Half of All Americans Disapprove of Obama's Job Performance

I'm surprised it's that high, although we've got 57 percent disapproval of Obama on the economy, so he is trying.

At WaPo, "Economic anxiety threatens Obama in 2012, but in poll he edges GOP rivals" (via Memeorandum):

Deepening economic pessimism has pushed down President Obama’s approval rating to a near record low, but he holds an early advantage over prospective 2012 rivals in part because of widespread dissatisfaction with Republican candidates, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

In the survey, 47 percent approve of the job Obama is doing, down seven points since January. Half of all Americans disapprove of his job performance, with 37 percent saying they “strongly disapprove,” nearly matching the worst level of his presidency.

Driving the downward movement in Obama’s standing are renewed concerns about the economy and fresh worry about rising prices, particularly for gasoline. Despite signs of economic growth, 44 percent of Americans see the economy as getting worse, the highest percentage to say so in more than two years.

The toll on Obama is direct: 57 percent disapprove of the job the president is doing dealing with the economy, tying his highest negative rating when it comes to the issue. And the president is doing a bit worse among politically important independents.

If Obama is running into headwinds, however, his potential Republican opponents face serious problems, as well. Less than half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they are satisfied with the field of GOP candidates.

That field is still taking shape, but the sentiment is a big falloff from four years ago, when nearly two-thirds of Republicans were satisfied with their options.

Well, it turns out Sarah Palin launched a new website yesterday, which stoked speculation that she's going to formally announce her candidacy. I hope so. She'll fire up the GOP. Game on.

IMAGE CREDIT: Serr8d's Cutting Edge.

Panel on Egypt's 'Facebook Revolution' at Long Beach City College

I'm posting the video as promised. An outstanding event. Folks were quite pleased all around, and I'm proud of my colleagues for putting this together. My talk begins after 49 minutes:

And a write-up at LBCC's Viking newspaper, "Social Confrontation."

Rising Fuel Costs Hit Air Travel, Consumers Hammered; Los Angeles Food Trucks Feeling Economic Pinch: Who's Next?

Vin Suprynowicz discussed the role of fuel prices in his review of "Atlas Shrugged." Gas was at $37.50 a gallon, so railroads became the most economical form of transportation. At those price passenger air travel would be 100 percent prohibitive. We're not there yet, but it's happening. See LAT, "Summer airfares may climb 15% from a year earlier":

As the summer travel season approaches, airline industry experts predict that soaring fuel prices and a sharp pickup in passenger demand will push airfares up 15% over a year earlier — to levels not seen since before the economic downturn.

Fare hikes have already begun, with six of the nation's largest airlines each raising rates at least five times since Jan. 1 for nearly all routes.

By the time the peak summer travel season rolls, travel industry experts predict, domestic airfares may reach an average of nearly $390, up from a low of $302 two years ago.

"We are definitely getting higher and higher and higher fares," said Tom Parsons, who runs the popular website BestFares.com. "They've been going up once or twice a month, a nickel here and a dime there."

And at the video, L.A.'s food truck business is getting hammered?

RELATED: From Pat Austin, "Is Atlas Shrugging Where You Are?"

Man's Rights

Well, with all the recent talk about "Atlas Shrugged," I've been skimming back over some of her writings. The novel is almost 1,100 pages, and I have no plans to re-read it (although I'm considering The Fountainhead for another round). I have been reading some of Rand's essays, for example, "Man's Rights", which is featured in her book, The Virtue of Selfishness. A sample:

The principle of man’s individual rights represented the extension of morality into the social system—as a limitation on the power of the state, as man’s protection against the brute force of the collective, as the subordination of might to right. The United States was the first moral society in history.

All previous systems had regarded man as a sacrificial means to the ends of others, and society as an end in itself. The United States regarded man as an end in himself, and society as a means to the peaceful, orderly, voluntary coexistence of individuals. All previous systems had held that man’s life belongs to society, that society can dispose of him in any way it pleases, and that any freedom he enjoys is his only by favor, by the permission of society, which may be revoked at any time. The United States held that man’s life is his by right (which means: by moral principle and by his nature), that a right is the property of an individual, that society as such has no rights, and that the only moral purpose of a government is the protection of individual rights.

A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. Life is a process of self- sustaining and self-generated action; the right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action-which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)

The concept of a “right” pertains only to action—specifically, to freedom of action. It means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by other men.

More at the link.

Tricia Willoughby Speaks to Madison Tea Party Rally

Via Ann Althouse:

RELATED: From Althouse, "A 14-year-old girl speaks at the Tea Party rally in Madison and is drowned out by chants, boos, and cowbells."

Pentagon Clears Gen. Stanley McChrystal After Rolling Stone Hit Job

In case you missed it, I reference McCrystal here: "Patterson School of Diplomacy, University of Kentucky, Screens Steven Soderbergh's Che to Commemorate Fiftieth Anniversary of Bay of Pigs." (And the reaction in the comments is precious.)

And here's this from New York Times, "Pentagon Inquiry Into Article Clears McChrystal and Aides":

WASHINGTON — An inquiry by the Defense Department inspector general into a magazine profile that resulted in the abrupt, forced retirement of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has found no proof of wrongdoing by the general, his military aides and his civilian advisers.

Pentagon investigators said they were unable to confirm the events as reported in the June 2010 article in Rolling Stone, and found the evidence “insufficient” to demonstrate a violation of Defense Department standards.

The inspector general’s report, released Monday, also challenged the accuracy of the profile of General McChrystal, who was the top commander in Afghanistan. The article, with the headline “The Runaway General,” quoted people identified as senior aides to the general making disparaging statements about members of President Obama’s national security team.

The profile prompted a furious debate about whether the commander’s staff had used insubordinate language, and about the professionalism of General McChrystal’s team. He was recalled by the president, accepted responsibility for his staff’s actions and resigned.

One aide was quoted referring to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. using the phrase “bite me.” Gen. James L. Jones, then the national security adviser, was labeled a “clown” by one aide, according to the article, and General McChrystal was described as reacting with disdain to an e-mail from Richard C. Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who died in December.

The article did not directly quote the general as saying anything overtly insubordinate.

More at the link above.

What a tragedy. Progressives stabbed McCrystal in the back. Progressives stabbed the people of Afghanistan in the back. Progressives stabbed our uniformed men and women in the back. And they're currently destroying our nation from within and without. As Andrew said to the Trumka-Obama hordes in Madison: "Go to Hell."

