 to 60 age range is once a week."
The new policy is aimed at economising on non-essential treatments, recommending that the minimum effective dose be prescribed "two times per month using the drug with the lowest acquisition cost."

The guidance applies to sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra) and tadalafil (Cialis).

And this is the clincher:

Richard Hoey, editor of Pulse, said: "Ask most doctors and they will say that being able to live a satisfactory sex life is a key part of health and wellbeing, but the NHS has never recognised that in its policy on treatment for erectile dysfunction.

"Limiting patients to drugs like Viagra just twice a month is to treat sex like an unnecessary luxury, and completely fails to recognise the degree of anguish it can cause some men with erectile dysfunction."

Well, yeah.

Freakin' big government health bureaucrats. What losers.

Retired Master Chief Yeoman Jim Taylor Honors Pearl Harbor Survivors

Well, with the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association announcing it will disband after December 31st, this year's anniversary seemed to have some final sense to it, like a part of our history receding a tiny bit from our reach.

PREVIOUSLY: "Fewer Veterans to Remember Pearl Harbor Day," and "70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7th, 1941."

Growing Campus Anti-Semitism

From the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

At the clip, that's Lydia Mazuryk at UCLA, the lead organizer of Bruin Republicans. Lydia's close friends with Barbara Efraim, my former student at Long Beach City College. They published a letter to the Daily Bruin last month, "Letter to the editor: Horowitz ad wrongfully attacked."

Fifth Circuit Upholds Convictions of Hamas Front Group Holy Land Foundation

At the Investigative Project on Terrorism, "Fifth Circuit Appeals Court Upholds HLF Convictions." And at Commentary, "Court Decision Reaffirms Convictions of Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S. Branch":

The Dallas Morning News reports the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld the 2009 convictions of five persons who helped the Holy Land Foundation raise money in this country for the Hamas terrorist group. Andrew McCarthy gives a good summary of the decision at National Review. But, as he demonstrates, the significance of this case goes beyond the question of how Islamists sought to use American Muslims as a cash cow for Hamas. The details of the case, reiterated by the unanimous opinion of the three-member panel of federal judges, provide a history not just of American jihadists but their connections with the Muslim Brotherhood; yes, the same group that just won the Egyptian parliamentary elections.

Continue reading.

NewsBusted: 'The Justice Department sent a letter to Congress explaining why it was dishonest about the Fast and Furious operation'

Via Theo Spark:

The Newtitlement State

At Wall Street Journal, "On Medicare, Mitt Romney has the bolder, better reform":

The contradictions of Mr. Gingrich's entitlement plan reveal part of his political character, which is that his policies often don't match the high-decibel, sometimes grandiose nature of his rhetoric. This can make it easier for his opponents to stigmatize his policies as more radical than they really are because Mr. Gingrich tells everyone they're radical. He might achieve more if he spoke more softly and carried a bigger stick.

RTWT at the link.

Fewer Veterans to Remember Pearl Harbor Day

I never believed in all that "greatest generation" crap, but the WWII generation is our link to that history --- when the United States emerged as undisputed leader of the free world. As time goes by the war is relegated further to the past, and fewer folks will have direct memories to hand down to their loved ones. We'll have new traditions and new heroes, but some events are unique in their implications for American life and our political culture. Pearl Harbor is one of those events.

At New York Times, "Pearl Harbor Still a Day for the Ages, but a Memory Almost Gone":

HONOLULU — For more than half a century, members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association gathered here every Dec. 7 to commemorate the attack by the Japanese that drew the United States into World War II. Others stayed closer to home for more intimate regional chapter ceremonies, sharing memories of a day they still remember in searing detail.

But no more. The 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack will be the last one marked by the survivors’ association. With a concession to the reality of time — of age, of deteriorating health and death — the association will disband on Dec. 31.

“We had no choice,” said William H. Eckel, 89, who was once the director of the Fourth Division of the survivors’ association, interviewed by telephone from Texas. “Wives and family members have been trying to keep it operating, but they just can’t do it. People are winding up in nursing homes and intensive care places.”

Harry R. Kerr, the director of the Southeast chapter, said there weren’t enough survivors left to keep the organization running. “We just ran out of gas, that’s what it amounted to,” he said from his home in Atlanta, after deciding not to come this year. “We felt we ran a good course for 70 years. Fought a good fight. We have no place to recruit people anymore: Dec. 7 only happened on one day in 1941.”

Continue reading.

Afghanistan Suicide Bombings Kill Dozens in Kabul

This reminds me of Iraq in 2006.

At Telegraph UK, "Fears Afghanistan is on verge of new sectarian war as 59 people killed in twin bomb attacks."

And at Wall Street Journal, "Attacks Point to New Afghan Conflict: Bombings of Shiite Worshippers in Two Cities Kill More Than 60 and Introduce Sectarian Strife Absent for a Decade."

Tuesday's massacre of Shiites brought to Afghanistan the sort of attack that has been perpetrated at Shiite mosques and religious processions in Iraq by al Qaeda and in Pakistan by the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The Kabul bombing was especially shocking, even in a country experiencing an ever-growing number of gruesome attacks.

