Protests Escalate in Egypt — U.S. Stands by in Realpolitik Mode

At Foreign Policy, "Egypt's Struggle for Freedom: Egyptians are taking to the streets to demand their rights. Shame on America if it stands in the way." Yeah. Shame. But typical of this administration's foreign policy. See Christian Science Monitor, "Joe Biden says Egypt's Mubarak no dictator, he shouldn't step down..." (Via Memeorandum.) And at New York Times, "Cables Show Delicate U.S. Dealings With Egypt’s Leaders":

It was Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first meeting as secretary of state with President Hosni Mubarak, in March 2009, and the Egyptians had an odd request: Mrs. Clinton should not thank Mr. Mubarak for releasing an opposition leader from prison because he was ill.

In fact, a confidential diplomatic cable signed by the American ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey, advised Mrs. Clinton to avoid even mentioning the name of the man, Ayman Nour, even though his imprisonment in 2005 had been condemned worldwide, not least by the Bush administration.

The cable is among a trove of dispatches made public by the antisecrecy group WikiLeaks that paint a vivid picture of the delicate dealings between the United States and Egypt, its staunchest Arab ally. They show in detail how diplomats repeatedly raised concerns with Egyptian officials about jailed dissidents and bloggers, and kept tabs on reports of torture by the police.

But they also reveal that relations with Mr. Mubarak warmed up because President Obama played down the public “name and shame” approach of the Bush administration. A cable prepared for a visit by Gen. David H. Petraeus in 2009 said the United States, while blunt in private, now avoided “the public confrontations that had become routine over the past several years.”

This balancing of private pressure with strong public support for Mr. Mubarak has become increasingly tenuous in recent days. Throngs of angry Egyptians have taken to the streets and the White House, worried about being identified with a reviled regime, has challenged the president publicly.

It's a delicate business all around, but it's particularly interesting that this administration is the unrivaled champion of reactionary forces in the Middle East. Notice the various lines of Obama's FUBAR foreign policy. The administration has dropped "name and shame" against Arab dictatorships while browbeating Israel, the only democracy in the region (notwithstanding Iraq). Amazing. We help keep in power authoritarian regimes in Egypt and Iran, while strengthening the same forces of reaction against the one state standing as the West's bulwark against Islamist fanaticism. I'm shaking my head at this, but again, international affairs is a nasty business. And the Obama team's obviously working against a steep learning curve.

And check The Lede for excellent coverage.

Gunman Kills Clerk at Long Beach Liquor Store

This is just three blocks from my college's downtown campus.

And at Long Beach Post, "VIDEO: Long Beach Police Release Chilling Footage Of Deadly Gunpoint Robbery."

Long Beach Police have released chilling photos and surveillance video of the two male suspects who robbed, shot and killed the clerk of a convenience store at 4th and Cherry on Saturday evening.

The images show two Hispanic males in their late 20's or early 30's using a chrome revolver and holding 53-year old Sor Phouam at gunpoint. Only a small portion of the incident is available in the video, but authorities are calling for the community's help in identifying and finding both suspects.

One bystander attempted to leave the store when he saw the robbery but was stopped by the armed suspect. Detectives are asking the bystander to come forward because he may have information about the murder suspects.

The suspects fled east on Cherry Avenue after killing Phouam.

Updates at the link, as well as LBPD tip line contact info.

I'm wondering what Phouam could have done differently. He continues to serve the bystander, and his waving hand motions don't reflect the response of someone taking the gunman's threat very seriously.

Taliban Stone Couple to Death for Alleged Adultery in Northern Afghanistan

Blazing Cat Fur has the story, with the link to London's Daily Mail, "Stoned to death with her lover: Horrific video of execution of girl, 19, killed by Afghan Taliban for running away from arranged marriage":

Also, at BBC, "Afghan police pledge justice for Taliban stoning."

Burying Vladimir Lenin

I saw this at The People's Cube, "Goodbye Lenin? United Russia Considers Burial."

But it's no joke, "Russians Voting On Whether to Bury Vladimir Lenin":

And from the quote at The People's Cube:

In Soviet times, lines snaked around Red Square as the faithful waited to file past the mummified body under the walls of the Kremlin. Few make the effort today. And maintaining the corpse is a constant and growing headache for the embalmers. Communist supporters gathered at the mausoleum on Friday to commemorate the 87th anniversary of Lenin's death.

Hey, don't bury Lenin!

American progressives can set up a Lenin Mausoleum in San Francisco. No doubt the lines will beat those from Disneyland's Matterhorn back in the day!

The Aim of Blood Libels

From Caroline Glick (via Glenn Reynolds):

For Israelis, the American Left's assault on Sarah Palin and the conservative movement in the wake of Jared Loughner's murderous attack in Tucson was disturbingly familiar.

Just as the American leftist media and political leadership immediately sought to blame Palin, the Tea Party and conservative media personalities for Loughner's actions, so in 1995 their Israeli counterparts accused the Right - from then-opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu to various rabbis to the two million Israelis who protested against the so-called peace process with the PLO - of being responsible for Yitzhak Rabin's assassination.

Just as Palin and her fellow conservatives are accused of inciting the schizophrenic shooter to pull the trigger, so Netanyahu and his fellow rightists were accused of inciting the sociopathic Yigal Amir to plot and carry out his crime.

And just as it doesn't matter to the American media elites that Americans conservatives engaged in no such incitement, and that Loughner himself seemed motivated to act by a mad obsession with grammar, it didn't matter to their Israeli counterparts that Amir's closest associate and the man responsible for the most incendiary anti-Rabin propaganda was Avishai Raviv - a government agent.

Palin's characterization of the Left's appalling assault on her and her fellow conservatives as a "blood libel" was entirely accurate. Moreover, as her previous use of the term "death panels" in the healthcare debate brought clarity to an issue the Left sought to obscure, so her use of the term "blood libel" exposed the nature of the Left's behavior and highlighted its intentions.