What Trump Wants

Don't forget that I was in the house at CPAC when The Donald announced he was a candidate for the presidency. That's when he smacked down the Paulbots, which was priceless. I wouldn't have expected that he'd come on as strong as he has in the polls. Ed Morrissey has in interesting headline on that, "Rasmussen survey shows Obama can’t clear 50% even against Trump."

But see Politico, "What's Donald Trump really after?" (via Memeorandum):

More than anything else, according to those who’ve spoken to him, he doesn’t want to be seen as the butt of this particular joke.

“He gets mad that people aren’t taking him seriously,“ said a Republican who’s spoken with him.

Still, while he is “serious” from the organizational point of view and appears very likely to emerge as a formal candidate for office, he will struggle hard to be taken seriously as a potential Republican nominee. Trump may not be in on the joke — he rarely jokes about himself — but he has been a punch line as long as he’s been a public figure. He’s still more of a sideshow than anything else, most Republican insiders are convinced, and his respectable showings in largely meaningless early polls reflect little more than his widespread notoriety.

Zombie Tea Party Coverage San Francisco

Excellent photo essay, as usual.

See, "Tea Party vs. US Uncut: A San Francisco Tax Day Showdown."

Palestinian Teens Arrested in West Bank Fogel Family Massacre

I saw this first at William Jacobson's, "Fogel Family Murderers Captured."

Also at Joshua Pundit, "Fogel Family's 'Palestinian' Murderers And Their Accomplices Arrested," and Uncoverage, "Two Palestinian Teenagers Arrested for Murders of Israeli Family of Five."

And see John Hayward, at Human Events, "West Bank Killers Captured":

The murder of the Fogel family was an invisible atrocity, reported in very muted tones by the global media despite (or, more accurately, because of) its lurid savagery. Udi and Ruth Fogel were a young couple with sons Yoav and Elad, aged 11 and 4, plus a three-month-old baby daughter named Hadas. They were “settlers,” which means “people who live in parts of Israel where terrorists say Jews are forbidden to live.” The family was slaughtered with guns and knives. Their 12-year-old daughter Tamar was away from the house on the night of the massacre ...

Today is the beginning of Passover, when Jews remember the night when the Angel of Death walked the streets of Egypt, passing over Jewish homes, which had been marked with the blood of lambs. The Angel of Death has been making up for lost time with the Jews ever since. These days, the blood of lambs flows from the open veins of children. The “civilized” world finds many excuses to ignore their murders, and grows colder in the process.

Mary Katharine Ham — 'A Taxpayer Can Dream: My Special Day with the IRS'

At Daily Caller:

See also the Wall Street Journal, "Where the Tax Money Is: Obama Targets the Middle Class While Pretending to Tax Only the Rich." (Via Memeorandum.)

BONUS: At Doug Ross, "Larwyn's Linx: I Repeat to the Trumka-Obama Class War Cult: Go To Hell," and TrogloPundit, "This Week in Automotivators, April 11-17."

Atlas is Shrugging in California

I probably should have avoided the movie reviews before seeing the new film version of Ayn Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. Rand's relentless affirmation of the individual against the state would be censored if today's socialist saboteurs of the economy had their way. And thus the reactions among the progressives --- while not unexpected --- were simply visceral in their condemnation. Of course the eternally angry Roger Ebert panned the film, but a bevy of other reviewers were only slightly less disgusted. Roy Edroso's piece is actually quite hilarious, but I doubt the diarists at Daily Kos have even read the book: If it's about the supreme morality of individualism and markets, then scoffs and guffaws attacking "greed" is about as sophisticated a response as you'll get. And other reviewers are just piling on by now, for example at Creative Loafing Atlanta, "Atlas Shrugged. Critics Deplored. Ideologues Flocked":

... it's a monumental piece of crap.

Left-wing propaganda? Perhaps. But when The Atlantic's Megan McArdle threw in the towel, herself a connoisseur of the free market, that sure seemed like a little much.

But just in the nick of time comes Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, with a fabulous review, where he notes:

The best word to describe Atlas Shrugged Part 1 is … surprising. It’s surprisingly well-paced, surprisingly intelligent, surprisingly well-acted, and surprisingly entertaining. Perhaps most surprising of all, it has me thinking about re-reading the novel again. I would highly recommend it to friends and their families.

And he adds in an update:

I deliberately avoided reading reviews of the film until after I saw it first...

I'm not that disciplined, alas, but RTWT. And see also the outstanding piece by Vin Suprynowicz at the Las Vegas Review Journal. I'd quote it, but considering the Review Journal's a Righthaven partner, folks can just read it at the link.

I have to admit being a little disappointed in the film, a disappointment only partially influenced the left's anti-Randian diatribes. I just felt that it needed to be bigger somehow, bigger in reaching to the majesty of the novel. I know I'm idealistic. Atlas Shrugged is larger than life, especially life in these United States where to celebrate achievement and self-interest is to be attacked as a class warrior. (I know, it should be the other way around, but I just last week had debates with people who attacked conservatives as fomenting class warfare, strangely enough.) That said, I did like the movie. I liked it a lot. I think Taylor Schilling plays a perfect Dagny Taggart. Not too different from how I envisioned her. And the sleek cinematography was perfectly riveting. I know this is Part I of a trilogy, but the movie was short and I wanted more. I wish I could just go back out to see Part II this afternoon.

One thing I worried about was how well the filmmakers would be able to place the setting in present times, 2016, amid a crisis of severe economic dislocation (like we're having under the Obamacrats in D.C. and across the nation). After seeing the opening scenes, and thinking about it a bit more, the scenario of disappearing industrialists seems entirely accurate. Indeed, as I've been reporting here of late, in California we've got the same kind of wrecked economy that Ayn Rand inveighed against. The Los Angeles Times was touting the expansion of the tech sector in February --- 100,000 new jobs were created --- while burying the lede on lingering massive unemployment in the state. But then the March job numbers --- unemployment edged back up to 12.1 percent --- forced the paper to be more honest. And then this weekend the Orange County Register published a devastating piece on the exodus of 69 businesses from the state for the first quarter of 2011. Reading the top ten list of reasons for businesses bailing is a jaw-dropping experience, but one that I'm getting used to. Between Sacramento and Washington, California can't get a break. Indeed, state officials have taken a fact-finding trip to Texas in hopes of stemming the flow of jobs to the Longhorn State and elsewhere.