John Podhoretz's Devastating Takedown of Newt Gingrich

There's a growing number of articles by conservatives critical of Newt Gingrich (see, for example, Ramesh Ponnuru, "Heartbreak Awaits Republicans Who Love Gingrich").

But this one from Podhoretz at New York Post is just crushing, "Newt’s second act: He’ll make great target for O." Read it all at the link.

Documenting Anti-Semitism at Adbusters, Leading Backer of 'Occupy Wall Street'

From Michael Moynihan, at Tablet, "Busted" (via Memeorandum).

Shoot, finding anti-Semitism at Adbusters is like taking candy from a baby. Checking Moynihan's references gives you an idea, for example, 9/11 truther Kathleen Christison "Elliott Abrams, Dual Loyalist and Neocon Extraordinaire." And she's a fan of rabid anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon. See Kathleen Christison, "Gilad Atzmon on Jewish Identity Politics: Calling Out the Tribalists," at the hardline communist website Counterpunch and cross-posted to Aztmon's blog.

And again, the fact that Occupy Wall Street gets the epic whitewash from MSM outlets is pretty astonishing. But it's an upside-down world, so you gotta keep fighting these criminal asshats. See my earlier essay, "Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution."

World Premiere: 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'

Another film that looks interesting, although Steven Spielberg is a tough act to follow.

At New York Times, "Behind the Camera, but Still the Star."

Obama Pushes Radical Gay Rights Agenda Internationally

Moonbattery has the bullseye headline: "Obama Using Foreign Aid to Advance Homosexual Depravity Throughout the World."

But see New York Times, "US to Use Foreign Aid to Promote Gay Rights Abroad."

And then check CNN, "Candidates quick to pan Obama foreign aid decision," and Reuters, "Conservatives bash Obama for gay rights stand." Also at ABC News, "Rick Perry Says Human Rights for Gays 'Not in America's Interests'."

And for the record, the United States can promote human rights without making a push for the radical homosexual agenda. People should be protected against threats to their dignity, period. The gay extremist agenda is a pet project of Western elites and won't do a damn for the billions of the world's poor living on less than $2 a day. What a disgrace.

70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7th, 1941

At USA Today, "Remembering Pearl Harbor, 70 years later." And the New York Times has a somber editorial, "Remembering Pearl Harbor."

Closer to home, at O.C. Register, "After 70 years, we honor Pearl Harbor heroes," and "Pearl Harbor casualties included O.C. men."

Bonus: A spectacular photo-essay at National Post, "Archival photos reveal horror of the Pearl Harbor on 70th anniversary of the attack."

Photos: Top, the attack on the USS Arizona. Bottom, the USS West Virginia burns (via Wikimedia Commons).

Pat Condell: 'The Gathering Storm'

A withering critique of the European Union, and remember that The Gathering Storm is the first volume in Winston Churchill's book, The Second World War:

'Listening to the Doors'

From Camille Paglia, at New York Times, a review of Greil Marcus', The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years:

Within an electrifying few years during the 1960s, rock ’n’ roll was transformed from a brash diversion of antsy teenagers into a serious genre that threatened to rival the traditional fine arts. Instrumental in this swift development was a Los Angeles band, the Doors, whose charismatic but tormented and self-­destructive lead singer, Jim Morrison, attained cultlike status after his mysterious death at age 27 in Paris in 1971, only four years after the release of their first album.

Whether rock ever completely fulfilled its early promise is arguable. What seems incontrovertible, however, is that rock’s fabulous commercial success could be ruin­ous to young bands, which were pushed by record companies into the artificial environment of punishing tours in cavernous arenas designed for sports. The gifted Doors were among the first victims of this still near-universal corporate strategy.

Continue reading.

HAT TIP: Kathy Shaidle.

Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution

The editors at the Los Angeles Times, bless their radical left-wing hearts, have sought to take the rough edges off the Occupy Movement with a manifesto that's digestible for the pro-American (yet economically dislocated) majority: "A manifesto for the Occupy movement." It's worth a read for the insight on what media socialists think they can take away from the violent agenda of Occupy. In a nutshell: Establish a moratorium on foreclosures (and place the blame for the housing crisis on bankers, not irresponsible borrowers and Democrat Party enablers); impose taxes on each and every single financial transaction on Wall Street; pass "tax reform" to hike tax rates to pre-George W. Bush levels (i.e., eliminate tax "loopholes" and "givaways" for the wealthy); repeal Citizens United so unions will continue to dominate political spending while lulling voters into believing in the efficacy of "campaign finance reform"; refuse to acknowledge that "free" college education is a long lost pie-in-the-sky dream and blame Republicans for tuition hikes at UC California; and legalize marijuana --- shoot, it's just crazy that dirtbag Occupiers should have to hide out a filthy crime-infested communes to get stoned.

The Times editors also screw up the origins of Occupy (it's not the Adbusters push for Wall Street's occupation last September). But no matter. I'm mostly amused at the left's aggressive attempts to mainstream Occupy. The occupiers are terrorists, frankly. The New York occupation began with day after day of anti-Israel extremism and fanatical anti-Semitic propaganda. In Seattle, Portland and Denver (just for starters) the full range of hardline communist revolutionaries marched day in and day out. And week after week we had reports of dead occupiers --- one murdered in Oakland --- of rape and sexual assaults, of rampant drug abuse and overdoses, of dirt and filth creating unsanitary conditions at the encampments, and basically the whole range of hate-America counter-cultural agitation. It's a shame that mainstream media outlets like the Times have latched on so aggressively. It's even more shameful since the editors are so completely ignorant of the true nature of the movement.

