The Implosion of the French Right

See David Bell, at The New Republic, "Midnight in Paris."

In the first round of voting on April 22, Sarkozy finished second—the first time a sitting president has done so in the history of the Fifth Republic. In a bid to recover, he has made a cynical attempt to win over the first-round supporters of the National Front’s Marine Le Pen (while formally opposing an actual pact with the party), despite the Front’s deep hostility toward immigrant communities and the European Union, and the fact that its founder (her father, Jean-Marie) had a well-deserved reputation for racism and anti-Semitism. Le Pen is “compatible with the Republic,” he stated soon after the initial voting. Sarkozy’s stunning acknowledgment of Le Pen’s legitimacy can only help her cause: In the days after the first round, nearly two-thirds of Sarkozy voters told pollsters they favored an electoral pact with her party in the legislative elections that will follow soon after the presidential campaign. Le Pen herself clearly wants Sarkozy to lose, declaring that she will cast a blank ballot in the second round. She has called the UMP no different from the Socialists, and, indeed, her nationalist stance offers a starker alternative to the two major parties than they do to each other. Can this alternative achieve major party status? Having helped to dissolve the traditional French right while failing to replace it with a coherent or popular ideology of his own, it now appears possible that Nicolas Sarkozy’s principal legacy will be the rise of Marine Le Pen.

More on Le Pen at Telegraph UK, "French election: Brachay, the village that holds the clues to Marine Le Pen's success."

And see Reuters, "Voting starts in France, Sarkozy headed for defeat."

Russia Considers Preemptive Strike Against U.S.-Led Missile System in Europe

Our national security's in the very best of hands.

In March, President Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that "after my election I have more flexibility."

Well here comes the news that Moscow couldn't care less.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Russia says preemptive strike on NATO missile system is possible":

MOSCOW — Russia may consider a preemptive strike on a missile defense system in Europe if the U.S.-led NATO project continues as planned, a top official said Thursday.

Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov, in a sign of the tension between Russia and the United States over the missile defense plans, said during an international conference that a strike by his country might be possible.

"A decision to use destructive force preemptively will be taken if the situation worsens," Makarov said.

Makarov's remark followed a statement by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who said Russian and U.S. consultations on the subject were "close to a dead end."

"This will mean that the U.S.A. and NATO intend to develop the ABM [anti-ballistic missile] system without taking Russia's concerns into consideration," Serdyukov said. "Now our countries are faced with a dilemma: We will either pass a cooperation test and jointly react to new missile challenges and threats or will be obligated to take up military-technical measures given the realization of anti-missile plans."

Well, no doubt they're just rattling sabers for domestic consumption.

Nothing to worry about at all. Move along now. Nothing to see here.

Obama Kicks-Off Re-Election Campaign, Attacks Mitt Romney

It's all about blaming the GOP for the economy and personally attacking the presumptive Republican nominee. It's going to be a long summer, sheesh.

At ABC News, "President Obama Hits Romney Directly at First Re-election Rally." And The Hill, "The gloves come off as Obama launches reelection campaign."

And at CNN, "Obama outlines case for re-election at first official campaign rally" (via Memeorandum):

Chen Guangcheng and the Crisis of U.S.-China Relations

From the Wall Street Journal, "Mistakes and Mixed Signals As China Drama Unfolded" (via Google):

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese legal activist, arrived smiling at Chaoyang Hospital, a sprawling redbrick complex, on Wednesday afternoon. It was supposed to be a triumphant resolution to the diplomatic crisis that started six days earlier when Mr. Chen sought protection in the U.S. embassy, a precursor to a new life studying law in China.

U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke stayed for 90 minutes and met with Mr. Chen's wife and children, who had sped to Beijing on a high-speed train.

Then, as darkness fell, a growing number of police arrived at the ninth-floor corridor. They took video of visiting journalists before jostling them into elevators. At 6:30 p.m., hospital staff asked the remaining U.S. officials to leave. They said visiting hours were over.

Suddenly, the people who had protected Mr. Chen were gone.

That development helped send the activist into a panic, precipitating a crisis that derailed the agreement, prompted days of confusion and recrimination, and cast a pall over U.S.-Chinese relations.

Around 9 p.m., Mr. Chen told a friend by phone the hospital had given the family nothing to eat. Others phoned and one friend urged him to reject the deal. Mr. Chen told callers he had been coerced to leave the embassy and was worried for his family's safety. He tried calling two embassy officials around 10 p.m. Neither answered.

The Chen saga, based on interviews with government officials, activists and others in the negotiations, began with the promise that American relations with China had entered a new, mature phase. It ended demonstrating how much distance and suspicion remain between the two powers.

Friday, both sides appeared close to a fresh deal that would bring Mr. Chen and his family to the U.S., probably to study law at New York University. With final details not yet signed, U.S. officials said they were confident the deal would work out. Some analysts saw the quick agreement as a sign the bilateral relationship was resilient. The damage, however, especially from that Wednesday night at the hospital, had already been done.

U.S. officials, in their rush to complete negotiations Wednesday before a separate set of high-level U.S.-China talks was set to begin, appeared to have misjudged Mr. Chen's fragile emotional condition.

The self-taught activist had spent four years in jail—on trumped-up charges, critics say—and 19 more months in home detention, where he says he endured periodic beatings, before his dramatic dash to the embassy.

The days were filled with missed calls and dropped connections that might have changed the trajectory of events.

It's also possible the U.S., in negotiating with China's foreign ministry, overlooked the country's competing power centers jockeying for position. The foreign ministry has traditionally carried little clout in the Chinese power structure, and analysts say the fate of Mr. Chen was almost certainly decided by top Communist Party leaders. Mr. Chen seemed worried mostly about his fate at the hands of China's security services and provincial officials.

U.S. officials, for their part, felt Mr. Chen turned on them after hours of negotiations, one calling him "self absorbed." Mr. Locke, the U.S. ambassador, complained about the activist's change of heart, according to a senior administration official who spoke with him. Mr. Locke "feels like the guy is unfairly attacking the U.S.," the official said.

Mr. Chen rose to prominence in activist circles as a critic of forced abortions and sterilizations in his home province under China's one-child policy. His campaign led to the firing of local officials and brought about his run-in with authorities.

There's more at that top link.

And see this must-read report from Walter Russell Mead, "China Syndrome":

The Chen case encapsulates the struggle between the two wings of the Chinese establishment. Chen has been persecuted by brutal and unaccountable local officials; in the past, his activism has led the central government to punish local officials who violated written Chinese law in their sterilization and abortion efforts.

By threatening Chen and family, the hardliners are using their strengths — a network of officials, security types and powerful economic interests — to demonstrate that the modernizers are not really in charge of things in China and can’t speak for the country. They control the ground, they are saying, the real life of the country. The modernizers are up in the clouds somewhere. Chen, they have pointed out to the activist and his family, will have to live on the ground; he can’t stay up in the clouds forever.

Chen, with an 80 year old widowed mother being beaten by security forces and watched by guards wherever she goes, and with a wife and children exposed to their power, knows that the stakes in this case are so high for China’s local fiefs and Party hacks that they will do literally anything to him and his family to make their point. He knows very well how unscrupulous they are; they have apparently convinced him that the central government cannot or will not protect him.

Chen is an extremely intelligent man and his dedication and courage are genuinely awe inspiring. But he has not spent much time at the center of high profile international negotiations. A life of uncertainty and restraint punctuated by beatings was followed by an escape in which, among other things, this blind man wandered over unfamiliar land, falling, he says, more than 200 times. From there he fell into the center of a high profile diplomatic maelstrom in which some of the world’s most experienced negotiators were handling his case. One suspects things moved faster than he was ready to handle — he is a man accustomed to lots of time to reflect. Life in prison moves slowly; in the boondocks people have time to think about their big life decisions. You do things slowly and reflectively.