RELATED: More blood libel, "Marxist Barbara Ehrenreich Exploits Arizona Shooting in Latest Smear on Glenn Beck."

Banned Jessica Simpson Workout Video Release

And now for some celebrity news, "Jessica Simpson's Controversial Workout Video May See Light of Day." (Via WeSmirch.") More at Toronto Sun, "Simpson Fights Fitness Vid Release."

I haven't written about Jessica for some time. I hope she's doing well, or at least better than she appears in this gossipy story.

Anyway, at Gawker (FWIW), "Jessica Simpson's Forbidden Workout Video."

Also, thanks to Bob Belvedere for the link up yesterday, and for this: "A Little Hump Day Rule 5: Manuela Arcuri."

The Left is Running Scared?

That's Stanley Kurtz's take on Barbara Ehrenreich's commentary yesterday at Los Angeles Times. See Kurtz, at National Review, "America: A Tyranny of the Heavily Armed."

I'm going to disagree just a bit.

The Nation's editors might be regretting the Frances Fox Piven essay they published, but the progressive politics of 2011 has abandoned any regard for truth and moral decency. And frankly, by the looks of the hardline leftist blogs, it's double-down and business as usual. For example, No More Mr. Nice Blog perfectly captures the left's depravity, suggesting that conservative tea partiers are essentially armed fascist mobs. Steve M. is too simple to deserve a more detailed rebuttal, but see, in any case, "Marxist Barbara Ehrenreich Exploits Arizona Shooting in Latest Smear on Glenn Beck."

Republicans Say it's Business as Usual

At LAT:

Republicans dismissed President Obama's State of the Union address as more of the same, saying his call for renewed investment in American education, infrastructure and technology was simply a push for another round of federal spending that shows little commitment to reducing the deficit.

"Whether sold as 'stimulus' or repackaged as 'investment,' their actions show they want a federal government that controls too much, taxes too much, and spends too much in order to do too much," said Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, in the GOP's official address after Obama's speech.

"We believe the days of business-as-usual must come to an end," Ryan said. "We hold to a couple of simple convictions: Endless borrowing is not a strategy; spending cuts have to come first."

Ryan's address was part of an unusual two-pronged retort to the president's speech. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota also delivered a response — on behalf, she said, of the "tea party." Bachmann chairs the House Tea Party Caucus.

"For two years President Obama made promises just like the ones we heard him make tonight," Bachmann said, according to prepared remarks. "Yet we still have high unemployment, devalued housing prices, and the cost of gasoline is skyrocketing."

Not every prominent Republican ripped the president. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, welcomed Obama's support for a five-year freeze on federal discretionary spending.

"I like the fact that he wants to do something about spending," McConnell said. "However, freezing government spending for five years at the increased levels of the last two years is really not enough. We need to reduce domestic spending substantially. And I hope the president will work with us to achieve that."

More at the link.

RELATED: From Jennifer Rubin, "Rep. Paul Ryan 1, ObamaCare 0" (via Memeorandum).

Bankers to Lobby Against New Rules at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — And Police Special Forces Gear Up Against Anarchists

The main story's at WSJ, "Banks Return With a Goal: Pushing Back."

But what really caught my attention about this piece is the accompanying photograph, seen at left: "A marksman from Switzerland's special police forces sets up security on the roof of the Congress Center in Davos on Tuesday."

The World Economic Forum has been a frequent target of the left's violent anti-globalization movement. Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! has a feature from 2002, which captures the nature of the leftist opposition: "Is Another World Possible? Power and Protest As the World Economic Forum Comes to New York." And considering the scale of European protests over the last year, in Britain, Greece, and Italy, for example, it makes sense for the Swiss authorities to put what are essentially military marksmen at strategic spots in preparation against the violent anarchy and potential loss of life.

Click on the image above to enlarge. That dude is decked out with an additional automatic rifle and loads of ammunition and equipment. It's the price we pay in democratic societies, I guess. Folks who help keep the peace are essentially urban commandos, and they deploy with tremendous protection capacities against the unruly massed mobs. The fact that these are left-wing anarcho-socialists and domestic terrorists doesn't get that much play in the MFM press. But marksmen like that guy above are on guard against the kind of violence currently advocated by Marxist Francis Fox Piven (and given a pass by Marxist Barbara Ehrenreich).

Yeah, stuff is kinda messed up like that, but you go to (political) war with the media you have.

Alternative Newsweek Covers

At Moonbattery:

ALSO from MOONBATTERY: "Yet Another New Level of Shamelessness for Newsweek."

Glenn Beck on Obama's State of the Union

From yesterday's show:

RELATED: From William Tucker, at American Spectator, "Won't Somebody Please Help Frances Fox Piven?" Also, from Liberty Chick, at Big Journalism, "The Curious Case of the Martyrdom of Frances Fox Piven."

Obama's WTF Moment in SOTU

The full clip is at Right Scoop, "Sarah Palin Talks Obama’s WTF Moments in SOTU."

And see Gateway Pundit, "Whoa!… Sarah Palin on Obama’s SOTU Speech: “WTF Was Spot-On… There Were a Lot of WTF Moments In That Speech”."

RELATED: A killer lead editorial from Wall Street Journal, "The Great Misallocators: What Barack Obama and General Electric Have in Common":

President Obama on Tuesday night stressed U.S. economic competitiveness as a new policy theme, accentuating the point he made last week by naming General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to lead his new jobs council. This is welcome, though not solely because it may signal less Administration hostility to business. The pairing is also instructive because both Mr. Obama and GE symbolize a major reason the U.S. has become less competitive—the misallocation of resources.

***

Step back for a minute from the day to day policy fights and consider how an economy can grow faster. One way is to get people to work harder or longer. The government can contribute here with policies that reward work and investment, such as lower taxes.

A second route to faster growth is innovation, which means inventions or new processes that increase productivity. Government can help with money for basic research, but private investment, human ingenuity and luck are the main drivers.

