Jackson Addiction Followed Pepsi Accident in 1984: LAPD to Treat Death as a Homicide; Public 'Never Can Say Goodbye' to Jackson Tragedy!

There are some noteworthy Michael Jackson developments worth sharing.

First, US Weekly has a video teaser online, "How Michael Jackson's Pill Addiction Began." But check out KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Jackson's Addiction Began After Accident." The video is intense. Jackson's head is completely engulfed by flames while filming the Pepsi ad. He jumps and twirls, with the last second or so showing sheer panic:

US Weekly reports that Jackson's drug addiction began after the shooting of his Pepsi commercial in 1984.

Usmagazine.com has released footage of the Jackson's Pepsi commercial accident that was shot at the Shrine Auditorium on January. 27, 1984.

During the commercial shoot Jackson suffered from second and third-degree burns on his scalp and body after the pyrotechnics erupted too early. The King of Pop was unaware that his hair was on fire.

The singer was prescribed several medications and it was at this time that his addiction to painkillers and plastic surgery began, according to a source for US ....

Check Rolling Stone as well, "Michael Jackson Pepsi Ad Footage Unearthed From 1984 Shoot." And the Wall Street Journal, "When Michael Jackson’s Hair Caught Fire: A Legendary Ad Man’s Story."

Also, was Jackson murdered? The LAPD is upgrading its investigation to a homicide case. See Fox News, "Conflicting Reports Surface on Whether LAPD Will Treat Jackson Death as a Homicide."

Also, the Los Angeles Times takes a dishy angle, "Who is Dr. Conrad Murray and What Does He Know About Michael Jackson's Death?" And TMZ, "LAPD Treating Jackson Death as Homicide." Plus, L.A. Examiner, "VIDEO: LaToya Jackson Says Michael Jackson Was Murdered by His Greedy Entourage."

Will the Michael Jackson story ever go away? Not as long as there's profit somewhere, for someone.

See, Tim Rutten, "Too much Michael Jackson? Newspaper Editors and TV Producers Undercut the Value of Serious News Media When They Let Website Hits and Social Media Vollume Dictate Their Coverage." And, Project for Excellence in Journalism, "Media Swing from Protests in Iran to the Passing of the King of Pop." A Marxist take is at Chris Hedges, "The Man in the Mirror."

Well, what can you do? Jackson's still still popular: "Michael Jackson Album Sales Highlight Physical, Digital Merits."

More here, Bill Wyman, "The Tragedy of Michael Jackson: The Self-Proclaimed King of Pop Was Nobody's Victim."

Rule 5 Rescue: Breanne Ashley Nude!

Well, all work and no play makes a blogger old and gray (or however that line goes).

So, it's time for another Rule 5 Rescue! Actually, I haven't posted hotties in bikinis for some time, but hey, a guy's got to help out his red-blooded conservative readers! Check out Breanne Ashley! I happened to be watching Fox Sports Net last night, and the goodfellas over there featured a Hooters International Swimsuit marathon. After watching that, I was saying to myself, "Dude, you spend too much time with cable news!" So here she is, and don't tell my wife!

Now, I'm not kidding about the nude, or at least semi-nude. She's over at this dude's place, topless. I added "nude" in the title to test Robert Stacy McCain's theory about Google-bombing the hot babes. "Hits is hits," he says. Okay, we'll see, although I prefer quality traffic from friendly bloggers and allies. (And if you're new to The Other McCain, check out, "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year.")

Speaking of friendly bloggers, check out Green Mountains Homesteading. The guy sends me a lot of traffic, and I think the members of the "Rule 5 community" should add him to their blogrolls and their weekend FMRA entries.

Also, Ace of Spades HQ links to my essay on the tea party impacts on Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, "Schwarzenegger Gets the Message." Here's the killer quote:

Schwarzenegger was and is the ultimate RINO, and no one can have any delusions that he really believes in cutting spending. Nor that, were the pressure lifted from him, he wouldn't happily go back to the path of least resistance, raising taxes and increasing spending.

Dan Riehl's also been very generous with the linkage, and Glenn Reynolds sends awesome traffic. It's almost unbelievable how many people read his blog. No wonder the guy can't get a summer vacation! (No kidding. See, "No Day at the Beach: Bloggers Struggle With What to Do About Vacation.")