In the US embassy in Beijing, Chen was a fish out of water. He was with people he didn’t know well; there are large cultural gaps — and no time to work them out slowly. Since then, he appears to have had some severe shocks, and it is deep, sincere and well grounded fear that now moves him to speak as he does.

The hardliners took some heavy blows after Wang Lijun entered the American consulate in Chengdu. They are out for revenge now after Chen’s arrival in our embassy in Beijing. The next few days will tell us whether they will succeed.

North Carolina's Gay Marriage Amendment Could Have Implications for November

Nate Silver reports that Amendment 1 is likely to pass on Tuesday, "North Carolina’s Ban on Gay Marriage Appears Likely to Pass" (via Memeorandum).

And here's this, from the Los Angeles Times, "Marriage amendment vote puts national focus on North Carolina":

The battle over the measure has turned North Carolina into a national political flash point. Opponents say the amendment is so broadly worded that it would discriminate not only against gays, but also unmarried heterosexual couples.

The outcome could offer an early hint of the state's leanings in November's presidential election: North Carolina, home to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, is an important swing state.

The debate has been fierce. Pro- and anti-amendment activists have held rallies to vie for voters. Ministers have strived to influence their congregants. Lawn signs have been stolen and defaced. And the state NAACP has accused proponents of trying to divide gays and blacks.

Opponents of the amendment have raised $2.2 million, and proponents $1.2 million, mostly for TV and radio ads; a third of the money has come from out of state.

The Rev. Billy Graham has weighed in, preparing a full-page ad expected to appear in newspapers over the weekend. In it, he urges fellow Tar Heels to vote for the amendment, saying: "At 93, I never thought we would have to debate the definition of marriage.''

President Obama has called the Republican-backed Defense of Marriage Amendment divisive, saying it would discriminate against gays.

"It's a hot issue — you hear people talking about it everywhere," said amendment supporter Ray McEntee. He was manning a booth outside a Pittsboro polling place next to a sign that read: "One Man. One Woman."

Early voting started April 19, with turnout running about 30% higher than in the primary four years ago and with especially large numbers of young people voting.

"It's almost entirely driven by interest in the amendment," said David McLennan, a political science professor at William Peace University in Raleigh. He predicts turnout will reach 40% to 45%, unusually high for a primary.

Like amendments in Michigan, Idaho and South Carolina, North Carolina's act would severely limit protections for same-sex and heterosexual unmarried couples, said Maxine Eichner, a family law professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The measure would threaten domestic partnership health benefits for local government workers and strip unmarried couples of their rights to make decisions for an incapacitated partner, Eichner said.

Supporters of Amendment 1 say unmarried couples would be protected by language that permits private contracts and court actions "pursuant to such contracts.''

It's a tough amendment, but again, conservatives need to stand their ground against the forces of nihilist progressivism. See: "North Carolina Amendment One Same-Sex Marriage."

Fans Boo Albert Pujols in Angels Loss to Blue Jays, 4-0

Like everybody else, I was getting caught up in the pre-season hype. But the Angels are stuck in a downward spiral and their new star slugger is batting .194 with no home runs in 27 games.

Bummer.

See the Los Angeles Times, "It's Albert Boo-jols in Angels' loss to Blue Jays":

The boos in Angel Stadium could be heard clearly after his sixth-inning strikeout Friday night, and they grew even louder and longer after he grounded out to third base in the bottom of the ninth.

The Angels were shut out for the second consecutive game and sixth time this season in a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, and the man who was supposed to prevent these kinds of droughts bore the wrath of the hometown fans.

Albert Pujols was hitless in four at-bats, his average falling to .194, and he has now gone 108 at-bats in 27 games this season without a home run, the longest power outage of his career.

Pujols has a clause in his 10-year, $240-million contract that pays him $7 million if he breaks Barry Bonds' all-time record of 762 homers. At this rate, Angels owner Arte Moreno might fork over an extra $1 million if Pujols would just hit one.

Pujols has sunk to such depths that Manager Mike Scioscia will probably give him a game off Saturday night to clear his head. "We've talked about it," Scioscia said. The patience of Angels fans has clearly waned, as their booing of Pujols showed.

"It's part of the big league package, I understand that and accept it," Pujols said. "I'd boo myself, too. But by the end of 10 years, trust me, there will be more cheers than boos."

Scioscia claimed he "didn't hear" the boos but doubts they'll rattle Pujols.

"Albert understands what this is about, he understands the expectations," Scioscia said. "I don't think he's going to be derailed by the situation."

Didn't hear 'em? He heard 'em.

Pujols is under pressure. The Angels have been waiting 10 years for another World Series championship and folks thought Pujols was the ticket.

Man, what a brutal crash and burn. Here's hoping the team can turn things around and soon. Time's a wastin'.

See also: "Angels, and Albert Pujols, aren't getting bang for the bucks."

'Social Justice Organizer' Jehmu Greene Calls Tucker Carlson a 'Bow-Tying White Boy'

As I always say, the real racism is on the left.

Glenn Reynolds has the story here and here.

Jehmu Greene's background here.

And now Megyn Kelly has apologized to Tucker Carlson. See Twitchy, "Jehmu Greene refers to Tucker Carlson as ‘bow-tying white boy’."

April Jobs Report: The Labor Participation Rate Is Back Where It Was in December 1981

More on the labor market picture, from the Wall Street Journal, "The Vanishing Workers":

The economy turned in another lackluster month for job creation in April, with 115,000 net new jobs, 130,000 in private business (less 15,000 fewer in government). The unemployment rate fell a tick to 8.1%, albeit mainly because the labor force shrank by 342,000. This relates to what is arguably the most troubling trend in the April jobs report, which is the continuing decline in the share of working-age Americans who are in the labor force.

The civilian labor participation rate, as it's known, fell again in April to 63.6%. That's the second decline in a row and the lowest rate since December 1981. That's right—more than 30 years ago, longer than Mark Zuckerberg has been alive. The nearby chart shows the disturbing round trip the workforce participation rate has taken since 1980 and the precipitous drop in the last three years.

This decline is highly unusual coming out of a recession. Normally as hiring picks up, more Americans see more job opportunities and jump back into the labor force. That's what happened after the sharp recession of 1981-82, when the participation rate last hit 63.6%.

It rose smartly through the boom of the 1980s to a peak of 66.8% in January 1990. The rate dipped to 66% in the mild 1991 recession, but then rose again through the 1990s to a modern peak of 67.3% in January 2000 at the top of the dot-com bubble.

The last decade has never reached the same heights, though the participation rate did rise back to 66.4% in late 2006 and early 2007. The rate fell to 65.7% in July 2009 when the last recession officially ended, yet the distressing fact is that it has kept falling over the course of the next 33 months of ostensible economic recovery.

The trend deserves deeper economic study, though we can offer a few of the likelier explanations. One may be demographic as the baby boom generation gets closer to retirement age. Economist David Malpass notes that Americans age 55 and older are a rapidly rising share of the working-age population, a trend that has historically meant a lower overall labor participation rate....

The tragedy of the Obama Administration is that it put the political pursuit of its social welfare agenda above policies to nurture a strong, durable economic expansion. Americans are paying for that mistake in less work and less reward for the work they get. The priority of the next Administration must be to reverse the decline.

And that ought to be a Romney administration, frankly. This president cannot make the case for his economic policies so he continues to issue bizarre and Orwellian campaign slogans and imaginary government dependency robots.

If Obama wins, it won't because the left has been decent or honest --- and because certainly the right will have been much too decent, like in 2008, when McCain refused to attack Obama for the statist that he is.

See also, James Pethokoukis, "The awful April jobs report: Is the ‘real’ unemployment rate 11.1%?"

PREVIOUSLY: "Romney Slams Obama Over Disastrous April Jobs Report."

'Avengers' Unleashed on World Box Office

Well, the film opened yesterday in the U.S., but this is pretty interesting.

