Monday, April 9, 2012

Not a 'Mistake': How NBC Edited Racism Into the George Zimmerman 911 Call

Yesterday NBC News President Steve Capus told Reuters that the network's dirty editing of George Zimmerman's 911 call was a "a mistake and not a deliberate act to misrepresent the phone call..."

Well, it turns out that such a "mistake" is impossible, given how involved is the production of this kind of news segment.

See Instapundit, "PJTV: Trayvon Tragedy: Manufactured Racism? How NBC Edited Racism Into the George Zimmerman 911 Call."


RELATED: At Michelle's, "It’s time for NBC News to appoint an independent ethics watchdog":
Those of us in the blogosphere who were around during the CBS News/Rathergate scandal remember how the narrative arc went:

*CBS perpetuated journalistic fraud.

*Conservative bloggers and alternative media called out Dan Rather and his con artist producer Mary Mapes for their malpractice.

*CBS denied and delayed addressing the hoax.

*The mainstream media tried to shoot the messenger and discredit critics of CBS/Rather.

*The evidence of bias was overwhelming — forcing CBS to appoint an independent review panel that concluded that the network “failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece,” was “rigid and blind” in its defense, and demonstrated “myopic zeal” in its manufacturing of the Bush/National Guard fraud. After the report was issued, Mapes and three executives were fired and the editorial practices at CBs were revamped.

History now repeats itself.

NBC News has attempted to deny, whitewash, and Friday news dump its way out of Editgate. Thanks to Breitbart.com, Newsbusters.org, Sean Hannity, and the conservative blogosphere, the story’s not going away.

Scapegoating an anonymous producer won’t do.
Check the link for more. And at Big Government, "EDITGATE: THREE STRIKES AND NBC'S STEVE CAPUS SHOULD BE OUT."

Election Worker Offers Eric Holder's Ballot to Project Veritas Investigator

Look, Democrat claims of the myth of voter fraud are the joke of our fundamentally corrupt political system. The U.S. Attorney General won't even investigate the New Black Panther Party after video evidence of voter intimidation went viral. Voter fraud is what keeps the Democrats in power. Michelle Malkin has this story covered, "The Democrats’ Election Forgery Racket."

And now here's this laugh-riot of a story from the James O'Keefe crew, "O'Keefe Voter Fraud Investigation: Young Man Offered Holder's Ballot" (via Memeorandum).


And here's the response, not surprisingly, "Holder's DOJ: Evidence of Voter Fraud 'Manufactured'."

From Hope to Hypocrisy: General Election Battle Lines Shaping Up

Here's the new RNC ad, via Hot Air:


More from Niall Ferguson at Newsweek, "Low Approval and Fragile Economy Spell Obama Reelection Trouble":
It must be the weather. For some reason, everyone thinks that the economy is recovering and so President Obama is going to be reelected. Just put a bit of blossom on the trees and people lose their minds.

Or maybe it’s not the weather. Maybe we’re all just fed up with the Republican Party’s interminable process of nominating Mitt Romney as its presidential candidate. Who needs The Hunger Games when you’ve got the Pennsylvania primary?

So let’s have a little reality check. First, according to Gallup, Obama’s approval rating right now is 46 percent. That’s better than the 40 percent he was scoring in the second half of 2010, but it’s still too low. Since Eisenhower, all two-term presidents have been above the 50 percent line at this stage in their first terms.

Second, don’t mistake that 22 percent stock market rally we’ve seen since November for a real economic recovery. Remember, this is the result of massive monetary stimulus, not only by the Federal Reserve but also by other central banks. Since fall 2008, the central banks of the E.U., the U.K., the U.S., and Japan have slashed interest rates to near zero and increased their balance sheets by a combined $8.76 trillion. The Fed believes that the recovery will eventually come through the “portfolio rebalancing channel” (PRC), whereby cheap money boosts asset prices, which boosts consumption via the so-called wealth effect, which boosts production, profits, capital spending, employment and—who knows, one day—maybe even home prices.
Continue reading.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Claims Republicans 'Rooting For Economic Failure'

She's the biggest bleedin' idiot and progressive gasbag.

At CNN, "DNC chair says Republicans rooting for bad economy."

And from Lonely Conservative, "Woman Whose Party Creates Economic Failure Slams Opponents for Pointing it Out":
Debbie Wasserman Schultz wants to capitalize politically off the rotten economy her party has created. Her party’s policies have prevented the economy from having a strong rebound, and led to the latest economic crisis in the first place. Now she wants to take the bad economy they played a large part in creating, and a sole part in perpetuating, to use against her opponents. She’s your typical progressive.
More: Here she is alleging a GOP "war on women":

See Weasel Zippers, "DNC Chief Wasserman Schultz: GOP Focused On “Turning Back The Clock For Women”…"

BONUS: At the Miami Herald, "'Jewbags; flap exposes rift in Barack Obama-Debbie Wasserman Schultz World." And Frontpage Magazine, "‘Jewbags’ and the Democrats’ Anti-Israel Liaison."

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI Calls for Peace in Easter 2012 Message

At Los Angeles Times, "Pope Benedict XVI calls for peace in his Easter message."

REPORTING FROM ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday used his traditional Easter message to call for an end to bloodshed in Syria and for greater efforts to resolve other conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.

Before an estimated 100,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope called upon Israelis and Palestinians to "courageously take up anew the peace process."

Benedict expressed a desire that the hope symbolized by the resurrection of Jesus on Easter would allow for progress in the Middle East and "enable all the ethnic, cultural and religious groups in that region to work together to advance the common good and respect for human rights."

He mentioned Syria in particular, calling for an end to the violence with "an immediate commitment to the path of respect, dialogue and reconciliation" and humanitarian assistance to refugees.

Benedict is planning to travel to the region this year; the Vatican announced Sunday that he would visit Lebanon on Sept. 14-16.

The pontiff said in his Easter address that he wanted to send a message of hope to Christian communities in both the Middle East and Africa that are suffering from "discrimination and persecution." He singled out Nigeria as a country where Christians had suffered "savage terrorist attacks" recently.

Even as he spoke, news agencies reported an attack by Muslim extremists on Christians attending Easter services in northern Nigeria, in which about 20 people were believed killed.

Kate Upton Happy Easter Video

Via London's Daily Mail:


And while I'm at it, be sure to visit Maggie's Farm from some Easter blogging: "Easter Egg Links."

Also at Maggie's, Bruce Kesler's got some great Easter vacation blogging. And see especially, "Corporate Las Vegas on a Budget."

BONUS: At Maggie's Notebook, "Rule 5 Saturday Night: Beyonce," and Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…are shoes made from fossil fuels, you might just be a Warmist," and "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

EXTRA: At Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Nina Dobrev," and Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 Saturday: Amiee Rickards."

And drop your links in the comments if you'd like to be added at the update...

The New York Times Wants to Bring Back Welfare Dependency

See Jason DeParle's report, "Welfare Limits Left Poor Adrift as Recession Hit." (Via Memeorandum.)