Plus, my buddy Kenneth Davenport's been linking as well, and he too needs some Rule 5 assistance - so check out his hot blog! And thanks to The Astute Bloggers and Fishersville Mike too!

And as I noted last weekend, send your posts to TrogloPundit and he'll link! The dude also just got his first Memeorandum thread, so he's got some creds! (See, "Levi Johnston is Single. Meghan McCain is Single.") Troglo's also a Hooters blogger - and who's to complain about that!

For a good read, see Steven Givler's, "David Brooks' Senator Revealed." Also, check over at my good (feminine) blogging friends, Carol at No Sheeples Here!, Jill at Pundit & Pundette, and Cassandra at Villainous Company. Wait, don't forget Skye at Midnight Blue as well!

All the other great blogging friends of American Power are here (and don't be shy about sending me an e-mail to to be added to the roundups):

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

Obama Will Ration Health Care

From Peter Singer at the New York Times, "Why We Must Ration Health Care":

In the current U.S. debate over health care reform, “rationing” has become a dirty word. Meeting last month with five governors, President Obama urged them to avoid using the term, apparently for fear of evoking the hostile response that sank the Clintons’ attempt to achieve reform. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published at the end of last year with the headline “Obama Will Ration Your Health Care,” Sally Pipes, C.E.O. of the conservative Pacific Research Institute, described how in Britain the national health service does not pay for drugs that are regarded as not offering good value for money, and added, “Americans will not put up with such limits, nor will our elected representatives.” And the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus, told CNSNews in April, “There is no rationing of health care at all” in the proposed reform.

Remember the joke about the man who asks a woman if she would have sex with him for a million dollars? She reflects for a few moments and then answers that she would. “So,” he says, “would you have sex with me for $50?” Indignantly, she exclaims, “What kind of a woman do you think I am?” He replies: “We’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling about the price.” The man’s response implies that if a woman will sell herself at any price, she is a prostitute. The way we regard rationing in health care seems to rest on a similar assumption, that it’s immoral to apply monetary considerations to saving lives — but is that stance tenable?

Health care is a scarce resource, and all scarce resources are rationed in one way or another. In the United States, most health care is privately financed, and so most rationing is by price: you get what you, or your employer, can afford to insure you for. But our current system of employer-financed health insurance exists only because the federal government encouraged it by making the premiums tax deductible. That is, in effect, a more than $200 billion government subsidy for health care. In the public sector, primarily Medicare, Medicaid and hospital emergency rooms, health care is rationed by long waits, high patient copayment requirements, low payments to doctors that discourage some from serving public patients and limits on payments to hospitals.

The case for explicit health care rationing in the United States starts with the difficulty of thinking of any other way in which we can continue to provide adequate health care to people on Medicaid and Medicare, let alone extend coverage to those who do not now have it. Health-insurance premiums have more than doubled in a decade, rising four times faster than wages. In May, Medicare’s trustees warned that the program’s biggest fund is heading for insolvency in just eight years. Health care now absorbs about one dollar in every six the nation spends, a figure that far exceeds the share spent by any other nation. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it is on track to double by 2035.

President Obama has said plainly that America’s health care system is broken. It is, he has said, by far the most significant driver of America’s long-term debt and deficits. It is hard to see how the nation as a whole can remain competitive if in 15 years we are spending nearly a third of what we earn on health care, while other industrialized nations are spending far less but achieving health outcomes as good as, or better than, ours.

Rationing health care means getting value for the billions we are spending by setting limits on which treatments should be paid for from the public purse. If we ration we won’t be writing blank checks to pharmaceutical companies for their patented drugs, nor paying for whatever procedures doctors choose to recommend. When public funds subsidize health care or provide it directly, it is crazy not to try to get value for money. The debate over health care reform in the United States should start from the premise that some form of health care rationing is both inescapable and desirable. Then we can ask, What is the best way to do it?

Plus, "Republicans Warn of 'Web of Bureaucracy' in Democrats' Health Care Plan." Quoting House Minority Leader John Boehner:

If anybody thinks that all of this bureaucracy is needed to fix our health care system, I plainly disagree ... What this is going to do is ration care, limit the choices that patients and doctors have and really decrease the quality of our health care system.

See also, Sally Pipes, "Obama Will Ration Your Health Care."

More at Jake Tapper, "POTUS on Health Care Reform: You'll Save Money."

Yeah, or else!