At the Los Angeles Times, "'Avengers' conquer world box office as U.S. audiences wait":

With a quarter of a billion dollars already in its pocket from a week of ticket sales, the Marvel superhero mash-up"The Avengers"is poised to join Hollywood's most elite club — the brotherhood of billion-dollar box office movies.

Unlike its cousins, though, "The Avengers" took a different path to the clubhouse. It opened first overseas, with splashy red-carpet premieres in Rome, Beijing, London and Moscow, where audiences have embraced the special-effects-driven action and adventure film.

By opening early abroad, movies like the Disney release "The Avengers" build box office momentum from their most avid audiences — foreign moviegoers who love spectacular action sequences on the big screen.

American movies, always popular internationally, today earn far more money abroad than at home — up to 70% of their overall take, and rising. Between 2007 and 2011, ticket sales overseas grew 35%, while domestic grosses increased only 6%.

Five years ago, an overseas-first debut would have been unthinkable. Movies always debuted on the same date around the world, or first in the U.S. But now, studios with certain movies are putting foreign theaters first and making U.S. audiences wait.

For "The Avengers," which opens here this weekend, the gambit is working. The film, whose A-list stars include Robert Downey Jr.and Scarlett Johansson, centers around an international peace-keeping crew of Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. It had a 93% fresh rating from the online review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.

"The fact that it has done so well overseas has everyone already speculating over just how successful it's going to be," said Peter Adee, who has worked in marketing and distribution at Relativity Media, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal. "The question 'Is it going to be successful?' is gone from the conversation before it even debuts in the U.S."

The movie is projected to open in the U.S. and Canada to at least $150 million in ticket sales — among the top five biggest openings of all time. (The top dog is "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," with its $169.2-million debut.)

Video c/o Maggie's Farm.

Romney Slams Obama Over Disastrous April Jobs Report

The Lonely Conservative has the dismal jobs numbers, "Obama Shrugs Off Miserable Economic News, Focuses on Phony Unemployment Rate."

And see Doug Ross, "Welcome Back, Carter: Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since '81." (Via Memeorandum.)

Plus, at the San Francisco Chronicle, "Romney Raises Bar on What Constitutes Good Unemployment Rate":

Mitt Romney raised the bar for what comprises an unemployment rate worth celebrating as he used the latest jobs figures to criticize President Barack Obama's management of the economy while campaigning in Pennsylvania.

"Anything over four percent is not cause for celebration," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said inside a warehouse of a specialized cement and corrosion- resistant materials manufacturer in Pittsburgh.

"I'm going to get America working again," Romney told supporters. "I'm going to get America strong again."

The former Massachusetts governor called it a "sad time in America for people who want work and can't find jobs."

Employers in the U.S. added fewer workers than forecast in April while the jobless rate declined as people left the labor force, underscoring concern that the recovery by the world's largest economy may be losing speed.

Payrolls climbed 115,000, the smallest gain in six months, after a revised 154,000 rise in March that was greater than initially estimated, according to Labor Department figures released today in Washington. The median estimate of 85 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 160,000 advance.

Unemployment

The jobless rate fell to a three-year low of 8.1 percent, from 8.2 percent in March.

While the jobless rate has declined since its peak during Obama's term of 10 percent in October 2009, the drop has been slow and halting. It was stuck at about 9 percent through the first three quarters of last year.

BONUS: From Doctor Zero, at Human Events, "Welcome to Part-Time America."

Bar Refaeli Nude Underwear Advertisement

At The Sun UK, "Bar Refaeli takes a cheeky new approach to promoting underwear – stripping stark naked."

BONUS: At Zion's Trumpet, "Friday’s Pretty Women…"

Fauxcahontas at Harvard Lore School

It looks like "Fauxcahontas" is the new nickname for the shameless fake minority Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

Michael Graham has the moniker at his Boston Herald piece, "See the pale-faced Warren redden: Dances with truths about her ethnicity."

And see Mark Steyn, at the O.C. Register, "Fauxcahontas and the melting pot":

Have you dated a composite woman? They're America's hottest new demographic. As with all the really cool stuff, Barack Obama was doing it years before the rest of us. In "Dreams from My Father," the world's all-time most-unread bestseller, he spills the inside dope on his composite white girlfriend:

"When we got back to the car she started crying. She couldn't be black, she said. She would if she could, but she couldn't. She could only be herself, and wasn't that enough..."

But being yourself is never going to be enough in the new composite America. Last week, in an election campaign ad, Barack revealed his latest composite girlfriend – "Julia." She's worse than the old New York girlfriend. She can't even be herself. In fact, she can't be anything without massive assistance from Barack every step of the way, from his "Head Start" program at age 3 through to his Social Security benefits at the age of 67. Everything good in her life she owes to him. When she writes her memoir, it will be thanks to a subvention from the Federal Publishing Assistance Program for Chronically Dependent Women but you'll love it: Sweet Dreams From My Sugar Daddy. She's what the lawyers would call "non composite mentis." She's not competent to do a single thing for herself – and, from Barack's point of view, that's exactly what he's looking for in a woman, if only for a one-night stand on a Tuesday in early November.

Then there's "Elizabeth," a 62-year-old Democratic Senate candidate from Massachusetts. Like Barack's white girlfriend, she couldn't be black. She would if she could, but she couldn't. But she could be a composite – a white woman and an Indian woman, all mixed up in one! Not Indian in the sense of Ashton Kutcher putting on brownface makeup and a fake-Indian accent in his amusing new commercial for the hip lo-fat snack Popchips. But Indian in the sense of checking the "Are you Native American?" box on the Association of American Law Schools form, which Elizabeth Warren did for much of her adult life. According to her, she's part Cherokee and part Delaware. Not in the Joe Biden sense, I hasten to add, but Delaware in the sense of the Indian tribe named in honor of the home state of Big F—kin' Chief Dances With Plugs.

How does she know she's a Cherokee maiden? Well, she cites her grandfather's "high cheekbones," and says the Indian stuff is part of her family "lore." Which was evidently good enough for Harvard Lore School when they were looking to rack up a few affirmative-action credits. The former Obama Special Advisor to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former Chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel now says that "I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group, something that might happen with people who are like I am," and certainly not for personal career advancement or anything like that. Like everyone else, she was shocked, shocked to discover that, as The Boston Herald reported, "Harvard Law School officials listed Warren as Native American in the '90s, when the school was under fierce fire for their faculty's lack of diversity."

So did the University of Texas, and the University of Pennsylvania. With the impertinent jackanapes of the press querying the bona fides of Harvard Lore School's first Native American female professor, the Warren campaign got to work and eventually turned up a great-great-great-grandmother designated as Cherokee in the online transcription of a marriage application of 1894.

Hallelujah! In the old racist America, we had quadroons and octoroons. But in the new post-racial America, we have – hang on, let me get out my calculator – duoettrigintaroons! Martin Luther King dreamed of a day when men would be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their great-great-great-grandmother's wedding license application. And now it's here! You can read all about it in Elizabeth Warren's memoir of her struggles to come to terms with her racial identity, Dreams From My Great-Great-Great-Grandmother.

That is too much!

See also Hillary Chabot, at Boston Herald, "Harvard won’t say if Liz Warren listed as minority." (Via Memeorandum.)

Michelle Malkin Destroys Juan Williams in #OWS Debate on Hannity's

Man, this is just brutal, via Jim Hoft.

Michelle tears into Williams when he invokes the tea party as a comparison to #Occupy.

Meet Julia: The Big-Government Dependency Robot and Dream Woman of Leftist Ideology

This story was burning up Twitter earlier. And see Twitchy here and here.

The Photoshop via Washington Free Beacon.

David Harsanyi nails it, "Who the hell is "Julia," and why am I paying for her whole life?":

In the new Barack Obama campaign piece The Life of Julia, voters can "Take a look at how President Obama's policies help one woman over her lifetime -- and how Mitt Romney would change her story." It is one of the most brazenly statist pieces of campaign literature I can ever remember seeing.