Let's hope it gets better. For the past two years, the old Sunset Ford dealership in Westminster has been vacant, a symbol of the depression-like marketplace that hammered key sections of the local economy. For more than 40 years Sunset Ford did business at the intersection of the 22 and 405 Freeways, and so it was a shock to see that enterprise close its doors in 2009. And despite the Obama administration's economic stimulus, the location remains idle, like a ghost town:

Here's the old Sunset Ford sign, in disuse with no indication of replacement, down the way along Garden Grove Boulevard next to the 22 Freeway. It's a constant reminder of a collapsed marketplace:

As I was returning home, I saw this fellow with his homeless sign at the Jamboree offramp at Interstate 5. Notice the sign asks not for handouts, but for help finding ANY work.

This was a couple of weeks ago, and later that afternoon I went shopping at the District in Tustin. Borders is closing its location there, one of the 200 stores nationwide going belly up:

They were unloading everything:

But copies of David Remnick's recent book on the Radical-in-Chief weren't moving so well, and that's at 60 percent off:

And elsewhere around the mall stores have had trouble staying open , so it's not just Borders over here:

And checking over at Jamboree and Main Street in Irvine, this copying business, MyPrint, consolidated with an equity firm and closed this location. The local printing market is pretty messed up:

A lot of commercial real estate available throughout the Irvine business district.

I'm not sure what this was, probably a restaurant. This is down by Lake Forest, off the 5 Freeway:

I haven't had a chance to update with more pictures over the last couple of weeks, and not for lack of material. That said, there's indeed some robust sectors of the economy, especially entertainment and high tech. But overall California's economy is stagnating, and it's not going to improve as long as Democrat-socialists continue to sabotage the business climate with high taxes to fund out-of-control spending.

Sounds like something out of a movie, or something.

Protesters Booed the National Anthem at Sarah Palin Rally in Madison?

Freedom Eden has a roundup featuring this video:

But Althouse disagrees, specifying exactly what was happening, "Did the anti-Tea Party protesters boo the national anthem at the Madison rally yesterday?:

I'm seeing some assertions about this on blogs and in YouTube videos, and it's wrong if not unfair and deceptive ...

Meade and I have observed some of the most raucous rallies at the Capitol over the last 2 months, and the national anthem was sung many times, by the protesters themselves, and we witnessed respect for the anthem. In fact, you could go into the rotunda and start singing the anthem and people would go silent and even sing along with real feeling. They might have resented having to switch to solemnity when they were into raucousness, but they knew very well that they had to at least look like they respected the anthem.

Ann says that protesters yesterday were just successful in drowning out everything, and no doubt, especially with hate-addled progressives equipped with vuvuzelas:

Ann wants to be fair, and it helps of course to have been there. That said, Gateway Pundit has this: "TrumkaObama Thugs Scream, Curse, Beat Drums, Blow Whistles & Make Obscene Gestures During Palin’s Wisconsin Speech" (via Memeorandum).

This what democracy looks, or so they say.

Patterson School of Diplomacy, University of Kentucky, Screens Steven Soderbergh's Che to Commemorate Fiftieth Anniversary of Bay of Pigs

According to Robert Farley, who is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Patterson School, University of Kentucky.

See his entry at Lawyers, Guns and Murder: "Happy Bay of Pigs Day!"

Seriously. This is not a joke.

Farley indicates that watching the Che movie is "In support of my COIN seminar this semester..." Farley's seminar spends a week reading books on "the other side," including two on Che Guevara. I'm looking over the assigned readings, and it's "assumed" that students will read David Petraeus', U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which is arguably the most important work on counter-insurgency published in the post-Vietnam period. Hopefully they'll have read it in time for its "deconstruction" in Week 4: Time for the Deconstruction of Field Manual 3-24. But better to "assume," since Farley wouldn't want to overload the students. In Week 12 they have to wade through "The Runaway General," at Rolling Stone, the article that helped bring the early retirement of General Stanley McChrystal, former Commander of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Some former uniformed personnel had only the warmest thanks for McChrystal's service, and no doubt McChrystal wasn't thrilled that President Obama was handing out medals to troops who did not kill the enemy. Now that's important! So I'm sure Professor Farley has students spend extra time studying the administration's debilitating Rules of Engagement (ROE) that have placed American lives at risk. And that's not all! Farley features Firedoglake's Spencer Ackerman as a guest speaker during that same week. Ackerman, who's also a military affairs writer at Wired, infamously quipped on Christmas 2009 that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempted airline bombing was "a joke" about how some guy was trying to "set off firecrackers" on a plane in a "failed bid for relevance." Boy, that's one crack seminar!

But hey, rejoice! Our future diplomats are in the best of hands! As I note at Farley's post:

The Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce is a propaganda outlet for the Cuban Revolution? Hey, way to train America’s next generation of diplomats! No doubt students get target practice as well, so they’ll be prepared to put the bullet in the next generation of counter-revolutionaries — just like Che!!

Whooo heee!!!!

RELATED: Some alternative readings for Farley's next "counter-insurgency" seminar. See Adam Hassner, "Why The 50th Anniversary of The Bay of Pigs Should Matter To All Who Cherish Freedom." And Babalú Blog, "April 17, 1961."

BONUS: From Ron Radosh, "Marx in the American Academy: When Will its High Priests Ever Learn?"

EXTRA: At ABC News, "Cubans Mark 50th Anniversary of Failed Bay of Pigs Invasion: Country Celebrates 50 Years of Staying Power and Standing up to America."

Tea Party Reshapes New Hampshire Calculus

At WSJ, "Movement Emerges as Wild Card for Republican Hopefuls In Presidential Primary Often Dominated by Independents"

CONCORD, N.H. — In the brewing battle for New Hampshire, the tea party is emerging as a wild card for Republican presidential hopefuls who want the movement's energy but must also appeal to the state's crucial independent voters.

The nominal GOP front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, appears to be hedging his bets on the tea party. He was a no-show at a tax-day, tea-party rally at the state Capitol here Friday, choosing instead to talk taxes in Florida.

By contrast, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, whose low-key demeanor and blue-state roots were once considered his strong suit, fired up the faithful at the rally. In a rousing speech, he hit at what he called "the triangle of greed" that feeds off ordinary Americans: Big Government, Big Unions and Big Bailout Businesses.

"Let's send them this message: Don't tread on me," he told about 500 tea partiers, many carrying a yellow flag bearing that same phrase.

Independent voters, however, have been fickle in the Granite State, and it is not clear how they will respond to that kind of rallying cry.

Interesting piece. There's more at the link.