The third way is through the more efficient use of capital, both human and monetary. These resources are scarce in any economy, and growth will be fastest if they are allowed to find their highest return. If resources are allocated to less productive uses or create asset bubbles due to bad policy, then overall growth will be slower than it should be.

In our view, this third point has been the largest but least appreciated problem in the U.S. economy in recent years. First the Federal Reserve's subsidy for credit and other policies pushed resources into the financial industry, and especially into real estate. When that bubble burst, triggering the 2008 financial panic and recession, the U.S. responded over two years with a huge expansion of the federal government.

Both periods were marked by the misallocation of trillions of dollars into wasted investments. One reason the current recovery has been so lackluster is that it takes time for an economy to retool from these mistakes. Money that went to build now-empty condos on the Vegas Strip—or to government transfer payments—can't be reclaimed to rebuild American manufacturing and technology.

***

No company illustrates this great misallocation better than the General Electric Co. For decades it was a symbol of U.S. manufacturing and export prowess, building jet engines, gas turbines, consumer appliances and more ...

More at the link.

Folks can't stop laughing at American Glob, iOWNTHEWORLD, and Protein Wisdom (via Memeorandum).

Marxist Barbara Ehrenreich Exploits Arizona Shooting in Latest Smear on Glenn Beck

It's more Arizona blood libel, from Barbara Ehrenreich, at the Los Angeles Times, "A Call to Protest Ignites a Call to Arms."

Ehrenreich commits a classic ecological fallacy by highlighting what she admits is but "dozens" of abusive comments from Glenn Beck's The Blaze website --- comments that have not only been removed, but also repudiated by Beck repeatedly --- to smear the right as gun-addled "Americans" on the verge of committing massacre:

Why are Americans such wusses? Threaten the Greeks with job losses and benefit cuts and they tie up Athens, but take away Americans' jobs, 401(k)s, even their homes, and they pretty much roll over. Tell British students that their tuition is about to go up and they take to the streets; American students just amp up their doses of Prozac.

The question has been raised many times in the last few years, by a variety of scholars and commentators -- this one included -- but when the eminent social scientist Frances Fox Piven brought it up at the end of December in an essay titled "Mobilizing the Jobless," all hell broke loose. An editor of Glenn Beck's website, theblaze.com, posted a piece sporting the specious headline "Frances Fox Piven Rings in the New Year by Calling for Violent Revolution," and, just two weeks before the Tucson shootings, the death threats started flying. Many of the most provocative comments have been removed from the site's comment section, but at one time they included such charming posts as: "Bring it on biotch [sic]. we're armed to the teeth." Or: "We're all for violence and change, Francis [sic]. Where do your loved ones live?"

If the dozens of Beck fans rhetorically brandishing their weapons at Piven were all CEOs, bankers, hedge fund operators and so forth -- i.e., the kind of people who have the most to lose from mass protests by the unemployed -- all this might make more sense. But somehow, and I may be naive about these things, it's hard to imagine a multimillionaire suggesting that "folks buy battle carbines with folding or collapseable [sic] stocks and 16[-inch] barrels so they can be more easily hidden under jackets and such. Also, buy in NATO-approved calibers (5.56/.223, 7.62/.308) so you can resupply ammo from the bodies of your enemies too." One of Piven's would-be assassins even admits to being out of work, a condition he or she blames, oddly enough, on Piven herself, adding that "we should blowup [her] office and home."

So perhaps economically hard-pressed Americans aren't wusses after all. They may not have the courage or the know-how to organize a protest at the local unemployment office, which is the kind of action Piven urged in her December essay, but they stand ready to shoot the first 78-year-old social scientist who suggests that they do so.

It goes on like this for a while. Erhenreich focuses on guns. Beck's commenters are allegedly obsessed with guns, and for Erhenreich, that logically takes us to the most obviously conclusion: Yep, the Giffords shooting. You guessed it. Here's this from the conclusion:

Never mind that there are only a few ways you can use a gun to improve your economic situation: You can hock it. You can deploy it in an armed robbery. Or you can use it to shoot raccoons for dinner.

But there is one thing you can accomplish with guns and coarse threats about using them: You can make people think twice before disagreeing with you. When a congresswoman can be shot in a parking lot and a professor who falls short of Glenn Beck's standards of political correctness can be, however anonymously, targeted for execution, we have moved well beyond democracy -- to a tyranny of the heavily armed.

Where to begin?

Going back to the essay we find that Ehreneich's basically rewriting the storyline. Frances Fox Piven didn't just call for protests against the "the local unemployment office," as Ehrenreich suggests. No, Piven called for "Greek-style" protests in response to the austerity measures adopted by European governments. These are protests that got people killed, most notably bank clerk Angeliki Papathanasopoulou, who was murdered along with her unborn baby and two other colleagues when protesters attacked with firebombs (see, "Greek tragedy: how last phone call by murdered bank clerk touched off backlash").

Ehrenreich is a Marxist and Honorary Chairwoman of the Democratic Socialists of America. It makes perfect sense that she'd offer a blatantly dishonest defense of fellow Marxist Frances Fox Piven. We've had this debate for weeks now. The progressives crossed a moral line with Arizona, in the words of James Taranto, and with the Glenn Beck backlash as well.

Glenn Reynolds cites Ehreneich's article, and then clarifies about Piven's advocacy:

Hooded protesters. Molotov cocktails. Three dead by fire, four hospitalized. This is Piven’s idea of a proper “people’s movement.” This is the kind of violence she was advocating. This is what she’d like to see happening in America, to Americans. And this is what her allies are trying to minimize, or distract attention from, by making false accusations aimed at innocent parties. Just for the record.

Exactly.

Progressives Slobber Over Obama's SOTU Address

Look, I only watched parts of it, but I'm agreeing with Krauthammer: The president "phoned it in."

Here's the full video clip: "State of the Union, 2011."