Let's, for the purposes of this post, set aside the misleading generalizations regarding policy in the ad (no one is innocent on that account, obviously). What we are left with is a celebration of a how a woman can live her entire life by leaning on government intervention, dependency and other people's money rather than her own initiative or hard work. It is, I'd say, implicitly un-American, in the sense that it celebrates a mindset we have -- outwardly, at least -- shunned.

It is also a mindset that women should find offensively patronizing. When they're old enough, I hope my two daughters will find the notion that their success hinges on the president's views on college-loan interest rates preposterous. Yet, according to the "Life of Julia," women are helpless without the guiding hand of Barack Obama.

See also Lonely Con, "Julia – From the Cradle to the Grave."

And see Michelle's entry, "Another Obama tall tale: “The Life of Julia”."

BONUS: Don't miss "The Life of Julie: Take a Look at Mitt Romney's Policies Help One Woman Live Her Own Life --- and How President Obama Would Hijack It," an alternative version, at Suitably Flip.

Do You Like Good Music?

Well, that's a lot of blogging for the morning.

Enjoy Arthur Conley until later, "Sweet Soul Music":

Do you like good music
That sweet soul music
Just as long as it's swingin'

Oh yeah, oh yeah
Out here on the floor now
We're going to a go go
Ah dancin to the music
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Lou Rawls y'all
Ah don't he look tall y'all
Singin' loves a hurtin' thing now
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Sam and Dave now
Ah don't they look boss y'all
Singin' hold on I'm comin'
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Wilson Pickett
That wicked picket Pickett
Singin Mustang Sally
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on Otis Redding now
Singing fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Spotlight on James Brown now
He's the king of them all, yeah
He's the king of them all, yeah
Oh yeah, oh yeah...

Chinese Dissident Chen Guangcheng Questions Handling of Case After Leaving American Embassy

Smart diplomacy, or something.

The video c/o Telegraph UK, "Chen Guangcheng leaves US embassy 'after threat to beat his wife to death’."

At the Wall Street Journal, "Activist Challenges U.S. Deal":

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng left the U.S. Embassy in an unusual deal under which he would stay in China, but within hours Mr. Chen and his allies were questioning the deal's pledge of safety and challenging U.S. handling of the case.

A day of twists began early Wednesday, when U.S. officials said after days of silence that Mr. Chen had been under American protection since last week and had left of his own accord to seek medical treatment. They asserted that under a deal with the Chinese, reached on the eve of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials, authorities would let Mr. Chen and his family settle in an unspecified place in China far from the local authorities in Shandong province whom he fled on April 22.

Photos showed a smiling Mr. Chen holding hands both with Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell outside the embassy and with U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke as he was escorted to a Beijing hospital.

But from the hospital, Mr. Chen gave a different impression. Speaking to several news organizations, the activist, a self-taught lawyer who campaigned against forced abortions, sounded shaken as he asked for new protections.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Chen said U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would have sent his family back to his home province if he stayed in the embassy and at one point said his wife would have been beaten to death. He told the AP he feared for his safety and said, "Help my family and me leave safely.''

Well, that doesn't sound so great.

More at the Los Angeles Times, "Pall cast over U.S.-China deal over Chinese dissident."

Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' Goes for $119.9 Million at Auction

Geez, you'd think we were in the middle of an economic boom.

See the New York Times, "‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million":

It took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The Scream” to sell for $120 million, becoming the world’s most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction.

Bidders could be heard speaking Chinese and English (and, some said, Norwegian), but the mystery winner bid over the phone, through Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s executive vice president and vice chairman of its worldwide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department. Gasps could be heard as the bidding climbed higher and higher, until there was a pause at $99 million, prompting Tobias Meyer, the evening’s auctioneer, to smile and say, “I have all the time in the world.” When $100 million was bid, the audience began to applaud.

The price eclipsed the previous record, made two years ago at Christie’s in New York when Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” brought $106.5 million.

Munch made four versions of “The Scream.” Three are now in Norwegian museums; the one that sold on Wednesday, a pastel on board from 1895, was the only one still in private hands. It was sold by Petter Olsen, a Norwegian businessman and shipping heir whose father was a friend, neighbor and patron of the artist.

The image has been reproduced endlessly in popular culture in recent decades, becoming a universal symbol of angst and existential dread and nearly as famous as the Mona Lisa.

See also The Financial Times, "So, what does ‘The Scream’ mean?":

“The Scream” is one of the most disturbing images to come out of the history of modern art. It depicts a moment of psychic calamity, of shattered nerves. Munch intended, when he first created the image in 1893, to record “the modern life of the soul”; and what a fraught, anxiety-ridden vision it was. For decades his distorted vision was regarded as an eccentric by-way of expressionism, laden with Nordic gloom and unnecessary cosmic pessimism.

Yet here we are, the world’s hyper-rich leading art collectors seemingly poised to make “The Scream” one of the most valuable artistic images ever created. A vision from the haunted dusk of the 19th century has found its moment more than 100 years later. Munch has hit the mainstream. We are finally strong enough to stomach his scream. Someone, somewhere in the world is busy planning to pop this icon of human disintegration above the fireplace, at enormous cost. We are, it seems, past the age of water lilies and sunflowers. The swirling chaos and vacant expression evident in Munch’s most famous work has become a touchstone for our troubled times.

Nearly 30 Percent of Jobless Americans Plagued by Long-Term Unemployment — Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative Finds 3.9 Million Out of Work For at Least a Year

At Los Angeles Times, "Long-term unemployment affects nearly 30% of jobless Americans":

Nearly 30% of jobless Americans have been out of work for at least a year, according to the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative report on the first quarter.

The report found that of the 13.3 million unemployed workers in the country, 3.9 million had been jobless for all or most of 2011. That's more people than live in Oregon.

That 29.5% long-term unemployment rate is slightly off the peak reached in the third quarter of last year, when 31.8% of jobless Americans were out of work for a year. But the current rate is still more than triple the 9.5% from the beginning of the recession.

"The longer workers remain unemployed, the more likely they may lose skills and professional contacts, making workforce reentry even more challenging," researchers wrote in the Pew report. "Skill erosion may lead to lower future income for individuals and, for the economy as a whole, lower productivity and lost output."

Older workers were more affected than most, with nearly 44% of former employees older than 55 out of work for longer than a year. Compare that to 21.4% of workers between 20 and 24 in the same boat.

Way to go, Baracky!

PHOTO CREDIT: Doug Ross, "The Obama Depression Series Redux."

The Rise of One World Trade Center

Via Small Dead Animals:

PREVIOUSLY: "1 World Trade Center Will Soon Overtake Empire State Building as New York City's Tallest Building."

#OWS Stages May Day Dud in Bid to Revive Movement

The New York Post points and laughs at Occupy Wall Street, "OWS bums are a big joke: Hard workers enjoy good laugh as May Day skirmishes fizzle":

Occupy Wall Street’s call for May Day mayhem largely fizzled yesterday — but at least provided a good laugh for hardworking people gazing from their office windows at the demonstrators’ antics as cops took a few dozen into custody.

“How can anyone take them seriously? They look like homeless people,” quipped Financial District bartender Kimberly Leo.

“I saw one woman complaining about not having a job, but she had a shirt with the word “nympho” on it,” Leo, 26, said. “These people need a change of wardrobe and a shower.”

The daylong demonstrations featured several thousand protesters doing little more than snarling traffic in sporadic gatherings around the city.

More than 50 of them had been arrested by last night after a handful of clashes with the police armies that flooded the streets.
The biggest flare-up came at around 2 p.m., when 100 protesters with black bandanas over their faces sprinted north from Sara Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side while knocking over trash cans and banging on cars.

They had a giant sign that read, “F--k the police.”