You'd have to recall the welfare policy debates at the time. Remember, Bill Clinton signed the 1996 reform bill into law, called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The old welfare program, in place since the New Deal, was AFDC, Aid to Families with Dependent Children. More than any other piece of federal legislation, "welfare" was responsible for accelerating the breakup of the black family and creating the mindless cycle of government dependency. People will often defend the old welfare system by noting that the typical recipient over the life of the program was a white mother of two who had either lost a breadwinner or had become unemployed. She stayed on the program for a period of a couple of years. What people didn't want you to notice (and you were attacked as racist when you did) was the huge growth of black dependency on the welfare rolls. AFDC contributed to family disintegration since the program was only available to single mothers. There were no time limits and benefits would increase with the number of children. While on welfare, families would receive a smorgasbord of public services in addition to cash payments. Public housing, health coverage for the poor through Medicaid, food stamps, etc. --- these programs combined provided families with so much public support there was literally no incentive to find a job. And those stuck on welfare were those with the least skills, especially blacks, and the entire regime came to symbolize the failures of the Great Society welfare state model. Conservative criticism became so significant that even prominent Democrats promoted the suggested reforms (see especially, Charles Murray, "Does welfare bring more babies?", and Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980). These efforts culminated in President Clinton's signature legislation, with its creation of the new limited welfare program TANF, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

When Clinton signed the bill, Peter Edelman, who was Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services, resigned in protest. He now claims vindication, as the numbers of the poor have soared during the Great Recession. DeParle gladly quotes Edelman at the New York Times piece:
PHOENIX — Perhaps no law in the past generation has drawn more praise than the drive to “end welfare as we know it,” which joined the late-’90s economic boom to send caseloads plunging, employment rates rising and officials of both parties hailing the virtues of tough love.

But the distress of the last four years has added a cautionary postscript: much as overlooked critics of the restrictions once warned, a program that built its reputation when times were good offered little help when jobs disappeared. Despite the worst economy in decades, the cash welfare rolls have barely budged.

Faced with flat federal financing and rising need, Arizona is one of 16 states that have cut their welfare caseloads further since the start of the recession — in its case, by half. Even as it turned away the needy, Arizona spent most of its federal welfare dollars on other programs, using permissive rules to plug state budget gaps.

The poor people who were dropped from cash assistance here, mostly single mothers, talk with surprising openness about the desperate, and sometimes illegal, ways they make ends meet. They have sold food stamps, sold blood, skipped meals, shoplifted, doubled up with friends, scavenged trash bins for bottles and cans and returned to relationships with violent partners — all with children in tow.

Esmeralda Murillo, a 21-year-old mother of two, lost her welfare check, landed in a shelter and then returned to a boyfriend whose violent temper had driven her away. “You don’t know who to turn to,” she said.

Maria Thomas, 29, with four daughters, helps friends sell piles of brand-name clothes, taking pains not to ask if they are stolen. “I don’t know where they come from,” she said. “I’m just helping get rid of them.”

To keep her lights on, Rosa Pena, 24, sold the groceries she bought with food stamps and then kept her children fed with school lunches and help from neighbors. Her post-welfare credo is widely shared: “I’ll do what I have to do.”

Critics of the stringent system say stories like these vindicate warnings they made in 1996 when President Bill Clinton fulfilled his pledge to “end welfare as we know it”: the revamped law encourages states to withhold aid, especially when the economy turns bad.

The old program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, dates from the New Deal; it gave states unlimited matching funds and offered poor families extensive rights, with few requirements and no time limits. The new program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, created time limits and work rules, capped federal spending and allowed states to turn poor families away.

“My take on it was the states would push people off and not let them back on, and that’s just what they did,” said Peter B. Edelman, a law professor at Georgetown University who resigned from the Clinton administration to protest the law. “It’s been even worse than I thought it would be.”
Continue reading.

DeParle is the Times' lead social welfare policy correspondent and the author of American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. He is married to Nancy-Ann DeParle, who is White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Barack Obama administration. It should come as little surprise that the New York Times would resurrect the welfare policy debates on Easter Sunday, perhaps as the start of a new public information campaign for a new aggressive anti-poverty push in American politics.

DeParle also has a blog post up, "The Puzzle of Measuring Poverty." Interestingly, there's evidence of increased reliance on private support and charity among former recipients, which challenges leftist welfare entitlement advocacy:
Perhaps the very poorest families truly have lost income but kept up consumption by alternate means — relying on boyfriends, family, charity, loans, or street wits. That is consistent with what my article found among poor single mothers in Phoenix, who described selling food stamps, doubling up with friends, and recycling discarded cans.

Help from boyfriends can be especially important in filling the gaps, but it is also especially difficult to measure. People tend to keep vague count and deem the matter private.

“My friend, my good friend, he gives me like $40 or $50 a month,’’ said Maria Thomas, a single mother who has four children, no cash welfare, and no job.

The ability to replace lost welfare might be positive — showing the strength of private charity or extended families — but it could also be a danger sign. Several women interviewed for my article said the loss of aid made them more reliant on troubled men.

“He drinks too much but I stay, because where would I be without him?’’ said Julie Hammond, a single mother in Apache Junction, speaking of her boyfriend.
Given the intense racial politics were having of late, and the aggressive efforts on the left to destroy and criminalize conservative speech that's political incorrect, it's a logical development to see renewed progressive support for the repeal of TANF and the rebuilding of a left-wing dependency-style welfare state. As folks have been saying all year, this fall's election is most fundamentally about the size and scope of government. A defeat for ObamaCare at the Supreme Court would strengthen advocates of limited government and free markets. But a win for the White House could embolden progressives, and the reelection of President Obama would likely result in further efforts to expand the role of the state in social welfare and so-called anti-poverty relief. The most likely result of that will be the even greater political polarization of the country along class, race, and gender lines.

The 1996 welfare reform was a monumental success because it reaffirmed the founding principle of individual self-sufficiency in the American political economy. Progressives hate individualism, of course, They worked their best to bring about a system of European-style state socialism here at home with devastating results for the black community. Considering the kind of abuse and utter demonization heaped on people like Charles Murray (who is out with a new book) and now John Derbyshire, who was perhaps a bit overboard but nevertheless speaking ugly truths that can't obviously be spoken in our PC-soaked society, it may well be difficult for conservatives to stand against a possible renascent push for expanded social welfare. But it's a necessary fight on the right. We simply can't afford the types of social welfare expenditures that the left would demand. Frankly, we need to continue moving the way people like Paul Ryan are advocating on budget and entitlement reform. Either way, it's going to take some Breitbart-style political combat to hold back the progressive hordes on these things. So, gird your loins conservatives. The leftists are sharpening their knives.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

John Derbyshire Cut Loose at National Review...

Look, I'm not sure why Derbyshire put up something like this, but he's kicked off that national conversation lefties are always talkin' about.

Rich Lowry puts up the announcement, "Parting Ways." And check Memeorandum for all the reactions.

See, for example, Protein Wisdom, "John Derbyshire, Eric Holder, and the aims of racial fearmongering."

I'll update if I can think of something. I'd like to know what Derbyshire was thinking.

(I'd write more but I think speaking freely these days is getting dangerous for one's existence.)

Los Angeles Times Faults Report On 'Crisis of Politicization' at University of California

The funny thing, of course, is that the Times publishes communist cartoonist Ted Rall's work, including his cartoon last week that poked fun at the very same report, "How to tell if your teacher is a leftist."

I've long become familiar with the left-wing response to evidence of left-wing bias and radicalization of major institutions: ridicule. Ted Rall's cartoon previews the Times editorial board's commentary on the report, "Little Evidence of UC Crisis."