And see Frontloading HQ for the list of 2012 candidates. Six Republicans have either announced a presidential exploratory committee or simply thrown a hat in the ring: Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. I'm not feeling a vibe for anyone here as the tea party candidate. Sarah Palin put a fire under media speculation yesterday following her barnburner in Madison. But she's still quiet on a formal announcement. I think Herman Cain's going to have a nice base of support, but we'll see how strong a contender he turns out to be. He's working on it, that's for sure. He's been truckin' it up to New Hampshire, as we can see with this clip from Brad Marston's shop:

And see The Last Tradition, "GOP prez hopeful Herman Cain Gives Rousing Speech at Tax-Day Rally: We Need Some ‘Altering & Abolishing’."

Psycho Killer, Qu'est-ce que c'est ...

Well, since I'm trippin' on old music, this Talking Heads clip is surprisingly fresh:

And a shout out for The Other McCain, since I've missed linking over lately.

Animalistic Progressives

At Althouse, "How animalistic, frenzied, loud, rude, and desperate was the Wisconsin Capitol today?"

Andrew Breitbart confronts an angry union mob in Wisconsin," Says Instapundit, quoting Breitbart, who goes on about how ugly the "mob" was today at the Capitol:

[T]he defeats that the union’s leadership have suffered in that time have plunged these losers into an even more animalistic state of frenzy. Still stinging from last week’s election reaffirmation of Gov. Scott Walker’s policy of requiring public sector unions to face some of the economic realities that the rest of us have to deal with, the counter protesters both homegrown and bussed in them were louder, ruder and more desperate than ever....

Whoa!

Speaking of animalistic, here's VOM. Looks like it's filmed in Huntington Beach, but as it's 1976, who the heck knows?

Rule 5 Roundup — Summer Weather Edition

Wonderful weather we're having.

Click image to enlarge (via Theo Spark):

And don't miss Bob Belvedere's fabulous Rule 5 entry from earlier this week: "Rule 5 News: 15 April 2011 A.D."

Here's the link-around:

Anyway, here's some link around action: Amusing Bunni's Musings, Astute Bloggers, Bob Belvedere, CSPT, Dan Collins, Eye of Polyphemus, Gator Doug, Irish Cicero, Left Coast Rebel, Mind-Numbed Robot, Legal Insurrection, Lonely Conservative, PA Pundits International, PACNW Righty, Pirate's Cove, Proof Positive, Saberpoint, Snooper, WyBlog, The Western Experience, and Zion's Trumpet.

Plus, top it off with with American Perspective, Maggie's Notebook and Zilla of the Resistance.

Let me know if I need to add your blog to the roundup.

Even More Progressive Civility!

Leftists truly are the biggest racists, just ask REPSAC = CASPER = RACIST.

Even more radical left civility:

Via Breitbart TV, where you'll want to read the comments as well.

Andrew Breitbart Slams Progressives at Madison Tea Party!

What a combination!

Andrew Breitbart introducing Sarah Palin. Come to think of it, he introduced her when I saw Palin in the O.C., and he gets better each time:

Via Gateway Pundit, "ANDREW BREITBART Confronts the Angry TrumkaObama Leftist Mob, “You Can Go to Hell! Go to Hell!”"

And don't miss James Pethokoukis, "Palin in Madison: Veni, Vidi, Vici":

Will she run? Even many of those close to Team Palin have no idea. Palin herself may not have made a decision and may not feel she needs to until the autumn. But as it stands, she arguably represents the purest expression out there of Tea Party passion and free-market populist rejection of Washington’s bipartisan crony capitalism. If she ran, her high-wattage appearance in Madison shows just how dangerous her candidacy would be to a field of solid but stolid opponents.

RTWT at the link.

Also at New York Times, "Palin Speaks at Tea Party Rally in Madison." And lots more at Memeorandum.

More Progressive Civility

My previous entry is mild compared to this:

Friends of REPSAC = CASPER, no doubt. To say nothing of the flag/ass-wipers at Lawyers, Gays and Money, especially epic asshat Scott Eric Kaufman.

Progressive Civility

It'a an oxymoron, I know, like "jumbo shrimp."

But you gotta get a load of Paul Krugman, who's just voicing the truth of what progressives practice all the time. See, "Civility is the Last Refuge of Scoundrels":

At the beginning of last week, the commentariat was in raptures over the Serious, Courageous, Game-Changing Ryan plan. But now that the plan has been exposed as the cruel nonsense it is, what we’re hearing a lot about is the need for more civility in the discourse. President Obama did a bad thing by calling cruel nonsense cruel nonsense; he hurt Republican feelings, and how can we have a deal when the GOP is feeling insulted? What we need is personal outreach; let’s do lunch!

Hey, now let's see Krugman go after the enemies of Sarah Palin, who were showing their true colors today in Madison. William Jacobson's got that: "Public Employee Union Dance-a-Thon Practice In Madison":

On display in Madison, Wisconsin today, as related to me by reader Jim, who sent this photo:

"This guy was next to me screaming for two hours. Here he is showing civility and tolerance to Sarah Palin."

Why Did Islamists Kill Vittorio Arrigoni?

Seriously. The guy was on their side.

Fox News reports, "Kidnapping of Italian Activist in Gaza Challenges Hamas' Authority." The killers are allegedly rogue operatives. But still. Arrigoni was an ISM activist. How stupid. You'd think they'd murder Zionists. And even Hamas terrorists aren't pleased? See Los Angeles Times, "Body of Kidnapped Activist Found in Gaza City":

The body of kidnapped Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni was discovered in an abandoned house just hours after a radical Islamist group announced that it was holding the Palestinian advocate in exchange for the release of its leader, Gaza officials said Friday.

The slaying drew immediate expressions of shock and condemnation from Palestinian leaders, Gaza Strip residents and Arrigoni's colleagues, who said the 36-year-old had come to the Gaza Strip in 2008 with the advocacy group International Solidarity Movement to help Palestinians in the impoverished coastal territory.

It was the first abduction of a Westerner in Gaza since 2007 and, human rights officials said, the only instance of such a kidnapping victim being slain.

On Thursday, a small Islamist group with links to Al Qaeda posted a video of a bloodied, blindfolded Arrigoni. The Tawhid and Jihad group set a late Friday deadline for the release of its leader, who had been arrested by Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2007.

On Friday, the group retracted its claim of responsibility but defended the killing, saying it was the result of Hamas policies.

And folks can see what to make out of this. Ultimately, progressive anti-Semites will blame Israel.

UPDATE: At Director Blue, "... [Some] fear that radicals who want Gaza to be an Islamic theocracy are bold enough to challenge Hamas over what they consider its lack of religious fervour.

Sarah Palin Rallies Madison Tea Party! — VIDEO ADDED!!

No doubt today's big story is Sarah Palin in Wisconsin.