Elliot Epstein, 19, allegedly bit NYPD Chief Thomas Galati during a scrum on Sixth Avenue and Waverly Place in Greenwich Village.

“[He] fled from an arresting officer, knocked over a scooter cop, and fought with a lieutenant who tried to stop the perp,” a police source said.

After biting Galati, he “then began spitting on Chief Galati and the lieutenant,” the source said. He was hit with a slew of charges including assaulting a police officer.

Another round of dust-ups occurred around 8 p.m. when hundreds of protesters marching south on Broadway were kept from turning onto Wall Street.

One protest leader hopped onto the barricades, and just inches from the cops, shouted, “This is what it looks like to live in a police state!”

Nearby, a demented demonstrator kicked out the driver-side rear window of a police car.

And many who attended the group’s “General Assembly,’’ which drew nearly a thousand people to the area near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Water Street, initially refused to leave at the 10 p.m. curfew. At least six were arrested after cops had to force them to disperse.

The OWS gatherings started at around 8 a.m. in Midtown, where Rich Rollison marched with his daughter, Jude, 9, whom he plucked out of her West Village school.

“I hope that the 1 percent pays their taxes,” said a smiling Jude.

'Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang' — Los Angeles Riots Boost Gangsta Rap

I don't know.

I think hardcore rap music became hip after I'd reached my prime as a music listener. And I'm not convinced rap's had all that positive a social influence, frankly. That said, I'm listening to it more today than ever, since my boys like hip hop.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Rhythm of the Street: Gangsta Rap Was a Ready-Made Soundtrack, and Its Words Grew Stronger Afterward":

The L.A. riots of 1992 arrived with its soundtrack in place. Sanctioned police brutality, a grim job market, gang life, a decimated school system, the toll of crack on poor neighborhoods and racial tensions were all being documented by West Coast rappers long before Rodney King's beating by Los Angeles Police Department officers was documented on tape. Inner-city kids were infusing hip-hop — a genre that arose out of the Bronx in the last '70s — with hard-core, L.A.-centric rhymes about gangs and the crack-addled neighborhoods around them.

"Even before the riots … voices in L.A. hip-hop were foretelling what was to come," said director John Singleton, whose 1991 film "Boyz n the Hood" was one of the first empathetic looks at South L.A. life for many Americans. "So many people who didn't grow up black and poor couldn't understand why it happened. You can live in a different part of L.A. and never understand that frustration. But if you listen to 'F— tha Police,' you hear where they're coming from."

The riots gave marginalized music from the hood a global stage and sudden mainstream legitimacy. The music born of the very conditions that precipitated the riots now transcended South L.A., and major labels began signing and promoting West Coast artists like Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. For better or for worse, the Southland style that became known as gangsta rap changed the trajectory of pop music by becoming the '90s definition of cool.

For suburban fans who'd been consuming N.W.A's music as a race-music expression of white teenage angst, the televised revolution in L.A. made it clear that the lyrics weren't just outlandish fiction set to hard beats. They were rooted in bitter truths, a hard reality that L.A. was a two-tier city with gross inequities in both wealth and possibility.

One, two, three and to the fo'
Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre are at the do'
Ready to make an entrance, so back on up
(Cause you know we 'bout had to rip shit up)
Gimme the microphone first, so I can bust like a bubble
Compton and Long Beach together, now you know you in trouble
Ain't nothin' but a G thang, baaaaabay!
Two loc'ed out G's so we're craaaaazay!
Death Row is the label that paaaaays me!
Unfadable, so please don't try to fade this (Hell yeah)
But, uh, back to the lecture at hand
Perfection is perfected, so I'm 'a let 'em understand
From a young G's perspective
And before me dig out a bitch I have ta' find a contraceptive
You never know she could be earnin' her man,
And learnin' her man, and at the same time burnin' her man
Now you know I ain't wit that shit, Lieutenant
Ain't no pussy good enough to get burnt while I'm up in it
(yeah) Now that's realer than real-deal Holyfield
And now all you hookas and ho's know how I feel
Well if it's good enough to get broke off a proper chunk
I'll take a small piece of some of that funky stuff

[Hook: Snoop Doggy Dogg]

It's like this and like that and like this and uh
It's like that and like this and like that and uh
It's like this and like that and like this and uh
Dre, creep to the mic like a phantom...

Katie Pavlich Discusses Obama's Bloodiest Scandal

An interview with Glenn Reynolds:

And the book is here: Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up.

'Do It for Trayvon Martin!' — Virginian-Pilot Refuses to Cover Black-on-White Racial Violence; Paper Claims Didn't Want to Treat Its Employees 'Differently From Other Crime Victims'

Tom Maguire has a report at JustOneMinute, "A Paper of Cowards."

Turns out that the publisher of the Virginian-Pilot was recently confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.

Wouldn't want to jeopardize a cabinet appointment, or anything.

Plus, see also Bob Owens at Pajamas Media, "‘Justice for Trayvon’: 15 Whites Beaten By Gangs of Black Thugs … So Far":

The assaults on a pair of Virginian-Pilot reporters in Norfolk, Va., two weeks ago at the hands of 30 black youths, reported for the first time Tuesday, are the latest in a series of attacks driven by a warped sense of racial vigilantism hiding behind calls of “Justice for Trayvon.” At least 15 whites have been beaten not just with fists, but with potentially deadly weapons including hammers and lengths of chain. Many of the victims have been hospitalized, some may never fully recover, and one lingers on the verge of death.

David Forster and Marjon Rostami are just the latest victims of brutal beatings tied to the Trayvon Martin shooting, and some Virginians are outraged that the newspaper did not report the attack for “politically correct reasons.” The attack was revealed not as news, but in an opinion piece.

Shoot, I wouldn't even know about this story if it hadn't been for bloggers.

Hopefully no one else succumbs to blog burnout any time soon.

CSU Faculty Union Calls Strike for All 23 Campuses in Cal State System

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "California State University faculty vote to authorize strike."

LONG BEACH — California State University faculty have voted to authorize a two-day strike at all 23 campuses, which would be the largest such walkout in state history, if contract talks fail.

The California Faculty Association, which represents professors, librarians, counselors and other staff, announced the strike vote Wednesday at a noon press conference at Cal State Long Beach. The authorization was overwhelmingly approved by 95 percent of those who participated in a two-week voting process that ended on April 27.

About 70 percent of the 12,501 union members voted, according to CFA officials. The CFA represents more than 24,000 employees, but not all are union members.

The decision followed 22 months of unsuccessful contract negotiations.

"The message to Chancellor (Charles) Reed is absolutely clear: The CSU faculty have run out of patience and it is time to address the issues before us so that our faculty can get back to the business of providing quality higher education to the students of California," said CFA President Lillian Taiz.

The rolling strike would affect all 23 California State University campuses this fall. Under the plan, campuses would go on strike for two days each, one immediately following another.

It's going to be a circus at some of these campuses, with faculty unions going all "Occupy" on the Cal State administration. Recall I covered the one-day strike at CSU Dominguez Hills last year: "'Down With Capitalist Education!' — California Faculty Association Strikes at Cal State Dominguez Hills."

MORE at The Fresno Bee, "CSU faculty members agree to strike authorization."

Conservative MP Louise Mensch Condemns 'Misogyny and Bullying' on Twitter

Well, the left's war on women knows no borders.

At Telegraph UK, "Louise Mensch MP exposes shameful bullying of women on Twitter after personal attacks":

Conservative MP Louise Mensch has condemned "misogynistic" internet trolls after being inundated with online abuse, including sexist insults, sexually graphic comments and violent threats.

The insults, most of which are too explicit to be repeated, included references to her appearance, sexuality and even threatened criminal violence.

Some other accused her of engaging an intimate relationship with Rupert Murdoch while others speculated crudely as to whether they found her attractive.

