Booman Tribune Endorses Norway Massacre in Demands for Economic Redistribution

This is a really convoluted take on the diabolical massacre mounted by the fundamentally crazed criminal madman Anders Behring Breivik.

See Booman Tribune, "Remembering History." There's a discussion of the rise of fascism in the twenties and thirties, then Booman shifts over to a psychotic rationalization for the violence, and suggests the left may adopt the same murderous tactics if the rich don't relinquish their wealth:

The horrible tragedy in Norway appears to have been carried out by one man. But his political beliefs are widespread and can lead quite naturally, and almost logically, to murder or even genocide. Similarly unrestrained reactions from the left can lead to violence against elites or even, in their view, confiscatory tax policies.

Rich people would be well served to remember that people will not stand by while they're living the high life if they have no jobs and are losing their homes. Our people are pretty well hypnotized by our televisions, so complacency has worked in our elites' favor even during this economic recession. But there is a snapping point. Like popcorn, at first it's just one or two kernels exploding. But the first kernels to pop are a precursor of what's to come.

Rather than grabbing their wallets, they ought to, you know, spread the wealth around. We'd all be better off in the long run.

This is frankly deranged.

I'm currently reading Anders Behring Breivik 1,500-page manifesto. I'm about a third of the way though, but Breivik's comments on capitalism are so far culturally anti-globalist and anti-transnational. Yet, Breivik's also fairly libertarian on markets (but still reading, so we'll see). But most of all is the fanatical hatred of progressivism and multiculturalism. There's literally nothing so far I've read that would lend itself to conclusions Booman's making. Folks can interpret this as they wish. The Norway murders were simply those of a criminal mastermind who'd had it with Europe's long march to multiculturalism. I'm seeing little similarities to the kind of economic disillusionment that gave rise to the specific ideological extremism in post-WWI Germany, or to European fascism in general. Breivik's responding to developments in post-WWII cultural Marxism. So while the Norway killer attacks leftism and identifies as culturally conservative, it's not the case of a coherent ideological program of Nazi-derived Aryanism or a more general tendency to brown-shirt politics. No doubt there are fine lines, but if someone leaned one way or the other reading this, it'd unlikely be toward the kind of command totalitarianism Booman champions. The dude (Booman) is sick.

PREVIOUSLY: "Anders Behring Breivik — No Clear Ideological Program." AND: "Just Awful: Progressives Ecstatic Over Anders Behring Breivik Alleged Ties to Right-Wing Extremism."

Key Quotes From Anders Behring Breivik's 1500-Page Manifesto

At Telegraph UK, "Norway shooting: quotes from Anders Behring Breivik's online manifesto":

"However, since I manifest their worst nightmare (systematical and organized executions of multiculturalist traitors), they will probably just give me the full propaganda rape package and propagate the following accusations: pedophile, engaged in incest activities, homosexual, psycho, ADHD, thief, non-educated, inbred, maniac, insane, monster etc. I will be labeled as the biggest (Nazi-)monster ever witnessed since WW2."

Also at Document.no, "Behring Breivik Copies From Unibomber" (in English and Norwegian).

PREVIOUSLY: "Anders Behring Breivik — No Clear Ideological Program." AND: "Just Awful: Progressives Ecstatic Over Anders Behring Breivik Alleged Ties to Right-Wing Extremism."

Amy Winehouse Sadly Joins 'The 27 Club'

London's Daily Mail has a exceptional report on the death of Amy Winehouse, "Tragic Amy Winehouse 'heartbroken' over split from Reg Traviss as she dies aged 27." (And at Memeorandum.)

Troubled singer Amy Winehouse died yesterday of a suspected drug overdose at her London home.

The 27-year-old star, who had fought a long and well-publicised battle with drink and drug addiction, was pronounced dead after police were called to her £2.5 million three-storey home in North London.

Her untimely death follows a long list of musicians who have all died at the age of 27, known as the 27 Club. They include rock legends Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Rolling Stone Brian Jones.

Amy was said to be devastated and ‘inconsolable’ after being dumped by her on-off boyfriend Reg Traviss, 34, just before she checked herself into The Priory rehabilitation clinic last month.

There's speculation that she killed herself: "Amy Winehouse Death a Suicide?"

But see the appreciation at New York Times, "For Winehouse, Life Was Messier Than Music."

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

#FuckYouWashington

From Hadear Kandil's Twitter stream, pure anti-American hatred:

She needs to GTF back to Cairo, loser Tahrir camel-smelling wench. Geez. By now I shouldn't be, but I'm still blown away sometimes by the freak-show progressive internationalists who hate the U.S. but stay here nevertheless, blathering about how horrible it is, all the while bringing down the quality of this great nation. These people are freakin' stupid. They suck. Stupid and diabolical. Go home freak-nut commies. You're not welcomed.

Retweeted by Leah McElrath, the fifth-column hater-commie who got called out for spreading progressive propaganda.

A bunch of losers, total ASFL.

Kate Upton — Next Big Thing

Well, I could've told 'em that.

At New York Daily News, "Kate Upton brings classic, voluptuous femininity back to fashion."

She's fabulous.

Bill Maher and Sexism

Steven Crowder (via The Blog Prof):

Anders Behring Breivik — No Clear Ideological Program

I linked previously to the New York Times's report: "Right-Wing Extremist Charged in Norway." The Times altered the headline at the newspaper's website, "Christian Extremist Charged in Norway" (and Memeorandum, at 7:50pm, had "Death Toll Rises to 92 in Norway Attacks"). And now it's altered it again, "Oslo Suspect Wrote of Fear of Islam and Plan for War." The Old Gray Lady is notorious for altering its news reporting, without citing changes, in furtherance of its progressive political agenda, so that's a glimpse on the witch hunt reporting that we're already seeing. FWIW, here's this from the introduction at the report:

OSLO, Norway — The Norwegian man charged Saturday with a pair of attacks in Oslo that killed at least 92 people left behind a detailed manifesto outlining his preparations and calling for a Christian civil war to defend Europe against the threat of Muslim domination, according to Norwegian and American officials familiar with the investigation.

Also, the Wall Street Journal has this, "Suspect Identified With Far Right." After a boilerplate lede, the report indicates:

While Oslo police have remained largely silent about Mr. Breivik's possible motives and background, the 32-year-old described himself on a now-shut down Facebook page as a Christian conservative with hobbies in hunting and body-building. He also had at one time been a member of the youth movement of the Norwegian Progress Party, which is widely considered as a right-wing populist party.

Populist parties are generally oriented toward elite opposition and economic injustice. Outright racist appeals are generally secondary or a function of economic dislocation. And in the European context "far-right" parties conjure images of the Nazis or the French National Front under Jean-Marie Le Pen. And for that matter, Norway's Progress Party has been shifting toward a moderate neo-liberal economic program for over a decade, attempting to downplay party schisms over immigration. So for all the media reporting, it's not definitely accurate to cite Behring Breivik as a "right wing extremist." He doesn't evince a coherent or systemic ideological program. I've read through portions of his Internet postings, translated from Norwegian. See: "This is a complete list of comments Anders Behring Breivik has left at Document.no." Positions that would normally be considered extreme right wing, especially in the traditional European context, aren't in evidence:

Anyway, we are not in a position where we can pick and choose our partners. That's why we have to ensure that we influence other culturally conservatives to take our anti-racist pro-homosexual, pro-Israeli line of thought. When this direction has been taken we can take it to the next level.