The Right Scoop has video, "Sarah Palin to Obama: You ignored us in 2010, but you cannot ignore us in 2012!" (via Memeorandum). Also, at Gateway Pundit, "SARAH PALIN – ANDREW BREITBART Join Thousands of Patriots at Madison Tea Party (Live on UStream) …Update: Thugs Heckle Sarah Palin …Update: Sarah to Obama, “Mr. President, Game On!”"

Ann Althouse has lots of coverage and is still working on uploads. Here's this from her coverage so far, "'Tea Party: How About a Nice Cup of... SHUT THE F@*K UP!'":

I'll update with a YouTube clip when that becomes available, as well as any other cases of progressive thuggery --- which shouldn't take long, actually.

Okay, here's the video, via Gateway Pundit (more from Althouse later):

Academic Bloggers

Actually, I'm not much of an academic anymore. I'm a teacher and an activist, although I keep up with the current academic literature in international relations fairly well. But who knows? Maybe that's enough to qualify for a write-up at the New York Times. Ann Althouse and Glenn Reynolds are featured at this piece, and they're bloggers as much as they are scholars: "Big Blog on Campus." That said, political scientist and communist Henry Farrell is mentioned as well, for the group blog Crooked Timber. (Henry's a lying asshat who's quoted there, "I guess if you use fake facts it’s easier to write editorials in favor of unlimited and unaccountable state power to detain U.S. citizens." Fake facts? Henry Farrell traffics in them, and when critics call him out on it, he bans them from Crooked Timber, as I wrote previously here.)

Anyway, pictured at the Times' piece is Eugene Volokh (of Volokh Conspiracy), who looks nothing like I imagined --- much younger in fact.

And here's yours truly at yesterday's tea party in Oceanside. A wonderful woman asked if she could take my picture with her Sarah Palin sign! I handed her my camera while she was at it.

By the way, William Jacobson deserves mention in any academic blog roundup, especially when blog rankings are a key indicator.

Lee Fang, RIP

I don't remember ever reading a more devastating takedown of a progressive smear-merchant, and that's saying something.

See John Hinderaker, "CONTANGO CONFUSION":

The basic problem with a site like Think Progress is that its "reporters," ill-informed, uneducated, inexperienced amateurs like Lee Fang, try to write about subjects of which they have no understanding. Worse yet, they slander the very people who do understand those topics -- the people who produce products and make our economy go.

Now go read the whole thing (via Memeorandum).

Mission Viejo and Oceanside Tax Day Tea Parties!

I'm beat. I'll finishing posting my coverage of the tea parties tomorrow. For now, below at top are two pictures from Oceanside, which was the evening tea party with well over a thousand people on hand. The two pictures at bottom are from Mission Viejo, where patriots gathered at the intersection of Marguerite Parkway and La Paz Road at 4:30pm.

Until morning, check Carolyn Tackett's report, "Welcome to the Tampa Tax Day Tea Party!"

House Votes on 2012 GOP Budget Plan

I'm watching the floor debate on C-SPAN, at the suggestion of Brittany Cohan.

There's lots of buzz online, for example, "Obama: GOP tried to 'sneak' agenda into budget," and "Drama erupts on House floor as conservative budget goes down."

I enjoyed Rep. Paul Ryan's presentation, which recaps his recent promotions and interviews:

I'm heading out right now to meet my wife for lunch. After that I'll be grading papers for a couple of hours. Then I'm heading to a tea party in Mission Viejo at 4:30pm and then meeting Left Coast Rebel at the Oceanside Tea Party at 6:00pm. Should be lots of great coverage, so check back tonight.

Until then ...

Los Angeles Times Disses 'Atlas Shrugged'

Well, I can't say one way or the other until I see it. And I won't see it until tomorrow, since it's playing in L.A., and I'll be doing tea party coverage today. So take LAT's review FWIW from a leftist outlet, "Movie review: 'Atlas Shrugged': Ayn Rand's opus of unfettered capitalism gets a flat screen treatment."

Meanwhile, you know Roger Ebert's gonna hate it, but read it just for the glimpse into the anti-individualist worldview:

So OK. Let’s say you know the novel, you agree with Ayn Rand, you’re an objectivist or a libertarian, and you’ve been waiting eagerly for this movie. Man, are you going to get a letdown. It’s not enough that a movie agree with you, in however an incoherent and murky fashion. It would help if it were like, you know, entertaining?

(Via Memeorandum.) And others aren't holding off until they see it to weigh in negatively. That said, Kurt Loder did see it and was unimpressed --- and he's writing at Reason.

More later ...

Lowering the Class Warfare Rhetoric

From Carl Cannon, at RealClearPolitics, "Dems and Taxes: Trapped by Talking Points." Folks should just read it all over there. Cannon sounds less a tea partier than the kind of objective commentator that's so few and far between these days. He links to the left-leaning PolitiFact, which debunks the claim that "the well-off received a disproportionate share of the tax cuts."

In any case, speaking of taxes, get a load of this video from ReasonTV:

Going Galt? '69 more firms move jobs, facilities out of California'

Well, speaking of "Atlas Shrugged," here's the latest from California's wrecker economy, at Orange County Register:

So far this year, 69 companies have moved all or part of their California work and jobs to other states or countries, reports Irvine relocation consultant Joe Vranich. It's the fastest rate of departures since Vranich started tracking the exodus in 2009, he says. There have been an average of 4.7 moves per week from Jan. 1 through April 12, compared to 3.9 moves in all of 2010. The numbers are low, Vranich says, estimating that only one in five out-of-state moves is made public. In what he calls "disinvestment events," Vranich counts companies that move jobs, facilities or headquarters out of California. He doesn't count companies that invest outside the state for growth or marketing reasons. Among the 69 are some big names: CKE Restaurants, which started in Orange County and now is based in Carpinteria; Dunn-Edwards paints in Vernon; and eBay Inc. in San Jose which will add 1,000 high-paying jobs in Austin, Tex. after receiving government incentives to locate there.

CKE is Carl Karcher Enterprises, the parent company of Carl's. Jr. But check the link to see the list of O.C.-based firms fleeing the state's inhospitable business climate. And here's the list of reasons:

Why do these and the other companies move out of California? Vranich has updated his top 10 reasons that California companies call the moving van. Number 10 is new: Energy costs soaring because of new laws and regulations. Commercial electrical rates are already 50% higher than the rest of the country, Vranich says, and Gov. Jerry Brown just signed a new law increasing the amount of power utilities must buy from renewable sources plus regulations for the California Global Warming Solutions Act will start soon.