The comments, made on Twitter and including a vast array of sexist name-calling, have provoked a wave of outrage on the social media website, as supporters leapt to her defence.

Mrs Mensch, who condemned the criticism as “misogyny and bullying”, has now highlighted some of the choice comments herself in a bid to expose online trolls.

In doing so, she told her 50,000 followers: “Women too often shamed into silence. Sod it.”

Using the hashtag #feminism, she said: “I've added a few more favourite tweets to show the misogny. I could do this all day.”

She told one abuser: “It’s misogyny. You should be ashamed of yourself. I suppose you consider yourself left-wing and progressive do you?”

After receiving support from hundreds of commentators, she later wrote: “Wow. Thank you all Twitter for the support. I appreciate it.

“It happens to so many women. I just grabbed some examples.”

Continue reading.

And follow Ms. Mensch on Twitter.

PHOTO CREDIT: Louise Mensch MP.

Mitt Romney Disappointed in Obama's Jabs on Osama bin Laden

At CBS:

Mitt Romney hit back at President Obama Tuesday for his campaign's suggestion the presumptive Republican nominee may not have ordered elite forces to go after Osama bin Laden, saying he was "disappointed" the issue had become political.

"I think them taking credit for the right decision is entirely appropriate. I think trying to attack me on that basis is disappointing and the wrong course," Romney said in an interview with "CBS This Morning."

Romney was asked about a new ad featuring former President Bill Clinton touting Mr. Obama's decision to order the now famous SEAL Team 6 into bin Laden's compound in Pakistan a year ago.

The ad then quotes Romney from his first run for president, when he told an interviewer in 2007 that it is "not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."

The issue has become front and center in the political campaign in the past few days leading up to Tuesday's anniversary of bin Laden's death.

"Of course the right course was to assassinate, execute Osama bin Laden and that is precisely what happened, and I congratulate the president for doing so. And I am confident and that of course I would have taken exactly the same decision," Romney said, "any thinking American would have ordered exactly the same thing."

Well, let's just hope Romney does go all John McCain or anything. You know, we wouldn't want to be too harsh on old Baracky!

The News Corp. Scandal: 'The Trouble With MPs Who Want to Dictate Media Ownership'

At the Wall Street Journal, "Fit and Unfit to Publish" (via Google):

America's Founders wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution so that government couldn't control the press. That wisdom is worth recalling in the wake of a British parliamentary committee's assertion Tuesday that Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company."

Think about that one: Six members of an 11-member political committee deign to dictate who should or shouldn't run a media company. The language in that phrase "not a fit person" is clearly intended to influence regulators who must meet a "fit and proper" standard in deciding who can own a British broadcaster. Mr. Murdoch is CEO of News Corp., which owns this newspaper as well as 39% of BSkyB, the British broadcaster. The regulator is currently reviewing BSkyB's license. It's hard to imagine a clearer case of politically pressuring a regulator to push out an unpopular owner.

The "not a fit person" broadside was too much for four Tory MPs on the panel, who dissented on that point. (The Tory committee chairman abstained.) One of the dissenters, Louise Mensch, was quoted in the Financial Times as saying the line "was stuck in on the basis of no evidence presented to committee whatsoever."

That underscores the partisan nature of the decision by six Labour and Liberal-Democrat MPs to exceed their charge of exploring whether the committee had been misled and instead to condemn Mr. Murdoch.

But the problem goes beyond partisanship to the larger risks this poses to a vigorous free press. Even a fair-minded, nonpartisan political inquiry into who can or cannot own a printing press or broadcast license is bound to have a chilling effect on media coverage of government. The potential for political intimidation is great.

Imagine if the government of one of the new European democracies were pursuing a similar campaign against an independent media owner. We can write the BBC condemnation ourselves. Come to think of it, various Europeans have been rightly critical of a similar squeeze on media ownership by the Turkish government and a new media law in Hungary.

Or imagine if a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives decided to opine on the fitness of Carlos Slim, the controversial Mexican billionaire-monopolist, to invest in the New York Times? The media denunciations of the politicians would be loud and deserved.

None of this is meant to sweep away the hacking scandal at the defunct News of the World tabloid that the parliamentary committee had been investigating. The hacking—and its handling by the London police and News Corp.—has been under criminal investigation for many months. Several journalists have been arrested, though so far no one has been charged in the current probe. We assume that if crimes were committed, they will be prosecuted—and the accused given the chance to defend themselves.

The investigations have also turned up evidence of a failure at News Corp. to get to the bottom of the hacking scandal early and with enough vigor. This is no small matter...

PREVIOUSLY: "News Corp. Board Declares Support for Rupert Murdoch After Parliamentary Committee Slams Mogul's Fitness to Lead."

Israel's Survival: 'Back to the Future'

Via Theo Spark:

Kelly Brook Tumblr Encore

A follow up to my earlier entry, "Kelly Brook Tumblr Rule 5."

Her Tumblr page is here.

Kate Upton Cat Daddy

Well, London's Daily Mail reported that YouTube pulled the clip, but Theo has it, so here you go:

And here the Daily Mail report, with a Vimeo clip, just in case: "Too sexy for this dance! Sports Illustrated cover girl Kate Upton's hip hop moves in tiny bikini go viral... (and the video is quickly banned by YouTube)."

Masked Occupy Anarchist Throws Bricks, Injuring Bystander, in San Francisco May Day Protest

Via Zombie:

Added: This might not be a "bystander." See Big Government, "Friendly Fire: Occupier Hits Occupier with Brick to Face..."

BWAHAHAHA!! The American Prospect On the Verge of a Glorious Financial Crash and Burn

And it couldn't happen to a more pathetic radical left-wing rag.

John Hawkins reports, "There Are No More Indispensable Political News or Opinion Sources."

RTWT at the link.

And here's the awful, awful announcement from the magazine, "A Critical Moment for The American Prospect":

Dear readers and friends of the Prospect,

Media stories have started to appear saying that The American Prospect is facing a major financial challenge and may be forced to fold. The stories are true. The next four weeks will determine whether the Prospect will be able to build on its 22-year legacy of influence or whether it must retrench or even close. Between now and May 31, the Prospect must raise $500,000 and have $700,000 of additional support pledged for the new fiscal year that starts in July. If we do not find those commitments, the Prospect as we’ve known it will cease. This is real. And the stakes are high.

Look, these should be fat times for the Democrat-Media-Complex, what, with all the Democrat hacks up in Washington running the show. You'd think the pickings would be better than ever. Except, well, there is that pesky little thing called the market. And no matter how many times leftists deny this is a center-right nation, the fact is the progressive product sells only with the requisite helpings of coercion and lies.

Elizabeth Warren's Oppression Olympics: Candidate Says Being Native American 'Part of My Story', New Campaign Ad Highlights Ties to Obama

Oh boy, this is getting unreal.

See the New York Times, "Warren Says She’s Proud of Being American Indian":

Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday defended her decision to identify herself as a minority in a directory of law professors in the 1980’s and ’90s, saying that she hoped it would help her “meet more people who had grown up like I had grown up” ....

Although she denied any linkage between her heritage – a genealogical record suggests that she is 1/32 American Indian — and her professional life, Ms. Warren defended its importance to her family roots.

“I have lived in a family that has talked about Native American, talked about tribes, since I’ve been a little girl,” Ms. Warren said. “Being Native American has been part of my story, I guess, since the day I was born.”

Oh brother.

Yeah, she's a real Native American alright.

Michelle has that, "“Sacaja-whiner:” Elizabeth Warren and the Oppression Olympics":

Elizabeth Warren is the Harvard law professor running for Senate in Massachusetts as a Democratic populist-progressive champion. But don’t call her “Elizabeth Warren.” Call her “Pinocchio-hontas,” “Chief Full-of-Lies,” “Running Joke” or “Sacaja-whiner.”