A bare majority at CNN's poll (52 percent) report a positive reaction to the address, and a third said "they had a somewhat positive response and 15 percent with a negative response."

More at Memeorandum.

I'll be reading over some of the left's reactions and will have more in an update.

Michele Bachmann Response to SOTU

Via Nice Deb:

And Bachmann's eliciting a heavy response from the deathly progressives. At Politico, "Michele Bachmann's Turn" and all the commentary at Memeorandum.

State of the Union, 2011

As promised, here's the full clip:

My previous essay is here, with some commentary and hot links: "Obama State of the Union Address 2011."

Progressives Allege Glenn Beck Anti-Semitism

Kyle-Anne Shriver said we wouldn't have to wait long before the MSNBC progressives cut loose with even more astounding feats of demonization. And boy was she right! See Yid With Lid: "Before Making False Claims Against Glenn Beck, Perhaps Cenk Uygur Should Fix His Own 'Jewish Problem'." Plus, from Dana Loesch, "Progressives Seek to Deflect From Frances Fox Piven Remarks by Calling Glenn Beck Anti-Semitic."

Chris Matthews Goes Ballistic on Michele Bachmann

Dan Riehl's got the analysis, "Michele Bachman Gives Chris Matthews a History Lesson."

And man, these MSNBC freaks aren't wasting any time:

RELATED: "State of the Union 2011: Michele Bachmann delivers tea-party response to Obama."

How Liberal Progressive Journalists Think

Via William Jacobson.

Conservative commentary is "hate speech" --- because, ahh..., progressives hate it. Ouch.

NewsBusted: GE Chairman Immelt Given White House Post

Via Theo Spark:

Obama State of the Union Address 2011

I was in and out, driving my son to lacrosse practice, etc., so I have no big takeaway. I'll post the full White House YouTube tomorrow, with additional commentary. I'm especially interested in his "Sputnik" comments, so we'll see.

Meanwhile, at LAT, "State of the Union: Obama Calls for Unity, Yet Challenges GOP":

The president's State of the Union message focuses on bipartisanship and offers proposals sure to please conservatives. But the broad outlines of his expected reelection run are clearly visible.

The moment was tailor-made for President Obama, who rose to national fame seven years ago on a call for unifying America's blue and red states.

Standing before a divided Congress on Tuesday, with Democrats and Republicans seated side-by-side in a nod to comity, he delivered the appeal for unity many were expecting him to give.

"Governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties," he said. "We will move forward together, or not at all."

But the political reality behind his rhetoric was light-years removed from his lofty 2004 Democratic convention debut, when the then-Senate candidate from Illinois declared that "there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America."

Now, a president at midterm, he's wiser and battle-scarred, and appears to have bounced back from the November election that delivered what he had described as a "shellacking."

With a much-discussed, and thus far successful, turn toward the center, he has strengthened his hand as he prepares to battle Republicans in Congress and launch his reelection campaign.

More at the link.

RELATED: From Jennifer Rubin, "Where was Obama the centrist in his State of the Union?" (via Memeorandum):

After the Giffords memorial service, this effort seemed like Obama had phoned it in.

Wince.

More coverage at Althouse and Instapundit.

Gallup Reports Largest Declines in Satisfaction With Government: Americans Dissatisfied With Moral and Ethical Climate

At Gallup, "U.S. Satisfaction With Gov't, Morality, Economy Down Since '08":

Most of the information is dealing with economic issues, but I agree with this:

President Obama has an important opportunity to address Americans' concerns in his State of the Union address.

That 30 percent mark on the moral climate is a new low for Gallup polling, and it's on Obama's watch. I'd say it's incumbent on the president to repudiate the leftist hate and debauchery that we've seen so far in 2011. Progressives are destroying this country. They say Obama's moving to the right, although I'm skeptical. I'll be more convinced if he returns to some of the moral clarity that characterized his emergence on the national scene in 2004.

RELATED: At NYT, "Obama to Seek Partial Freeze in Spending as Deficit Move." And more SOTU information at Memeorandum.

BREAKING: Sexy News Anchors Distract Male Viewers

From the Department of You Don't Say: "New research finds when a female news anchor’s sexual attractiveness is played up, male viewers retain less information." (Via Memeorandum.)

It's evidence of sexist socialization, or something.

Image Credit: JammieWearingFool, "Groundbreaking 'Research': Fox Viewers are Stupid Because the Female Newsreaders are Hot."

Yeah. Okay. But CNN has some hotties as well.

Progressive Bullies Threaten Workplace Harassment

This is what progressives do.

The despicable low-life Charles Johnson published a deliberately vague hit piece on Patterico and his brain dead commentariat went straight to work on plans to threaten Patrick Frey's job at the L.A. County District Attorney's Office.

See, "Charles Johnson Impotently Tries to Threaten My Job":

Here is how much I am frightened and silenced:

Charles Johnson, you are a hypocritical, dishonest lowlife punk. This post of yours guarantees that I’ll be doing a new post about you every single time I find out about another lie of yours.

Every. Single. Time.

In doing so, Charles Johnson, I will metaphorically crush you. I will metaphorically disembowel you and eat your innards. But I will not do a single physical thing to you. Nor will I encourage others to.

I will simply laugh and laugh as your reputation continues to shrink into nothing.

I have, of course, had people do this exact sort of thing to me many, many times before — and it’s not purely a tactic of the left, either. (In fact, there is one certain “classical liberal” site that did almost precisely the same thing a little more than a year ago.) Tbogg, Sadly No, Brad Friedman, his partner the convicted bomber, the aforementioned “classical liberal” site, and several disgraced reporters and columnists for the Los Angeles Times have all learned that the best way to get me to stop pointing out their dishonesty is to stop engaging in dishonesty.

You stop lying, I stop pointing it out. Simple as that.