A few weeks back the MacIver Institute referenced the Organization for a Free Society. The group's website is all about Occupy as revolution, and they have a statement that's representative of what the movement's really all about, "Manifesto":

We imagine an economy in which people are empowered to manage their own affairs, there are no classes, the means of production of social wealth are owned by everyone together, we function in solidaristic communities, and peoples’ needs and desires are accounted for. Ultimately, we envision an economy that allows people to fulfill their human potential, that allows us [to] live and work in dignity and respect, and empowers us to express our true, human creativity.

We consider the economy to be an essential part of the way society functions as a whole, and think it should be as democratic as any other realm of public life. We imagine a classless society, in which we own together those things that produce the means of our existence. We imagine an economy guided by values of solidarity, equity, self-management, and diversity – in which our priorities in production are not based on the decisions of a class of owners and coordinators, but a thoughtful process of assessing social needs (such as the environment), community needs (such as more work here or a new park there), individual needs, and what it takes – on the part of workers, communities, the environment, and all other agents – to produce those things. We imagine an economy that is efficient, where efficiency means producing and living well, but not at the expense of other values such as equity. We reject the market economy, which sees efficiency in terms of profit for a minority at the expense of the social good, and squanders the vast majority of human potential.

That's the complete and utter rejection of capitalism and merit-based competition as the organization of democratic society. And that's barely the tip of the iceberg:

We envision a world where individuals can define their genders and sexualities however they like, where gender is not fixed but a matter of choice, where people have the opportunity to be and grow into or out of whatever they want. We imagine a society where people are free to develop and define their sexual orientations without oppression, without constraint, without inhibition. We imagine a world where people are empowered and respected, and where the needs of people of different genders or sexualities are taken into account. We imagine a world where women and men treat one another with respect and equality, where gender oppression has been wiped out of existence, where there are a variety of different genders expressed and no one has to pick any at all, and where gender has nothing to do with power.

We imagine a world where people can choose to express their sexual desires freely, partnering in whatever ways make sense to them. We imagine a society that is educated, informed, supportive, open, honest, and critical enough for choice to be meaningful. We envision a society where sex is something to embrace rather than be ashamed of, to be open and honest about rather than to hide and repress. We imagine a society where our bodies and different forms of sensuousness are things to be explored and discovered, where we are liberated to truly feel and experience what is around us, where this is seen as a creative process. We envision a sexuality where consent and respect are valued above everything else, where sexual aggression and violence are not tolerated or permitted against anyone anywhere.

That is the complete rejection of values, decency, restraint and traditionalism. And that's the core of the Occupy Wall Street societal agenda. No gender recognition. Pairing sexually with whomever it feels right and good, damn world historical norms of propriety and protection of the most vulnerable. As we saw in New York, women were unsafe at the Zuccotti Park encampment. They had to self-segregate to protect themselves against being raped. But that's all part of the movement, and no doubt man-boy love and polygamy as well, and only God knows what else. This is of course the end stage of the progressive agenda. This is what creepy radical leftists like Walter James Casper III endorse when they pump out brainless tweets exhorting commies, druggies, and hippies to "Occupy wherever you are." It's criminal. It's nihilist. It's deathly. For example, see James Panero's essay at The New Criterion, "Commune Plus One." Panero situates the Occupy movement in the experience of the Paris Commune of 1871, the historical event most widely recognized by communists as the epitome of the revolutionary manifestation:

Whenever Lenin wanted to suggest the success of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, he compared it to the mythical seventy-two days of the Paris Commune of 1871. For Lenin, the seventy-third day of Bolshevism became “Commune plus one.” “All through his life,” writes Horne, “Lenin studied the Commune: worshipped its heroism, analyzed its successes, criticized its faults, and compared its failures with the failures of the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905.” At his death, Lenin’s body was wrapped in the red Communard flag.

In 1964, a Soviet Voskhod even rocketed to space carrying a shred of an original Communard banner. By restarting a clock that ran for a couple of months in a Paris spring, the Communists consigned tens of millions of people to death and ruined half the nations of Europe. They then saw fit to celebrate these achievements by sending the Paris Commune into space before, eventually, their own idealistic creation came crashing down to Earth.

Marx called the Commune the first “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Lenin’s Bolsheviks identified closely with the Commune and shared the same name. Yet the Communists were far from the last to be taken in by its myth.

There is an undeniable romance in doomed idealism, even if the ends are worse than the beginnings. The deadliest form of idealism invites its own ruin, either from outside or within, so that the purity of the ideal can be measured against the severity of its destruction—cataclysm as a defense against compromise. “The Commune ruled for a brief seventy days before expiring in a holocaust of fire and bloodshed far in excess of anything perpetrated during the Great Revolution of 1789,” writes Horne, “but it left behind an indelible mark that was to spread far beyond the boundaries of France.”