Video: MSNBC, "President 'Hopeful' About Health Care Progress; But Warns Against Complacency, Pushing for Bills Before August Break (Senate Committee Passes Health Care Bill)":

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

More at Memeorandum; see especially, Wall Street Journal, "Small Business Faces Big Bite: House Health Bill Penalizes All but Tiniest Employers for Not Providing Insurance." Also, Pat in Shreveport, "Speaking of Obamacare..."

Hat Tip: Tammy Bruce on Twitter, "Obama's depraved moral relativists begin to make the fascist argument for health care rationing http://is.gd/1zYjp."

Photo Hat Tip: The People's Cube.

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Added: The Rhetorican, "Obamacare: Your Body, Government’s Call."

SCOTUS Hearings: Sotomayor Backs Off on Empathy; Experts Allege Weak Grasp of Law, GOP Thinks She's Lying!

From Ann Althouse, "Did You Notice How Sonia Sotomayor Has Backed Away From Any Identification with Obama's Notion That "Empathy" is a Component of Judging?"

Also, check Ed Morrissey, "Sotomayor’s So-So Reviews Thus Far."

Plus, Glenn Reynolds is rounding up commentary from the legal community AND it's devastating. For example, Randy Barnett, "Mike Seidman on Sotomayor":

On the Federalist Society Online Debate on the Sotomayor hearings (click here and scroll down), my Georgetown Law colleague Mike Seidman - a cofounder and intellectual leader of the Critical Legal Studies movement in the 1980s - is brutally candid in his opinion of Judge Sotomayor's testimony today:

Speaking only for myself (I guess that's obvious), I was completely disgusted by Judge Sotomayor's testimony today. If she was not perjuring herself, she is intellectually unqualified to be on the Supreme Court. If she was perjuring herself, she is morally unqualified. How could someone who has been on the bench for seventeen years possibly believe that judging in hard cases involves no more than applying the law to the facts? First year law students understand within a month that many areas of the law are open textured and indeterminate—that the legal material frequently (actually, I would say always) must be supplemented by contestable presuppositions, empirical assumptions, and moral judgments. To claim otherwise—to claim that fidelity to uncontested legal principles dictates results—is to claim that whenever Justices disagree among themselves, someone is either a fool or acting in bad faith. What does it say about our legal system that in order to get confirmed Judge Sotomayor must tell the lies that she told today? That judges and justices must live these lies throughout their professional carers?

Perhaps Justice Sotomayor should be excused because our official ideology about judging is so degraded that she would sacrifice a position on the Supreme Court if she told the truth. Legal academics who defend what she did today have no such excuse. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Also at Volokh Conspiracy, "Sotomayor (and Hatch & Feingold) on Fundamental Rights and the 14th Amendment," and "Sotomayor Again Misstates Fundamental Rights Doctrine."

And don't miss Byron York, "Republicans Don't Believe Sotomayor's Stories":

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are convinced that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has not been candid with them in under-oath testimony about her speeches and legal activism ...

Republican aides worked through the night, Tuesday into Wednesday, studying the 108-page transcript from Tuesday's hearing. They believe Sotomayor told a variety of stories, none of them entirely truthful, to explain her series of infamous "wise Latina" speeches. And they question her efforts to distance herself from the work of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, on whose board she served for twelve years in the 1980s and early 1990s.

See also my previous entry on Sotomayor's ties to PRLDEF and radical organizations, "Committee for Justice Advertisement: Sotomayor, Like Ayers, Supported Terrorists."

On today's hearings, see the New York Times, "Republican Senators Press Sotomayor on Abortion Views."

The big question: Will Sotomayor be confirmed? Well, "absent what Senator Lindsey Graham describes as “a complete meltdown” (a partial thaw wouldn’t do it), the only real questions that face Sonia Sotomayor concern the furniture and color of curtains she wants in her new office" (link).

More at Memeorandum.

Cartoon Credit: Americans for Limited Government.

Committee for Justice Advertisement: Sotomayor, Like Ayers, Supported Terrorists

From the Committee for Justice:

Remember Barack Obama's buddy Bill Ayers ... Turns out President Obama's done it again: Picked someone for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who led a group supporting violent Puerto Rican terrorists. Is this radical judge the type of person America needs sitting on our highest court?

On cue, the ad has infuriated the radical leftists: See, The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, Salon, TPMDC, Wonk Room, Balloon Juice, Jack & Jill Politics, and Pam's House Blend.