UPDATE: It just gets better and better. Here is a Twitter message Johnson just republished:

This is classic. I've had E.D. Kain contact my college, not once, but twice, and during the recent Elizabeth Edwards nihilism episode my department chair received two outraged e-mails claiming that I didn't deserve to be teaching at a public college. And that's to say nothing of Libel Blogger David Hillman, who mounted a campaign of workplace harrassment last year, specifically launched to get me fired.

Leftists can't win on the merits. They instead mount campaigns of retaliation. For the longest time Racist Repsac3 hosted this call to workplace harrassment at his blog: "If the Coward or any of his followers harass you online you, contact Vice President Donald Berz" at Long Beach City College. All the phone numbers and e-mail contacts were included. It was only after being repeatedly slammed for his sponsorship of such hatred and intimidation did RepRacist3 remove the contact information, but the post is still up. After reading that, folks should see this recent thread where RepRacist3 remorselessly attacks me as a bully --- a bully?

Right. Conservatives are bullies when they win arguments on the merits. It really has come to this. But they're progressive dumbfucts, so what can you do? They're pure evil. Threats to a blogger's livelihood are beyond reprehensible. E.D. Kain, the atheists, David Hillman, and RepRacist3 have all engaged in attacks on my personal livelihood, and they then have the audacity to allege bullying.

It's shameful, I know. But that's what folks of good morals have to deal with these days.

RELATED: Jeff Goldstein calls out Patrick Frey: "I never once tried to go after your job." I'm with Goldstein on that, actually. And I've called out Patterico myself, over his attacks on The Other McCain. It's hard out there. That said, I think I'll stay focused on the progressives. They provide enough death-chants and intimidation to last a lifetime. Freakin' asshats.

Glenn Beck Slams New York Times and Soros-Funded Center for Constitutional Rights

He's getting better. Seriously. I watched Beck quite a bit in 2009, but this stuff is the best. I'm laughing at Beck invoking "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?" It takes one "click" to see that George Soros is backing the Center for Constitutional Rights. And you'll laugh more when Beck pulls up Bertha Lewis on the screen talking about how the CCR is going to protect your rights under the Constitution. Well, who's rights, really? Not the right's rights.

In related news, follow the lastest in the debate at Instapundit: "PROFESSOR ANN ALTHOUSE DELIVERS A SOUND THRASHING: “History tells us” something that history doesn’t tell us, say sociologists stumbling to protect Frances Fox Piven."

And that Althouse link got a thread on Memeorandum. And Ann then updates with "'Sociology does not enjoy an especially elevated reputation in the academy, and the American Sociological Association provides an object lesson in why that is'."

Be sure to follow the links, but I'll say: This really has gotten pretty pathetic. Society has lost its marbles, or at least that part of society under the grip of the progressive left's institutionalized dishonesty and postmodern unreality. It makes you want to scream, or better yet, to tune into Glenn Beck.

Added: At Yid With Lid, "Before Making False Claims Against Glenn Beck, Perhaps Cenk Uygur Should Fix His Own 'Jewish Problem'," and at Fausta's, "The Roundup." Also, at Maggie's Farm, "That scary, dangerous, evil moron Glenn Beck."

Carol Browner Out as Obama's Climate Czar

It's been over a year since the IPCC e-mail scandal, and it's been downhill ever since for the socialist climate scaremongers. And what better way to chalk this up than the early resignation of White House Climate Czar Carol Browner? At New York Times, "Director of Policy on Climate Will Leave, Her Goal Unmet":

WASHINGTON — Carol M. Browner, the White House coordinator for energy and climate change policy, will leave the administration shortly, officials confirmed Monday night. Her departure signals at least a temporary slowing of the ambitious environmental goals of President Obama’s first two years in the face of new Republican strength in Congress.

Ms. Browner, a former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, was charged with directing the administration’s effort to enact comprehensive legislation to reduce emissions of climate-altering gases and moving the country away from a dependence on dirty-burning fossil fuels. That effort foundered in Congress last year, and Mr. Obama has acknowledged that no major climate change legislation is likely to pass in the next two years.

No decision has been made on whether she would be replaced or if the position would simply disappear, a White House official said.

“She will stay on as long as necessary to ensure an orderly transition,” a White House official said. “Carol is confident that the mission of her office will remain critical to the president.”

News of her departure was first reported by Politico.

The Politco's piece is here: "Carol Browner to Leave White House."

And continuing with my coverage of Glenn Beck, enjoy the clip above, which skewers Browner's totalitarian climate agenda.

Boeing Long Beach

As promised, a follow-up to my piece from the other day, "The End is Near for Southern California's Conventional Aircraft Manufacturing."

Here's the old Boeing 717 plant at Lakewood and Carson in Long Beach:

A wistful view from across Faculty Avenue. Notice the jetliner taking off above Long Beach Airport. And also the flag atop the Boeing corporate offfice, which I looked out at everyday from the old M Building classrooms at the Liberal Arts Campus at my college:

What also astounded me was the massive size of this facility. It's probably close to an eighth of a mile long:

When I started at Long Beach City College in 2000, the plant was humming with activity. Now it's idle, almost like a ghost town.

Here's the view of the corporate offices looking north from Lakewood Boulevard:

Unless global demand picks up, I doubt there'll be much change at the commercial facility here. That said, Democrat Representative Linda Sánchez is working to keep operations running at the Boeing C-17 plant on the other side of the airport:

Long Beach. Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Lakewood, recently spoke with Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, about how to reverse the proposed 900 Boeing layoffs in Long Beach.

The downsizing, announced late Wednesday, is the latest in a series of reductions to Long Beach's once-mighty aerospace industry, where employment has dropped from more than 20,000 in the 1990s to less than 7,000 today.

Boeing said the cuts are needed to prepare for a reduced C-17 production schedule, which is 14 annually, to 10 beginning this summer.

Sánchez - a member of the President's Export Council along with Boeing President and CEO W. James McNerney - offered her assistance in working with Congress and asked about several options that might help the plant remain operative, such as reforms to export controls and overseas promotion of the C-17.