The legacy of the Commune was an idealistic promise that can never be fulfilled. To resurrect the Commune therefore means to restart the countdown to ruin. Herein lies the deadly mechanics of the Commune and the movements it inspires. Listen closely and most of the failed idealism of the last century has the tick of that Commune clock, from the terror of China to Cambodia to many smaller time bombs including, now, Occupy Wall Street.

Newt Gingrich: 'Rebuilding the America We Love'

Look, there's no doubt Gingrich loves America. It's just all those other liabilities folks are talking about, and which are keeping many on the right at arm's length.

RELATED: At New York Times, "Fund-Raising Gains New Urgency for Gingrich Camp," and "Gingrich Surges, but Romney Organization Is Stronger."

Plus, at Gallup, "Republicans See Gingrich, Romney as 'Acceptable' Nominees."

Tantalizing Barbara Palvin

She's a Victoria's Secret hottie.

At BroBible, "Barbara Palvin's Tantalizing Lingerie Photo Shoot Will Melt Your Mind."

Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse' Premiere

I'm really excited about this film. And it comes during Christmas break so I'll have some down time to enjoy it with my family.

At New York Post, "‘War Horse’ Weepers."

Fetal Heartbeat Bill Splits Pro-Life Forces

Actually, the Times makes sure to identify pro-life activists as "anti-abortion," which aligns with radical left death cult abortion lobby usage, "anti-choice." And I like the fetal-heartbeat bill more than the Mississippi initiative that failed last month. Something about the heartbeat that's irresistibly compelling.

See, "Ohio Bill Splits Anti-Abortion Forces on Legal Tactics":

A widening and emotional rift over legal tactics has split the anti-abortion movement, with its longtime leaders facing a Tea Party-like insurrection from many grass-roots activists who are impatient with the pace of change.

For decades, established anti-abortion leaders like National Right to Life and Catholic bishops have pushed for gradually chipping away at the edges of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, with state laws to impose limits on late-term abortions, to require women to view sonograms or to prohibit insurance coverage for the procedure.

But now many activists and evangelical Christian groups are pressing for an all-out legal assault on Roe. v. Wade in the hope — others call it a reckless dream — that the Supreme Court is ready to consider a radical change in the ruling.

The rift widened last month over a so-called personhood amendment in Mississippi that would have barred virtually all abortions by giving legal rights to embryos. It was voted down but is still being pursued in several states.

Now, in Ohio, a bill before the state legislature that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detectable, usually six to eight weeks into pregnancy, is the latest effort by activists to force a legal showdown. The so-called heartbeat bill is tearing apart the state’s powerful anti-abortion forces.

Continue reading.

RELATED: Jill Stanek likes Mitt over Newt, "Gingrich: Life does not begin at conception."

Big Oil Companies Are Shifting Their Focus Back to the West

A great piece.

At Wall Street Journal, "Big Oil Heads Back Home":

Big Oil is redrawing the energy map.

For decades, its main stomping grounds were in the developing world—exotic locales like the Persian Gulf and the desert sands of North Africa, the Niger Delta and the Caspian Sea. But in recent years, that geographical focus has undergone a radical change. Western energy giants are increasingly hunting for supplies in rich, developed countries—a shift that could have profound implications for the industry, global politics and consumers.

Driving the change is the boom in unconventionals—the tough kinds of hydrocarbons like shale gas and oil sands that were once considered too difficult and expensive to extract and are now being exploited on an unprecedented scale from Australia to Canada.

The U.S. is at the forefront of the unconventionals revolution. By 2020, shale sources will make up about a third of total U.S. oil and gas production, according to PFC Energy, a Washington-based consultancy. By that time, the U.S. will be the top global oil and gas producer, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia, PFC predicts.

That could have far-reaching ramifications for the politics of oil, potentially shifting power away from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries toward the Western hemisphere. With more crude being produced in North America, there's less likelihood of Middle Eastern politics causing supply shocks that drive up gasoline prices. Consumers could also benefit from lower electricity prices, as power plants switch from coal to cheap and plentiful natural gas.

RTWT.

NewsBusted: 'Mitt Romney says that if elected, his first trip as president will be to Israel'

Via Theo Spark:

Luxury Car Crash in Japan

At Los Angeles Times, "Eight Ferraris smashed in luxury car crash on Japanese highway."

Video: Via Andrew Bolt.

The Climategate Sequel

From Steven Hayward, at Weekly Standard, "Climategate (Part II): A Sequel as Ugly as the Original":

The conventional wisdom about blockbuster movie sequels is that the second acts are seldom as good as the originals. The exceptions, like The Godfather: Part II or The Empire Strikes Back, succeed because they build a bigger backstory and add dimensions to the original characters. The sudden release last week of another 5,000 emails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of East Anglia University​—​ground zero of “Climategate I” in 2009​—​immediately raised the question of whether this would be one of those rare exceptions or Revenge of the Nerds II.

Before anyone had time to get very far into this vast archive, the climate campaigners were ready with their critical review: Nothing worth seeing here. Out of context! Cherry picking! “This is just trivia, it’s a diversion,” climate researcher Joel Smith told Politico. On the other side, Anthony Watts, proprietor of the invaluable WattsUpWithThat.com skeptic website, had the kind of memorable line fit for a movie poster. With a hat tip to the famous Seinfeld episode, Watts wrote: “They’re real, and they’re spectacular!” An extended review of this massive new cache will take months and could easily require a book-length treatment. But reading even a few dozen of the newly leaked emails makes clear that Watts and other longtime critics of the climate cabal are going to be vindicated.