Think Progress has a big piece up, "Right-Wing Group Launches TV Ad Claiming Sotomayor Led a Terrorist Organization."

Whoa, touchy subject for the folks on the left!

So, what are the facts?

Okay, from Judicial Watch, "Sotomayor Served as the "Top Policy Maker" on the Board of Directors of the Leftist PRLDEF for 12 Years":

During her 12-year tenure, according to one former staff lawyer, "Sonia [Sotomayor] displayed an increasing amount of leadership on the board." The New York Times, meanwhile, characterized Sotomayor as the "top policy maker" on the PRLDEF Board of Directors, who "was an involved and ardent supporter of [the PRLDEF's] various legal efforts during her time with the group."

See also, AIP News,"Sotomayor's Connection to the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund."

And, from FrontPage Magazine, "The Next Token Justice?"

Of Puerto Rican heritage, Sotomayor served from 1980 to 1992 as a Board of Directors member of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. This organization promotes amnesty and expanded rights for illegal aliens living in the United States; advocates hiring minority job applicants who have lower testing scores; favors preferential treatment for minorities in job promotions and career advancement; seeks to promote Spanish as an acceptable alternative to English in the business world; and supports race-based redistricting plans that would guarantee electoral victories for Latinos.

And here's this, from Human Events, "Sotomayor’s La Raza Uses Taxpayer Money for Radical Agenda":

Sotomayor has also served on the board of directors of the Latino Justice/Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund which, like La Raza, also opposes enforcing immigration laws, securing the border and supports amnesty for those already in this country illegally.

The New York Times recently failed to debunk similar charges. The story can only conclude that Sotomayor's group ties to Puerto Rican civil rights organizations are "murky." See, "Republicans Question Sotomayor’s Role in Puerto Rican Group’s Legal Battles."

Plus, don't miss Jennifer Rubin's breaking report, "The Evasions and Misstatements of Sonia Sotomayor."

Related:

* "Obama SCOTUS Choice a Blow to Racial Equality."

* "Racist Anti-Consitution Sotomayor to Be Confirmed to SCOTUS."

* "Sotomayor's Left-Wing and Racist Connections."

More commentary at Memeorandum.

Orange County Man Stabbed, Beaten by Gangland Graffiti Taggers

An Orange County man is recovering from injuries after being beaten and stabbed early yesterday after he confronted graffiti taggers at McFadden and Orange avenues, in Santa Ana.

KABC-TV Los Angeles has this report, "Man Stabbed, Beaten by Group of Taggers":

Residents say tagging is a common sight in the neighborhood.

"It happens a lot around here in Santa Ana. It's a pretty bad area. It's not really a surprise," said Sergio Ramirez, a resident.

The Los Angeles Times also reports, "Santa Ana Man Attacked After Confronting Taggers."

This is a sad story. I've reported on gangland violence previously. It's just so senseless, and the graffiti-gang problem leaves communities feeling overrun by lawlessness.

Which reminds me of James Joyner. The other day he wrote about Irvine, California, which is just south of Santa Ana: "Irvine’s Little Police State." Joyner links to the radical Kevin Drum, who in turn links to a Los Angeles Times article, "Irvine Marches to a Peaceful Drummer."

With a population of over 200,000, Irvine has been designated the nation's safest city for communities of over 100,000 people. As the article reports, "Last year it experienced its lowest violent crime rate ever, with just 129 reported violent crimes and one homicide."

But for some reason, those kind of numbers get Irvine dissed as a "police state" by Joyner. And Drum, who attended Long Beach State (a city deeply familiar with gangland violence), gets in his own snarky little smear:

You can't be too careful in these parts. In fact, my neighbor's air conditioner has been on the fritz for the past few weeks and its racket has become really annoying. I'm thinking about having him deported with extreme prejudice.

Why the dismissive snark? Because some zealous activists in the neighborhood homeowners' association are sticklers for the rules?

This is why my wife and I live down here, and this is why we send out kids to the area schools:

The city was designed with safety and clean aesthetics in mind, with curving streets that meander through 17 self-contained villages, each with its own grocery stores, shopping centers, grade schools and architectural style.

The result is that, although the town's as big as Modesto or Reno, its villages exude small-town America.