That's interesting, especially the anti-racist and pro-gay statements, and of course historic European right-wing ideologies were implacably anti-Semitic. And get this, at Telegraph UK:

Eyewitness reports from the island of Utoya, where the shootings took place, have also described a tall, blond haired, blue-eyed Norwegian man dressed as a police officer.

On the Facebook page attributed to him, Mr Breivik describes himself as a Christian and a conservative. It listed his interests as hunting, body building and freemasonry. His profile also listed him as single. The page has since been taken down.

The odd point is Behring Breivik's identification with freemasonry, which would contradict the media claims of him being at Christian zealot. New York Daily News also stresses freemasonry, "Who is Anders Behring Breivik? Norway shooting suspect's profile emerges."

All in all, most media reporting is lazy and incoherent. And to top it off, James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University, identifies Behring Breivik as a clinical mass murderer rather than an ideological terrorist. See, "Norway massacre fits the mold":

As details surface in the days and weeks ahead about Friday's massacre in Norway and about Anders Behring Breivik, the man believed to have perpetrated the bloodbath, we will hopefully be able to make some sense of what now seems so unfathomable. However, even with the sketchy information uncovered in the immediate aftermath of the shooting/bombing, the crime and the accused fit the mass murder mold in many respects. ...

Mass murderers do not typically see themselves as criminal, but instead as the victim of injustice. They often consider themselves as a heroic champion for right over wrong and their crimes as absolutely justified.

RTWT.

In sum, while no doubt Anders Behring Breivik dabbled in conservative politics and social movements, it's not the case that he had a clear cut ideological agenda. He identified as culturally conservative, but he did not attach his beliefs to classic racial supremacy theories or historic anti-Jewish movements of genocidal purity ("right-wing" by definition). He combined a frustration with the growth of Norway's multiculturalism with what would normally be seen as tolerance toward social and religious minorities. The latter points are tendencies that are championed by progressives. For Behring Breivik to exhibit these things, along with expressions of freemason beliefs, and a "hatred" of the modern institutional church, indicates a more complex pyschological profile than MSM outlets have portrayed. We saw a similar pattern of conclusion-jumping almost immediately upon the Jared Loughner shooting in Tuscon early this year.

RELATED: See the interesting discussion from Dana Loesch, at Big Journalism, "A Quick Lesson for Media on the Definition of “Right Wing”."

Also, from Mike McNally at Pajamas Media, "Can the Left Resist the Temptation to Exploit the Norway Attacks?"

Just Awful: Progressives Ecstatic Over Anders Behring Breivik Alleged Ties to Right-Wing Extremism

I had a brief Twitter exchange yesterday with Ruwayda Mustafah and Hena Zuberi. As information on Oslo's terrorism was still coming in --- and reports were going back and forth over a possible Islamist connection --- Mustafah tweeted: "@HenaZuberi @hindhassanmany Oh so there's still hope for bigots?" That's a dead link to @hindhassanmany, but Hena Zuberi was also going on about how bigoted it was to even consider Islamist jihad as the movement behind yesterday's attacks.

And now here's progressive Leah McElrath on Twitter, cheering a New York Times report that links to a video manifesto credited to Anders Behring Breivik, which as later uploaded to YouTube. And notice McElrath's good night tweet:

Well, that actually wasn't McElrath's last tweet. She took time to block JoannaOC in Minneapolis, who called her out for distributing progressive propaganda. McElrath gets angry for being called out, and claims she's saving lives. JoannaOC is trying to focus on the miracle of life and God's grace of survival. Leah McElrath is spreading left-wing propaganda and hate.

In any case, here's the main story at New York Times, "Right-Wing Extremist Charged in Norway" (via Memeorandum). Also trending today is James Fallows' attack on Jennifer Rubin, "The Washington Post Owes the World an Apology for this Item."

Michelle Malkin responds, "No, James Fallows, the Washington Post doesn’t owe “the world” an apology":

The death toll has risen to a staggering 90-plus in the Norway massacre.

It is evil in its most unfathomable depths. There are now reports of a possible second gunman/accomplice, according to CBS News and VOA. Howie at the Jawa Report says it well: “As a Christian I have to say I condemn his actions in the strongest terms. In fact the only praise I’ve seen of the attacks were not by Christians. This is cold blooded murder and no true follower of Christ could do such a thing. We pray for the victims, their families and for those who are injured to recover.” Here is a beautiful prayer for the people of Norway.

Here in America, many on the Left have reserved their greatest outrage not for the perpetrators of the crime, but for conservatives who — like many counterterrorism watchers and mainstream media outlets around the world — initially raised the entirely reasonable possibility that the gunman was a jihadist and who pointed to recent, specific death threats and plots against Norway and Norwegian government officials by Islamic militant groups and individuals.

Those initial assessments were wrong. I was wrong. As I noted yesterday and will reiterate again today for the reading comprehension-challenged:

…the context and timing most definitely suggested jihad and there should be no apology for reading the signs and connecting several large, obvious dots.

Unlike those who speculated that the Giffords’ shooter was a Tea Party activist and held onto the assumption even after it was disproved, I will not continue to insist that jihadists bear blame for this heinous attack if it turns out they played no role.

I will continue to be vigilant in thoroughly covering the global jihadist threat — and in condemning this heinous attack in Norway whoever is responsible.
Prayers for all the innocents. Standing with Norway.

Over at the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin yesterday afternoon published a blog post mentioning some of the same information I brought to light yesterday morning as the news of the terrifying attacks broke — namely, that bloodthirsty Norwegian-based Muslim cleric Mullah Krekar was founder of Ansar Al-Islam and that jihadists have implanted themselves in every corner of the globe. She goes on to argue for continued, vigilant war against the global jihadists who remain at centuries-old, systemic war with us.

Atlantic editor James Fallows — in a prominent rant — is now clamoring for the Post to “apologize to the world” for Rubin’s post and fumes that the post has not been updated. There may be any number of reasons for her not updating yet and being offline — family obligations, Sabbath, etc. I’m pretty sure the reason is NOT that she’s purposely ignoring or misleading her readers or intentionally insulting/smearing “the world,” as Fallows seems to suggest. (In a similar meme, Twitter libs somehow have accused me of “falling silent” about the Norway horror despite the constant updating of my blog post throughout the day and night, in addition to day-and-night-long tweets as news developed.)

Check Michelle's blog for all the links. I wanted to quote at length. I linked yesterday to Jawa Report and The Other McCain, both of whom continued updating with reports on where the evidence was leading. In contrast, people like Charles Johnson used the attacks to score points on political enemies, posting a series of blogs attacking Pamela Geller and other counter-jihad bloggers, alleging their responsibility for terrorism in Norway. In fact, Anders Behring Breivik had no clear ideological agenda, and didn't appear to be an ideological or religious extremist.