I've been reading the report, "A Crisis of Competence: The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California." It's basically like preaching to the choir in my case, but of course, I'm surrounded by progressive academics at my college. The Times editors find fault with the evidence of bias cited at the "Crisis of Competence" report. And in fact, it's indeed less quantification than inference from evidence. But folks only need to spend time on a campus these days to understand that entirely one-sided ideological environment.

See also Dr. Sanity, "AMERICA, THE INDOCTRI — NATION."

Plus, from Debra Saunders, "University echo chamber drowns out diverse voices."

RELATED: From Henry Olsen, "Dangers of academia’s ‘indoctrination mills’."

Navy F/A-18D Fighter Crashes in Virginia Beach

At Los Angeles Times, "'Boom, boom, boom!' Navy jet crash stuns Virginia neighborhood."

And London's Daily Mail, "Hero pilots dump fuel before Navy F-18 fighter jet crashes into Virginia Beach apartment block preventing massive deadly fireball."

Leftists Lie, Make False Allegations to Silence Pro-Israel Professors

Yeah, and what else is new?

At Ynet, "A new anti-Israel tactic."


Of late, we have seen a new methodology employed by sympathizers of the Palestinians cause where they accuse pro-Israel groups and individuals of violating the same free speech rights they regularly demand. For example, Israeli generals and politicians have been threatened in Europe that they will be sued for crimes against humanity; IDF veterans (which includes nearly every Israeli) have been disinvited from academic panels, and now pro-Israel professors are being accused of “intimidating” pro-Palestinian student groups.

The UCSD Case

A case in point: On Feb.29, 2012 the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) student government defeated for the third year running a pro-Palestinian resolution calling on the University system to divest from US companies that supply Israel’s defense forces. The Associated Students of UCSD (ASUCSD) heard public debate on a resolution brought forth by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) calling for UC to divest from General Electric and Northrop Grumman because they supply components of Apache Helicopters sold to Israel, which then uses them to “violate” Palestinian human rights and expand the “occupation.”

UCSD University Professor Shlomo Dubnov of the Music department, who heads the campus chapter of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, spoke out against the divestment. Consequently, on March 2, leaders of the pro-Palestinian students sent a letter of complaint to faculty, administration and members of the UCSD Campus Climate Council “to address the hostile campus climate being created for students of color and students from underserved and underrepresented communities.”

Five student organizations also made claims against UCSD professors and staff who spoke against the resolution, stating that “while we understand that it is a public meeting, for them to refer to themselves in their position as ‘UCSD staff’ or ‘UCSD professor’ is uncalled for. They used their positions as University employees to verbally attack students and to even erase the existence of many individuals in the room.”
This new tactic of silencing professors who are pro-Israel through claims of intimidation and legal threats is of great concern, not only to the individuals who might be forced to think twice before speaking out but to the universities themselves. Academic freedom has already been manipulated to mean that anti-Israel ideologues have nearly complete license to propagandize in the classroom. Now efforts to exercise free speech and push back are being criminalized as “intimidation.”
And see San Diego Jewish World, "Smear campaign launched against BDS opponents."

Bizarre Lindsay Lohan Morphing Face Video

Pretty unreal, and profoundly depressing.

Via Mark Tapson on Twitter:


@girlcottRUSH #Fail

You gotta check this Twitchy post on Dana Loesch hammering some idiotic feminazi losers: "Lefties of #GirlcottRush no match for Breitbart.com editor Dana Loesch."

And kudos to Dana @DLoesch.

You should be following her!

Angels Take Home Opener Against Kansas City 5-0

A clean win, with 5 runs in the eighth.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Angels beat the Royals in season opener, 5-0."

Albert Pujols got off to a rough start, but it's great to see him out there and the team looks outstanding. Especially hot was Jered Weaver for the win. More at the Angels Baseball's homepage.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Unnamed NBC Producer Fired Over Networks's 'He Looks Black' Report

Well, this is something else.

At the New York Times, "NBC Fires Producer of Misleading Zimmerman Tape" (via Memeorandum).

Also at NewsBusters, "Bozell on Hannity's 'Media Mash': NBC 'Apology' for 911 Call Editing Is 'Unacceptable' and Evasive."


Plus, at JustOneMinute, "NBC Producer Out But Unnamed."

Democrat Media Complex Under Fire for Trayvon Martin Reporting

Reuters has a report, "NBC probe centers on staffer in shooting story error." (At Memeorandum).

And William Jacobson has more, "CNN proves “beyond a reasonable doubt” why cases should not be tried in the media."

Anaheim Angels Opening Day!

The Orange County Register is going totally gonzo for opening day.

There's a lot at the link.

Here's a link to the Angels' blog at the newspaper, "Yes, it’s finally here … but first, take a look back."

Smokin' Jennifer Love Hewitt Gears Up for New Series 'The Client List'

She's in the news, and looking great.

See: "Jennifer Love Hewitt: I’m single, Adam Levine is single, we’d be cute."

And LAT, "'The Client List': Jennifer Love Hewitt decides to 'shake it up'."

Despicable Progressive 'Identity Theft' Attacks on Zilla of the Resistance

Well, here's an update to yesterday's post.

See Zilla's blog, "Identity Theft: Another Tool for the Politics of Personal Destruction from the “Tolerant” Left."

I've been dealing with despicable progressives for a long time, but I'm truly amazed at this latest method of vile left-wing attacks. Just freakin' unbelievable, really.

'Debt Suicide' in Greece

This is awful.

At New York Times, "Pensioner's Suicide Continues to Shake Greece":

ATHENS — The death of a 77-year-old Greek pensioner who shot himself in the head outside Parliament in despair over his financial problems has shaken this austerity-weary country and a crumbling political system struggling to assert its relevance amid an economic and social meltdown.

Dimitris Christoulas, a divorced and retired pharmacist, took his life on Wednesday in Syntagma Square, a focal point for frequent public demonstrations and protests, as hundreds of commuters passed nearby at a metro station and as lawmakers in Parliament debated last-minute budget amendments before elections, expected on May 6.

In a handwritten note found near the scene, the pensioner said he could not face the prospect “of scavenging through garbage bins for food and becoming a burden to my child,” blaming the government’s austerity policies for his decision.

The incident has prompted a public outpouring, with passers-by pinning notes of sympathy and protest to trees in the square, as well as comment from politicians across the spectrum. A solidarity rally on Wednesday night turned violent when the police clashed with hooded demonstrators in scuffles that left at least three people injured.

On Thursday, before the start of another rally, shocked Athenians visited the site of the shooting. Some expressed sadness at the desperation of a fellow citizen, but also anger.
And at CSM, "Athens suicide: a cry for dignity from downtrodden."

'Savages' Movie Trailer with Blake Lively

This looks gnarly.

At London's Daily Mail, "Bound and gagged: Blake Lively is far from her Gossip Girl alter ego Serena in gritty role for new violent film Savages."

Porsche 911 Designer Ferdinand Porsche Dead at 76

This is a fascinating obituary, at the New York Times, "Ferdinand A. Porsche, Designer of the 911, Dies at 76":
The Porsche 911 proved both an immediate and enduring hit, and the company has never replaced it, instead allowing the car to evolve over almost half a century. In spite of myriad design tweaks and updates in parts and technology, it remains an unmistakable descendant of F. A. Porsche’s original vision. Now in its seventh iteration, and starting at more than $80,000 for the least expensive version, the car remains a symbol of luxury, stellar engineering and sex appeal.