Continue reading.

And see Hayward's piece from 2009, "Scientists Behaving Badly."

Prime Minister Mario Monti Calls Cabinet to Consider Emergency Austerity Measures

A stressful situation.

At New York Times, "Italy’s Leader Unveils Radical Austerity Measures."

The country’s new welfare minister, Elsa Fornero, a pension expert, choked with emotion at the news conference as she explained how Italians would be asked to sacrifice today in order to make the pension system less “arbitrary” and “more equitable” for future generations.

Also, at Business Week, "European Leaders Take Another Run at Fixing Crisis This Week." And Telegraph UK, "Merkel and Sarkozy meet for make-or-break euro rescue talks."

Why Herman Cain Flamed Out

From the editors at Wall Street Journal, "Herman Cain Departs" (via Google):

Herman Cain's departure from the Republican presidential race was inevitable, and the businessman did his family and party a service on Saturday in not prolonging the agony. Mr. Cain might have survived the accusations by assorted women if he had showed he was better prepared to be President.

The former pizza executive became a shooting star of a candidate based on his biography as a political outsider, his talents as a communicator, and his willingness to challenge the heart of Washington darkness that is the tax code. But as he rose in the polls, it became obvious that Mr. Cain was as surprised as anyone by his success. He had no organization and no real campaign plan. More troubling, he clearly hadn't thought hard enough about the challenges a President must confront.

Presidents don't have to be policy wonks, but they should be able to show more than a passing acquaintance with the major issues of the day. Mr. Cain showed that he understands how an economy works, but on foreign policy in particular he seemed almost dismissive of knowing too much, or very much at all. This was especially damaging in a year when GOP voters are looking for a nominee who can go 10 rounds with President Obama...

More at WSJ.

Also, at Legal Insurrection, "Herman Cain did not just fall, he was pushed."

Iranian Officials Claim Possession of American UAV

It's not "shot down," as some reports indicated.

See Los Angeles Times, "Iran says its military has U.S. drone in its possession."

What's So Awful About the 1%?

From Bradley Schiller, at Los Angeles Times:

Occupy Wall Street has said it's the 99% of 'us' against the 1% of 'them.' But many of 'them' started out like 'us' and have brought us great innovations that we embrace.

The class war is on. It's the 99% of "us" versus the 1% of "them."

In the rhetoric of this war, we are fighting the 1% because they possess most of the nation's wealth, bankroll their handpicked political candidates, control the banks and get million-dollar paychecks and billion-dollar bailouts; yet they don't pay enough taxes or invest their wealth in creating American jobs. They're the "millionaires and billionaires" President Obama has called out as needing to pony up more for progressive reforms of our healthcare, banking, tax and political systems. They are the enemy of "us" — the 99% who toil at low-wage jobs, hold underwater mortgages, face foreclosures, suffer recurrent and protracted job layoffs and plant closings, and yet pay our fair share of taxes.

But there's a flaw in this strategy. The Occupy Wall Street movement envisions the 1% as a monolithic cadre of entrenched billionaires who have a firm and self-serving grip on all the levers of the economy. But a closer look at that elite group reveals how untrue that perspective is.

Forbes magazine compiles a list of the richest 400 Americans every year. To get on that list, you must have at least $1 billion of wealth. They are the creme de la creme of the 1% — indeed, the top 0.0000013% (!) of Americans. So who are these dastardly people?

The late Steve Jobs was in that elite club this year. In his earlier days, Jobs would have been camped out with the OWS crowd, probably passing around a joint. Should we count him as one of "us" or one of "them"? (And you can't use your iPhone or iPad to vote "them.")

Then there's 27-year old Mark [Zuckerberg] (No. 14 on the Forbes list), whose Facebook innovation enables the OWS movement to communicate so easily. He and five other Facebook entrepreneurs just joined the Forbes 400 this year.

We'd also quickly recognize among "them" Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, who became billionaires developing Google. And, as they are sipping a latte to keep warm, the OWS campers should also reflect on whether Howard Schultz, Starbucks' founder and No. 330 on the Forbes list, is with "us" or "them."

Not every member of the Forbes 400 is a high-tech folk hero. There is a lot of inherited wealth on that list too (the Mars, Walton, Cargill and Ford dynasties). But 70% of the Forbes elite are self-made billionaires. Those entrepreneurial successes include not just the names behind Facebook, Google, Apple and Starbucks but also EBay (Meg Whitman, Pierre Omidyar), Yahoo (Jerry Yang), Nike (Phil Knight), AOL (Steve Case), Amazon (Jeff Bezos), Subway sandwiches (Peter Buck, Fred DeLuca), "Star Wars" (George Lucas) and even Beanie Babies (Ty Warner). Does anyone doubt that these members of the reviled 1% have enriched the country in significant ways?