Warren has claimed questionable Native American minority status for years to reap career “diversity” benefits. Now, Cherokee leaders, campaign rival GOP Sen. Scott Brown and an army of Twitter detractors have called her out for gaming the racial-preference system. Live by identity politics, die by identity politics.

The Boston Herald reported last Friday that Harvard administrators “prominently touted Warren’s Native American background … in an effort to bolster their diversity hiring record in the ’90s as the school came under heavy fire for a faculty that was then predominantly white and male.” When asked for proof of her tribal heritage, Warren’s campaign first denied that she had ever bragged about it. But from 1986 to 1995, Warren listed herself as a minority professor in a professional law school directory.

While the Democrat’s team scrounged for evidence over the weekend, Warren stalled for time by asserting that she didn’t need to provide documentation because family “lore” backed her up. Someone told her a story, you see, and magically conferred native status upon her. Through narrative, all things are possible! (Notorious “fake Indian” Ward Churchill is wondering why he didn’t think of this alibi first before the University of Colorado at Boulder fired him for academic fraud.)

On Tuesday, Warren finally discovered a great-great-great-grandmother supposedly “certified as Cherokee” and a random cousin somehow involved with a museum that preserves Native American art. There’s also a great-great-grandfather somewhere in Warren’s dusty genealogical records who spent time on a Cherokee reservation. Because walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins is now just as good as being born in them....

Once again, the left’s incurable love affair with oppression chic is on naked display. It’s an Olympic competition of the haves to show their have-not cred.

Continue reading.

Former NFL Linebacker Junior Seau Dead in Apparent Suicide

I really liked this guy when he was with San Diego.

Used to watch them quite a bit. He was a freakin' stud. I had no idea he was having personal problems.

See Daley Gator, "Junior Seau Dead at 43 From Gunshot Wound to Chest."

And at TMZ, "JUNIOR SEAU DEAD - Cops Suspect Suicide."

And check the Los Angeles Times, "Junior Seau's shooting death: Chargers in 'shock and disbelief'."

News Corp. Board Declares Support for Rupert Murdoch After Parliamentary Committee Slams Mogul's Fitness to Lead

At Fox News, "News Corp Board Voices Unanimous Support For Murdoch."

And here's the front-page report from this morning's Wall Street Journal, "News Corp. Blasted In U.K.":

LONDON — A U.K. parliamentary committee report issued Tuesday said Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company" and found that three former News Corp. executives misled British lawmakers over the depth of the phone-hacking scandal.

The report from Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee sketches out details of a coverup the company allegedly carried out as it sought to contain the fallout from revelations that its now-closed News of the World tabloid illegally intercepted cellphone voice mails in pursuit of information.

The report had especially harsh words for the 81-year-old Mr. Murdoch—although the rebuke divided members of the committee along party lines. "Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking," according to a passage inserted despite the opposition of Conservative members. "He turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications." The corporate culture "permeated from the top," it added.

Three former executives from News International, the company's U.K. newspaper unit, were singled out for misleading Parliament during testimonies on phone hacking in 2009: Les Hinton, a longtime Murdoch lieutenant who served as the unit's executive chairman for 12 years before leaving in late 2007 to head up News Corp.'s newly acquired Dow Jones & Co. unit, which publishes The Wall Street Journal; Colin Myler, the News of the World's editor from 2007 to 2011; and Tom Crone, the tabloid's top lawyer. All three men have left News Corp.

The committee said a number of statements News International executives made in 2009 were untrue, including the claim that illegal voice-mail interception was limited to one reporter and the assertion that phone hacking had been investigated thoroughly by the company. The report says News Corp.'s instinct throughout the affair was to "cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing and discipline the perpetrators."

During a news conference, the committee said all of its 10 voting members supported the report's conclusions about Messrs. Hinton, Myler and Crone. But Conservative Member of Parliament Louise Mensch said the committee's Conservative MPs voted against the final report largely because of the line saying Mr. Murdoch isn't a "fit person" to run a global company. Ms. Mensch said the report should therefore be seen as "partisan."

In a statement, News Corp. said: "Hard truths have emerged from the Select Committee Report: that there was serious wrongdoing at the News of the World; that our response to the wrongdoing was too slow and too defensive; and that some of our employees misled the Select Committee in 2009." But it called some of the report's commentary "unjustified and highly partisan."

Continue reading.

Seattle May Day Protests Show True Face of Occupy Movement

Michelle Malkin was burning up Twitter yesterday during the "mostly peaceful" #OWS May Day protests.

This shot below is just one of the many on-the-ground photos from Foolish Reporter:

There's video here.

And at Twitchy, "Eye on Occupy: Reckless in Seattle (and beyond)."

BONUS: At the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Seattle mayor has home vandalized after violent city protests."

New York Post Rips Obama's Football-Spiking Junket to Afghanistan

The controversy is at BuzzFeed, "New York Post Mocks Obama's Afghanistan Trip" (via Memeorandum).

And here it is, "Shameless":

Are there no depths to which Obama won’t stoop to get re-elected?

No. Absolutely none.

Read it all at the link.

North Carolina Amendment One Same-Sex Marriage

Once again the progs are going bathsh*t crazy, this time amid the controversy over North Carolina's Amendment 1.

Some pastor is now rightly disavowing his stupid remarks about beating up your gay kids. See: "Berean Baptist pastor disavows advice to punch gay kids as a joke." (At Memeorandum.)

And that story gives gay radical extremist Pam Spaulding an opening, "This is the ‘Christian love’ we are up against: NC Baptist preacher calls for beating the gay out of kids."

Meanwhile, despite the circus antics on both sides, a large majority of the state's voters favor the amendment. See PPP, "Amendment One still up 14 points in N.C.":

Raleigh, N.C. – There has been no movement on North Carolina’s proposed marriage amendment since PPP last released a poll a week ago.  Likely primary voters are still planning to vote for the amendment by a 14-point margin, this time 55-41, rather than 54-40.

Opposition is rising slightly with Republicans, independents, and African Americans, from 17% to 21% with the GOP, from 43% to 46% with independents, and from 39% to 43% with black voters.  Democrats on the whole are opposed by a 54-42 spread.  Reports of strong youth turnout in parts of the state could be a good sign for opponents; voters under the age of 30 oppose the amendment by 26 points, while the elder age brackets all support it by spreads of nine to 24 points—though that is down from margins of 16 to 32 points last week.

The good news for the amendment’s opponents is that more voters are now aware of the amendment’s consequences, and if all voters were informed of those consequences, the amendment would fail by a 38-46 margin, the same as last week.  A 40% plurality now knows that the amendment would ban both same-sex marriage and civil unions, versus 36% in the previous survey.  Those who know what the amendment would do are against it by 22 points, but they are outweighed by the strong support from the uneducated.

That's a tough amendment, but it's up to the voters. I think civil unions are fine personally. But we'll see. I think North Carolina wants to put up a big, burly firewall against the radical left's gay rights extremism, and that's probably the way to go, considering everything else these days.

From the Heritage Foundation: 'America at Risk'

See, "America at Risk: Military Went to War in Iraq With Unarmored SUVs."

President Obama's Speech from Bagram Air Base

The New York Times has an analysis, "A Visit Well Timed to Future Uncertainties in Afghanistan":

KABUL, Afghanistan — The moment that President Obama chose to visit Afghanistan for the first time in 17 months was a rare chance for him to make the most of a brief window when relations between the two governments are improving after months of crisis, and when the likely fallout of the coming NATO withdrawal is still months away.

In the background, however, lurk a host of concerns about how things could go once the bulk of American troops leave and the pipeline of foreign aid slows to a trickle, which is expected to happen by the end of 2014. Both will increase the country’s already deep sense of precariousness. And there is concern, too, about whether what once were cornerstone American goals in Afghanistan — establishing reliable security forces, hobbling the insurgency, curbing endemic corruption, securing enduring rights for women and minorities — are now unrealistic given the looming deadline.

“None of the tensions between the United States and the Karzai government have gone away,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, a strategic analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, in an essay published Tuesday on the center’s Web site. “The broader problems with Afghan governance and corruption are not diminishing. Progress in creating effective Afghan forces is increasingly questionable, the insurgents are clearly committed to going on with the fight, and relations with Pakistan seem to take two steps backward for every apparent step forward.”

Mr. Cordesman continued, “As for American domestic politics, there seems to be growing, tacit, bipartisan agreement to drift toward an exit strategy without really admitting it.”

RELATED: From Michael Cohen, at Foreign Policy, "Hi, I Killed Osama bin Laden and I Approve This Message."

And from Allahpundit, at Hot Air, "Football spiked: Obama to address nation on Bin Laden anniversary live from Afghanistan."

Heroes Don't Spike the Football

Video c/o The Astute Bloggers:

And see Michael Mukasey, "Obama and the bin Laden Bragging Rights." Also, at Betsy's Page, "Obama's spiked football."

Richard Grenell Resigns as Romney's National Security Spokesman — Policy Positions, Not Anti-Gay 'Hounding', Explain the Departure

See the report at the Washington Post, "Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney spokesman, resigns."

And Jennifer Rubin really went to town on the right for allegedly "hounding" Grenell out of the Romney campaign, "EXCLUSIVE: Richard Grenell hounded from Romney campaign by anti-gay conservatives" (via Memeorandum).

But actually, there's not a lot of evidence that hard-right conservatives "hounded" Grenell from the campaign. (Allahpundit has a huge roundup, "Openly gay foreign-policy spokesman for Romney campaign resigns; Update: “He wasn’t under wraps”.")

Sure, there was some pushback, but it was pretty localized around a few figures on the religious right, Bryan Fischer, for example ("Re: Richard Grenell: Romney has some splaining to do"), and Tony Perkins, "Conservatives Engage in Some Hire Learning":

Most conservatives have been anxious to see how the Romney campaign would react now that the strongest social conservative, Sen. Rick Santorum, is out of the race. Would the Governor try to fill the void left on values issues or would he stick to his more moderate approach? Some people believe that question was answered last week with the selection of Richard Grenell as Mitt Romney's foreign policy spokesman. Grenell, who served in President Bush's administration, specialized in the U.N., but the areas where he disagreed with his old boss are what concern conservatives most.

Grenell, who has been very open about his homosexual lifestyle, publicly condemned the Bush administration (shortly after leaving it) for opposing a U.N. resolution urging the full acceptance of homosexuality. While Bush (like nearly two thirds of the U.N. member states) refused to endorse the measure endorsing homosexuality, President Obama signed it shortly after taking office. Since then, his State Department, under the direction of Hillary Clinton, has tossed aside the cultural and religious beliefs of other countries to promote homosexuality as a basic human right, while downgrading the importance of religious liberty. Clearly, the strategy is for the State Department to force these policies (which most U.S. states reject) on the international stage and then build pressure on the U.S. to adopt measures like Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and same-sex "marriage."

In a recent column for the Washington Blade, Grenell hinted at where he falls on the marriage issue when he criticized gay and lesbian Democrats for supporting President Obama despite the fact that he hasn't done enough to redefine marriage. Still others point to Grenell's long-time partner and his desire to tie the knot, "It's not an option for us... but hopefully someday soon it will be." While past performance is not a guarantee of future results, there is strong evidence that Grenell would lobby for foreign policy more in line with the current administration than the last Republican one.

And see the comments from Gary Bauer as well, "Unforced Error, Governor":

While Governor Mitt Romney is clearly enjoying a bounce in the polls and a boost in momentum, his campaign still has some work to do when it comes to reassuring the conservative base and values voters. That's why his appointment of Richard Grenell, who worked in the Bush Administration, to be his spokesman on national security issues was a disappointment to many conservatives.

I share their disappointment not because Grenell is gay. He is not weak on defense. In fact, former Ambassador John Bolton is defending Grenell today. Conservative pro-family leaders are disappointed because Grenell has been an outspoken advocate of redefining normal marriage. For the overwhelmingly majority of folks who support Governor Romney that issue is starkly clear -- marriage is the union of one and one woman. But Grenell once caused a controversy by trying to have his partner listed as his spouse when he worked at the U.N.

Thankfully, Grenell is not going to be making policy on domestic issues. But his appointment was disappointing because it comes at a time when the Romney campaign should be reaching out to the conservative base. Instead, this appointment seems like a slap at the base.

Moreover, Grenell is known for having an acerbic personality, and critics have described his comments in social media as being "catty." He may be competent, but he is creating controversies on multiple fronts where the Romney campaign can least afford them.

That said, we should not exaggerate this. Homosexuals were part of the Reagan Administration and the Bush Administrations. Our concern is policy. One of the ways Governor Romney can reassure values voters is to make more statements in his speeches that speak to their concerns about the sanctity of life, the meaning of marriage and the importance of faith and family.

Pointing this out does not hurt Mitt Romney. I am making this observation precisely because it is so important that he defeat Barack Obama. There is no path to victory for a Republican presidential candidate that does not involve massive turnout by pro-family voters. The only way Mitt Romney will end up with a majority on Election Day -- and I will do everything I can to make sure that happens -- is to unite economic, defense and social conservatives behind his candidacy.

And with reference to Grenell's "catty" comments via social media, Politico's got that: "Twitter-happy Romney flack Grenell resigns."

And see Matthew J. Franck, "Who Is Richard Grenell Anyway?"

Finally, here's this from BuzzFeed, "In Romney's Gay Rights Mess, Silence Wasn't An Option: The candidate stayed mum while his gay aide was being blasted by the right. Now gay rights groups blame Romney, whose aides say it was never about sexuality."

It's clear from a look at Memeorandum that Grenell's departure is another chance for the left to frame the narrative that Republicans are "homophobic bigots." Unfortunately, there's a lot more folks like Jennifer Rubin willing to give the left a hand. The bottom line is that pro-gay marriage advocacy is a far left-wing position. If Republicans attempt to add gay marriage to their platform the voters will find them wanting. If voters are going to base their votes on progressive policy positions, they'll go with the real thing: the radical extremist gay-rights agenda of the Democratic Party. The GOP can try to co-opt the left's position on gay rights, but no matter what they do they'll still be branded as "haters" and anti-gay "bigots." Besides, a majority of Republicans continue to favor the traditional definition of marriage. Bauer is right: The GOP needs to unite economic, defense, and social conservatives around Romney's candidacy. It's not about sexuality. It's about policy.

May Day Protests Planned Across the U.S.

The Washington Post reports, "Occupy movement prepares for nationwide general strike," and at Bloomberg, "Occupy Wall Street Plans Global Protests in May Day Resurgence."

And see The Lonely Conservative, "Commie May Day Protests and Occupations Going Global."

She's not kidding!

Here's Teresa Gutierrez of the Workers World Party: "VIVA MAY DAY! - OWS Unites With Immigrants and Working Class."

PREVIOUSLY: "Occupy Wall Street: The Communist Movement Reborn."

MI6 Spy Gareth Williams Most Likely Died from Poisoning, Suffocation or Strangulation

At Telegraph UK, "MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'probably died from poisoning or asphyxiation'."

And earlier at the New York Times, "Death of Spy, Zipped Into Bag, Spawns Theories and Inquest."

Perhaps Trying to Politicize the Anniversary of Osama bin Laden's Killing Might Have Been a Mistake

The video's via Politico, "Arianna Huffington: Obama ad ‘despicable’."

And see Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Maybe Running on Bin Laden Won’t Work":

As Alana noted earlier, the fact that some influential liberal pundits are backing away from the Obama campaign’s claim that a President Romney would have let bin Laden live, illustrates the contempt that this shameless slur has generated. If Arianna Huffington thinks it’s a bad idea, imagine how the rest of the country thinks?