Nothing wrong with that. It's too bad that Santa Ana, with all of its crime and graffiti violence, has lost the spirit. And it's too bad that radical leftists make fun of such enduring American values (actually, they hate enduring American values, so it's not surprising).

Leftists Unhinged at Our Country Deserves Better PAC Advertisement

From Our Country Deserves Better PAC, it turns out that the radical lefties went berzerk over this ad buy:

Here's Daily Kos, "New Rightwing Ad Campaign To Suggest Obama is Like Hitler":

Also, check out:

* AlterNet, "Right-Wing Group Goes off the Deep End, Plans to Air Obama/ Hitler Ads."

*RightWingWatch, "Obama Worse Than Hitler And Ahmadinejad."

* Salon, "Conservative Group: Obama Equals Ahmadinejad."

* Raw Story, "Group Plans to Launch Ads Comparing Obama to Hitler."

* Village Voice, "Rightwing PAC: Obama = Hitler."

Not sure if No More Mister Nice Blog hopped on the bandwagon.

Meanwhile, President Obama continues his global apology tour, grinning, bowing and fistbumping murdering dictators from Caracas to Tripoli to the West Bank.

See also, Neocon Express, "American Jewish 'Leaders' to Meet with the Israel-Hater in the White House That They Voted For," and Gateway Pundit, "Once Again ... Obama Batters US Allies & Uplifts Foes In Latest World Tour."

Anti-Tax Tea Party Movement Scores Victory in Schwarzenegger's 'Stand for California' Push

There's really no other explanation: On top of Governor Schwarzenegger's devastating May 19th special election defeat (when voters rejected a slate of ballot measures seeking $16 billion in new taxes), there's more evidence that the anti-tax tea party movement has had a major effect on California politics.

That is the undeniable message one draws from the Governor's new political ad buy starting today, "Stand for California":

Listen to that message: Balance the budget; no tax hikes; rationalize government by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. This line, in pure form, has been completely alien to the Schwarzenegger administration since the recall of 2003. Yet it's the standard program among tea party patriots across the country today. We're "Taxed Enough Already," remember?

After campaigning as a fiscal conservative, the Governor has repeatedly violated his "no new taxes" promises. Voters approved $15 billion in bond revenues in a 2004 special election. Proposed by the Governor as a budget solution (complete with a "spending cap"), "critics called Prop. 58 a ruse, saying, correctly, that it was weak and opened the way for more borrowing, spending and taxing by politicians." And when state services indeed continued to grow, Schwarzenegger failed to reform finances with his set of ballot initiatives in 2005 (see, "Voters Reject Schwarzenegger's Bid to Remake State Government").

The defeat Proposition 1A on May 19th handed the Governor his third strike - and clearly, he was out!

So now he's "standing firm for a balanced budget"! Golly Gee Willikers!!! You think?

And now it's not about whether you're a Republican or a Democrat? Hello tea party patriots! That's what folks have been saying all year. While the mainstream press and the radical netroots have hammered the "racists teabaggers," grassroots consituencies have told big goverment to take a hike.

This isn't simply a devastating indictment of the Democratic-left's hubristic calls for progressive "change." The Governor's new ad buy signals a massive victory for the grassroots protesters who have risen up around the country since Rick Santelli's rant from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade back in February.

No small congratulations go out to all the activists and bloggers who have kept the founding spirit alive. We saw this most recently in the massive wave of anti-tax rallies that swept the nation on Independence Day. But there's more: The Blog Prof reports on a tea party that broke out today in Macomb County, Michigan, where President Obama was delivering a speech on the economy. And activists have another event planned for Friday, "July 17 Simultaneous Health Care Freedom Tea Parties from Coast to Coast."

Also, tremendous kudos go to Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds, and the folks at Pajamas Media for helping to keep the fires burning across the conservative blogosphere. There's too many more to thank in a simple blog post, but folks can be reasurred that everday Americans are taking back this country!

Leftists, of course, will reject the notion that the tea party patriots had anything to do with the launch of the Governor's "Stand for California" public relations drive. Let 'em. The bills have already come due in California, and the voters have spoken. And Washington, D.C., must know that contemporary tax revolts start in California.

See also, "Schwarzenegger Makes 'Stand for California' Pitch."

Related: "The Unlikeliest Girlie Man: Arnold Schwarzenegger Gives Californians What They Want."

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UPDATE: Instalanche! The second of the day ... thanks!