Number 10 is new: Energy costs soaring because of new laws and regulations. Commercial electrical rates are already 50% higher than the rest of the country, Vranich says, and Gov. Jerry Brown just signed a new law increasing the amount of power utilities must buy from renewable sources plus regulations for the California Global Warming Solutions Act will start soon.

The other reasons, Vranich says, are:

9. High and unfair tax treatment
8. Regulatory burden
7. Unfriendly legal environment for business
6. Most expensive place to do business
5. Provable savings elsewhere
4. Public policies and taxes create unfriendly business climate
3. Uncontrollable public spending
2. More adversarial toward business than any other state
1. Poor rankings for California on lists ranging from taxes to crime rates to school dropout rates.

Still more at O.C. Register.

ADDED: Linked at Director Blue and Libertarian Republican.

Also, at Ace of Spades Headlines and Ed Driscoll, "California: ‘More Adversarial Toward Business than Any Other State’."

Kurt Loder Reviews 'Atlas Shrugged' at Reason

See "Where is John Galt?":

Anyone not familiar with Rand’s novel will likely be baffled by the goings-on here. Characters spend much time hunkered around tables and desks nattering about rail transport, copper-mining, and the oil business. A few of these people are stiffly virtuous (“I’m simply cultivating a society that values individual achievement”), but most are contemptible (“We must act to benefit society”…“a committee has decided”…“We rely on public funding.”) These latter creeps should set our blood boiling, but they’re so cartoonishly one-dimensional that any prospective interest soon slumps. We are initially intrigued by the recurring question, “Who is John Galt?” But since the movie covers only the first third of the novel (a crippling miscalculation), we never really find out, apart from noticing an anonymous figure lurking around the edges of the action, togged out in a trench coat and a rain-soaked fedora like a film-noir flatfoot who’s wandered into an epoch far away from his own.

S.E. Cupp is Keith Olbermann's Latest 'Mashed Up Bag of Meat With Lipstick'

The return of Keith Olbermann’s "misogynistic freak show.

The full story's at The Blaze, "OLBERMANN: S.E. CUPP SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN BORN, PROVES ‘NECESSITY’ OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD." It all starts with S.E. Cupp's appearance on Joy Behar's show:

Then Olbermann goes ballistic on Twitter.

See the follow up report from Caroline May, at Daily Caller, "Olbermann says S.E. Cupp demonstrates the ‘necessity’ of Planned."

Andrew Breitbart Saves the World (Or at Least Your Sanity)

I'm reading it now, and loving it. It's hard to put down, and I don't say that about many books these days.

A review from Derek Hunter at Daily Caller, "Righteous Indignation: Andrew Breitbart is out to save the world( and he just might)" (via Big Government):

Of all the things Righteous Indignation does, perhaps its most important function is to pull back the curtain on the unholy alliance between all the cultural and media institutions and the left-wing industrial complex and expose how they fit together like puzzle pieces to advance an agenda. If you trusted the media or the entertainment industry before reading this book, your eyes will be opened. If you didn’t, you will know you are not alone.

Breitbart might not save the world with his book, but he might just save your sanity. Or he might inspire readers to stand up and say “no more!” and take action to defend liberty. Come to think of it, if that happens, he might just save the world.

She's Hot. She's Sexy ... Ayn Rand's Bigger Than Ever

From Matt Welch at Hit and Run, "How Ayn Rand 'was loathed by the mainstream conservative movement'."

Following the links takes to Donald Luskin's piece at WSJ, "Remembering the Real Ayn Rand: The author of "Atlas Shrugged" was an individualist, not a conservative, and she knew big business was as much a threat to capitalism as government bureaucrats."

Welch notes that Luskin's got a new book coming out, "I Am John Galt: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It." And he also points us to Reason's 2009 cover story, "She’s Back! Ayn Rand is bigger than ever. But are her new fans radical enough for capitalism?" It's a little dated (nobody's "going Galt," for example), although there's an important message there, revived again this week by President Obama's speech on the budget:

For Rand’s popularity to achieve political traction, Randism will have to move beyond the strange preoccupation of a few politicians and the full-time passion of two specialist think tanks. Her ideas will need to become the guiding principle for a significant voting bloc or politically active movement. And that is a difficult problem for Objectivism, which as an organized movement never managed to convert the millions of cash-paying Rand customers into active “radicals for capitalism,” to use the author’s own self-description.

I love the celebration of the individual, but I'm no atheist and some of Rand's individualist abandon leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But Rep. Paul Ryan is cited at the piece. Ryan's Catholic, so he's not going in whole hog for Rand's vision in the moral sphere. But he does endorse the emphasis on liberty in the market (narrowly defined), and the threat from the bureaucratic Leviathan that's more real than ever under the current Democrat regime. I think these points indicate an adaptable Randism for people who aren't that radical. Frankly, it's pretty rad just to go Rand on economic individualism, so folks can sort out Objectivist ethics in others moral realms after that point.

Christmas For Democrats!

Tax time, from Americans for Limited Government:

It's Been 11 Years Since 'Scream 3'

And the Weinstein Company says that's not a problem.

At LAT, "Word of Mouth: 'Scream 4' takes a stab at relaunching the franchise":

Following a bloody scene near the conclusion of "Scream 4," the character played by the horror franchise veteran Neve Campbell turns to series newcomer Emma Roberts and self-referentially cautions her to not mess with the original, though she uses cruder language to express her displeasure.

The question this weekend is whether fans of the first three films also might feel that the new thriller tramples on the "Scream" legacy.

It's been 11 years since "Scream 3" arrived in theaters, and franchises don't normally relaunch themselves after such a long hiatus. Audience tracking surveys suggest that "Scream 4" will be eviscerated at the box office by the animated comedy "Rio," but there are precedents that make "Scream 4" maker Weinstein Co. optimistic about its long-term prospects.

Paramount's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in 2008 followed the previous Harrison Ford treasure-hunt tale by 19 years with poor reviews but a global gross of more than $786 million, and last year's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" from New Line, which trailed the previous Freddy Krueger movie by seven years, grossed a respectable $63.1 million domestically.

"Audiences like it a lot," Bob Weinstein says of the new horror film, which so far is attracting fair but not great reviews. "'Scream' is an icon of a franchise."

Hmm. We'll see, but Weinstein might have a point. When kids think of slasher flicks nowadays the "Scream" movies get first mention. And I remember when my oldest kid first asked if he could watch slashers he mentioned "Scream." My wife wouldn't let him watch it. That was years ago, so I've lost track, but my youngest is 9 years-old, and it's no way Jose. That said, I liked the first "Scream" a lot. In fact, I might even be heading out to the movies this weekend for some scary slasher thrills. You're only young once!