“The new version was mobbed and groped when it was unveiled in September at the Frankfurt auto show,” The Associated Press reported. “Showgoers left the doors and roof smeared with fingerprints as they scrambled for a chance to sit behind the wheel.”
The Porsche 911 is my ultimate dream car.

I posted on it recently, "Test-Driving the 2012 Porsche 911," and "Porsche 911 Test Drive With WSJ's Dan Neil."

Coca-Cola Caves to Left-Wing Intimidation, Drops Conservative Group Behind 'Stand Your Ground'

This is insidious.

At the Washington Examiner, "Coke caves in face of Democratic boycott threat."

And at Legal Insurrection, "Conservatives better wake up to anti-conservative boycott movements":
The group Color of Change just intimidated Coca-Cola into dropping its corporate sponsorship of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group which helps draft model state laws on a variety of conservative issues.

There has been a determined effort by left-wing groups in the past couple of years to demonize ALEC, and Color of Change seized on the issue of voter identification laws.

Here’s how it works.  An issue which is neutral, such as voter i.d. laws, is portrayed as racist and hostile to minorities.  The advertiser then is confronted with a flood of social media contracts threatening, sometimes implicitly and sometimes explicitly, with a boycott for supporting “racist” laws.

There are few corporations, not even ones as large as Coca-Cola, which can risk being labeled “racist” or as “supporting racism” regardless of how inaccurate and outlandish the accusations.  It is toxic, and groups like Media Matters and Color of Change know it.

Faced with the accusation and thousands or tens of thousands of people who are willing to spread the lie, the corporation caves in to the pressure and withdraws the advertising or sponsorship.

This is exactly what happened when Color of Change a organized a massive social media campaign against Coca Cola on April 4...
Keep reading.

This is all about bullying and lies, which makes for some particularly despicable politics.

MORE: At Maggie's Notebook, "Coke Pulls Support for Voter ID in Face of Dem Boycott: Folded in 5 Hours – James Clyburn Heads Voter ID Boycott."

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Please Visit The Lonely Conservative Today

Karen at The Lonely Conservative has been getting the most despicable attacks from the progressive trolls. I'm almost speechless.

See, "Banning Trolls and Civility in the Comments," and "Juvenile Tricks From Our Friends on the Left – Updated."

I'm really new to this!

Progressives ares signing up conservatives to mailing lists and websites. I was signed up at Gawker and Change.org, with the emails coming in yesterday. Karen's been getting hundreds of these. Then some folks are impersonating conservatives in the comments there. Someone used my blog URL and it looked like my avatar with a comment that I was thinking we should have more James Byrd lynchings, "somebody go get a truck."

Unreal! I had to email Karen to let her know how horrified at seeing that.

There's good news, in any case.

Karen won the best blog mom award. See, "Thanks to All Voted in the Top 25 Political Moms Contest!"

I have been enjoying a respite from the murderous, libelous, demonic trolls for a couple of months now. I had to get the police involved and was preparing for a possible lawsuit to get Walter James Casper to cease and desist. Now I see my friends being attacked and it's really bothersome. We're just trying to have a voice out here, but progressives are so intolerant they'll shut anyone down by any means necessary.

More later.

Lawrence O'Donnell Attacks Mitt Romney's Religion

I'm really almost not believing I'm seeing this. Here's the quality of public deliberation we'll be having this year, 2012, with a presidential election coming up. MSNBC's going full anti-Mormon because Mitt Romney had some strong words about President Obama and secularism?

Kevin Williamson has this, "Lawrence O’Donnell, Bigot."


Legal Insurrection has been on this topic for months: "How nasty will the general election race card get?"

Keith Olbermann Remorseful on 'Late Show with David Letterman'

I didn't blog the Olbermann blowout at Current TV, so here you go.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Keith Olbermann tells David Letterman: 'I screwed up'."

Is It Ethical to Have Children?

My wife looked at me cross-eyed when I asked her if it was moral to have children. I think it's a stupid question too, but then again, it's a big area of scholarly concern.

See The New Yorker, "The Case Against Kids."

The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin

From Shelby Steele, at the Wall Street Journal:
If Trayvon Martin was a victim of white racism (hard to conceive since the shooter is apparently Hispanic), his murder would be an anomaly, not a commonplace. It would be a bizarre exception to the way so many young black males are murdered today. If there must be a generalization in all this—a call "to turn the moment into a movement"—it would have to be a movement against blacks who kill other blacks. The absurdity of Messrs. Jackson and Sharpton is that they want to make a movement out of an anomaly. Black teenagers today are afraid of other black teenagers, not whites.

So the idea that Trayvon Martin is today's Emmett Till, as the Rev. Jackson has said, suggests nothing less than a stubborn nostalgia for America's racist past. In that bygone era civil rights leaders and white liberals stood on the highest moral ground. They literally knew themselves—given their genuine longing to see racism overcome—as historically transformative people. If the world resisted them, as it surely did, it only made them larger than life.

It was a time when standing on the side of the good required true selflessness and so it ennobled people. And this chance to ennoble oneself through a courageous moral stand is what so many blacks and white liberals miss today—now that white racism is such a defeated idea. There is a nostalgia for that time when posture alone ennobled. So today even the hint of old-fashioned raw racism excites with its potential for ennoblement...
A great essay. Read it all.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Forty-Four Years Ago Today, April 4, 1968: The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Forty-four years later, and we're moving backwards on race relations.

The New York Times has the historical background: "April 4, 1968 | The Assassination of Martin Luther King."



And at the Los Angeles Times, "Remembering Martin Luther King Jr., killed 44 years ago today."

Spurned by Big Studios, 'October Baby' is Box Office Hit

Amazingly, at the front page of the New York Times, "Film Inspired by ‘Abortion Survivor’ Is Quiet Hit":

As mass entertainment goes, the abortion debate does not typically count as good Saturday-night date movie fare; the subject rarely makes it to the mainstream multiplex. But at a time when the issue is once again causing agitation in political circles, a small film, “October Baby,” about a woman who learns she is, as the movie puts it, a “survivor of a failed abortion,” is making a dent at theaters across the country.

The movie, the first feature by a pair of filmmaking brothers from Birmingham, Ala., opened the same weekend as the chart-topping “Hunger Games,” but with the backing of evangelical groups and churches, “October Baby” managed to open at No. 8 and, through Sunday, had made $2.8 million, more than three times its production budget. It is expected to move to more than 500 screens on April 13.

Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films and the Sony-owned Provident Films, which specializes in socially-conservative religious fare, it benefited from the kind of grass-roots religion-focused marketing (enlisting Bible and prayer groups and ministries) that has carried their other Christian-oriented movies, like “Fireproof” and “Courageous,” to box-office success.

But those films did not center on a lightning-rod topic like abortion. “October Baby” tells the story of Hannah, 19, a home-schooled Baptist who is told by a doctor that her ailments — asthma, seizures, moodiness — are the result of being born prematurely after an abortion attempt.

Hannah sets out to find her birth mother, a quest that ends in tears and, ultimately, a lesson in forgiveness delivered by a Catholic priest.

It was inspired by the story of Gianna Jessen, who says she was delivered alive at a California clinic after a late-term saline-injection abortion. As a paid speaker at anti-abortion events she tells of her struggles and medical conditions. (The film doesn’t get into the science, but a 1985 study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology examined  33,000 suction curettage abortions and found a failure rate of 2.3 per 1,000 at the 12-weeks or earlier.)