Also Dan Riehl links, "Is Ahnold Changing His Script?"

The CIA and Targeted Killing

From Kenneth Anderson at Volokh Conspiracy. Anderson is responding to The New York Times, "CIA Had Plan to Assassinate Qaeda Leaders" (where he is quoted):

...as to the international law issues involved in targeting Al Qaeda leaders, I will simply refer you over to a new paper, soon to appear as a book chapter in a volume edited by Benjamin Wittes on reforming counterterrorism policy, on targeted killing. That paper has a particular point, however. It says that of course the US targeted killings of Al Qaeda terrorists is a legal act of self defense under international law. (You can get a free pdf download, here, at SSRN, "Targeted Killing in US Counterterrorism and Law.")

The longer term question to which the paper mostly addresses itself is whether, in the face of withering international legal criticism, from UN special rapporteurs, human rights groups, academics, etc. - what we might call the international "soft law" crowd - the US, and specifically the Obama administration, will insist on the traditional doctrines of self defense, including against terrorists who find safe haven in states that are unwilling or unable to deal with them. The problem specifically for the Obama administration is that on the one hand it has - correctly in my view, for strategic, legal, and humanitarian reasons - embraced targeted killings via Predator strikes.

On the other hand, a lot of the administration's international legal apparatus is highly sympathetic to the "soft law" position, and in other circumstances would like to embrace positions that, however noble in the abstract, would effectively rule out targeted killing as the US pursues them. And particularly rule them out in future situations in which Al Qaeda is not involved, in which there is no AUMF, no Security Council resolutions, etc., to point to. It is important for the administration to keep in mind that the US will eventually face different terrorist enemies - there is, so to speak, life - and death - after Al Qaeda.

The paper is concerned with defending the US legal space for targeted killing undertaken as self defense, but not within the context of an armed conflict as defined under international humanitarian law. If that seems like a mouthful, I'll just refer you to the paper.

More at Memeorandum. Especially, Uncle Jimbo, "On the Legality of Targeting al Qaeda Leaders."And just in, from Newsweek, "The CIA's Kill Teams Were Modeled on Israel's Hit Squads."

Related: Common Sense Political Thought, "Assassinating Enemies and Loose Lips."

Video Credit: "Probe of Cheney's Covert CIA Plan Urged."

Obama: Community Colleges Can Boost Economy

From CNN, "Obama: Community Colleges Can Help Boost Ailing Economy":

Community colleges are only two-year institutions, but the Obama administration says they could play a key role in helping boost the ailing economy for years to come.

To underscore that contention Tuesday, the president unveiled the American Graduation Initiative, a 10-year, $12 billion plan to invest in community colleges.

During his announcement at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, Obama noted that the economic recession and a changing U.S. economy have reduced the number of automotive industry jobs, a mainstay in Michigan.

The "hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won't be coming back. They are casualties of a changing economy," Obama said, adding that "even before this recession hit, we were faced with an economy that was simply not creating or sustaining enough new, well-paying jobs."

Also, see Dana Pico's related essay at Common Sense Political Thought, "Donald Douglas and the Community College System (with links to my recent essays on blogging and teaching at the two-year college level).

Update on Sarah Palin's ‘Cap and Tax Dead End’

I predicted it last night, at my comment, "'The Writer, a Republican, is Governor of Alaska'."

Sarah Palin's Washington Post op-ed, "The ‘Cap and Tax’ Dead End," was indeed "Memeorandum's lead story" throughout the afternoon.

Lots of folks from both sides are blogging. See, for example, Ed Morrissey, "Palin on Cap-and-Trade: Job-killer."

Also: And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Daley Gator, Gateway Pundit, Moe Lane, PoliGazette, Stop The ACLU, and Wake up America.

And on cue, leftist Ezra Kein goes after Governor Palin, "Sarah Palin: One of Us":

It's probably a bit kind to say that Sarah Palin "wrote" this. There are no words in all capital letters. There are no sports metaphors. There is nothing at all like "*((Gotta put First Things First))*." The stylistic and grammatical tics on display in last week's speech are totally absent. Sarah Palin signed her name to this. Or at least let someone else do so ...

You could no more argue with this op-ed than you could drive a car made out of candy.

Actually, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry would beg to differ, "What Gov. Palin Forgot." There's a load of additional left-wing commentary at Memeorandum.