She also stressed the importance of these jobs to her constituents and the impact the job losses will have on the region.

More later ...

Jack LaLanne, 1914-2011

A man whom I admired from a very young age. When he was on television, as a child, it was a simpler age. Not necessarily better, just simpler.

At Sippican Cottage, "Muscles Didn't Make Jack LaLanne Mighty."

And at Los Angeles Times, "Jack LaLanne dies at 96; spiritual father of U.S. fitness movement":

Jack LaLanne, the seemingly eternal master of health and fitness who first popularized the idea that Americans should work out and eat right to retain youthfulness and vigor, died Sunday. He was 96.

LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia at his home in Morro Bay, Calif., his agent Rick Hersh said. He had undergone heart valve surgery in December 2009.

Though LaLanne was for many years dismissed as merely a "muscle man" — a notion fueled to some extent by his amazing feats of strength — he was the spiritual father of the health movement that blossomed into a national craze of weight rooms, exercise classes and fancy sports clubs.

LaLanne opened what is commonly believed to be the nation's first health club, in Oakland in 1936. In the 1950s, he launched an early-morning televised exercise program keyed to housewives. He designed many now-familiar exercise machines, including leg extension machines and cable-pulley weights. And he proposed the then-radical idea that women, the elderly and even the disabled should work out to retain strength.

Full of exuberance and good cheer, LaLanne saw himself as a combination cheerleader, rescuer and savior. And if his enthusiasm had a religious fervor to it, well, so be it.

"Well it is. It is a religion with me," he told What Is Enlightenment, a magazine dedicated to awareness, in 1999. "It's a way of life. A religion is a way of life, isn't it?"

"Billy Graham was for the hereafter. I'm for the here and now," he told The Times when he was almost 92, employing his usual rapid-fire patter.

Another time, he explained, "The crusade is never off my mind — the exercise I do, the food I eat, the thought I think — all this and how I can help make my profession better-respected. To me, this one thing — physical culture and nutrition — is the salvation of America."

Obama's SOTU Address Previews 2012 Presidential Race

At WSJ, "Obama's Address Previews 2012 Race":

President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao of China walk along the Colonnade of the White House, Jan. 19, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

*****

President Barack Obama will call for a "responsible" effort to shrink the deficit but won't offer detailed plans on spending and taxes in a State of the Union address Tuesday that will presage the broad themes for political debate through the 2012 election.

The president is expected to call for "shared sacrifice" from both parties, and to reach out to the GOP with a nod to possibly lowering the nation's corporate income-tax rate as part of an overhaul of the corporate-tax code, according to people familiar with speech preparations.

The speech and the Republican response are likely to frame contrasting philosophies that will drive political discourse for the next two years. Mr. Obama has chosen "competitiveness" and "investment" as terms to guide discussion over how to create jobs, daring Republicans to resist his push for new spending in areas that he will call vital to the nation's future. He will seek to wall off education, infrastructure, science and energy from cuts, in effect making them the ground on which the 2012 campaign is to be fought.

Republicans have chosen House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to deliver the State of the Union response. Mr. Ryan has outlined a vision of smaller, less-intrusive government, extending to popular programs such as Medicare, which he would turn increasingly over to the private sector.

Since what Mr. Obama described as his party's "shellacking" in November, he has tried to appeal to the political center by moving right. He struck a deal with Republicans on taxes and has been remaking the White House with deal makers from Bill Clinton's White House schooled in bipartisan outreach. He also has reached out to business with pledges to pare regulations and consult more closely on trade, taxes and "competitiveness."

The moves appear to be yielding political results. A slew of new polls have put the president's approval ratings at levels not seen since the pitched partisan battles over Mr. Obama's health-care overhaul began in August 2009.

More at the link.

Also, at New York Times, "President, Rebounding, Gives Opponents Pause" (via Memeorandum):

Suddenly, Republicans face an unanticipated problem: less than three months after their midterm triumphs, President Obama has regained political momentum.

As Mr. Obama approaches the State of the Union address on Tuesday, various polls show him rising toward or beyond 50 percent approval of his job performance. Before his first 2011 clash with Republican adversaries who now share governing responsibility, those surveys also show that Americans credit Mr. Obama with greater commitment to finding common ground.

Look, it's a new year and we've just had a shooting tragedy with national implications. The president's been striking the right tone. The same can't be said for his backers on the left. And of course, there's a long while until all these numbers really matter. We've got a year until the first primaries and caucuses, and lots needs to happen in terms of economic recovery. That, and the Republican success in Congress will determine a lot of how things look for Obama a year from now. Until then, the Democrat-Media-Complex will be spinning relentlessly to build up the administration and destroy conservatives. And you can take that to the bank.

PHOTO CREDIT: The White House Flickr page.

Jared Loughner Pleads Not Guilty to Attempted Murder Charges

At LAT, "Suspect in Ariz. shooting pleads not guilty to charges he tried to kill Giffords, 2 aides."

And at New York Times, "Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in Tucson Shooting":

PHOENIX — Jared L. Loughner, who the police said was responsible for the shooting rampage outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he tried to murder Representative Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides.

Appearing in Federal District Court alongside his defense lawyer, Judy Clarke, Mr. Loughner entered a written plea to Judge Larry A. Burns of San Diego without uttering a word.

Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and wearing glasses, Mr. Loughner, 22, smiled through most of the proceedings and chuckled when a clerk read out the name of the case: the United States of America v. Jared Lee Loughner.

Ms. Clarke offered no objection to a request by Wallace Kleindienst, an assistant United States attorney, to move the court proceedings to Tucson. But Mr. Kleindienst, who is considered an expert in murder cases, indicated that additional charges were likely to be filed and that Ms. Clarke would have additional opportunities to push for the trial to be held elsewhere.

During the arraignment, which was conducted under high security, Judge Burns asked Ms. Clarke whether she had any concerns about her client’s ability to understand the case against him. “We are not raising any issues at this time,” she said.