Though “October Baby” arrives at a moment when reproductive rights and women’s sexual health are again part of a robust national debate, its makers say they weren’t acting with a political agenda.

“I was just dumbfounded by a true story,” said Jon Erwin, 29, a co-writer and a producer of the movie, which he directed with his brother Andrew, 33. “I didn’t see it as a political issue.”
This is interesting.

More at the link.

Apparently, some of the big movies studios wanted nothing to do with the film, obviously since movies like this are a stake in the heart of the pro-choice abortion industry. The first paragraph of Jeannette Catsoulis' review at the New York Times reveals, really, all you need to know about the reaction on the left:
More slickly packaged than most faith-based fare, “October Baby” gussies up its anti-abortion message with gauzy cinematography and more emo music than an entire season of “Grey’s Anatomy.” But not even a dewy heroine and a youth-friendly vibe can disguise the essential ugliness at its core: like the bloodied placards brandished by demonstrators outside women’s health clinics, the film communicates in the language of guilt and fear.
All that for a movie about the real-life survivor of a botched abortion. That ought to tell you something.

Jill Stanek has more: "All about “October Baby”."

Obama Slams Romney 'Marvelous' Comments on Ryan Budget

At Bloomberg, "Obama Condemns Romney Support of ‘Radical’ Republican Budget."


And the obligatory New York Times editorial broadside, "Calling Radicalism by Its Name":
President Obama’s fruitless three-year search for compromise with the Republicans ended in a thunderclap of a speech on Tuesday, as he denounced the party and its presidential candidates for cruelty and extremism. He accused his opponents of imposing on the country a “radical vision” that “is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity.”

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential front-runner, has embraced a House budget plan that is little more than “thinly veiled social Darwinism,” the president said, a “Trojan horse” disguised as deficit reduction that would hurt middle- and lower-income Americans.

“By gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last — education and training, research and development, our infrastructure — it is a prescription for decline,” he said, speaking to a group of Associated Press editors and reporters in Washington.

Mr. Obama has, in recent months, urged Republicans to put aside their destructive agenda. But, in this speech, he finally conceded that the party has demonstrated no interest in the values of compromise and realism. Even Ronald Reagan, who raised taxes in multiple budget deals, “could not get through a Republican primary today,” Mr. Obama said. While Democrats have repeatedly shown a willingness to cut entitlements and have agreed to trillions in domestic spending cuts, he said, Republicans won’t agree to any tax increases and, in fact, want to shower the rich with even more tax cuts.
Well, November's coming early this year, you might say.

See also, "Exit Polls Hint at Leanings of November Voters."

Sarah Palin on 'Today' Show

At Washington Post, "What Sarah Palin’s “Today Show” appearance proves."

Shooting at Oikos University in Oakland: Suspect Was Looking for Administrator

At Telegraph UK, "Oakland shooting: gunman 'was seeking revenge for being expelled'":
A gunman who killed seven people in a massacre at a Christian college was upset after being teased by other students about his English skills, and was seeking vengeance against a school official who had expelled him.
When he could not find the female administrator he was looking for South Korean-born One Goh, 43, shot dead a secretary at the front desk and then entered a classroom where he lined students up against a board and executed them at point blank range.

Goh had been attending Oikos University in Oakland, California, as a nursing student before being asked to leave several months ago.

He had previously lived in Springfield, Virginia, less than 20 miles from Centreville, the home town of Seung-Hui Cho, the South Korean who killed 32 people in the Virginia Tech school massacre on April 16, 2007.

In March last year Goh attended a memorial service in Centreville for his brother, US Army Sergeant Su Wan Ko, 31, who died in a road accident. He also has a surviving brother in the town, which has a large Korean population. It was unclear whether Goh and Cho ever knew each other.
And see the San Francisco Chronicle, "Oikos shooting: Oakland's sorrow is ours."

Kathy Martin Started Late but She Is Catching Up

At New York Times, "After Late Start, Runner Is Speeding Through Records":
The crowd, small but noisy, fixed eyes on Kathy Martin, the woman in last place. Early on, she was fifth in a pack of 11 runners, calmly moving in heavy traffic. She ran not only efficiently but also beautifully, her classic strides in perfect rhythm, a fluid parting of the empty air, almost balletic.

But the race was 3,000 meters long, nearly two miles — 15 laps on the indoor oval — and the other women, most in their 20s and 30s, were atop much younger legs.

A third of the way in, Martin began to fade, and though she continued her even stride, she was trailing toward the end, 25 yards behind anyone else.

Still, the crowd urged her on, and as she leaned into the final turn, people shifted their heads as if watching tennis, first looking at Martin, then back at the clock near the finish. The bright digital seconds seemed to flicker at hyperspeed, but with a strong kick, Martin completed the race in 11 minutes 16.5 seconds, a time 13 seconds faster than any 60-year-old woman had run before.

“Another world record for Kathy Martin!” the announcer cried out.

Life can bestow unexpected gifts, and sometime in her late 40s, Martin, a real estate agent living on Long Island, a busy working mother who had never been in a track meet, discovered a glorious secret hidden away in her body. Not only was she a good runner, she was also an outstanding one. In fact, she was one of the most remarkable female distance runners in the world.

This discovery of greatness in her legs came too late for the kind of dreams a younger woman might have: intercollegiate championships, Olympic glory, being the absolute fastest of the fast. As decades pass, maximum heart rate slows, aerobic capacity wanes, muscle mass tends to dwindle.

But Martin has been redefining what is possible for an older body, setting a string of formidable national and world records.
That's a beautiful story.

More at the link.

Romney Wins Primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C.

At New York Times, "Romney Adds 3 Victories and Clashes With Obama":

PEWAUKEE, Wis. — Mitt Romney tightened his grip on the Republican nomination on Tuesday with primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia, and, more significant, found himself in his first direct engagement with President Obama, an unmistakable signal that the general election would not wait on internal Republican politics.

Mr. Romney was declared victorious in Maryland almost as soon as voting ended there at 8 p.m., and was declared the winner in Wisconsin within an hour of the polls closing in that state, where his chief rival, Rick Santorum, once led in some voter opinion surveys.

But the day was in some respects the informal start of the general election, with Mr. Obama for the first time singling Mr. Romney out by name, during a major address dedicated to the budget authored by Mr. Romney’s marquee endorser here — Representative Paul D. Ryan — which the president called “social Darwinism.”

“He said that he’s ‘very supportive’ of this new budget,” Mr. Obama said of Mr. Romney while speaking to editors and reporters from The Associated Press. Using a mocking tone, and referring obliquely to perceptions of his potential opponent’s elite pedigree, he added, “And he even called it ‘marvelous,’ which is a word you don’t often hear when it comes to describing a budget; it’s a word you don’t hear generally.”

Mr. Romney readily engaged in the pre-fall fight, which also included the release of the first Obama campaign advertisement to directly attack Mr. Romney — running in six states and accusing him of standing with “Big Oil.”

A clearly upbeat Mr. Romney, accompanied by Mr. Ryan during a lunch stop at Cousins Subs in Waukesha, Wis., said that Mr. Obama “gets full credit or blame for what’s happened in this economy, and what’s happened to gasoline prices under his watch.”

“This president doesn’t want to take responsibility for his mistakes,” he added.
And see Los Angeles Times, "Three primary wins move Romney closer to presidential nomination," and Washington Post, "Mitt Romney wins Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C. primaries."