Even more to the point is that all of these club-400 elites were once just like "us." Jobs worked on the first Apple computer in a garage on a shoestring budget. He had vision, not wealth, to propel him to fame and fortune. Oprah Winfrey (No. 139) rose from poverty to TV queen through determination, hard work and a couple of lucky breaks. Even Warren Buffett, No. 2 on the Forbes list, started out looking very much like just another hardworking middle-class kid with good Midwestern values.

I checked out the Forbes 400 earlier and was thinking pretty much the same thing, especially since a bunch of those on the list are Democrats.

'Misty Mountain Hop'

Led Zeppelin:

Walkin' in the park just the other day, baby,
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin' on the grass with flowers in their hair said,
"Hey, Boy, do you wanna score?"
And you know how it is.
I really don't know what time it was, woh, oh,oh
so I asked them if I could stay a while.

I didn't notice but it had got very dark and I was really
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us, said, "Please,hey,
would we care to all get in line, Get in line."
Well, you know, they asked us to stay for tea and have some fun; Oh, oh,oh.
he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.

Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
and baby, baby, baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin',
ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don't care if they're comin'; oh, oh,
I know that it's all a state of mind.

If you go down in the streets today, baby, you better,
you better open your eyes. WOAH WOAH YEAH
Folk down there really don't care, really don't care, don't care , really don't , which, which way the pressure lies,
so I've decided what I'm gonna do now.
So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.
I really don't know.

Save the U.S. Postal Service!

Last week we were studying bureaucracies in my American government course. We discuss the various types of bureaucratic organizations, including government corporations. There's really not that many, but the United States Postal Service is certainly the most prominent. As I usually do, I stop while discussing the Post Office to see how students like it. Do they mail letters? Do the ship packages? And if they do, how do they like the service? Of course, the Post Office is on the way out --- or at least, the Post Office that we grew up with, the one that guaranteed mail delivery whether rain, sleet or snow. I hardly check the mail anymore, except to get magazines and academic journals. And some of the household bills still come by mail, and we need to check for those. Other than that, it's mostly junk.

In any case, I looked for a recent article during one of my classes the other day, and didn't really see anything. It was mostly local news stories about communities struggling to keep open their local branches. But it turns out the New York Times has a new article on the Post Office, and perhaps I can use it in class, picking up where we left off last week. See, "The Junking of the Postal Service":

A FEW weeks ago a petition appeared next to the mailboxes in my building’s lobby in Upper Manhattan. It read: “Save Saturday Delivery! ... Save the U.S. Postal Service!” Over the next 24 hours signatures poured onto the sheet of paper.

I will not say whether I signed. But I will tell you what arrived in my mailbox that Saturday: two credit card offers; a Linen Source catalog for someone who used to live in my apartment; a notice of a sale on running shoes; some coupons for 10 percent off on pizza delivery; three promotional letters about colleges; and a bank letter about changing terms on my son’s high-school checking account for 2012.

As junk mail multiplies and the United States Postal Service struggles for financial survival, experts are increasingly asking the question, do Americans need Saturday mail delivery ... or daily mail delivery ... or a state-run postal service at all? Should mail be a guaranteed government service — like primary education — because it is essential to our well-being? Or has this once hallowed institution, like pay phones, outlived its utility?

Continue reading.

There is a case for continuing the Postal Service, but it'll be drastically changed from earlier eras.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

See also Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies."

Michele Bachmann: Occupy Movement Wants Others to 'Pay For Their Stuff'

CNN has the full story, "Bachmann: Tea Party will ‘come home’ to my campaign."

But I like this part, starting just before 6:00 minutes:

The strength is not with Occupy Wall Street. If you go to the essence of what Occupy Wall Street stands for, it's having other people pay for their stuff.

'An America Fast Vanishing, Often Overlooked and Sometimes Openly Despised'

See Fay Voshell, at American Thinker, "A Kentucky Funeral":

Glenn Roland Voshell was buried on a hill on his Kentucky farm last week.

"We can still do that here in Kentucky," his wife Gayle said.
And so my brother was laid to rest on the land he loved.

His Amish neighbors volunteered horses and wagons to carry him to his final destination. The horses chuffed and snorted as they plodded up the hill with their cargo of grandchildren, who momentarily had forgotten the reason for their ride up the hill. As all little ones do, they seized the moment, laughing with pure joy over an unexpected hayride.

We adults trudged in silence behind the wagon loaded with Glenn's body as a kindly sun warmed our shoulders, a soft breeze blew across our faces, and the vaulted blue sky looked down. The jingling of harness hardware and the soft thud of the horses' hooves were the only sounds. A hawk wheeled overhead.

Continuing, and then...

I reflected on how miraculous this gathering was. Here was community -- family, neighbors, and church folk all bonded by love and Christian faith.

Here, gathered at my brother's funeral, was an America fast vanishing, often overlooked and sometimes openly despised. Here were works of the hands, works of the plow, and works of faith. Simple things. Profound things. Things of the heart. Things my brother loved.

Here, too, I thought, was the heart of our country. If it were to stop beating forever, the land would perish.

God, I prayed, don't let the heart stop beating.

Read it all, at the link.

Charles Blow Attacks Newt Gingrich's Imaginary War on Children

I predicted this the other day when I wrote:

Newt will be hammered as the right's public policy Ebenezer Scrooge who's also an epic hypocrite adulterer with the moral backbone of a snail.

And barely 24 hours later, here's Charles Blow with an attack on Newt at the New York Times, "Newt’s War on Poor Children":

Newt Gingrich has reached a new low, and that is hard for him to do.

Nearly two weeks after claiming that child labor laws are “truly stupid” and implying that poor children should be put to work as janitors in their schools, he now claims that poor children don’t understand work unless they’re doing something illegal.

On Thursday, at a campaign stop in Iowa, the former House speaker said, “Start with the following two facts: Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.” (His second “fact” was that every first generational person he knew started work early.)

This statement isn’t only cruel and, broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his attitude toward America’s most vulnerable — our poor children. This is the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows how dark it is.

I've taken after Charles Blow before for his truly epic mendacity. But I had no idea I'd forecast this idiotic attack so accurately. Ebenzer Scrooge is, of course, the tight-fisted old meany in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. Being Christmas season that's the literary image that first came to me, but a variation of the Scrooge attack is inevitable if Newt manages to win the nomination. At that point I'll of course be putting aside any differences I might have with Gingrich. Indeed, I'll be bending over backwards for his victory over Barack Obama, who he has rightly hammered as "Legitimately and Authentically a Saul Alinsky Radical."

Meanwhile, check out this penetrating essay at William Jacobson's, "Don’t play the “baggage” game." And a key passage there:

The purest of personally pure candidates will be faulted for being a religious nut and not hip enough to be president, someone from the white bread 1950s. Policies advocating personal responsibility and empowerment will be portrayed as cruel and favoring the rich. Advocacy of treating people according to the content of their characters rather than the colors of their skin will be protrayed as racially insensitive or racist.

Exactly.

24 Hours on an Aircraft Carrier — USS Carl Vinson

This is so cool, via Theo Spark:

The Carl Vinson's Wikipedia page is here. And at ESPN, "Producer chronicles a typical 24 hours aboard the USS Carl Vinson."

Israel Pulls Ads Aimed at Expatriots

At Jerusalem Post, "PM cancels government campaign to entice expats home," and Telegraph UK, "Israel government scores own goal with US Jewish organisations."

Also at New York Times, "After American Jewish Outcry, Israel Ends Ad Campaign Aimed at Expatriates":

JERUSALEM — One video advertisement shows a Jewish elderly couple distraught that their Israeli granddaughter in the United States thinks Hanukkah is Christmas. Another shows a clueless American boyfriend who does not get why his Israeli expatriate girlfriend is saddened on Israel’s memorial day. A third shows a toddler calling “Daddy! Daddy!” to his napping Israeli expatriate father, who finally awakens when the child switches to Hebrew: “Abba!”

For many American Jews, the Israeli government-sponsored ads, intended to cajole Israelis living in the United States to come home, smacked of arrogance, ignorance and cultural disrespect of America. Jewish groups in the United States expressed outrage, saying they were causing a rift with American Jews who support Israel. On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aborted the campaign.

The ads — short videos and billboard posters — were intended to touch the sensibilities of Israeli expatriates and tap into their national identity, according to the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, which oversaw the campaign.

But critics said the ads implied that moving to America led to assimilation and an erosion of Jewish consciousness. The Jewish Federations of North America called them insulting. Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called the videos “heavy-handed, and even demeaning.”

Continue reading.

China's State-Led Model Showing Signs of Trouble

ICYMI, you might want to skim former SIEU chief Andy Stern's op-ed at the Wall Street Journal from earlier this week, "China's Superior Economic Model." I don't begrudge China's economic success, but I've never been one to fall head over heels for China's model, especially as a replacement for the American free-enterprise ideal. Stern's piece reminded me of the "Japan as Number One" school from the late-1980s and early-1990s. Back then I thought more reliance on industrial policy and governmental intervention might be a good thing. Then Japan collapse and by the end of the Clinton years the American economy was booming. Hardly anyone was championing the Japanese "developmental state" by that time. And thus, I mostly yawned when reading Andy Stern, and that was after a little chuckle, considering the former union boss was throwing his lot in with one the most murderous regimes in modern times.

In any case, the editors at Wall Street Journal throw some cold water on the Chinese economic system. See, "China's Hard Landing":

China is a poster child for the Austrian school of economics' theory of the business cycle. After undertaking the biggest stimulus program the world has ever seen in response to the global financial crisis, the country is drowning in unproductive investments financed with credit.

The government spent 15% of GDP largely on public works projects in inland regions, financed with loans from the state-owned banks. Investment as a share of GDP soared to 48.5% in 2010, and the M2 measure of money supply ballooned to 140% that of the U.S.

Now comes the hangover. The public works projects are winding down, unleashing a wave of unemployment and an uptick in social unrest. The banks' nonperforming loans are rising, and local governments are insolvent. The country is littered with luxurious county government offices, ghost cities of empty apartment blocks, unsafe high-speed rail lines and crumbling highways to nowhere.

One effect of negative real interest rates was a nationwide bubble in private housing, with the average price of an urban apartment reaching eight times the average annual income. Real estate is the most popular investment for the wealthy, according to a central bank survey in September. Millions of luxury apartments are vacant, even as there is a shortage of affordable housing for the poor....

There is no easy way to avoid the bust that is coming. The silver lining is that China's increasingly state-led growth model will be discredited, and a debate will begin on restarting the reforms that stalled in the mid-2000s. A financial sector that allocates credit based on politics rather than price signals led China into this mess. Popular pressure to dismantle crony capitalism is building, and the Communist Party would be wise to get in front of it while it can.

Supporters Shocked by Herman Cain's Exit

At Los Angeles Times, "Herman Cain's supporters shocked by campaign's end":

Reporting from Atlanta— Kerry Hobbs was one of the many Herman Cain supporters who absorbed the festive vibe at the candidate’s newly opened Georgia headquarters Saturday and couldn’t believe that the candidate would be showing up just to drop out.

There was bunting and barbecue and blaring pop music. A sign-up sheet for volunteers. Herman Cain golf shirts going for $50. Policy pamphlets for free. And hundreds of people who had gathered in the parking lot of this suburban Atlanta retail strip, to support their unconventional and beloved candidate despite the gaffes and the accusations that had waylaid his campaign.

“I really want him to stay in,” said Hobbs, 39, a registered nurse from Norcross, Ga., who put herself through school as a single mom. “If he’s going to lose, let him lose fairly—because the people like another person’s policies. Don’t let him lose over a character assassination.”

Also at Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Cain's reaction to allegations concerned some supporters."

And more from Pagan Temple, "The Cain Train Wreck-We Just Couldn't Keep From Watching It."

The Rise and Fall of Communism

I'm reading Archie Brown's book, which I enthusiastically recommend for your holiday gift giving. See the link at Amazon. And the Telegraph review is here: "Simon Heffer praises a book by Archie Brown that strips away the romance of communism."

And more: Shop Amazon's Holiday Book Deals.

Conservatives Must Recapture American Universities

I was thinking about this when Pepperdine's Professor Gregory McNeal sent me the link to his essay on drone warfare. There are a lot of conservatives in American higher education, and not just professors. I've been reading my students' term papers and most of them are so full of common sense and reasonable analysis. I sometimes wonder how instead that college campuses have becomes such intellectually violent places, inhospitable to the robust exchange of ideas. I think conservatives on campus often aren't as mobilized as are partisans on the left, and of course given the radical left orientation of the unions, there's good incentive not to be.

In any case, take a look at the piece from Ed Driscoll, "Dropping the A-Bomb on History" (via Instapundit):

If conservatives ever want to recapture the high ground of culture, just creating an alternative news media is nowhere near sufficient. they have to — somehow — recapture academia, where culture is ultimately created. And destroyed as well.

RELATED: From Bruce Kessler, at Maggie's Farm, "Jews Confront The Gentlemen’s Agreement On Campuses."

Ohio Homeowner Hogties Burglar

At The Wichita Eagle, "Ohio homeowner captures thief, ties hands and feet."

Can France and Germany Keep the Euro Alive?

At Telegraph UK:

Can Germany and France reach agreement on radical new rules that would mean a loss of sovereignty over fiscal policy for euro nations - and can they do it in time to save the single currency?

On the same day that the world's main central banks took emergency action to prevent a global financial crash caused by the eurozone crisis and as France warned that war could again return to Europe, a short film was released.

The slick computer-generated imagery shows a beautiful woman coming to life from the frieze of an ancient Greek vase: she is Europa.

Using video technology, the mythical goddess of ancient Greece morphs into an attractive real-life woman wandering magical bridges that link the European continent.

Last Wednesday's film, a seven- minute "informational" from the EU to mark 10 years of the euro, is accompanied by a reassuring female voice-over telling viewers that "Europe inspires hope".

In an unintentionally surreal touch, the film was released at the same time that Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, warned that the euro's looming collapse could lead to war. On the same day, others were equally downbeat. Herman Van Rompuy, the EU's president, admitted that the eurozone debt crisis had become "systemic" and "full blown". Enda Kenny, Ireland's prime minister, said: "There is a real and present sense of danger."

Continue reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "German Power to Shape Europe's New Rules."

Inequality in High-Speed Internet Access

I'm continually surprised at the lack of both access and personal facility with these technologies among my students. Kids have wireless devices, phones and so forth. But the more fundamental knowledge of accessing high quality news online is often lacking. My class assignment in American Government makes an effort to rectify some of these gaps, but economic inequalities remain a huge impediment to literary fluency for many students in the current era.

See Susan Crawford, at New York Times, "Internet Access and the New Divide."

'No More I Love You's'

Annie Lennox:

Number of Television Owners Declines for First Time in 20 Years

At the Kansas City Star, "For first time in 20 years, TV ownership declines."

I was working on this post while listening to the MSNBC live-feed of Herman Cain's campaign announcement. And just the other day I was thinking that I no longer head straight for the TV when I get home. I can watch news online while blogging. The Star reports on Nielson data tracking the shifts in television ownership and emerging technologies. Live-streaming shows from the web would seem to be an important alternative to the television news, but DVRs and HDTV are the fastest growing technologies, which are tied to the classic television-monitor format. I'm just online all the time so that's my main source of news and information --- which, in the case of Herman Cain's departure, was delivered in real time.