The prosecution on Monday turned over to Ms. Clarke records from Mr. Loughner’s computer and transcripts of 250 witness interviews.

Left Coast Rebel Gets 1 Million Hits

And The Other McCain responds with a hilarious headline: "Blogger Reaches 1 Million Hits; Celebrates by Linking Entire Freaking Blogosphere."

The blogger is Sam Foster, on behalf of Tim Daniels, "Left Coast Rebel Finally Crosses the 1-million Visitor Rubicon!"

I'm thanked voluminously at the post, which is nice. But go read the whole thing. And while I'm not seeing it at the sidebar, Tim used to have some advice on networking to build attention and traffic. So, as always, I'm doing the Full Metal Reach-Around here in hopes of some reciprocal linkage, courtesy Grand Funk Railroad, "We're an American Band":

Check out Pat in Shreveport, "Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: The I've Been Reading Edition," and also Blazing Cat Fur and Director Blue.

Plus, Astute Bloggers, Bob Belvedere, CSPT, Dan Collins, Gator Doug, Irish Cicero, Left Coast Rebel, Mind-Numbed Robot, PA Pundits International, Pirate's Cove, Saberpoint, Snooper, WyBlog, The Western Experience, Yankee Phil, and Zion's Trumpet.

Plus, see the Rule 5 action at American Perspective, Maggie's Notebook, and Theo Spark.

As always, drop your link in the comments to be added to the roundups.

Frances Fox Piven's Violent Agenda

This is the first of a series of Glenn Beck broadcasts whereby he really started hammering on Frances Fox Piven, or at least this year.

Sometimes Beck is a little loose with his typologies --- for example, I doubt that the Federal Reserve System was established as an institution of the "socialist-progressive hegemonic" takeover of the state. That said, at about 3:20 minutes Beck suggests that "what I would call socialist or communist they call just social justice or progressive --- that is critical to understand, because it really helps these people sleep at night and what's allowing them to get away with it." That's one of those statements that's laser-beam concentrated to nuclear-level gradient. The left-wing blogs and the Democrat-Media-Complex can't have that, so they strike back with a vicious inhuman fury. It's frightening, really. And of course, Beck's lengthy discussion after the program begins is a striking build-up to the introduction of the Cloward and Piven strategy (at about halfway through the clip). And oh boy, did that release Hell's wrath these last few days!

For example, see Stanley Kurtz, at National Review (via Instapundit):

The campaign to use the tragic shootings in Tucson to silence conservatives continues. The latest twist is an attempt to highlight anonymous threats against leftist scholar and strategist Frances Fox Piven as a way of forcing Glenn Beck, a critic of Piven, off the air, or at least prohibiting him from mentioning her on his Fox News television show. This affects me as well, since an excerpt from my recent appearance on Beck’s show to discuss Piven has been aired in the course of the controversy. My new book, Radical-in-Chief, extensively treats Piven’s influence on contemporary leftist strategy, and on Barack Obama’s political development. If Beck is forced to stop talking about Piven, efforts will surely be made to silence me and other conservative critics of Piven.

It is extraordinary that conservatives should be charged with stirring up violence at a moment when Piven, in an editorial in The Nation, has called for an American movement of “strikes and riots” on the model of the one recently seen in Greece. The anonymous threats against Piven are reprehensible. I condemn them in the strongest terms. Yet it is not conservatives but Piven and The Nation who advocate violence. Neither Piven nor The Nation should be forcibly silenced, but they certainly ought to be criticized. Instead, The Nation is leading the effort to silence those who have rightly condemned Piven’s call for rioting in America.

An article by Brian Stelter in Saturday’s New York Times is a thinly disguised gesture of support for The Nation’s campaign. The piece downplays Piven’s radicalism, noting that her widely criticized call for intentionally creating a political and economic crisis in America’s welfare system was made 45 long years ago. Although Piven has freely described her own strategy as an effort to set off “fiscal and political crises in the cities,” Stelter delicately avoids the word “crises,” writing instead of “fiscal and political stress.”

Absolutely perfect. Be sure to read the whole thing.

And see also James Taranto, "Advocate of Violence: Frances Fox Piven and the New York Times's Dishonest Campaign for 'Civility'":

Why is a newspaper that has been posturing as the scourge of violent rhetoric now siding with a purveyor of such rhetoric, and blatantly slanting the news as it does so? Because her opponent is a prominent media figure from outside the old media establishment. Because Glenn Beck is a threat to the authority of the New York Times.

Taranto make a careful distinction been advocating violence and inciting it, and so far Frances Fox Piven hasn't done the latter. But read this one in full as well. While Piven hasn't crossed a legal line, she's crossed a moral one, and so has the New York Times.

RELATED: "Henry Farrell, GWU Political Scientist, Falsely Attacks Glenn Beck Over Alleged Threats to Frances Fox Piven."

Kermit Gosnell and Roe v. Wade

The video features Lila Rose from LiveAction.org (via The Blog Prof). It's powerful:

As I keep learning, there are few things greater than abortion that more fundamentally separate normal, life-loving Americans from the death-loving dregs of progressivism. Scott Lemieux is simply a vile man. As a college instructor he's made abortion politics one of his pet projects. Rarely is the conventional evil of Democrat-progressive politics better represented than in Lemieux's posts at LGM. See for example, "Once You Get Your Position Sorted Out, Perhaps We Can Talk." There's no need to quote it. He's attacking Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom. As can be seen at the title, Lemieux's all about elaborating all the tired public policy explanations for the enormity of the Kermit Gosnell murders. And that's the thing: It's just superfluous. No explanation is needed. As Michelle wrote previously:

Deadly indifference to protecting life isn’t tangential to the abortion industry’s existence – it’s at the core of it. The Philadelphia Horror is no anomaly. It’s the logical, blood-curdling consequence of an evil, eugenics-rooted enterprise wrapped in feminist clothing.

This is how mass murder gets a pass from progressives like Scott Lemieux and his evil hordes at LGM. And there's yet more here. It's all very clinical. What never comes into the picture --- never, ever --- is the idea that killing the unborn is an enormity of world historical evil. To commit abortion is to violate the command of the absolute truth of goodness: honor life. Our own Declaration of Independence bears this, that governments are established to preserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. All progressives want is more death, destruction, and desperation. I find it horrifying. But then, I look at politics from a stance of fundamental morality, and that separates me --- and my allies like Darleen, Lila, and Michelle --- from the heathen left. And where I may differ from others is that I don't question the civil liberties of abortion, and frankly I'm not necessarily down with the greater criminalization that's alleged by pea-brained progressives. The question is of moral agency. Of moral choice. People of goodness have to persuade women to choose life. That's the imperative, because whatever happens in the law --- whether the remote possibility exists for vacating Roe v. Wade, for example --- the final foundation of both moral right and popular will is in the realm of ideas, popular ideas. So in this sense, it's no contest. Progressive can't win on the merits, they can't win the debate, because they've got no case for life. When you see people like Barbara O'Brien claiming that the system worked in Philadelphia, you know how deep are the evils of these ghouls who are unfortunately fellow Americans.

RELATED PROGRESSIVE DEBAUCHERY: From American Prospect, "A Response to Saletan on Late-Term Abortions."

Dozens Killed in Moscow Suicide Bombing

So far, 31 people reported killed (at BBC and Memeorandum).

And at Atlas Shrugs, "Islamic Terror Attack: Homicide Bomber Kills At Least 31 Human Beings UPDATE: Bomb Packed with Shrapnel." Plus, at Wall Street Journal, "Deadly Explosion Rocks Moscow Airport":

A suicide attacker detonated a bomb at Russia's busiest airport Monday, killing at least 31 people and wounding more than 100 others, authorities said.

The 4:32 p.m. blast near the international arrivals area of Moscow's Domodedovo airport was the country's worst terrorist attack since twin bombings left 40 dead in the Moscow subway last March.

President Dmitry Medvedev convened an emergency meeting of top law-enforcement officials and ordered airport and other transportation security tightened across the country. He said the "preliminary" indications were that it was a terrorist attack.

Officials at Domodedovo, south of the capital, said the airport was still functioning. Some international flights were diverted to other Moscow airports, where security was also tightened.

The blast took place outside a security zone near the baggage claim area, near the Asia Kafe, where people await arriving passengers, Interfax news agency said, quoting the Federal Customs Service.

Russian news agencies quoted security officials as saying the bomb, laced with metal pieces to increase its power to kill, was detonated in the crowd of people meeting arriving passengers. The blast was equal to seven kilograms (15 pounds) of TNT, the reports said.

ADDED: The New York Times reports that this video "appears to show the smoke and flames in the terminal and then the bodies of victims of the blast":

Progressive Heads Explode as Olbermann Exits Stage Left — Or, Stage Right?

Yeah, Keith Olbermann was out at MSNBC because he wanted more money, that damned capitalist pig. All those years of progressive rants topped off with pure hypocrisy. It's too good, really.

But by the looks of the progressive reaction across the web, Obermann's departure was the biggest conspiracy since "Bush died and people lied." (More on that here.) Moonbattery has the roundup of heads exploding on Twitter. But pea-brained progressive Green Eagle ups the ante, hilariously, "Goodbye Keith":

In all my reporting on the idiocies and lies of the wingnuts, here's one thing I found just too boring and stupid to follow: the fact that, virtually every day, there are stories about a supposed attempt by the left to silence right wing talk radio, and TV liars like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. Despite the fact that there is not a shred of evidence for this claim, they go on with this nonsense endlessly, like the equally fictional war on Christmas.

Well, here's the reality of press suppression in this country: MSNBC just fired their top-rated broadcaster. And make no mistake about the reason: it was solely because he dared to tell the truth in public. And if you think Rachel, Ed Schultz, and that clown O'Donnell don't get the message, you really are fooling yourself. If Keith is expendable they all are. It is apparently tolerable for CNN to employ the right wing hatemonger and professional liar Erick Erickson. But being a moderate liberal is too much for this country to allow anyone a public voice.

But of course, whoever owns these networks has the right to fire anyone they want, right? And thanks to the sainted Ronald Reagan, no one owns the media anymore but the rich. How many times have you heard decisions like this justified by claims that "it's just business" or that it's all about profits and not about the person's political views at all? Well, I'd like someone to explain to me how it's all about profits when a network fires its most highly rated star.

This is not a minor moment in our history as a nation. It is a major legitimation of the right to stifle dissent. It is a giant step toward fascism; and I am not using the term figuratively. When it becomes acceptable for the rich and powerful to stifle dissent, totalitarianism is on the way.

Oh brother. Could you just make that "goodbye cruel world!"

Wait! I'm supposed to be civil!

Anyway, more from Kyle-Anne Shriver, "Don’t Cry for Olbermann":

That’s it, folks. Keith Olbermann is — and always has been — nothing but a loud-mouthed, adolescent wannabe. In short, it’s not hard to see why Comcast balked at paying little Keith more money. What is difficult to imagine is why they ever put him up against an accomplished journalist like Bill O’Reilly in the first place.

As hard as I’ve tried, I’ve never really been able to hate Keith Olbermann. He clearly has various and quite intricate female “issues.” He has never been married. His love of fame and money and loose morals have left him with nothing more substantial than his own potty mouth for comfort. And he is getting old fast.

So, maybe I will cry a bit for Olbermann and leave you, dear readers, with this one admonishment:

Whatever you do, Mommas and Daddies, don’t let your sons grow up to be Olbies.

Nothing whatsoever good could ever come of following this reprobate off the cliff into a life of nothing whatsoever worthwhile or in the least bit desirable or admirable.

And that’s all I have to say about Keith Olbermann. I’m just so glad I’m not his mother.