BONUS: At Astute Bloggers, "AN EXCERPT FROM ROMNEY'S VICTORY SPEECH IN WISCONSIN: THE ECONOMY IS A LIKE AN OMELET."

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

'Angie'

From yesterday afternoon's drive-time.

So beautiful. So sad.

One of my very favorite songs from the Rolling Stones:

<
The set:
2:00 - I Still Haven't Found... by U2

2:05 - Babylon Sisters by Steely Dan

2:10 - Back In The Saddle by Aerosmith

2:15 - Fortunate Son by CCR

2:17 - Old Time Rock And Roll (live) by Bob Seger

2:28 - Angie by Rolling Stones

2:32 - Hard To Handle by Black Crowes

2:36 - Proud Mary by Ike And Tina Turner

2:40 - Live And Let Die by Paul Mccartney And Wings

2:44 - Every Breath You Take by Police

2:53 - Daniel by Elton John

2:57 - Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix

Obama Warns Against 'Judicial Activism'

At NYT, "President Confident Health Law Will Stand."

And at WSJ, "Obama vs. Marbury v. Madison," and "Assailing the Supreme Court."

Victor Davis Hanson: 'The New Anti-Semitism'

At the Hoover Institution's Defining Ideas journal: 
A new sort of fashionable and socially acceptable anti-Semitism looms large. For much of the past two millennia in the West, hatred of the Jews was a crude prejudice, rich with state-sanctioned religious, economic, and social biases. By the same token, dissidents, leftists, and anti-establishmentarians once took up the cause of decrying anti-Semitism, an Enlightenment theme until well after World War II.

No more—with the establishment of Israel, anti-Semitism metamorphosized in two unforeseen ways. First, it became a near obsession of the modern Left, which associated the creation of the Jewish state with a sort of Western hegemonic impulse. That Israel was democratic and protected human rights in a way unlike its autocratic neighbors mattered nothing. To the international Left, Israel was a religious, imperialistic, and surrogate West in the Middle East.
RTWT.

The Fight Against Radical Islam

An interview with Robert Spencer at Michael Coren's show (via Blazing Cat Fur):


Also, at Atlas Shrugs, "Craven Cowards at Kramer Levin Cave to Hamas-CAIR Cancels Robert Spencer Take Action!," and "Free Speech on Trial: Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer to Testify in First Amendment Suit Against New York's MTA."

12-Year-Old Tom Schaar Lands Skateboarding 1080º

Kids these days.

This kind of thing was light years away when I was skating back in the day.


More video at Los Angeles Times, "Tom Schaar lands skateboarding's first-ever 1080."

The Left Takes a Beating on Trayvon Martin Story

After weeks of rush-to-judgement coverage from the Democrat-Media-Complex, progressives are now expressing profound caution in reporting.

Tom Maguire has had the best coverage, for example, "As the Trayvon Martin Walkbacks Threaten to Become a Stampede" (via Memeorandum).

And see, "Flooding the Zone," and "The Self-Refuting Expert Witness the Orlando Sentinel is Touting."


Also, at Legal Insurrection, "Noted photo-analyst blogger now just seeing what he wants to see."

BONUS: At The Daily Caller, "Zimmerman family member calls NAACP ‘racists,’ says ‘there will be blood on your hands’ if George is hurt."

The Obscenity of George Galloway's By-Election Victory

From Melanie Phillips, "A dangerous enemy of democracy who's being encouraged cynically by the Left":

The general response to George Galloway’s sensational victory in the Bradford West by-election has missed the point by a mile.

Comment has concentrated on the undoubtedly stunning defeat for Labour, and has ascribed Galloway’s victory to widespread disaffection with mainstream political parties.

This is certainly part of the story — strikingly, a significant section of the Tory vote appears to have gone to Galloway — but it is not the key factor behind this torrid triumph of a  discredited demagogue.

For this rested principally on something that commentators are too blinkered or politically correct to mention.

Galloway won because young Bradford Muslims turned out for him in droves.

They did not vote for him because he was promising them better public services. They did not vote for him, indeed, on account of any British domestic issues. They did so because he tailored his message to appeal to their religious passions and prejudices about conflicts abroad.

Specifically, he campaigned against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and for the Palestinians, declaring that his victory would help satisfy voters’ ‘duty’ to care about such grievances.

Most commentators have dismissed this victory as a shocking one-off with no further significance than an upset by an entertaining maverick.

Not so. For with Galloway’s election, religious extremism has become for the first time a potential game-changer in British politics.

The point being so resolutely ignored is that Galloway ran on an Islamist religious ticket. It wasn’t simply that he was pandering to Islamist foreign policy obsessions. He made explicit references to Islam throughout his campaign.

‘All praise to Allah!’ he saluted his victory through a loud-hailer — having previously told a public meeting that if people didn’t vote for him, Allah would want to know why.

Indeed, declaring in one address that ‘God knows who is a Muslim’, he implied that he was even more of a true adherent of that faith than Labour’s Muslim candidate who, he suggested without a shred of evidence, drank alcohol whereas he himself had never touched the stuff.

Pinch yourself — a British politician using the inflammatory rhetoric and  professions of Islamic piety more commonly heard in Iran or Saudi Arabia.

Just as such religious hucksterism inflames millions of followers in the Islamic world, so certain unscrupulous British politicians have now realised they too can tap into the same well of irrational hatred to deliver them electoral victory.
And from Norman Tebbit, at Telegraph UK, "Why the major parties can't just blame George Galloway for their shocking performances in Bradford." And from Dan Hodges, "George Galloway has exposed the void at Labour's core and left it fighting for its life."

BONUS: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Galloway and Livingstone: twins in so many ways."

Muslim Brotherhood to Seek the Presidency in Egypt

This just seemed impossible at the time, that the Muslim Brotherhood --- once banned by Mubarak --- would come to power after the toppling of the secular regime.

But here it comes, at New York Times, "Islamist Group Breaks Pledge to Stay Out of Race in Egypt":
CAIRO — The Muslim Brotherhood nominated its chief strategist and financier Khairat el-Shater on Saturday as its candidate to become Egypt’s first president since Hosni Mubarak, breaking a pledge not to seek the top office and a monopoly on power.

Mr. Shater, 62, a millionaire business tycoon, was a political prisoner until just a year ago. Because of the Brotherhood’s unrivaled grass-roots organization and popular appeal, he is now a presidential front-runner.

He is being nominated at a moment of escalating tension between the Brotherhood and Egypt’s military rulers. The Brotherhood, an Islamist group outlawed under Mr. Mubarak, already dominates the Parliament and the assembly writing a new Constitution. It is now demanding to replace the military-led cabinet and is tussling with the military council over questions like the degree of civilian oversight of the military under the new charter.

His candidacy is likely to unnerve the West and has already outraged Egyptian liberals, who wonder what other pledges of moderation the Brotherhood may abandon.
Via Atlas Shrugs, "SHOCKER: Muslim Brotherhood Breaks Pledge to Stay Out of Race in Egypt."

Chief of General Services Administration Resigns

This is the GSA, which is a federal government procurement and contracting agency. The agency also develops cost-management for the federal government, and job it's obviously under-performing.

At the New York Times, "Agency Administrator Fires Deputies, Then Resigns, Amid Spending Inquiry":
WASHINGTON — The administrator of the General Services Administration fired her two top deputies, then resigned Monday ahead of an investigation into a conference the agency held in Las Vegas that included commemorative coins, lavish meals, a mind reader and a $75,000 team-building exercise assembling bicycles.