FreedomWorks: 'Atlas Is Shrugging'

Via Daily Caller, "For FreedomWorks, Atlas is Already Shrugging":

RELATED: From Donald Luskin, at Wall Street Journal, "Remembering the Real Ayn Rand."

Change! Share of Americans Working Near 30-Year Low

At USA Today, "More Americans Leaving Workforce":

The share of the population that is working fell to its lowest level last year since women started entering the workforce in large numbers three decades ago, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Only 45.4% of Americans had jobs in 2010, the lowest rate since 1983 and down from a peak of 49.3% in 2000. Last year, just 66.8% of men had jobs, the lowest on record.

The bad economy, an aging population and a plateau in women working are contributing to changes that pose serious challenges for financing the nation’s social programs.

More at the link above.

This administration has no clue.

America’s Fading Middle East Influence

From Shmuel Bar, at Policy Review:

The middle east has gone through eras of projection of power by external powers, and it has adapted to the balance of power between them. This was the case during the age of colonialism (predominance of Britain and France), the Cold War (competition between the U.S. and the ussr), and the period of American predominance since the end of the Cold War. For the last two decades, the region has been characterized by the conflict between “status-quo” and “anti-status-quo” forces. The former were represented by the existing regimes in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc., and the latter by Iran, the Islamic movement, Hezbollah, and their allies. For over two decades, the United States has been the predominant superpower in the region and the main force in maintaining the status quo.

However, today, the Middle East is undergoing a sea change. The revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya were the result of developments within the countries themselves: deep economic and social malaise and the perception of the loss of domestic deterrence by ossified regimes led by aging leaders. However, the popular perception that the United States had abandoned its erstwhile allies to support those revolutions facilitated their spread to other theaters. This turnabout in American policy is not seen in the region as reflecting American power though intervention, but rather the decline of American power, manifested in a policy of “bandwagoning” after years of proactive American policy. Clearly, the decline of American projection of power in the region will have as profound an effect as the projection of American power had at its height.

The policies of the United States under the Obama administration have given rise to a broad perception in the region that the United States is no longer willing to play the role of guarantor of the security of its allies there; America is indeed “speaking softly” but has neither the present intention nor the future willpower to wield “a big stick” if push comes to shove. This perception is reflected in seven, key interrelated regional issues: (1) Islam and jihadi terrorism; (2) revolution and democratization in the region; (3) nuclear proliferation; (4) Iran; (5) the Israeli-Arab peace process; (6) Iraq; and (7) Af-Pak. In all these issues, the U.S. is perceived as searching for the path of least resistance, lowering its strategic profile, and attempting to accommodate the de facto powers in the region. In all these areas, the United States is projecting an aversion to proactive action, disinclination to project power, and lack of resolve to support its allies. Remaining American allies in the region realize that they cannot rely on the United States and must adapt themselves to pressures of the masses, predominance of radical ideologies, and Iranian strategic hegemony.

An excellent piece. RTWT.

Wednesday Drive Time

Heard it yesterday morning during drive time, at 100.3 The Sound. Quite a change of pace from Lady Gaga and Rihanna. REO Speedwagon, "Take It On the Run":

Walking Back the Breezy Optimism on Gabrielle Giffords' Medical Recovery

It's a pretty candid essay, impressive even, given Newsweek's recent history. But Tina Brown's editor now, and the last of the old Jon Meacham team has finally left the magazine. See, "What's Really Going On With Gabby Giffords."

When members of the Giffords medical team discuss her progress with reporters, they are constrained by patient-privacy laws and by the specific instructions from Giffords’s family and staff. Before the team held a press conference last month (the first since February), the boundaries of permissible information had been carefully negotiated, and the result was a generally upbeat report featuring many superlatives but few details. Dr. Dong Kim, the neurosurgeon who drained excess fluid from Giffords’s brain when she arrived from Tucson, reported that she was progressing in “leaps and bounds,” and that she was starting to walk and show an ability to express herself that was “a constant and wonderful thing.”

Reflecting on that media event, Kim tells NEWSWEEK, “I can understand how somebody listening to us might say they expected her to show up and be normal. But if you polled a bunch of neurologists or neurosurgeons as to what we were saying,” he goes on, “they would understand exactly what we were describing and what we think a good recovery means.”

First and foremost, the nonspecialist should understand that when Kim and the other doctors on the team speak of progress, it is in relative terms, given that the patient has suffered severe brain damage. “‘Leaps and bounds’ means much faster recovery than the average patient from a similar type of thing,” Kim says. When he says that he is having conversations with Giffords, he means that he has asked her a question (“How are you today?”) and that she has answered (“I’m better”). Kim adds that there is a bottom line for all such patients, whatever their recovery curve. “If somebody has a severe brain injury, are they ever going to be like they were before? The answer is no. They are never going to be the exact same person.”

Dr. Gerard Francisco, the physiatrist in charge of the Giffords medical team, says he is quite pleased with his patient’s progress, although he acknowledges that outsiders, especially the media, might be misinterpreting what the doctors and therapists are trying, however circumspectly, to describe. “It’s how we measure the change,” Francisco says. “Some people will expect changes to be big. I’m happy with small changes, as long as I see these changes every day, and that’s why I’m very encouraged. Some people would like things to get better within an hour, within a day, within a week. Rehab is not measured that way. It is a long-term process.”

What Francisco and his rehab team aim for is an optimized “new normal” for each patient. “Everyone around her needs to understand, hey, this is a different situation,” says music therapist Meagan Morrow, who is working with Giffords. “After you have a brain injury, you are a different person. It doesn’t matter who you are.”

It's worth reading the entire article.

Dana Loesch Interviews Donald Trump: 'I'm a Very Conservative Guy in the Republican Party'

At Big Journalism, "Donald Trump on Running as An Independent, Past Campaign Donations and More."

Trump indicates he's a loyal party guy but also open to bipartisan cooperation. Interesting interview. Be sure to listen until the end, where The Donald slams Barack Hussein on the birth certificate fraud:

Don't Mess With Congressman (LTC. Ret) Allen B. West!

At The Hill, "West to critics: Beware whom you target":

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) used an email to constituents to respond to a threat against his Florida office last week and to warn critics to "be careful of whom you are choosing to employ these tactics against."

Last week, West's Florida office received an envelope containing white powder and a letter with derogatory remarks directed at the congressman. A hazmat team later determined the powder wasn't harmful.

"This incident, is just another in several incidents that have occurred over the last couple of years and, have put me in quite a bad mood," West wrote in an email sent to constituents Tuesday.
He offered the example of a "liberal blogger publicly stating that he wanted to 'skin me alive,' " and a protest outside his office led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) "castigating me as a 'misogynist.' "

"I find it interesting that in all of these instances, the media simply dismissed the incidents," West said. "One might wonder — is it open season on a principled black conservative?"

****

"Let me be very clear to all reading this missive, but mostly to liberals who subscribe to this behavior, be careful of whom you are choosing to employ these tactics against," wrote West. "I consider myself an easy-going fella who will always engage in intense intellectual exchange. However, if you choose this path of personal attacks, intimidation, and threats you will encounter a very different Congressman (LTC. Ret) Allen B. West."

That's called standing up for your values and standing against progressive thuggery.

A great man. It was my honor to meet him at CPAC.

Obama's Toxic Speech

Background at Los Angeles Times, "Obama lays out deficit reduction plan."

Watch the speech. I was getting nauseous after the first few minutes. The president takes no responsibility for maxing the national credit card. But see the Wall Street Journal, "The Presidential Divider: Obama's Toxic Speech and Even Worse Plan for Deficits and Debt":

Did someone move the 2012 election to June 1? We ask because President Obama's extraordinary response to Paul Ryan's budget yesterday—with its blistering partisanship and multiple distortions—was the kind Presidents usually outsource to some junior lieutenant. Mr. Obama's fundamentally political document would have been unusual even for a Vice President in the fervor of a campaign.

The immediate political goal was to inoculate the White House from criticism that it is not serious about the fiscal crisis, after ignoring its own deficit commission last year and tossing off a $3.73 trillion budget in February that increased spending amid a record deficit of $1.65 trillion. Mr. Obama was chased to George Washington University yesterday because Mr. Ryan and the Republicans outflanked him on fiscal discipline and are now setting the national political agenda.

Mr. Obama did not deign to propose an alternative to rival Mr. Ryan's plan, even as he categorically rejected all its reform ideas, repeatedly vilifying them as essentially un-American. "Their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America," he said, supposedly pitting "children with autism or Down's syndrome" against "every millionaire and billionaire in our society." The President was not attempting to join the debate Mr. Ryan has started, but to close it off just as it begins and banish House GOP ideas to political Siberia.

Mr. Obama then packaged his poison in the rhetoric of bipartisanship—which "starts," he said, "by being honest about what's causing our deficit." The speech he chose to deliver was dishonest even by modern political standards.

Further details and analysis at the link.

RELATED: At National Journal, "CBO Says Budget Deal Will Cut Spending by Only $352 Million." (Via Memeorandum.)

J. Crew President Paints Son's Toenails Pink

Don't get me started.

Obliterating gender difference is key to the radical left agenda. If gender roles don't matter, then neither do traditional parental roles, child-rearing roles, marriage --- you name it. That's why freak extremists like Racist Repsac3 go for the aggressive demonization should someone call bull on this deviancy.

The story's at ABC News, "J. Crew Ad With Boy's Pink Toenails Creates Stir: Social Conservatives Call Ad 'Propaganda;' Transgender Groups Say Reaction is 'Ridiculous'" (via Memeorandum):

Cited there is this piece, from Dr. Keith Ablow, "J. Crew Plants the Seeds for Gender Identity":

In our technology-driven world—fueled by Facebook, split-second Prozac prescriptions and lots of other assaults on genuine emotion and genuine relationships and actual consequences for behavior—almost nothing is now honored as real and true.

Increasingly, this includes the truth that it is unwise to dress little girls like miniature adults (in halter tops and shorts emblazoned with PINK across the bottoms) and that it is unwise to encourage little boys to playact like little girls.

If you have no problem with the J. Crew ad, how about one in which a little boy models a sundress? What could possibly be the problem with that?

Well, how about the fact that encouraging the choosing of gender identity, rather than suggesting our children become comfortable with the ones that they got at birth, can throw our species into real psychological turmoil—not to mention crowding operating rooms with procedures to grotesquely amputate body parts? Why not make race the next frontier? What would be so wrong with people deciding to tattoo themselves dark brown and claim African-American heritage? Why not bleach the skin of others so they can playact as Caucasians?

Why should we hold dear anything with which we were born? What’s the benefit of non-fiction over fiction?

Well, the benefit is that non-fiction always wins, in the end. And to the extent that you take flights of fancy into masquerading through life, life will exact a psychological penalty.

And while the regular cultural radicals are shilling for this cultural degeneracy, we also have Doug Mataconis engaging the debate, "Social Conservatives Freak Out Over J. Crew Ad." Doug's libertarian, and he's blogging at Outside the Beltway, ostensibly a conservative blog, but I doubt most parents are down with painting their young sons' toenails hot pink. People of decent morals just know instinctively the dangers in such behavior. And what's bothersome --- no, loathsome --- is to be lectured by the deviants themselves about how "intolerant" are people of old-fashioned morality.

Nancy Pelosi: 'Elections Shouldn't Matter as Much as They Do'

She's a strange woman, in many respects. I don't see someone like Pelosi as possessing anything approaching critical thinking facilities. It's all just emotion and stream of consciousness. And that really explains the talk she gave at Tufts, where she says that Republicans should just take back their party because we "share values about the education of our children." Never mind that we don't really have shared values, especially when people like Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary in the Obama Department of Education, is a prototypical exponent of those values. Nancy Pelosi is out to lunch when she claims that "elections shouldn’t matter as much as they do." In fact, I might have passed up on this, but Steven Hayward has an essay worth sharing, at Power Line, "THE MASK SLIPS, FALLS TO GROUND, EXPLODES." I still think she's out to lunch, but this is good:

It is a mistake to dismiss Pelosi as the complete nitwit she often appears. The most clarifying single moment of the last generation may well have been Pelosi's famous remark that we'd need to pass the healthcare bill to find out what was in it. Rather than being a matter of ridicule, I thought Pelosi expressed perfectly the innermost character of congressional legislation in the modern administrative state. What she said was quite true and accurate: even at more than 2,000 pages, the enormous discretion and policy responsibility delegated to executive branch agencies meant that in effect the actual operating law would be formulated by administrators rather than Congress. And the huge number of waivers being granted under ObamaCare reveals the essentially arbitrary (some might say lawless) nature of administrative government.

RTWT.

Vice President Joe Biden Falls Asleep During President's Budget Speech

At Riehl World View, "Biden: Obama's Budget Speech No Big Effin' Deal'." (Also at The Note and Memeorandum.)