I'll update with more, but I want to reiterate one of Michelle's key points:

Unlike those who speculated that the Giffords’ shooter was a Tea Party activist and held onto the assumption even after it was disproved, I will not continue to insist that jihadists bear blame for this heinous attack if it turns out they played no role.

I will continue to be vigilant in thoroughly covering the global jihadist threat — and in condemning this heinous attack in Norway whoever is responsible.

And that's the vital difference. Conservatives are anti-terror, no matter the source. Progressives are anti-conservative and turn a blind eye to terrorism unless it comes from the right.

That's evil and gets more people killed.

Amy Winehouse, 1983 – 2011

I got a sharp hit to the stomach upon seeing the news, at Bob Belvedere's, "NO SURPRISE: Amy Winehouse Found Dead – Overdose Suspected," and following the link there to Joy McCann, "Amy Winehouse Found Dead in Her London Flat."

I wasn't the biggest fan, but her substance abuse was troubling to me. A beautiful and talented woman, now lost to a blues singers' ugly death.

See New York Times, "Amy Winehouse, British Soul Singer With a Destructive Image, Dies at 27":

Amy Winehouse, the British singer who found worldwide fame with a smoky, hip-hop-inflected take on retro soul, yet became a tabloid fixture as her struggles with drugs and alcohol brought about a striking public career collapse, was found dead in her home in London on Saturday. She was 27.

The cause was not immediately known. The London police said that they had been called to an address in Camden Square in northern London on Saturday afternoon and found a 27-year-old woman, who had been pronounced dead at the scene. The police did not identify the body, but according to a report by The Associated Press, the London Ambulance Service said it was Ms. Winehouse.

The police said that they were investigating the circumstances of the death, but that “at this early stage it is being treated as unexplained.”

Ms. Winehouse’s American record label, Universal Republic, said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer. Our prayers go out to Amy’s family, friends and fans at this difficult time.”

Instantly recognizable from the heavy makeup and high beehive hairdo she borrowed from the Ronettes, Ms. Winehouse became one of the most acclaimed young singers of the 2000s, selling millions of albums, winning five Grammy Awards and kicking off the British trend of retro soul and R&B that continues today.

Yet from the moment she arrived on the international pop scene in 2007, Ms. Winehouse had an image that seemed almost defiantly self-destructive. In songs like “You Know I’m No Good,” she sang alcohol-soaked regrets of failed romances, and for many listeners the lyrics to the song “Rehab” — which won her three of the five Grammys she took in 2008 — crystallized her public persona. “They tried to make me go to rehab,” she sang, “I said, ‘No, no, no.’ ”

I'll have more later. Fausta blogs Winehouse as well.

Added: Now a Memeorandum thread.

Lessons in Handling Plagiarism From Professor Panagiotis Ipeirotis

I had a nightmare class at UCSB in 1999, the second lecture class I taught as in independent instructor. It was a Black Politics class. I had a running battle with radical students throughout the quarter. I even had one dude pull me aside to say, "Hey, man, this is how you teach the class." I wasn't down hard enough on the Man, apparently. This dude, and some of his allies, wanted a course in victimology and racial recrimination. And I was doing straight civil rights developments and the political science of voting rights and redistricting. It started to be a nightmare. Students complained to the department that I graded their midterms "too hard." It was a big learning experience. And the final exam was the kicker. I caught a couple of black women cheating. They were passing their exam sheets back and forth with notes they'd written while writing their essays. They had arrows and diagrams tracing arguments. It was involved. When one of them turned in the exam I asked for the question sheet and she wasn't about to give it to me. I was like hello? This is what you do. So she reluctantly gave to me and later I turned the students over to the vice chair of the department. Within a couple of days I was called into the chair's office, Professor Lorraine McDonnell, who no one liked, and who had a reputation, basically, of piggy-backing off her husband, Professor M. Stephen Weatherford, a nice guy and sought-after research "quant" (a numbers and methods guy who sharpened research knives, which is hip in political science, a field that remains envious of the economics discipline for its much more formal and recognized academic rigor). Professor McDonnell threw me under the bus. (I ended up assigning grades to all students and being done with that class, and I moved on after that semester to teach at Fresno State.)

Anyway, check this piece at Inside Higher Ed, "Who Is Punished for Plagiarism?" (via Glenn Reynolds):

Panagiotis G. Ipeirotis has taken down the controversial blog post, but the debate is raging on without the original material.

Ipeirotis, a computer scientist who teaches at New York University's Stern School of Business, wrote a post on his blog last week called "Why I will never pursue cheating again." In it, he told the story of how he found that about 20 percent of a 100-person class had plagiarized -- and described the fallout from his accusations. While Turnitin led to his initial suspicions, and gave clear evidence for some of the students, it only cast doubts on other students. Many of them confessed only when Ipeirotis told the class that if he didn't hear from those who had cheated, he would report the incident immediately -- whereas in the end he included in his report the information that students had admitted what they had done.

So why does Ipeirotis consider the experience a failure? His students became antagonistic, he wrote on the blog post, and gave him lower teaching evaluations than he had ever received before. And those poor teaching evaluations were cited in a review that resulted in the smallest raise he had ever received.

Keep reading.

Ipeirotis' post is taken down temporarily. But Ruan YiFeng's Blog has excerpts. I like this:

“The process of discussing all the detected cases was not only painful, it was extremely time consuming as well.

Students would come to my office and deny everything. Then I would present them the evidence. They would soften but continue to deny it. Only when I was saying “enough, I will just give the case to the honorary council who will decide” most students were admitting wrongdoing. But every case was at least 2 hours of wasted time.

With 22 cases, that was a lot of time devoted to cheating: More than 45 hours in completely unproductive discussions, when the total lecture time for the course was just 32 hours. This is simply too much time.”

Students, in general, are inveterate liars when it comes to grades and classroom performance. I'd need more information, but this sounds like Ipeirotis' crucible from the trenches. You can't be an excellent teacher without failing a few times. And in this case there was something wrong, very wrong, with the course design. Exams and paper assignments have to be designed to prevent cheating. If he's doing research papers, there's got to be a way to create a project that students can't easily off load from the web. I still catch about one student plagiarizing a paper every year in World Politics, and usually a couple in American Government. And technically, you can't just fail them without due process. And to provide due process requires a formal administrative review and possibly hearing, and most professors don't even grasp the legal significance of the process. Since I've been a "traditional" professor on the issues, I had some experience dealing with problems at my college and soon I ended up leading a couple of workshops on academic discipline. It's the same stories over and over again. A lot of things you hear are just like what Professor Ipeirotis recounts. And that's why each professor has to develop an assignment regime that makes cheating hard, but they've also got to be ready to uphold standards. For the most part, my college today backs professors. Maybe students at community college aren't as powerful --- or their parents have less resources --- as students at competitive universities, but it pays to lay the administrative groundwork for upholding policies inside the classroom. Without that backing, teaching, inevitably, will be no fun.

Obama Slams Republicans in Debt Ceiling Press Conference

It's bluster, from the Bumbler-in-Chief.

At LAT, "Obama scolds GOP as debt talks break down: 'Where's the leadership?'":

In an unusual display of emotion, President Obama angrily responded to House Speaker John A. Boehner's abrupt withdrawal from talks on a debt ceiling increase, and summoned congressional leaders to the White House on Saturday for emergency talks to plot a new course before the Aug. 2 deadline.

"We have run out of time," the president said in a hastily-called news briefing, just moments after Boehner informed him of his decision.

On Thursday, Obama and Boehner appeared to be closing in on a deal that would have raised the debt ceiling through 2013, combined with spending cuts and entitlement reforms to achieve $3 trillion in deficit reduction.

But talks apparently broke down in a dispute over taxes. Obama, prodded by Democrats, insisted that any deal include new revenues in addition to spending cuts.

"This was an extraordinarily fair deal. If it was unbalanced, it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue," Obama said. "It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal."

Not hard, actually. See Jennifer Rubin, "Boehner runs laps around Obama, again":

He’s been ridiculed by the media. Liberal spinners say he has lost control over the Tea Party. But in fact the Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) had a plan, stuck to it, and is likely to get much of what he wants.

In a remarkable press conference revealed that he had a deal with the White House on large debt reduction and $800 billion in additional revenue to be achieved through tax reform and enhanced enforcement. Boehner brought out his “Jell-O” analogy once again to describe the White House. He said bluntly, “It’s the president who walked away from his agreement and demanded more money at the last minute.”

Boehner is the composed “adult in the room” now. He, excuse the expression, called the president’s bluff — a viable deal with no tax hikes and Obama blinked (or sloshed in the other direction, to follow the Jell-O imagery).

All of this followed Obama’s appearance in which he angrily accused Boehner of walking away from the deal. (According to Boehner, Obama upped the revenue figure at the last moment.)

Los Angeles Times Soft-Peddles Voter Unease With Democrats' Budget in California

At the Los Angeles Times, "California voters see some bright spots in grim budget":

Reporting from Sacramento — The budget approved by Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers last month was largely distasteful to voters, a new poll shows, but many felt the process went more smoothly than in past years, when political paralysis gripped the Capitol and left the state starved for cash.

The element of the spending plan that most troubled Californians was the threat of steep cuts in education. In addition, about half opposed reductions made in healthcare and other services, and more than half viewed the budget as unfair.

But the poll suggested surprisingly strong support for higher vehicle fees and a new fire levy, both of which are included in the plan. Voters were about evenly divided on paying sales tax when buying from online retailers such as Amazon.com — one of the budget's most controversial provisions that now appears headed for a statewide referendum.

Continue reading.

But also read the poll's internal data. The Times' report glosses over some key details. A plurality of 43 percent "oppose the state budget recently passed by the state legislature and Jerry Brown ..." And after a series of specific questions on the content of the budget, a plurality of 47 percent opposed "the state budget recently passed by the state legislature and Jerry Brown..." The more you know the worse it gets. Figures. And the budgeting was based on future anticipated revenues, which could be a gimmick. And a plurality of 44 percent of voters thought it was wrong to "force deeper cuts down the road." And exactly 50 percent of those polled favored cutting state subsidies to local governments, even after they'd been read this long lead-in to the question item:

Now let me read you a pair of statements that some people may make about the measure to eliminate local government subsidies provided to companies that build businesses and conduct other projects in blighted or run-down areas.

Supporters of this measure say that eliminating the subsidies would save the state 1.7 billion dollars. They say these subsidies have often been misused for projects in areas that don't need it, and the money would be better used to help balance the budget.

Opponents of this measure say that eliminating the subsidies would cost the state thousands of jobs. They say these subsidies are crucial to creating jobs and revitalizing neighborhoods, and now is not the time to make cuts that will prevent getting the economy back on track.

The prompt is framed as if subsidies are a good thing, with only the $1.7 billion in savings discussed at the middle of the paragraph. Still, half of those polled thought cutting subsidies was a good thing. There's more at the raw data file. If anticipated revenues fall short voters won't support deeper cuts to education. And voter support for the Amazon tax is tentative. It's going to be an important referendum campaign, apparently in 2012.

Kenneth Turan Movie Review: 'Captain America: The First Avenger'

At Los Angeles Times.

I'll probably take my youngest boy to see it today:

Afterburner with Bill Whittle: 'SHOOTER ONE-THREE'

Bill Whittle's a good man. And this is an excellent clip (via Instapundit):

NewsBusted: 'Many in media trying to portray Obama as a centrist'

Via Theo Spark:

Glenn Beck Visits Ma'ale HaZeitim

Beck meets with Yishai Fleisher:

Norway Youth Camp Death Toll: At Least 80 Killed

At NYT, "At Least 80 Are Dead in Norway Shooting."

And here's Judy Woodruff's report from this evening's PBS NewsHour. Finn Hagensen, in Oslo, indicates that the death toll could top 100 from the initial bomb attack in Oslo:

And at WSJ, "Terror in Oslo":

At our first deadline reports indicated that the attacks were the work of a jihadist group. Later in the evening evidence emerged that a suspect in the shooting attack on a youth camp was an ethnic Norwegian with no previously known ties to Islamist groups. Coordinated terrorist attacks are an al Qaeda signature. But copycats with different agendas are surely capable of duplicating its methods.

Whatever the case, the attacks demonstrate that Norway is no more immune than any other country to such atrocities, no matter what its foreign or domestic policies may be. If this does prove to be the work of Islamists, it will be noted that neither Norway's opposition to the war in Iraq nor its considerable financial and political support for the Palestinians spared it from attack.

In its hour of grief, we're confident that Norway, like other free societies beset by terror, will respond with conviction, courage and resilience.

Obama Losing Support From Progressives and Socialists

I have CNN on today. And I caught this Wolf Blitzer interview with Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. And at the introduction is Communist Reconquista 'MEChA Boy' Representative Raul Grijalva, cited as one of the "liberals" who disagree with Obama over entitlement reform. "Liberals." Right. Love that. Not.

And cited at the clip is CNN's new survey, "CNN Poll: Drop in liberal support pushes Obama approval rating down."

RELATED: At The Hill, "Obama blasts GOP, Boehner on debt: ‘We have run out of time’." (At Memorandum.)

Update: Linked at Right Klik. Thanks!

Anders Behring Breivik — Suspect in Norwegian Terror Attacks

There's a report at Britain's Sky News, "Norway Camp Shooting: 'As Many As 30 Dead'."

And Montse Gimferrer on Twitter links to Anders Behring Breivik on Twitter, and an identical message at a "Bild" feed.

Updates forthcoming ...

522pm PST: Okay, more at Sky News, "Suspect Held After Twin Attack In Norway."

Also, Bruce Bawer at Pajamas Media, "Norway’s Oklahoma City, or Its 9/11?"

6:55pm PST: London's Daily Mail has this, "Police dismiss initial fears Norwegian terror attacks were work of Islamist organisations." (At Memeorandum.)

Norway Island Youth Camp Massacre

An update to my previous report: "VIDEO: Terrorist Attack in Oslo, Norway."

The youth camp killings are tied to the bombings. See CSM, "Norway attacks: Details emerge about Utoya camp shooting."

Stockholm and Berlin - Norwegian Police confirmed the massive bombing in downtown Oslo this afternoon is linked to a shooting at a political youth camp west of the capital, though authorities declined to speculate on who was behind the attacks or what their motives might have been.

And the right wing angle at Telegraph UK, "Norway: dozens killed as terror attacks rock Oslo and youth camp."

At London's Daily Mail, "Blond Norwegian, 32, arrested over 'holiday island massacre' is linked to Oslo bomb blasts":

Police have linked the 32-year-old Norwegian man arrested for gunning down children on the holiday island of Utoya to the bomb blasts in Oslo.

Described as 6ft tall and blond, he is reported to have arrived on the island of Utoyah and opened fire after beckoning several young people over in his native Norwegian tongue.

Reports suggest he was seen loitering around the site of the bomb blast in Oslo two hours before the island incident - and minute[s] before the explosion.

More than 30 are believed to have been killed - seven in Oslo and between 25 to 30 on Utoya Island, 50 miles north of the capital.

It is not yet known what his motives were - whether he has been radicalised and was part of a militant Muslim group waging Jihad or was alternatively trying to further a home-grown political cause.

Also at Daily Mail, "MASSACRE AT KIDS' CAMP: More than 30 feared dead as terrorist opens fire at Norwegian summer camp and car bomb devastates Oslo."

Check Jawa Report for a huge live blog.

And expect updates ...

Bristol Palin: Fast Track to Adulthood, 'That's Not How I Pictured Losing My Virginity'

An intense interview with Dr. Drew Pinksy, at CNN.

She says that sex with Levi Johnston "wasn't rape," and then continues to discuss the emotional trauma of her first time:

Are Men Obsessed With Women's Breasts?

Okay, I'll be out for a little while.

So, to tide folks over, at Viral Footage, "A Stupid Question From MSNBC “Are Men Obsessed With Women’s Breasts?” [VIDEO]"

Plus, lots of good stuff at Linkiest.

And at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…is an evil dog whose carbon footprint is bigger than a car’s, you might just be a Warmist."

And a Contessa Brewer flashback, "MSNBC's Brewer Displays Cleavage While Mocking Men Who Stare At Cleavage":

Man, progressives are all screwed up on their sexuality!!

Breaking! Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist, Cites Blogger Amanda Marcotte as Expert on GOP Craziness!

This one is for the history books.

See "Conceder In Chief" (via Memeorandum):

Amanda Marcotte is right: of course the big problem is the craziness of the GOP. That said, I am among those in a state of suppressed rage and panic over the president’s negotiating strategy.

Keep reading. Krugman's a perfect netroots blogger who just happens to be one of the world's foremost academic economists. And links to Amanda Marcotte are good for your progressive creds!

Geez, that reminds me! Maybe this will trigger an update from R.S. McCain. See: "The Beast of Babylon Wears Bangs: Amanda Marcotte’s ‘Pure Feminist Evil’."

VIDEO: Terrorist Attack in Oslo, Norway

A report at New York Times, "Big Blasts at Government Buildings in Oslo; 1 Dead."

And Michelle has a big report, "Terror blast in Oslo – “massive vehicle bomb;” Update: Norway had taken action against jihadi cleric who threatened to kill politicians."

Added: At The Other McCain, "BREAKING: Explosions Blast Government Buildings in Norway; Terrorism Suspected UPDATE: Video Shows Damage in Oslo UPDATE: Two Explosions, ABC Says."

Also video at BBC, "Oslo: Bomb blast near Norway prime minister's office."

9:35am PST: A Memeorandum thread is here.

11:00am PST: At Pajamas Media, "First hints of Islamic connection in Oslo attack." And at Outside the Beltway, "Oslo Bomb Blast and Shooting Spree: Al Qaeda Suspected."

11:30am PST: Another video:

And at Astute Bloggers, "OSLO JIHADTERROR? UPDATE: 7 DEAD; BLAST FOLLOWED BY SHOOTING ATTACK NORTH OF OSLO."

Courtney Messerschmidt Gets Results!

I'm proud to announce that my neoconservative protégée continues her rocket launch into foreign policy prominence.

Carl Prine interviews Courtney, a.k.a. GSGF, at Line of Departure, "A Woman for All Reasons."

And the interview's starting to go viral, at Daily Dish, "FoReIgN PoLicY thEOry."

Yosemite Waterfall Deaths

The Los Angeles Times recently ran a piece on the surging Central Valley rivers, "Central Valley rivers are flowing stronger, faster, more fatally."

I used to live up in Fresno, so a lot of the names and places are familiar. And now there's dramatic news, of three presumed dead at Yosemite, after hikers ignored warnings.

See Los Angeles Times, "Witness tells of horror as 3 swept over Vernal Fall in Yosemite":

The three were members of a group of 12 from a Central Valley church that had hiked to the top of the waterfall, said Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman.

Ignoring posted signs and repeated warnings, they had climbed over the metal-bar barricade to get in the Merced River about 25 feet from the edge of the falls.

As Gediman recounted what happened, it was a chain reaction. First one person was swept away, then a second one tried to rescue that person and then a third tried to save the other two. All three were swept over the waterfall.

They were identified as Ramina Badal, 21, of Manteca; Homiz David, 22, of Modesto; and Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock.

Witnesses immediately called rangers, and search-and-rescue teams canvassed the waters downstream Tuesday. They were back out at first light Wednesday to continue the search, but by late morning park officials said they believed the three were dead.

Also, "Search for 3 people missing in Yosemite is hampered by raging river."

Plus, at Christian Science Monitor, "Yosemite waterfall accident a cautionary tale for Yosemite visitors."

Republicans Have a Shot at Winning the Youth Vote

According to Marget Hoover, at Wall Street Journal, "How the GOP Can Win Young Voters":

As the Republican field jockeys for position in the 2012 presidential primaries, it is no surprise to hear the candidates trying to bolster their authority by invoking the name of Ronald Reagan. Yet one critical demographic group will not automatically respond to Reagan's name: Young voters of the millennial generation, so named because they are the first to come of age in the new millennium.

The oldest members of this generation were just 8 years old when Reagan left office, so Republican candidates can't assume that invoking his name will win them over. But the eventual Republican nominee should strive to emulate the Gipper by finding a way to connect conservatism to this rising generation of voters.

Reagan brought an entire generation to the Republican Party in 1980, and in 1984 he won the youth vote by 20%. The GOP needs this kind of revolution again if it hopes to recapture the White House and create a sustained majority.

RTWT.

I think she makes a good case. And youth recruitment should be toward conservative values more generally, which are under assault by the armies of progressive pop culture nihilism.

And Hoover, who is the great-granddaugher of former President Herbert Hoover, has a new book out, which makes the case for capturing young people for the right: American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party.

Congressman Allen West: No Apology for Little Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Video via Nice Deb:

And see Miami Herald, "Wasserman Schultz and Allen West's feud is political and personal.

RELATED: At Houston Chronicle, "Black Activists Slam Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s Targeted Attack on Black Colleague."

Bikini Beach Party Roundup

Well, time for a little Friday bikini blogging, honoring Rule 5.

Bob Belvedere will get your motors revving: "A Little Hump Day Rule 5: Marianne Gravatte."

Don't miss Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart - Lisa Marie Scott."

More, at American Perspective, Maggie's Notebook and Zilla of the Resistance.

Plus: Astute Bloggers, Blazing Cat Fur, Bob Belvedere, CSPT, Dan Collins, Doug Ross, 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.

And my friends Marathon Pundit and Marooned in Marin.

And check out Eye of Polyphemus.

And some unrelated political linkage, for Joy at Conservative Commune, "Contessa Brewer Beclowns Herself."

Drop your links in the comments!

Alabama Still Collecting Tax for Confederate Veterans

And not one of them is left alive.

Via Thomas Ricks, "Alabama still collecting taxes to support Confederate pensioners."

And this is evidence that conservatives like taxes? See AP Newswire:

Despite fire-and-brimstone opposition to taxes among many in a state that still has "Heart of Dixie" on its license plates, officials never stopped collecting a property tax that once funded the Alabama Confederate Soldiers' Home, which closed 72 years ago. The tax now pays for Confederate Memorial Park, which sits on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll.

The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the "Lost Cause," in part because few realize it exists; one long-serving black legislator who thought the tax had been done away with said he wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

Seems to me that if a memorial park is important and valued, people will agree to be taxed to pay for it. And this is another example of the power of government to tilt toward corruption and malfeasance. A memorial park is worth it, but not at the expense of deceit. See the Gadsden Times, "Time to end this tax":

We’re happy to see the park flourishing, and expect it to get a lot of business during the ongoing sesquicentennial celebration of the Civil War.

However, we question the fairness of this particular facility being subsidized to this level by the state — through a tax intended to pay for something that long ago ceased to exist — at a time when other historic tourist attractions in Alabama that receive money from the state’s General Fund are suffering because of budget cuts.

When those cuts were being formulated, Confederate history groups and others made it known they wanted the Mountain Creek park’s earmarked funding left alone, and it was. Support for the park is strong, so it’s likely to survive a vow by Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, to cut off its state money.

We don’t have an issue with the park getting state money, but it ought to come from the same pot similar attractions draw from.

Gay Barbarians

Turns out they've embraced the barbarian identity. Hey, if the shoe fits.

At Columbus Go Home, "Horde of Gay Barbarians Demand to be Disciplined at the Bachmanns’ “Pray Away the Gay” Clinic." (At Memeorandum.) Glitter today, high-grade ammonium nitrate fertilizer tomorrow.

Flying Legends 2011 Airshow

Video via Theo Spark:

Glenn Reynolds Talks with Megan McArdle

If you read Instapundit you no doubt ask yourself how he does it. The quantity and quality of content over there is astounding, which is of course why's he's so good:

This discussion's from a week or so ago, but amazingly timely, considering the talk just yesterday and today of a potential U.S. default. See Fresno Bee, "Clock ticks toward default as debt talks yield little progress," and at WSJ, "Only Certainty in Impact of U.S. Default Is More Uncertainty."

And at Los Angeles Times, "Democrats erupt over latest plan on debt ceiling."

RELATED: At New York Times, "Debt Ceiling Uncertainty Puts States at Risk."

New Ad Campaign from Concerned Women for America

"Spenditol," a new miracle drug to help you spend it through the Obama Depression (via Midnight Blue).

Also at Daily Caller.

And from Penny Young Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America, "Washington, It's Time to Put On Your Big Boy Pants."

Women, who head up a majority of the household budgets in this country, sit down every week with a calculator and their checkbooks and make really hard decisions. There are sleepless nights and stress associated with these decisions, but they put on their big girl pants and make them just the same.

This is why Americans are so angry with our national leaders. It's not really that complicated. There is lots of talk about T-bills and bond ratings. Yes, we know the global financial markets and Federal Reserve policy are complicated, but the basic principle is not: We as a nation must live within our means. Forgive me if that sounds over-simplified or antiquated.

But again, the average household understands the consequences of not paying debt and spending money you don't have -- you get a bad credit rating and then you can't buy even the things you do need. They know the answer is not to keep spending or even cut back slightly.

Unfortunately, the president has not gotten the memo. He doggedly refuses to seriously agree to spending cuts.

CNS News reported in late 2010 that "in the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan."
That's a lot of money for one president to burden the public. Now he's trying to borrow more money and force our nation to go further into debt by advocating a debt ceiling increase without serious cuts in our spending.

That's why it’s important that the House passed the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution (BBA). It is time for the nation to force accountability on our leaders and it is why the Senate needs to pass it as well.

Protest Tours for the Anti-Semitic Left

This essay's making the roudns, from Daniel Greenfield: "Outraged Protest Tours - The Tourism Package for Leftists Who Hate Israel."

Via Blazing Cat Fur.

Moral Revolution and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

The cover story, by Leon Aron, at the June/July Foreign Policy, "Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union Is Wrong."

I think that title is over-promising, actually. The key explanatory innovation is the role of moral ideas in overthrowing the old order. Aron writes, for example:

LIKE VIRTUALLY ALL modern revolutions, the latest Russian one was started by a hesitant liberalization "from above" -- and its rationale extended well beyond the necessity to correct the economy or make the international environment more benign. The core of Gorbachev's enterprise was undeniably idealistic: He wanted to build a more moral Soviet Union.

For though economic betterment was their banner, there is little doubt that Gorbachev and his supporters first set out to right moral, rather than economic, wrongs. Most of what they said publicly in the early days of perestroika now seems no more than an expression of their anguish over the spiritual decline and corrosive effects of the Stalinist past. It was the beginning of a desperate search for answers to the big questions with which every great revolution starts: What is a good, dignified life? What constitutes a just social and economic order? What is a decent and legitimate state? What should such a state's relationship with civil society be?

"A new moral atmosphere is taking shape in the country," Gorbachev told the Central Committee at the January 1987 meeting where he declared glasnost -- openness -- and democratization to be the foundation of his perestroika, or restructuring, of Soviet society. "A reappraisal of values and their creative rethinking is under way." Later, recalling his feeling that "we couldn't go on like that any longer, and we had to change life radically, break away from the past malpractices," he called it his "moral position."

At least from an ideational perspective, the argument is familiar. I'm reminded of the edited volume from Richard Ned Lebow and Thomas Risse-Kappen, International Relations Theory and the End of the Cold War, published in 1995. Ideas are contrasted with material interests as a mobilizing factor in historical change. So Leon's argument builds on themes that have been common in international relations literature for some time. Aron's book on this is forthcoming, and looks interesting: Roads to the Temple: Truth, Memory, Ideas, and Ideals in the Making of the Russian Revolution, 1987-1991.

Gang of Six

At WSJ, "The Gang of Six Play: A conceptual breakthrough that has too few details."

Grand bipartisan budget deals are one of the great come-ons of Washington politics. They rarely work out, and when they do they usually benefit only the political class. The latest offer from the so-called Gang of Six Senators might be an exception, if—and this is a big if—its inviting generalities can be matched by useful details.

The budget outline—that's all it is so far—promises some $3.7 trillion in deficit reduction that includes rewriting the tax code, reforming entitlements, stabilizing the national debt, freezing domestic spending and rewriting federal budget rules—all in a handy seven pages of talking points. Senate committee chairmen would have wide latitude to write the new laws as they see fit. Anyone up for Max Baucus rewriting the tax code?

***
That said, the outline from the three Republicans (including Oklahoma conservative Tom Coburn) and three Democrats is different from most other such offers because it combines spending cuts with reform that would lower tax rates. Most Beltway budget deals combine immediate tax increases with the promise of future spending cuts that somehow never occur. They enhance Washington's claim on the nation's private resources. This deal has promise because it would reduce that claim.

Continue reading.

Also at NYT, "How ‘Gang of Six’ Revived Idea of Grand Debt Deal." And, "Bipartisan Plan for Budget Deal Buoys President."

And then, from James Capretta, at National Review, "The Gang of Six Disaster: The Worst Plan So Far,"In short, the Gang of Six has essentially offered a plan in which Republicans would hand over control of the budget process to Democratic senators and hope for the best. Enough said." And from Keith Hennessey, "Why I oppose the Gang of Six plan." (via Memeorandum).

The Skateable House

This is cool, at NYT, "Designing a House in Which Every Surface Is Skateable."

Atlantis Landing Ends Space Shuttle Era

At Los Angeles Times.

Also, "A cloudy vision of U.S. spaceflight."

When the orbiter Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, ending the 30-year-old space shuttle program, NASA will have its sights set on the next big exploration mission: sending astronauts to an asteroid in about 15 years.

But the path to that goal remains poorly defined, jeopardized by a bleak budget outlook and a weak political consensus. It has left a deep angst that U.S. leadership in space flight is in rapid decline and the very ability to fly humans off the Earth is at risk.

"I'm very disappointed about where we are today," said Robert L. Crippen, who flew on the first space shuttle mission and went on to senior leadership jobs in both NASA and the aerospace industry. "NASA's future is very fuzzy right now."

NASA has a complicated plan that would include operating the International Space Station, tapping a private launch service to ferry astronauts to orbit, and building a new launch system to send humans on deep space missions, including an asteroid by the mid-2020s.

Engineers and technicians are busy at plants across the nation, building new crew capsules, testing hardware in vibration chambers and preparing to conduct demonstration flights, all part of supporting the future steps that NASA envisions.

Nonetheless, the overall plan has failed to gain widespread support, reflecting serious concerns about the costs, risks and the lack of detail about the most difficult aspects of the exploration mission.

But see, Nicholas de Monchaux, "Spirit of the Spacesuit."

Added: A killer piece at Daley Gator, "Home At Last: Atlantis Makes Historic Final Landing As Nasa’s 30-Year Shuttle Program Comes to An End."

Wizbang's Redesign

Check it out. It's smooth looking and modern.

Most of the blog updates folks are doing use the online magazine format, which honestly I don't love as much as the traditional reverse chronology. There are great blogs, for example, Lonely Conservative and Maggie's Notebook, but I'm still so resistant to change I guess I'd go with more of a Legal Insurrection look. Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to comment registration. As noted at Wizbang:

The Disqus comment system appears to be working out well. There are lots of features available to Disqus users that are documented in their knowledge base. As there are years of comments that have been imported from our old site, regular commenters may be able to merge their profiles and claim old comments. There’s even some tricks like being able the enter the @username of another commenter. While some do not like the fact that commenters must be registered, I think I’ve made it as easy as possible to leverage other identity systems as opposed to having to create a whole new persona. Requiring registered commenters makes for a better community and will allow us to police it more effectively.

This is exciting. I'm hoping to restore some of the previous vitality I had at the comments here. Wordpress is cool with the registration function, so that's a big incentive for change. I'm also talking to potential contributors to build a multi-author roster of right-bloggers.

Stayed tuned.

Krista Stodden Interview at The Other McCain

A Robert Stacy McCain exclusive, "EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood Teen Bride’s Mom Blames Jealousy, ‘Insecurities’ for Criticism of Courtney and Doug Hutchison."

Googlization

A book review, from Evgeny Morozov, at The New Republic, "Don't Be Evil: Google and the Technocratic Conscience":

For cyber-optimists and cyber-pessimists alike, the advent of Google marks off two very distinct periods in Internet history. The optimists remember the age before Google as chaotic, inefficient, and disorganized. Most search engines at the time had poor ethics (some made money by misrepresenting ads as search results) and terrible algorithms (some could not even find their parent companies online). All of that changed when two Stanford graduate students invented an ingenious way to rank Web pages based on how many other pages link to them. Other innovations spurred by Google—especially its novel platform for selling highly targeted ads—have created a new “ecosystem” (the optimists’ favorite buzzword) for producing and disseminating information. Thanks to Google, publishers of all stripes—from novice bloggers in New Delhi to media mandarins in New York—could cash in on their online popularity.

Cyber-pessimists see things quite differently. They wax nostalgic for the early days of the Web when discovery was random, and even fun. They complain that Google has destroyed the joy of serendipitous Web surfing, while its much-celebrated ecosystem is just a toxic wasteland of info-junk. Worse, it’s being constantly polluted by a contingent of “content farms” that produce trivial tidbits of information in order to receive a hefty advertising paycheck from the Googleplex. The skeptics charge that the company treats information as a commodity, trivializing the written word and seeking to turn access to knowledge into a dubious profit-center. Worst of all, Google’s sprawling technology may have created a digital panopticon, making privacy obsolete.

Well, who's right?

If you've read Morozov previously you might have an idea. Either way, continue reading.

Katy Perry's 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)'

Well, a change of pace from The Beatles (via GSGF):

It's funny. A Rebecca Black cameo, Corey Feldman and more!

Fans First Coalition

I've dealt with this issue for years. I even had a buddy who did a pretty good job scalping tickets. The trick is to get them when they're first issued. But who gets them?

A report on concert middlemen, at New York Times, "Scalping Battle Putting ‘Fans’ in the Middle":

It’s the summer concert season and, as usual, many fans are frustrated that rampant ticket scalping online has made seeing their favorite performer almost as much a frustration as a thrill. But now a new group says it wants to help.

This week a new nonprofit group, the Fans First Coalition, announced itself with a mission of protecting ordinary consumers from predatory ticket scalpers. The group appeared to have broad support from the industry, including prominent artists like R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, Maroon 5 and Jennifer Hudson.

What fans might not know is that the coalition is financed by Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, and that it has grown out of a lobbying fight between Live Nation and StubHub, the biggest legal online ticket reseller, over control of the multibillion-dollar secondary ticketing market.

Muddying the waters further, there is another group with a confusingly similar name, the Fan Freedom Project, which also claims to represent the interests of consumers. But it is largely financed by StubHub, a division of eBay.

The organizations, which were introduced with the help of Washington public relations firms, are of a sort typically referred to as astroturf groups. They are unusual for the entertainment industry but to political watchdogs, the idea of powerful interests creating apparently populist nonprofits is all too familiar.

I'm old fashioned. I like to have ticket in hand when I head out the door. All I've got to do is get to the concert and get inside. But RTWT. The issue is how are markets for concert tickets organized. There's just a couple of big players, and few outlets drive up prices. Interesting, in any case. I'd like to see more concerts, especially with front row tickets.

Bachmann Scrutiny Rises With Poll Surge

You think?

For the last few days you'd have thought Michele Bachmann was the GOP frontrunner. And what's the big deal about headaches? Yeah, Congresswoman Bachmann's like the rest of us. She's sometimes out of it. Wow. You're disqualified!!

Anyway, that's Brian Ross with Bill O'Reilly. I saw him yucking it up on "The View" yesterday. All fun and games for the intrepid media hounds, I guess.

See Wall Street Journal:

NORWALK, Iowa—Michele Bachmann has captivated conservative activists here as she pushes to establish herself as a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

That fast start comes amid new scrutiny of her background and physical health as she seeks to translate grass-roots enthusiasm for her campaign into votes at a crucial straw poll next month in Ames.

he Minnesota congresswoman returned to Iowa early Wednesday morning as polls show her gaining ground nationally as a top alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the early front-runner for the GOP nomination. Since formally entering the race last month, she has eclipsed other Republicans in the field, including fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty, who has been actively campaigning all year.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll offered a statistical glimpse at their diverging fortunes. In the poll, 16% of the registered Republicans picked Ms. Bachmann as their top choice, putting her second behind Mr. Romney, who remains the first choice of 30% of the Republicans polled. In the same survey, 2% of registered Republicans chose the former Minnesota governor as their top pick, down from 6% in April.

Keep reading.

The Daily Caller gets a mention.

Walter Bagdasarian Conviction Overturned

The La Mesa resident, who issued a racist online diatribe against Barack Obama during campaign 2008, was convicted on charges of threatening to kill a major presidential candidate. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the lower court's decision. At Los Angeles Times, "Court reverses conviction in online rant against Obama":

With the Internet now a popular forum for political discourse, courts are increasingly called upon to relocate the moving boundary between protected speech and credible threats to political figures.

The 9th Circuit recently heard testimony in another case involving an Arizona man's threats to shoot Super Bowl spectators in Phoenix eight years ago that were never carried out. The appeals court has yet to rule on whether the threat itself was a crime, even though it wasn't committed.

Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said that he thought the majority "got it right" in interpreting Americans' free speech protection but that the ruling "pushes it to the limit."

"I only feel comfortable saying that having 20-20 hindsight in knowing that the threat wasn't carried out," Scheer said.

Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego that brought the case against Bagdasarian, refused to comment on the case or the appeals court action.

Bagdasarian's attorney, Ezekiel E. Cortez, declined to comment or make his client available to discuss the ruling.

Bagdasarian's lucky.

Ten Ways Progressive Policies Harm Society's Moral Character

From Dennis Prager, at FrontPage Magazine:

The leftist weltanschauung sees society’s and the world’s great battle as between rich and poor rather than between good and evil. Equality therefore trumps morality. This is what produces the morally confused liberal elites that can venerate a Cuban tyranny with its egalitarian society over a free and decent America that has greater inequality.

None of this matters to progressives. Against all this destructiveness, they will respond not with arguments to refute these consequences of the liberal welfare state, but by citing the terms “social justice” and “compassion,” and by labeling their opponents “selfish” and worse.

Yes, worse. Much worse.

I'll have more on this later. But progressivism is ideological destructiveness personified. And while there may be individual progressives who "are fine people," as Prager suggests, in my experience they're one in a million. Progressives are selfish immoralists who'll take your money while calling you racist, sexist, an exploiter, etc. They're losers. The trick is to never back down, even when they open up with all they've got. They'll still lose, because deception and thuggery can't be sustained over goodness of moral clarity. That's why I'm not progressive. These people are ASFL and they suck, a bunch of idiots slapping high fives and visualizing raping conservative women. The reckoning's coming. I'm loving it!

Rebecca Black's 'Moment'

A big essay on Rebecca Black at The Atlantic.

She's from the O.C.

More at WaPo, "With ‘My Moment,’ Rebecca Black premieres follow-up to viral hit ‘Friday’."

RELATED: At LAT, "Rebecca Black's 'Friday': There are a million good reasons you can't get it out of your head."

Toronto District School Board Lied, Falsely Claimed Not to Have Received Complaints Against Muslim School Prayers

At Blazing Cat Fur, "The Toronto District School Board Lied About Muslim Prayers - The Community Has Complained."

The TDSB lied when the stated they had not received complaints about the Islamic prayer rituals they have allowed in public schools. Unless of course you don't count the author of the following e-mail, a retired TDSB Teacher, as a member of the "community".

This is a bombshell blog post, so go over there and RTWT.

W. James Casper is a Coward, a Fraud, and a Liar

Well, again, I hadn't planned on engaging this debate too much further, but my ace commenter and good friend Jan bravely ventured over to enemy territory today to repudiate the vile hatred that boils at American Nihilist. I've already attempted to talk reason with these people, but that's impossible, as I noted in an earlier post.

I'm not linking American Nihilist directly, as I rarely send traffic to epic asshole W. James Casper. Here's the Google link for the thread. I take my hat off to Jan, wading through that muck of pure dreaded evil. A cesspool of cowardice and lies. Repsac3 refuses to answer questions because he's ASFL and a sick little stump of a man. Jan states:

"I don't think that anyone should be falsely accused of anything...it just isn't right. We all have faults, no one is perfect, but I don't see the good in making false accusations, or trying to make others look bad."

And here's the cowardly W. James Casper's total spineless dodge:

I'm not sure what you meant by that... but I'm hoping that it's placement in the comments of this particular post are not simply a matter of happenstance...

It'd be funny if this wasn't so serious and evil. It's a straigthforward statement. I posted the details to my final comment at the previous thread yesterday. W. James Casper refuses to acknowledge the facts. His allies have "falsely accused" me of sexual harassment, impersonation, civil rights violations (alleged mandatory requirements of exploitative materials), etc. This is fact. And coward W. James Casper runs like a burnt chicken. The whole thread's one big fraudulent scam. And W. James Casper's lying. He writes earlier at the post:

Why has he been using my full name in his recent posts (or, what he thinks is my full name, anyway), when he and I had a conversation several years ago about my preferring to use this screen name online? Don't you think he's attempting to do me some harm by doing so?

Hello? No one's doing any "harm" to W. James Casper. I've never contacted his employer and W. James Casper blogs publicly, and he's done so as long as he's been stalking me and attempting to get me fired. He's a fraud, cheat, liar and coward. Here's his PuffHo page, with his name displayed for the entire world:

W. James Casper's avatar is a slithering reptile, and it's available on all his blogs, Twitter, and social networks. He's lying when he alleges he's being violated or "outed." The fact is he's an accomplice to bad acts that have crossed the line of propriety. When my good friend Jan called him out he went limp, avoiding the statement with "I'm not sure what you meant by that..."

Wrong. W. James Casper knows exactly what Jan meant by that. But his evil program of hatred forces him to lie and equivocate. He's like a vampire exposed to the sun. He's dying when forced with the truth.

That's what I have on my side: The truth and goodness. W. James Casper has lies and deceit.