The agency’s inspector general was set to release a yearlong investigation of the four-day conference, whose costs included more than $822,000 spent to fly 300 people to the M Resort Spa Casino outside Las Vegas and entertain them in style, when Martha Johnson, the administrator, abruptly resigned and announced the firings, citing “a significant misstep.” The report was posted on the inspector general’s Web site hours later.

The General Services Administration is an independent agency that supplies federal offices and manages buildings and office space. The event under investigation was the western regional conference of the Public Building Service, in October 2010.

White House officials described the conference as “a complete violation of administration rules,” and moved swiftly to prevent the episode from becoming a larger symbol of administration spending. Robert Peck, the Public Buildings Service chief, and Ms. Johnson’s top adviser, Stephen Leeds, were dismissed. Four General Services Administration employees who organized the conference were placed on administrative leave, according to a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss confidential personnel matters.

“On his first day in office, President Obama made clear that the people who serve in his administration are keepers of the public trust and that public service is a privilege,” said Jacob J. Lew, the White House chief of staff, in a statement. “When the White House was informed of the inspector general’s findings, we acted quickly to determine who was responsible for such a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Continue reading.

And at Twitchy, "Rep. Issa outraged over USGSA corruption."

Muslim Hate Groups on Campus

Via Blazing Cat Fur:


And see Mark Tapson, "Combating the Hate Groups on Campus."

Mitt Romney Shoots Down Question on Interracial Marriage

He doesn't appear all the "uncomfortable" at the clip (as some are saying), but see the report, at CNN, "Romney fields hostile question on Mormonism" (via Memeorandum).


More at The Other McCain, "Ron Paul Supporter Challenges Romney Over Mormon Doctrine in Wisconsin."

Monday, April 2, 2012

Would You Vote for This Man?

It's a tough ad, no doubt.

At The Other McCain, "Brutal: New Rick Santorum TV Ad Compares Mitt Romney to Barack Obama."


RELATED: At National Journal, "Romney Tells Wis. Crowd He Is the Likely GOP Nominee."

And from Mark Blumenthal, "Wisconsin, Maryland Polls Show Likely Mitt Romney Sweep."

BONUS: The Astute Bloggers are about to get some major vindication.

E.J. Dionne Pines for the Days of ... the Eisenhower Administration?

What's been interesting about the ObamaCare debate at the Supreme Court is just how out of touch progressives are with constitutional law. Just to ask whether ObamaCare is constitutional is to draw blank stares from Democrats, who ask incredulously, "Are you serious?" And E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post goes even further to argue that "tea party radicals" have effected a "stealth coup" on the GOP establishment. He writes:
Right before our eyes, American conservatism is becoming something very different from what it once was. Yet this transformation is happening by stealth because moderates are too afraid to acknowledge what all their senses tell them.

Last week’s Supreme Court oral arguments on health care were the most dramatic example of how radical tea partyism has displaced mainstream conservative thinking. It’s not just that the law’s individual mandate was, until very recently, a conservative idea. Even conservative legal analysts were insisting it was impossible to imagine the court declaring the health-care mandate unconstitutional, given its past decisions.
Continue reading for Dionne's examples. I had to laugh when he used President Eisenhower as an example of the good old days of the "moderate" Republican Party:
Today’s conservatives almost never invoke one of our most successful Republican presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who gave us, among other things, federally guaranteed student loans and championed the interstate highway system.
So that's it? To be truly conservative is to expand the size of government, just like Eisenhower.

Not exactly. Guaranteeing student loans is a far cry from attempting to create a market that can then be regulated (like the individual insurance mandate) and the creation of the interstate highway system is exactly the kind of federal regulation expected under the Constitution's enumerated powers.

So what Dionne's really doing is attempting to move the goalposts, to define conservatism as something that it's not.

In case you missed it, Glenn Reynolds had a piece yesterday that put federal and state powers in perspective, "Sunday Reflection: Don't blame Verrilli: Hard to defend the indefensible":
As James Madison wrote in the Federalist No. 45, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State."

To underscore this arrangement, the Tenth Amendment provided that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

This division of powers was intended to protect freedom by limiting the scope of the powerful national government. It was also intended to reduce the extent of corruption in the federal government. The powers most likely to encourage corruption were left to the states.

This worked pretty well -- it wasn't until late in the 20th century that the federal government started to catch up with state governments in the corruption department. The subjects entrusted to the federal government by the Constitution -- those largely "external" powers -- simply don't lend themselves to corruption. On the other hand, when the government lays a heavy regulatory hand on almost every business and industry, the temptation for those regulated to buy off the regulators -- or to simply buy "protection" from them -- becomes much greater. That has increasingly been the pattern in recent decades, even as, not so coincidentally, the public's trust in the national government has steadily declined. As P.J. O'Rourke famously said, when buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold will be legislators.

There are always arguments about the precise scope of delegated powers, and such arguments have regularly come before the Supreme Court. But it is one thing to argue about the precise extent of limits to enumerated power, and it is another thing entirely to deny their existence.

The last time that happened in front of the Supreme Court was in the 1995 case of United States v. Lopez, where Bill Clinton's Solicitor General Drew S. Days III was caught short by questions from the bench in much the same fashion that Obama's Verrilli was caught last week. In Lopez, the government wanted to argue that possession of a firearm near a school could be regulated as interstate commerce, because guns in school might lead to violence, which would lead to worse education, which would lead to dumber graduates, which would lead to a less productive national economy, which would mean less interstate commerce.

If that argument were accepted, the justices asked, what possible limit could there be to federal power under the Commerce Clause? Days couldn't come up with one, and the government lost the case. It was not acceptable, the majority opinion said, to "pile inference upon inference" in order to extend federal power so far beyond its intended limits. "To do so would require us to conclude that the Constitution's enumeration of powers does not presuppose something not enumerated, and that there never will be a distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local. This we are unwilling to do."

But Days' argument was straightforward compared with the government's argument in the Obamacare case, where the government's willingness to go so far has placed the court in an uncomfortable position: Since Roosevelt's court-packing scheme of 1937 and the "switch in time that saved nine," the court has been willing to let Congress do almost anything it wants under the commerce power. But to uphold the Obamacare statute, the court would have to remove the word "almost." The trouble is, since we know that Congress isn't supposed to have unlimited powers under the Constitution, any argument that would, if accepted, grant Congress unlimited powers must therefore be wrong.

Will the court be willing to remove the "almost" and let Congress do anything it wants under the commerce power? I don't know, but if it doesn't go along with Obamacare, don't blame Donald Verrilli. Instead, blame -- or, rather, credit -- the Constitution.
Progressives don't like the U.S. Constitution because as a legal document there's little in it that justifies the enormous scope of government demanded by radical left-wing ideology. And when conservatives make better arguments on the proper reach of congressional policy-making, progressives start throwing up their hands with cries of coup d'état. But it's not hard to see the real coup has been the encroaching socialization of the economy throughout the 20th century. Now called out on the obscene progressive power grab, leftists recoil in fits of apoplexy.

BONUS: Progressive Barbara O'Brien is another example of teh stupid: "The Right-Wing Coup Continues."

California Seeks to Be #1 in Income Tax Rates

At IBD, "Will New California Income Tax Hike Drive Rich Away?":
California's Gov. Jerry Brown has just signed on to a labor-backed ballot initiative to raise tax income tax rates to as high as 13.3%, and so far the voters seem to approve. A new Los Angeles Times poll puts public support for the plan at 64%. If the measure wins in November, California will hold the prize for the highest income tax rates in the nation.

That is, if some other state doesn't jump past it before then.

In recent years, the country has seen something of a tax-the-rich derby among states enacting so-called "millionaires' taxes" on top earners. Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Maryland all raised rates on high earners during in the 2000s. California's rates were high already.

In some cases the taxes were temporary, in others, not. And you didn't always have to be earning a million dollars to feel the bite. As of January 2012, according to data from the Tax Foundation, Hawaii was the top taxer with a rate of 11% on incomes over $200,000 (for single filers). California was close behind with 10.3% on incomes over $1 million. New Jersey has let a 10.75% tax lapse, but its top rate was still a relatively high 8.97%. Oregon's temporary 11% tax was history, but the top rate was still 9.9%. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo resisted pressure to keep a top rate of 8.97% in effect, but the state ended up with a tax only slightly lower — 8.82% — on incomes over $1 million.

If Brown's initiative succeeds in California, taxes will rise to 12.3% for single filers at $500,000 and for joint filers at $680,000. Another 1% — a tax approved voters in 2004 for mental health programs — kicks in at $1 million. The total top rate of 13.3% would put California ahead of New York City, where state and city income taxes top out at just below 12.5%. California also would raise already-high sales tax rates.

What would happen then? In the short term, the state would get some new revenue. In the longer term, the impact gets murkier because a new question arises: What will this tax do to the state's economy?
More at the link.

BONUS: From John Hawins, at Hot Air, "Good news! California’s choo-choo to nowhere will only waste 68 billion instead of 98 billion."

Trayvon Martin Case Polarizes the Nation

At the New York Times, "In the Eye of a Firestorm."

And at Tampa Bay Times, "Trayvon Martin case fuels intense political debate on left and right":

From suspect to victim to cultural symbol, Trayvon Martin has metamorphosed into a political point of departure over race.

When President Barack Obama spoke about how his son could have looked like the 17-year-old, his white Republican rivals quickly accused him of being racially divisive.

When Gov. Rick Scott established a task force to investigate the "stand your ground" gun law connected to Martin's shooting, a state Democratic leader rebuked him for wanting to wait until the case is adjudicated.

Liberal and left-leaning media have taken up Martin's case, with calls to arrest his shooter, George Zimmerman. Conservative and right-leaning media have called for a get-the-facts first approach, while some have published images of Martin portraying him as a thug.

Groups from the NAACP to the National Council of La Raza, to white and black supremacist groups, have entered — or been drawn into — the political fray as well.

"It's campaign time, and unfortunately, it has come to that. But that's what we get these days, unfortunately," said Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, the only elected black Republican in Florida's Capitol.

Carroll, who's chairing Gov. Scott's task force on stand your ground, said the group needs to take its time and not interfere with the investigation. She also wants to avoid partisan and racial politics.

But Carroll noted that race infuses the case and our justice system, especially with the high-incarceration rates of African-Americans. But she still wanted to focus on whether the state's stand your ground law, authorizing the use of deadly force, needs to be tweaked. The National Rifle Association is sure to fight that, while gun-control advocates are trying to get the law stripped from the books.
Continue reading.

Plus, from Rex Murphy, at National Post, "The tale of Trayvon Martin is a tragedy turned into a race parable."

BONUS: at the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism, "How Blogs, Twitter and Mainstream Media Have Handled the Trayvon Martin Case."

Sunday, April 1, 2012

'The Hunger Games'

I saw this movie with my 10-year-old boy this afternoon. My wife saw it with our 16-year-old boy last night. After watching I felt like Ridley Scott could have really done something with it (he made "Black Hawk Down" and "Gladiator"), but it's a PG-13 film, so that's a wish too far. I think the impact for me is the odd feeling I got that this could be the United States down the road. I kept thinking to myself, "Freedom ain't free," like a bumper sticker flashing before my eyes. The Roman architecture and the computer-generated Nazi-style graphics by the game-programmers in The Capitol got me thinking about George Orwell. I imagine Glenn Beck might have some interesting comments about this, but I haven't been watching his show since he left Fox News. Either way, it's thought provoking in a way that's very close to home with the Obama-depression lingering, although no doubt the filmmakers were hoping for the next blockbuster teen franchise.


Ed Morrissey has a review at Hot Air, "Film review: The Hunger Games." And from Manohla Dargis, at the New York Times, "Tested by a Picturesque Dystopia."

Is There a Bullying Epidemic in the U.S.?

Asks Nick Gillespie, at the Wall Street Journal, "Stop Panicking About Bullies" (via Hit & Run):

I have no interest in defending the bullies who dominate sandboxes, extort lunch money and use Twitter to taunt their classmates. But there is no growing crisis. Childhood and adolescence in America have never been less brutal. Even as the country's overprotective parents whip themselves up into a moral panic about kid-on-kid cruelty, the numbers don't point to any explosion of abuse. As for the rising wave of laws and regulations designed to combat meanness among students, they are likely to lump together minor slights with major offenses. The antibullying movement is already conflating serious cases of gay-bashing and vicious harassment with things like…a kid named Cheese having a tough time in grade school.
Read it all at the link.

Turns out Gillespie was himself a geek in grade school, and so, I suppose, were most of us.

Glenn Reynolds Interviews Robert Zubrin

Glenn has two posts: "INSTAVISION: I talk with Robert Zubrin about his new book..." and "NOW ON YOUTUBE: My InstaVision interview with Bob Zubrin..."

And the book is here: Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism.

The Media and Black Homicide Victims

From Heather Mac Donald, at National Review:
We know the names of virtually every unarmed black civilian shot by the New York Police Department in recent years — Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Sean Bell — as well we should. To the extent that botched police tactics or training contributed to these tragic killings, the incidents are rightly publicized so that they can be prevented from reoccurring. Here’s the difference between these killings — they are a tiny handful — and the routine black-on-black killings that occur by the dozen every day across the country. The officers who mistakenly shot their victims thinking they were facing a deadly threat set out that morning to protect people, often in minority neighborhoods, not to injure anyone. A significant number of black-on-black shootings, however, like many shootings among all races, are done in cold blood.

Here’s another difference between police killings of blacks, white-on-black killings, and black-on-black killings: Sheer numbers. There were nine civilian victims of police gunfire last year in New York City; there were several hundred black homicide victims in the city, almost all shot by other blacks or Hispanics, none of them given substantial press coverage. Nationwide, in 2005, there were 2,646 black victims of other blacks, compared to 349 black victims of whites or Hispanics. The relative rates of interracial killings are wildly skewed towards black on white killings: There were two and a half times as many white and Hispanic victims of civilian black killers in 2009 as there were black victims of civilian white and Hispanic killers, even though the black population is one-sixth that of whites and Hispanics combined. Yet to read columnists such as the Times’s Charles Blow or to listen to the professional racial extortionists, it is the police and whites who are the biggest threat to blacks, not other blacks.

A further prudential reason why the routine black gangbanger victim gets so little coverage: He is not particularly appealing. Though he had the misfortune of being the victim that day, he could just as easily have been the perpetrator the next day. That is true of many white-on-white homicides as well.

What Exactly is a Fair Share?

Via Theo Spark: