American Power

Sunday, May 20, 2012

I'll Have Another Wins 137th Preakness Stakes

I'd swear this is the perfect horse race. I'll Have Another just hangs back about 3 or 4 lengths and pours it on around the final stretch for photo finish.

Man, I love horse racing.

See the New York Times, "Another Thriller, and More Believers."

And from Bill Dwyre, at the Los Angeles Times, "I'll Have Another has two legs up on history":

After a victory in the Preakness, the Santa Anita Derby winner has a chance to end a 34-year Triple Crown drought for horse racing. And his trainer might be a star in New York.

BALTIMORE -- The amazing story moved up to incredible. I'll Have Another ran true to his name.

On a Saturday that brought blue skies, perfect temperatures and a record crowd of 121,309 here at venerable Pimlico racetrack, the horse who has never been favored in a race and has been mostly under-appreciated by the public, even the racing public, won the 137th Preakness.

Now, it is I'll Have Another who will take a shot at history. The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978. There have been only 11, going back to Sir Barton in 1919. The last horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness was Big Brown in 2008, and he was mysteriously pulled up in the Belmont.

The story of I'll Have Another is becoming familiar, and it's about time. Owner J. Paul Reddam keynoted that quite simply afterward.

"He hasn't had the most respect," Reddam said.

Amazingly, the Kentucky Derby winner paid $8.40, $3.80 and $2.80. That's mostly because Bob Baffert's Bodemeister had the short odds in the field, as he did in the Derby.

But as in the Derby, I'll Have Another was not interested in anything less than the whole cookie, and when he ran down Baffert's speed demon once again and won by a neck, the people with reason to see him as less than Triple Crown quality were left without argument.

Reddam said, "I think there was a common feeling … that the horse won the Derby because he had a perfect trip. If he didn't get the perfect trip, he wouldn't have won…[Today] he shows he is the real deal."

Dennis O'Neill, who identified I'll Have Another for Reddam to purchase, said, "Going into today, I thought this horse was a really, really good horse going in. After today, he's proven to be a great horse."

Reddam made the purchase for $35,000, chump change for a well-bred thoroughbred. Reddam delivered him to his main trainer, Dennis' brother, Doug, who has not only trained this horse to perfection, but become a rock star in the process.

More on the horse's background here: "I'll Have Another Wins Kentucky Derby in Spectacular Come-From-Behind Upset."

'Refuel' — BMW, the Ultimate Driving Machine

I just saw this ad yesterday and loved it!

See the BMW Blog, "Video Ad: BMW 5 Series Refuel reintroduces the “Ultimate Driving Machine” slogan."

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi Dies: Convicted Lockerbie Bomber Jerked Off the West

Really, Muammar Gaddafi was the supreme jerk, and he got what was coming to him.

And Al-Megrahi should have died a broken, incarcerated man, not a man living in freedom thumbing his nose at the West.

See the New York Times, "Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, Convicted in 1988 Lockerbie Bombing, Dies at 60" (via Memeorandum).

And see Michael Rubin a couple of weeks ago at Commentary, "Lockerbie Terrorist Again Near Death?":

When Megrahi eventually does die, the families of Lockerbie victims can go to sleep knowing a man responsible for the deaths of their loved ones is no longer among his own friends and families. That he has lived in relative freedom, however, means he will die not only as a terrorist, but also as the poster boy for Western fecklessness.

Also at PJ Media, "Freeing the Lockerbie Killer in the Name of ‘Compassion’."

Van Halen: 'She's the Woman'

My wife and I have that Van Halen concert coming up in a couple of weeks. The wife is especially excited since Kool and the Gang are opening. I'm just looking forward to hearing the classics. So far, the new album sounds just so so --- and the reviews I read a couple of months ago were a bit critical. Still, seeing these guys jamming after all these years is something else. And it hasn't been easy on them. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the band has cancelled 30 shows to avoid "burn out." See: "Van Halen to Reschedule About 30 Concert Dates." However, Rolling Stone is reporting infighting.

And the set from the Montreal concert, via Digital Van Halen:

1.Unchained

2. Runnin' With the Devil

3. She's The Woman

4. Romeo Delight

5.Tattoo

6. Everybody Wants Some!!

7. Somebody Get Me A Doctor

8. China Town

9. Hear About It Later

10. Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison)

11. Drum Solo

12. You Really Got Me (The Kinks)

13. The Trouble with Never

14. Dance The Night Away

15. I'll Wait

16. Hot For Teacher

17. Women In Love

18. Outta Love Again

19. Beautiful Girls

20. Ice Cream Man

(John Brim cover)

21. Panama

22. Guitar Solo

23. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

24. Jump

I'll update when I know more.

Desmond Hatchett, Black Dude Who Fathered 30 Kids, Begs for State Help With Child Support

Jeez, this dude needs to put on a raincoat --- either that, or keep it holstered permanently.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Man who had 30 kids with 11 women wants child-support break" (via Memeorandum)

You have to say this much for Desmond Hatchett: He has a way with the ladies.

The 33-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., resident has reportedly set a Knox County record for his ability to reproduce. He has 30 children with 11 women. And nine of those children were born in the last three years, after Hatchett -- who is something of a local celebrity -- vowed "I'm done!" in a 2009 TV interview, saying he wouldn't father more children.

But Hatchett is back in the news this week because he's struggling to make ends meet on his minimum-wage job. His inability to make child-support payments on such a meager salary also means he's back in court again and again, most recently to ask for a break on those payments.

"Yes, we've got several cases with Mr. Hatchett," Melissa Gibson, an assistant supervisor with the Knox County child support clerk's office, said with a sigh.

Hatchett's attorney, Keith Pope, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Under the law, there's nothing officials can do to force Hatchett to keep his pants on.

"If there's something out there like that, I'm unaware of it," Gibson told The Times, before adding, "It definitely needs to be."

Darleen Click snarks: "A Leftist's dream..."

And it is. The report indicates that some of the mothers of Hatchett's children get as little as $1.50 a month. Somewhere along the way, probably as early as the first child, Hatchett and his hookups were relying on government to pay for their children, the hospital costs, for example (and pre-natal care), and unless the mothers are living with family members and self-sufficient, there's no doubt that the kids are being supported through public assistance. Indeed, that's why the county is all over this dude to get with the program. And I can guarantee you that if you say one word about the breakdown of individual responsibility in this case you'll be attacked as racist. It's almost unbelievable to think about what's happened to this country. That's almost unbelievable. As long as marriage is ridiculed by the enlightened progressive, and as these same left-wing idiots insist on perverting the institution through gay marriage radicalism, things will only get worse before they get better.

Trayvon Martin Shown in New Surveillance Video

See Ironic Surrealism, "Full Surveillance Video: Trayvon Martin 7-11 Ice Tea and Skittles Run."

And Doug Ross reports, "Innocent young Trayvon captured on video moments before he started beating George Zimmerman 'MMA-Style'."

Plus, from Alan Dershowitz, "New Evidence is Consistent with George Zimmerman’s Self Defense Claim" (via Memeorandum):

A medical report by George Zimmerman’s doctor has disclosed that Zimmerman had a fractured nose, two black eyes, two lacerations on the back of his head and a back injury on the day after the fatal shooting. Moreover, the New York Times has reported that traces of marijuana were found in Trayvon Martin’s body and that Martin’s father initially said that the voice crying for help was not that of his son. It is also been reported that a bruise was found on Martin’s ring finger that would be consistent with Martin having punched Zimmerman. No other wounds, aside of course from the fatal bullet hole in the front of Martin’s body, were found.

If this evidence turns out to be valid, the prosecutor will have no choice but to drop the second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman — if she wants to act ethically, lawfully and professionally.

There is, of course, no assurance that the special prosecutor handling the case, State Attorney Angela Corey, will do the right thing. Because until now, her actions have been anything but ethical, lawful and professional.

She was aware when she submitted an affidavit that it did not contain the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She deliberately withheld evidence that supported Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense. The New York Times has reported that the police had “a full face picture” of Zimmerman, before paramedics treated him, that showed “a bloodied nose.” The prosecutor also had photographic evidence of bruises to the back of his head.

But none of this was included in any affidavit.

Now there is much more extensive medical and forensic evidence that would tend to support Zimmerman’s version of events. This version, if true, would establish self-defense even if Zimmerman had improperly followed, harassed and provoked Martin.

A defendant, under Florida law, loses his “stand your ground” defense if he provoked the encounter — but he retains traditional self-defense if he reasonably believed his life was in danger and his only recourse was to employ deadly force.

Thus, if Zimmerman verbally provoked Martin, but Martin then got on top of Zimmerman and banged his head into the ground, broke his nose, bloodied his eyes and persisted in attacking Zimmerman — and if Zimmerman couldn’t protect himself from further attack except by shooting Martin — he would have the right to do that. (The prosecution has already admitted that it has no evidence that Zimmerman started the actual fight.)

Fatal School Bombing Stokes Fears of New Italy Violence

The New York Times reports, "Fatal School Bomb Attack Raises Fear of Strife in Italy":

BRINDISI, Italy — A bomb exploded Saturday in front of a school in this southern city, killing a student and wounding at least five others, local officials said, raising fears of a return to the kind of violence that shook Italy decades ago.

The explosion occurred near a vocational school named after Francesca Morvillo, a magistrate who was killed with her husband, Giovanni Falcone, an anti-Mafia prosecutor, by a Cosa Nostra bomb on May 23, 1992, an event Italy planned to commemorate on its 20th anniversary.

The bomb went off as students were preparing to enter the school on Saturday morning before classes. It consisted of three gas canisters tied together, set off by a rudimentary timer, and had been placed next to a wall not far from the school’s main gate, said an Italian official who asked not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.

Witnesses described the panic that followed the explosion as “an inferno,” while television stations broadcast the eerily silent aftermath, with knapsacks, textbooks and notebooks strewed across the asphalt in front of the school, pages flapping in the wind.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and the authorities said Saturday that investigators would examine all possibilities, including links to the Sacra Corona Unita, the organized crime syndicate rooted in the southern region of Puglia, and domestic or foreign terrorism.

“It’s difficult to form an idea because killing students is without precedent, and doesn’t correspond to any of the models of Italian terrorism,” said Salvatore Lupo, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Palermo. “There’s no logic, but with terrorist attacks there is no logic.”

Piero Grasso, the prosecutor who leads the anti-Mafia judicial agency, described the bombing as an act of “pure terrorism,” because, he said, “Every parent will think when they send their child to school: could they be in danger?”

Continue reading.

The report indicates that political strife has been rising during the economic crisis.

Check The Guardian as well, "Bomb left outside school in Italy kills girl and injures seven."

Glenn Reynolds Vacation Picture From the Cayman Islands

I need to go there. Man, what a beautiful photo.

See: "VARIOUS READERS HAVE ASKED FOR PICTURES FROM CAYMAN, but I didn’t take many on this trip."

I was one of those who asked about pictures. I emailed Glenn after he got back from vacation.

And that Instalanche I got yesterday was the best ever. I'm stunned at the number of visitors that he's been sending over to my site. It's been just a traffic-palooza all day and night --- or at least it was yesterday. That live traffic feed was spinning like a toy windmill at the beach in October.

Dana Loesch Administers Whupping of a Lifetime to Mediaite's Tommy Christopher

No comment necessary on this.

Just go read this post from Twitchy: "Dana Loesch verbally smacks Tommy Christopher for conspiratorial, condescending article."

And if you check this safe link, you will behold Charles "Jazzy McBikeshorts" Johnson's utterly deranged obsession with Dana Loesch.

Campbell Brown to Barack Obama: Stop Condescending to Women

Well, I actually miss Brown on CNN. She's a bubbly type, but seemed pretty professional overall.

See her essay at the New York Times, "Obama: Stop Condescending to Women" (via Memeorandum):

WHEN I listen to President Obama speak to and about women, he sometimes sounds too paternalistic for my taste. In numerous appearances over the years — most recently at the Barnard graduation — he has made reference to how women are smarter than men. It’s all so tired, the kind of fake praise showered upon those one views as easy to impress. As I listen, I am always bracing for the old go-to cliché: “Behind every great man is a great woman.”

Some women are smarter than men and some aren’t. But to suggest to women that they deserve dominance instead of equality is at best a cheap applause line.

My bigger concern is that in courting women, Mr. Obama’s campaign so far has seemed maddeningly off point. His message to the Barnard graduates was that they should fight for a “seat at the table” — the head seat, he made sure to add. He conceded that it’s a tough economy, but he told the grads, “I am convinced you are tougher” and “things will get better — they always do.”

Hardly reassuring words when you look at the reality. According to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, about 53.6 percent of men and women under the age of 25 who hold bachelor’s degrees were jobless or underemployed last year, the most in at least 11 years. According to the Pew Research Center, if we broaden the age group to 18- to 29-year-olds, an estimated 37 percent are unemployed or out of the work force, the highest share in more than three decades.

The human faces shouldn’t get lost amid the statistics. I spent last weekend with a friend who attended excellent private schools and graduated from Tufts University two years ago. She’s intelligent, impressive and still looking for a full-time job.

The women I know who are struggling in this economy couldn’t be further from the fictional character of Julia, presented in Mr. Obama’s Web ad, “The Life of Julia,” a silly and embarrassing caricature based on the assumption that women look to government at every meaningful phase of their lives for help.

Whoo!

You go, Campbell!

Continue reading the essay.

And see Taylor Marsh with a knockout idea: "The Choice for Romney is Liz Cheney."

That's sounds awesome. But I can hear the complaints now: She's never held elective office, not to mention she's a chip off the old block. But still, I just love Liz Cheney on just about everything. I imagine she'd even be outstanding on gay marriage, despite what old Dick has to say about it.

Anyway, rumor has it that Liz is heading back to Wyoming to consider a run for public office. Maybe Campbell should consider it as well.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Kate Upton Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 2012

I haven't posted that many Sports Illustrated videos this year. The editors aren't making them available on YouTube like they did last year. A few have been uploaded to individual users' accounts, so we'll see how this goes.

Kate Upton is here, in any case, at the SI YouTube page: "Kate Upton Reacts to Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover."

Upton's profile at Sports Illustrated is here.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Amazon Get Ready for Summer Sale — Everything You Need!

And if you need any summer reading, I recommend Dennis Prager, Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph.

Criminal Attacks on Conservative Bloggers: Update on Brett Kimberlin Intimidation Network

Aaron Worthing's case continues to build attention across the web.

The background is here: "Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin and the Left's Political (and Criminal) Intimidation Network."

Aaron has a full-blown video presentation on the case here.

And below, the video shows the surveillance images of the incident in which Kimberlin falsely claimed he was decked, the basis for the fraudulent criminal proceedings attempting to frame Aaron.

Plus, earlier today Robert Stacy McCain updated with a key investigative report, "Domestic Terrorist Now Using ‘Lawfare’? Convicted Felon Kimberlin’s 501(c)3 Raised $1.8 Million in Six Years." A snippet:

Kimberlin’s infamous criminal past could scarcely have been a secret to those who funded his organization. Kimberlin became a national political celebrity during the 1988 presidential campaign because of his claim, made while he was still serving time in federal prison, that he had once sold marijuana to Dan Quayle, who was then the Republican candidate for vice president.

Kimberlin offered no proof for that unsubstantiated allegation, but it drew the attention of award-winning journalist Mark Singer. A reporter for the New Yorker, Singer was initially sympathetic to Kimberlin, and the two men split an advance for a book deal to tell Kimberlin’s story. Singer ended the co-authorship deal after he became disillusioned by Kimberlin’s habitual dishonesty. In 1996, Singer published Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin, which exposed Kimberlin as a “world-class liar” and “first-class con man.”

In fact, according to both Singer and Indianapolis Star reporter Joseph Gelarden, prosecutors suspected a particularly sinister motive for the Speedway Bomber’s terroristic rampage: To distract law enforcement officials who were investigating the July 29, 1978, murder of Julia Scyphers, the grandmother of a pre-teen girl toward whom, Gelarden wrote in 1981, Kimberlin had “strange affection . . . questionable relationship.”

Continue reading.

Also blogging:

* An Ex-Con's Views, "The War Today."

* Bill Quick, "Something In the Water In Naptown?"

* Camp of the Saints, "Connections: Soros, A Terrorist, Democrats and Obama???"

* Daley Gator, "So, just who is this Brett Kimberlin? And why should we care?"

* Dan Collins, "Update on the Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin Updates, and Site Notes."

* Lonely Conservative, "Why the Heck is Fidelity Investments Giving Funds to a Convicted Felon?"

* Nice Deb, "Lawfare: Dems With Criminal Records Target Conservative Bloggers."

* Patterico, "Convicted Bomber and Perjurer Brett Kimberlin Harasses Blogger for Telling Truth About Him."

* Patterico, "Today’s Quote from Citizen K: The Book About Convicted Bomber and Perjurer Brett Kimberlin."

* POH Diaries, "The Company We Keep."

* Riehl World View, "Conservative Blogs Learn Of Brett Kimberlin."

*****

Video c/o Aaron Worthing.

Drop your link in the comments if you're also blogging this story.

O'Neill Women 2012

Some ripping chicks, via Theo Spark:

Facebook's Faceplant: Social Networking IPO Falls Short of the Hype

I was watching CNN yesterday during all the coverage. The caption headlines were cracking me up. "Facebook faceplant" is putting it mildly. I can't remember a more disastrous public stock debut. I was picking up my son from Disneyland last night and on the way home I mentioned to him that Facebook's IPO flopped. He says, "Dad, would you speak English I don't know what you're talking about." I told him that the initial stock offering was hyped all out of proportion, that this was a major fail for Facebook. And my son responds, "Facebook ruins your life. I hate Facebook," or something like that. He recently temporarily deleted his account ("suspend" is one of the options if you hit the delete button). My son was getting burned by all these fake "friends" he has --- people who were making dates and appointments and plans and not following through. I think high school was like that without Facebook, if I recall. But you go through your teen your with the technology you have.

In any case, I personally don't love Facebook that much. (Twitter is so much better it's ridiculous.) I mostly just spam my posts up there and get a few hits out of it. I have connected with some great old friends, although that mostly shows me that my life's moved on from my own high school days.

The Wall Street Journal has the big report, "Facebook's IPO Sputters: Underwriters Forced to Prop Up IPO of Social Network; Only a 23-Cent Rise" (via Techmeme):

Facebook Inc. took eight years to stage one of the most anticipated initial public offerings ever. The anticlimax came Friday, as Wall Street bankers struggled to prevent the newly minted stock from ending its first day with a loss.

The stock had been widely predicted to soar on its first day. Instead, up until the closing moments of the trading session, Facebook's underwriters battled to keep the stock from slipping below its offering price of $38 a share. Such a stumble would have been a significant embarrassment, particularly for a prominent new issue like Facebook, the most heavily traded IPO of all time.

In the end, the bankers succeeded. When trading on Nasdaq ended at 4 p.m., the social network's stock was up just a hair, 0.6%, at $38.23.

The roller-coaster day—Facebook's shares started out jumping roughly 11%, before cooling off—was also beset by trading glitches and a 30-minute delay in the opening of trading. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. didn't respond to requests for comment.

Facebook was also hurt by investors' high expectations of a healthy first-day pop in the price, according to people familiar with the matter. When that pop didn't happen, it prompted a selloff, these people said.

That's when Facebook's underwriters had to step in to support the company's share price, people familiar with the matter said. In particular, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley was assigned to be the deal's "stabilization agent"—meaning it was the firm's job to keep the shares above the offering price, these people said. In that role, Morgan Stanley was forced to buy Facebook shares as the price slid toward $38 in order to prevent the price from crossing into negative territory, according to these people.

Morgan Stanley, which led the platoon of 11 Wall Street banks that arranged the listing, had to dip into an emergency reserve of around 63 million Facebook shares—worth more than $2.3 billion at the offer price—to boost the price and create a floor around $38 a share, according to people close to the situation. In successful IPOs, the reserve, known as the "overallotment" or "green shoe," is used by underwriters to meet soaring demand but in this case, it was used to prop up Facebook's ailing share price.

The process is common in IPOs and works like this: The underwriters have the extra shares available to either sell or buy for a period after the IPO. If demand is strong, they sell them like all the other shares. But if the stock price falls, they can buy them back, effectively creating a floor for the price.

Facebook's price began falling almost immediately after shares began trading. It is unclear exactly when Morgan Stanley stepped in, but traders said that the price movements throughout the day, with the shares occasionally touching the IPO price but never crossing below it, suggested the firm was active throughout much of the session.

Facebook's opening-day travails suggested how tough it can be to live up to high expectations in the market. "There's been way, way too much hype, so it may be impossible not to have it be anticlimactic," said Peter Falvey, managing director of the Boston-based investment bank Falvey Partners LLC.

See also GigaOM, "Facebook IPO: Here is the best of the web" (via Techmeme).

Gay Marriage Bigots Slime Manny Pacquiao

Michelle has the report: "Bigoted anti-bigots: How the gay-marriage mob slimed Manny Pacquiao."

This bigoted anti-bigot brigade mimics a wave of similar campaigns against both social and fiscal heretics who refuse to conform to “progressive” values. Targets include Rush Limbaugh, the American Legislative Exchange Council, Mitt Romney donors, Wisconsin’s union-reforming governor, lieutenant governor and GOP state legislators, Catholic health care providers, and now black church leaders and boxers who dare to state their religious views publicly.

Let this be a teachable moment on pernicious “community organizing” and brazen liberal hypocrisy. There is nothing more intolerant and chilling than the self-appointed, self-unaware tolerance police.

After reading Michelle's piece I checked Google. The articles there mostly have the story all wrong, and the nation's unofficial newspaper of record essentially backs the left's smears against Pacquiao: "Pacquiao Is Put on Defensive Over Same-Sex Marriage View."

We're losing the First Amendment right to freedom of speech in this country. The Democrat-left is making sure of it.

Great Interview with Reince Priebus on Wolf Blitzer's 'Situation Room'

Priebus stays on message very effectively. I like him a lot.

Obama Gets Pass on Kenya from Democrat-Media-Complex

I wasn't planning on blogging this, since I'm not really into the birth certificate controversy. But this is much more. The Obamas have long played up Barack's Kenyan heritage, and obviously there's more to the literary press release than the Democrat-Media-Complex is letting on. I turns out that press agents Dystel & Goderich had clients submit their own biographies. It's not a "typo" as the f-king dishonest Democrats are trying to pawn off. See: "Media Works to Suppress Obama 'Born in Kenya' Bio."

And even if we forget about where Obama was born, the question is why was it so important for Barack to play up the Kenyan connection?

See Mark Steyn on that, "Eternally shifting sands of Obama's biography":

It used to be a lot simpler. As E.C. Bentley deftly summarized it in 1905: "Geography is about maps. But Biography is about chaps."

But that was then, and now Biography is also about maps. For example, have you ever thought it would be way cooler to have been born in colonial Kenya?

Whoa, that sounds like crazy Birther talk; don't go there! But Breitbart News did, and it turns out that the earliest recorded example of Birtherism is from the president's own literary agent, way back in 1991, in the official bio of her exciting new author:

"Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii."

So the lunatic theory that Barack Obama doesn't meet the minimum eligibility requirements to be president of the United States was first advanced by Barack Obama's official representative. Where did she get that wacky idea from? "This was nothing more than a fact-checking error by me," says Obama's literary agent, Miriam Goderich, a "fact" that went so un-"checked" that it stayed up on her agency's website in the official biography of her by-then-famous client up until 2007:

"He was born in Kenya to an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister."

And then in April 2007, someone belatedly decided to "check" the 16-year-old "fact" and revised the biography, a few weeks into the now non-Kenyan's campaign for the presidency. Fancy that!

When it comes to conspiracies, I'm an Occam's Razor man. The more obvious explanation of the variable first line in the eternally shifting sands of Obama's biography is that, rather than pretending to have been born in Hawaii, he's spent much of his life pretending to have been born in Kenya.

After all, if your first book is an exploration of racial identity and has the working title "Journeys In Black And White," being born in Hawaii doesn't really help. It's entirely irrelevant to the twin pillars of contemporary black grievance – American slavery and European imperialism. To 99.99 percent of people, Hawaii is a luxury vacation destination and nothing else. Whereas Kenya puts you at the heart of what, in an otherwise notably orderly decolonization process by the British, was a bitter and violent struggle against the white man's rule. Cool! The composite chicks dig it, and the literary agents.

And where's the harm in it? Everybody does it – at least in the circles in which Obama hangs. At Harvard Law School, where young Barack was "the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review," there's no end of famous firsts: As The Fordham Law Review reported, "Harvard Law School hired its first woman of color, Elizabeth Warren, in 1995." There is no evidence that Mrs. Warren, now the Democrats' Senate candidate, is anything other than 100 percent white. She walks like a white, quacks like a white, looks whiter than white. She's the whitest white since Frosty the Snowman fell in a vat of Wite-Out. But she "self-identified" as Cherokee, so that makes her a "woman of color." Why, back in 1984 she submitted some of her favorite dishes to the "Pow Wow Chow" cookbook, a "compilation of recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families."

Continue reading.

At the video above, Michelle Obama lauds Barack as a "Kenyan" at a campaign event in 2007. Skip to the 2:00 minute mark.

And see Blazing Cat Fur, "The Mystery of the Kenyan Birth" (with a Glenn Beck video at that link).

Also, at Melissa Clouthier's, "Barack Obama, Birther — UPDATED."

More, from Roger Simon, at PJ Media, "The Mystery of the Kenyan Birth."

'And I Would Give Everything I Own...'

Inspired by Spread Butter on Twitter:

You sheltered me from harm.
Kept me warm, kept me warm.
You gave my life to me.
Set me free, set me free.
The finest years I ever knew,
Were all the years I had with you.

And I would give anything I own.
I'd give up my life, my heart, my home.
I would give everything I own,
Just to have you back again.

You taught me how to laugh.
What a time, what a time.
You never said too much,
But still you showed the way
And I knew from watching you.

Nobody else could ever know,
The part of me that can't let go.

And I would give anything I own,
I'd give up my life, my heart, my home.
I would give everything I own,
Just to have you back again...

Will Smith Slaps Kissing Dude Across the Face at Moscow Premiere of 'Men in Black 3'!

Like I've been saying, you have to smack down these gay freaks or they'll come after you like the plague.

Sheesh. Getting fresh with the Prince!

At Fox News, "Will Smith slaps male reporter for kissing him."

Los Angeles Times Homepage Features Megan Ellison, Billionaire Heiress and Film Producer, With Arafat-Style Keffiyeh

The Times' report is here: "Megan Ellison is energizing indie film world":

The daughter of Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison, she is helping to reinvigorate the independent film business with her deep pockets and highbrow tastes.

Wearing the scarves is like advertising you hate both America and Israel, as Michelle wrote in 2008:

Anti-American fashion designers abroad and at home have mainstreamed and adapted the scarves as generic pro-Palestinian jihad or anti-war statements. Yet many folks out there remain completely oblivious to the apparel’s violent symbolism and anti-Israel overtones.

Lame.

Mitt Romney's 'Day One'

CSM reports, "'Day One': What Mitt Romney's new ad really tells us."

Friday, May 18, 2012

#WarOnWomen: Comedienne Kathy Griffin Misidentifies Obama as 'Harvard Law Professor' in Rant Attacking Elisabeth Hasselbeck as 'Stupid Btch' and 'Cnt'

Talk about putting your progressive foot in your mouth.

And you'd think someone would have pointed out to Griffin that President Obama wasn't in fact a "Harvard law professor." (He was the president of the Harvard Law Review, but he did not teach at Harvard.) Indeed, Elisabeth Hasselbeck would have probably pointed it out to Griffin if she'd had the nerve to all call her a "b*tch' and "c*nt" to her face. (And Hasselbeck could have said, in a condescending tone, "Actually, Kathy, that's not true.") Obama taught law at the University of Chicago for 12 years, from 1992 to 2004. And to be precise, Obama wasn't even a "professor." He was an adjunct "lecturer" and later a "senior lecturer," both of which signify temporary or untenured status --- and are much less prestigious titles than, say, a tenured associate or full professor of law. The fine points of academic appointments obviously escape Ms. Griffin, but I'm not going to call her a "stupid b*tch."

See Newsbusters, "Kathy Griffin Aims Vulgar Name-Calling at ABC's Hasselbeck."

The Huffington Post also indicates that the bleeped out word at the end of the clip was "c*nt". See: "Kathy Griffin to Elisabeth Hasselbeck: 'Take It Down a Notch B***H' (VIDEO)."

UPDATE: This post is linked at Instapundit. Thanks!

And Ann Althouse blogged it from there, "'With her attitude to the President, who was, like, a Harvard law professor, I'm like, take it down a notch, bitch'." Althouse actually shows Griffin some respect: "First, Kathy Griffin has a comic style. You either like it or you don't." I don't, obviously. But I think Althouse makes a good point here:

Third — and here's where it gets really interesting to me — he was a Harvard law professor. Put aside the mistakes. This notion that you've got to pay special respect to law professors... as a law professor, I'm fascinated. Now, maybe it's just Harvard law professors that command this odd obeisance. Who knows how far down the U.S. News "Best Law Schools" list you go before Kathy's Etiquette of Respecting the Law Professor peters out? Maybe there's a gentle gradation of decreasing respect as you slide down through the top five, into the basement of the top 15 and beyond. I don't know if there are any shreds of servility to be strewn before those of us in the 30s. But the whole idea amuses me.

At this point in my career I don't have to worry about college rankings. But they were a big deal when I was at UCSB. The Political Science Department was ranked 41st by the National Research Council --- and members of the department thought they were underrated, which wasn't a bad estimation at the time. I didn't check at the time, but the NRC updated its rankings in 2010, posted at The Monkey Cage, "The NRC Rankings of Political Science Departments." And here more at the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Doctoral Programs by the Numbers." UCSB comes in at #39 according to factors measuring if the program has "similar features to programs viewed by faculty as top-notch." UC Berkeley ties for 1st by that measure. UCLA comes in at #8.

UPDATE II: Bill Quick links. Thanks!

Orange County Woman Burned After Rocks Spontaneously Ignite in Her Pocket

This is a trip.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Mystery of beachgoer's flaming rocks remains unsolved":

What could possibly cause rocks picked up at a popular state beach to ignite in the pocket of a woman's cargo shorts?

To scientists, the answer is — well, there is no clear answer.

The case of an Orange County woman severely burned after rocks collected last weekend from San Onofre State Beach ignited in her pocket has puzzled scientists, who say they've never seen anything like it and aren't quite sure how it happened.

"It's pretty implausible," said Larry Overman, a professor of chemistry at UC Irvine.

The 43-year-old San Clemente woman, who remained hospitalized Thursday with second- and third-degree burns, visited the northern San Diego County beach last Saturday with her family, authorities said. Her name has not been released.

Her children collected rocks, including two that were distinctive — one was large and a marbled gray; the other much smaller and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle green.

Both of the beach stones were streaked and flecked with bright orange.

The mother put the rocks in her right pocket and went home. Then they suddenly ignited.

Witnesses reported seeing flames coming from her shorts. She had second- and third-degree burns from her right knee to her right thigh, with second-degree burns on her hands. Her husband also had burns on his hands from trying to help her.

The Orange County Health Care Agency examined the two rocks, and tests revealed a "phosphorous substance" on the rocks, which now have been sent to a state laboratory for further testing, said Tricia Landquist, an agency spokeswoman.

Mentioned at the piece is the possibility that the rocks came into contact with military ordnance containing phosphorus. Camp Pendleton is nearby. (And so is the San Onofre nuclear plant, which is currently closed due to minute radioactive leaks --- so there you go!)

See also the video at KTLA Los Angeles: "Hot Rocks: Woman Burned After Rocks Spontaneously Combust."

Maxim's Hot 100 for 2012

Perhaps now's a good time for a timeout from the Aaron Worthing blogging.

Here's some Friday Rule 5, via Jessica Rafalowski on Twitter:

And see Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Sayaka Isoyama." And Bob Belvedere, "The TCOTS Six Days Of Cheesecake: Thursday."

Plus, from Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…is an evil fossil fueled ship which uses way too many resources, you might just be a Warmist."

And Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Alina Vacariu."

To top it off, there's a Friday pinup at In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

BONUS: Reaganite Republican does him some Michelle Fields Rule 5.

That is hawt!

Oh, and a tip of the fedora to Robert Stacy McCain and Wombat-socho: "Rule 5 Tuesday."

Add your links in the comments to be included on the update!

Greek Radical Left Party Says If Threatened, Athens Will Repudiate Its Debts

Well, nothing like instilling confidence in the markets with a few threats to proudly default on your obligations. And the Greek moneyed classes can see the writing on the wall, as the video below indicates.

See the Wall Street Journal, "Greek Leftist Leader Throws Down Gauntlet on Debt" (via Memeorandum):

ATHENS — The head of Greece's radical left party—throwing down a gauntlet that could increase tensions between Greece and its frustrated European creditors—said he sees little chance Europe will cut off funding to the country but that if it does, Athens will stop paying its debts.

A financial collapse in Greece would drag down the rest of the euro zone, said Alexis Tsipras, the 37-year-old head of the Coalition of the Radical Left, known as Syriza, and potentially the country's next prime minister. Instead, he said, Europe must consider a more growth-oriented policy to arrest Greece's spiraling recession and address what he called a growing "humanitarian crisis" facing the country.

"Our first choice is to convince our European partners that, in their own interest, financing must not be stopped," Mr. Tsipras said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He said Greece doesn't intend to take any unilateral action, "but if they proceed with unilateral action on their side, in other words they cut off our funding, then we will be forced to stop paying our creditors, to go to a suspension in payments to our creditors."

According to recent opinion polls, Mr. Tsipras's party is poised to win the most votes in elections next month, bettering its surprise second-place finish in an inconclusive May 6 vote that left no party or coalition with enough seats in Parliament to form a government. With Mr. Tsipras likely to win pole position in the coming vote, it raises the risk that Greece will soon face a showdown with European creditors over the contentious austerity program that Athens must adhere to in order to receive fresh aid.

Mr. Tsipras's remarks come as Greece's failure to form a coalition government has fueled euro-zone tensions and spurred talk of a potential Greek exit from the common currency. This week, Greek citizens, anxious over the possibility their euros could be redenominated into a weaker new drachma, withdrew hundreds of millions of euros from local banks. On Thursday, Fitch Ratings downgraded its ratings on Greece two notches further into junk territory, pointing to the increased risk that Greece may leave the euro zone.

In Spain, another vulnerable euro-zone economy, the government Thursday sought to quell fears sparked by an unconfirmed report of massive withdrawals from Bankia SA, an ailing lender that Spain rescued last week. "It's not true that there's a deposit flight," Deputy Finance Minister Fernando Jiménez Latorre said.

Worries that the turmoil surrounding Greece could lead to contagion sent the euro to its lowest level against the dollar since mid-January, extending its decline over the past three weeks to 4%. Demand for the perceived safety of U.S. Treasurys pushed the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond to 1.702%, the lowest closing level in its history.

In Greece, a caretaker government was sworn in Thursday at the presidential palace, putting in place a technocratic cabinet led by senior judge Panagiotis Pikrammenos as prime minister that will take the country to fresh elections.

And check for the article free pass at Google.

More at Memorandum.

Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin and the Left's Political (and Criminal) Intimidation Network

I read Aaron Worthing's book-length blog post last night: "How Brett Kimberlin Tried to Frame Me for a Crime (And How You Can Help!)."

This no doubt sets the record for the longest blog post ever written. And I doubt I would have spent the time on it (it's a 28,000 word essay, with tons of embedded court filings and YouTube videos) but Aaron's trials hit terribly close to home (more on that below). The essay is now broken up into parts (linked here), although if you let the full post load into your browser, after a couple of minutes you should be able to scroll up and down without difficulty. (I'm using Google Chrome.)

There's also a nice summary from Dan Collins at Conservative Commune: "Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin Harassed, Tried to Frame Blogger Aaron Worthing."

Readers may remember Aaron from his blogging turn at Patterico's Pontifications. It turns out his real name is Aaron Walker. He's an attorney. Some time back he blogged some basic factual information on Brett Kimberlin. Kimberlin was convicted of a series of bomb attacks in 1981. One of his victims, Carl DeLong, later committed suicide as a direct result of his injuries in the attack. After blogging about him, Worthing was targeted by Kimberlin for a vicious and literally deranged campaign of political and legal stalking and harassment. Again, folks have to read the full post to understand how in-depth this campaign was. Both Worthing and his wife were fired from their jobs (their boss feared a terrorist attack on their place of business).

But what's especially interesting is how much support Kimberlin had on the hard-left progressive community. Robert Stacy McCain's been reporting on that angle: "Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin Received $70,000 From Tides Foundation, $10,000 From Streisand, $20,000 from John Kerry’s Wife," and "Who Warned Us About Brett Kimberlin?"

Robert writes, for example:

The disclosure of Kimberlin’s funding from prestigious liberals matters, because of this convicted criminal’s apparently close connections to other key figures in the progressive online community, not only his business partnership with Brad Friedman, but also his claims to be an “associate” of Democrat political consultant Neal Rauhauser.

This Rauhauser character was also directly involved in the legal attacks on Worthing, but you'll have to go back and start from the beginning to get the full handle on this stuff. At this point I just want to remind people of the attacks on my workplace employment by Scott Eric Kaufman and Carl Salonen. These two are part of the big online community organized by Lawyers, Guns and Money and Sadly No! The folks who are regulars there, as either participants in the harassment or readers in the community, go all the way from people like Professor Charli Carpenter of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to the racist, anti-Christian bigot TBogg of Firedoglake. (And hate-blogger Walter James Casper, as readers will recall, was a longtime ringleader for the attacks against me.)

I suppose I was lucky in a sense. I was able to defend myself against the malicious attacks from this mob without too much personal cost, financially and emotionally. And of course my employment is safe. But make no mistake: The goal of these progressive cowards was to have me fired. And what's so amazing is how seriously those contacted by my enemies took the lies and allegations against me. Carl Salonen even had an investigation at my college initiated upon the demand of California Attorney General Kamala Harris. See my full report, with the libelous allegations attached: "Carl Salonen Libelous Workplace Allegations of Child Pornography and Sexual Harassment at Long Beach City College."

At some point I'll be writing this up into a long-form essay and perhaps a book manuscript. But for others who've had similar experiences (horror stories) Aaron's post should be a central source of inspiration. And Aaron needs your help. Follow him on Twitter. Spread the word about his legal defense and help him out financially, if you're able.

For people like Aaron and myself, and so many others who've had their livelihoods disrupted simply for exercising their First Amendment rights, there is no other more important story than the progressive left's campaign of political (and criminal) intimidation. People need to be as brave as possible to speak out and defend against the left's program of destruction. The nation is moving towards a form of politically correct fascist totalitarianism. It's not a stretch to be reminded of the coming to power of the world's 20th century dictatorships. It can happen here if we let it. All the more reason to get in at the ground floor and fight the left's institutional intimidation network, which reaches up literally to the Oval Office at the Obama White House.

More Than Half of All New Births From Minorities, Census Bureau Reports

It's no big deal in California, as the Los Angeles Times points out: "Minorities now account for most U.S. births; old news in California."

ObamaCare's Patient-Dumping, Privacy-Meddling Scheme

At Michelle's, "ObamaCare Cronyism."

New Jaguars at San Diego Zoo

Majestic animals. They grow into huge cats. Santa Barbara Zoo has an awesome jaguar exhibit. They're very active animals, moving around almost every time we visited (when my oldest son was a toddler, we had a zoo membership).

Via Telegraph UK:

New Evidence in Trayvon Martin Case

The New York Times has a graphic photo of George Zimmerman's injuries to his head: "New Details Are Released in Shooting of Trayvon Martin." (The Times has been obviously biased, be on the lookout for that at the link.)

And see Tom Maguire, "Zimmerman Case - Evidence Released, But Where?", and "Zimmerman Case - 'Contact Shot" Versus "Intermediate Range'."

And more video featuring the Martin family attorney: "Crump on new evidence Trayvon Martin Evidence."

It Is High Time We Elect a Businessman for the White House

From the letters to the editor at the Orange County Register, "So many reasons to dump Obama and Co.":

Recently I was unfortunate enough to hear the unmitigated arrogance of President Barack Obama and hapless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., opine on the financial losses and mismanagement of JP Morgan.

Let’s review the government’s recent management expertise: General Services Administration? (taxpayer-financed Vegas junkets); Secret Service? (Hookers galore); Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? (billions of taxpayer dollars); The U.S. Postal Service? (Solyndra solar panels).

The government’s managerial expertise has cost taxpayers billions. JP Morgan has cost its shareholders billions, but it has cost taxpayers nothing. In addition, heads rolled at JP Morgan.

It is high time we elect a businessman for the White House.

Martin Brooks
GARDEN GROVE

I can dig it.

Mary Kennedy Hanged Herself

I want to come back to this story, since I promised an update when more information became known.

Of all the ways to go, I doubt I'd pick hanging if I was going to do it to myself. And for someone like Mary Kennedy, sheesh, perhaps she could have gone out on an overdose of tranquilizers or something. It would have been a lot less violent.

See the New York Post, "RFK Jr.’s wife hangs herself."

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Jeremiah Wright and Democrat Double Standards

The big controversy today is over the now-reversed plan by the so-called Ricketts group to slam President Obama for his past incendiary relationship to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. The full blowout is at Memeorandum.

The hypocrisy of course is that Obama's 20-year relationship to the "God-damn America" pastor has been deemed off-limits by the Obama-enabling Democrat-Media-Complex, but any attacks on Mitt Romney's Mormon faith --- and especially the allegations of anti-black racism in the Mormon Church --- have been and will continue to be fair game for media coverage of the Romney campaign.

William Jacobson has the needed response to the left's demonic double-standards: "Do not think of the Jeremiah Wright in the room (Update – It worked, ads won’t run)."

And the far-left Greg Sargent at the Washington Post demonstrates just how badly upside down matters have become: "GOP struggles to banish ghost of Jeremiah Wright" (via Memeorandum). Sargent, and a host of others on Twitter, most conspicuously Donna Brazille, have immediately turned this into a case of Republicans using the "race card" against Obama. But obviously this isn't the GOP's ghost to banish. The president sat in the pews of Wright's black liberation church for 20 years and in 2008 John McCain caved to political correctness and refused to make those affiliations an issue. And while Mitt Romney did indeed mention Jeremiah Wright during the primaries, his campaign is blowing the messaging in response to the massive race-baiting attacks by the left.

The issue is not race. The issue is Barack Obama's long history of palling around with America-hating pastors, PLO terrorist-backing professors, Weather Underground terrorist, Bill Ayers --- and so many more.

In each case, to the one, these controversies have been deemed beyond the pale by the Democrat-Media Complex. The Romney people are surely hip to the coordination between the press and the Obama campaign. It remains to be seen if they're ready to stand up the the relentless abuse and endless racist attacks that have only begun to be leveled their way. Everything should be on the table. Cries of racism are simply smokescreens to guarantee that virtually nothing will be.

Here're the videos, in any case. At top, Romney claims he doesn't remember what he said on Hannity's but he stands by it anyway, and below are the original comments.

BONUS: See By Jeffrey Kuhner, at The Washington Times, "Jeremiah Wright can sink Obama: President’s former pastor telling story of betrayal and bribery."

ADDED: From Yid With Lid, "Did Mitt Romney Just Fall Into An Obama Trap?"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Stimulus Now an Option for Greece

This is a big change. Perhaps Hollande's got a little pull over at the Chancellery.

See the New York Times, "Softening, Merkel Says She Is Open to Stimulus for Greece":

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said Wednesday that she was ready to discuss stimulus programs to get the Greek economy growing again and that she was committed to keeping Greece in the euro zone, signaling a softer approach toward the struggling country.

The fierce rhetorical salvos out of Germany in the past week gave way to conciliatory gestures by Ms. Merkel, who throughout the crisis has shown a propensity for managing through brinkmanship. “I have the will, the determination to keep Greece in the euro zone,” she said in an interview on CNBC on Wednesday, in what appeared to be an attempt to relax an increasingly tense situation.

If Greek officials are looking for “stimulus to be pursued for growth in the euro zone, which we could pursue in the interest of Greece, we’re open for this,” Ms. Merkel said. “Germany is open for this.”

Europe was shaken anew this week by the chaos in Greece, where a bank run threatened to hasten the country’s exit from the euro and jeopardize the Continent’s financial stability. While the impact of a country’s leaving the euro is hard to predict, economists fear the crisis could spread to much larger countries like Spain and Italy if financial markets bid up borrowing rates to unsustainable levels.

Ms. Merkel is preparing to head to Camp David in Maryland for the Group of 8 meeting beginning on Friday, and she is likely to be pressed there by the leaders of other industrial nations, in particular by President Obama, to find a way to quell the turmoil. On Tuesday night she met for the first time with France’s newly inaugurated president, François Hollande, who campaigned on the need for more growth-promoting policies.

In recent days Ms. Merkel has signaled a growing openness to additional growth measures as long as they do not interfere with the fiscal compact to cut deficits in the euro zone in the long run. “On the one hand we have the pillar of sound fiscal policy, and the second pillar will then be the growth component,” Ms. Merkel said in the CNBC interview.

That support could come in the form of money from existing European Union funds that would be redirected for use by crisis countries, said Fabian Zuleeg, the chief economist with the European Policy Center. That approach had been championed by Mr. Hollande.

But it will take more than technical adjustments to calm the growing political opposition to austerity in Greece, Spain and other hard-hit countries in the euro zone’s periphery, Mr. Zuleeg added. “We need to put together a package that looks convincing. It can’t just be rhetoric; it has to have some real elements to it,” he said. “The real element that certainly has to be in there is money.”

Continue reading.

Plus, at the Wall Street Journal, "Experts Try to Chart Path for Exit From Currency":

BRUSSELS — Returning to a national currency after more than a decade of using the euro and having its money managed by the European Central Bank would catapult Greece into a financial, legal and political no man's land.

Countries have defaulted, devalued, or even withdrawn from a broader monetary union in the past. But none has done it all at once—and certainly not an economy so deeply integrated into global financial markets.

Greece would have to remake its monetary system and rebuild its economy after a likely sharp devaluation that would have delivered a severe confidence shock to the population, undermined its banks and triggered likely defaults on debts to foreigners.

The consequences of an exit from the euro for Greece and the rest of Europe would likely be so tumultuous that policy makers have been reluctant even to speculate on how it could work. And even though the taboo of mentioning a euro exit has fallen away in recent months, going back to the drachma would likely be messy, with many steps having to be improvised overnight.

Until recently, policy makers usually smothered any questions on a potential euro exit with a simple answer: It's impossible to leave the common currency under European Union law. There is no provision in the EU treaties for exiting the euro zone without also dropping out of the broader 27-country bloc.

Leaving the EU would also mean an end to billions of euros in farm and development subsidies, as well as easy access to a large internal markets—a threat that Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter voiced Monday.

"It's impossible to leave the euro zone—one can only leave the European Union," she told reporters at a meeting with her counterparts in Brussels. "After that, Greece would have to apply for re-accession and we would hold accession talks and look very closely whether Greece actually fulfills the accession requirements."

Ms. Fekter's comments reflect mounting frustration in some European countries with Greece, but also the idea that if a clear exit route is established, other countries may be encouraged to take the same course.

"Too much policy clarity on the questions raised by a Greek exit could be counterproductive," says Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst with Eurasia Group. "If too smooth a pathway were designed, it could encourage other struggling sovereigns to contemplate a similar fate in the medium to longer term."

On the other hand, making things difficult could heighten the strains on the Greek economy, and increase the economic fallout on other members of the EU. "It would be in the interest of the others to make sure that things aren't absolutely dreadful," says Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics in London, who has written a 150-page paper on the practicalities of a Greek euro exit.

Obviously, that's why Merkel's softening her position.

But it doesn't look good either way.

See James Pethokoukis, "Don’t fool yourself, a Greek euro exit would be a fiasco."

I'm reminded of Pat Condell's video from last December, "The Gathering Storm."

Toronto's East End Madrassah Gets Permit Yanked After Anti-Semitic Postings Exposed by Blazing Cat Fur

BCF has the report, "Toronto school board pulls permit for madrassah after anti-Semitic postings on website."

Via Five Feet of Fury: "BlazingCatFur gets results: Permit pulled for Toronto’s anti-Semitic Muslim school."

Warm Southern California Weather

I'm hoping it stays like this into June --- so I can head down to Laguna Beach while my kids are in school. I'm almost done with final exams and it's warming up outside.

Here's Monday night's weather report with Jackie Johnson of CBS News Los Angeles. It's been even warmer this last couple of days:

And the Los Angeles Times' weather page is here.

PREVIOUSLY: "Evelyn Taft, Political Scientist."

Britney Spears Join Fox's 'The X Factor'

I'm behind on my Britney blogging, so what the heck.

I think Linkmaster Smith can relate, in any case.

See the Hollywood Reporter, "It's Official: Britney Spears, Demi Lovato to Judge 'X Factor'."

BONUS: "Rule 5 Tuesday," by Wombat at The Other McCain.

Senate Unanimously Rejects Budget Offered by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)

The main story's at AoSHQ, "Obama's Budget Rejected Unanimously By Senate, 99-0."

But see also The Hill, "Sen. Sessions: Democrats just saying 'send more money'":

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) compared Democratic calls to vote down a number of Republican budget resolutions as equal to saying, "I caught a fish, I had a party, send more money."

Sessions came to the Senate floor just after Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) urged her colleagues to vote against a number of budget resolutions the chamber will consider Wednesday.

"My colleague just said just vote no on all of them and keep us going. Don't go back,'" Sessions said. "When I hear that ... it is 'let's just keep on the path that we're on. This is good enough. Let's be happy. We're in Washington, here's the ladder. We're in Washington, we're having fun. I caught a fish, I had a party, send more money.' Isn't that what it's all about?

"Isn't that what we're hearing from the other side? 'Send more money,' " Sessions continued. "And we'll take care of things for you. We don't have to cut anything. We don't have to reduce spending. We're not really on an unsustainable path."

After Sessions spoke, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Republicans are willing to compromise with Democrats on a budget but said compromise is impossible when Democrats haven't put forward any budget plan at all. Paul spoke to promote his budget resolution that balances the budget in five years.

"People say, 'Why don't you compromise with the other side,' " Paul said. "We will, but they have to have a budget. If ours balances in five, and the other side will promote one that balances in 10, compromise would be seven-and-a-half."

Paul said the only Democratic budget put forward so far is from President Obama, which never balances.

And see the New York Times, "Senate Republicans Engineer Rebuke on Budget," and "Obama and House Republicans Offer Taste of Renewed Fight Over the Debt Ceiling."

'Little Boys Playing Politics': O.C. GOP Establishment Smears Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly

I saw this first at the Los Angeles Times, "Mailer with George Wallace image backs O.C. supervisor hopeful."

This is the first I've heard about it, but I'm on Pauly's mailing list and she's denounced the controversy as juvenile politics:

The good ole boys are up to their bag of tricks. They look more like "little boys" playing badly on their political playground.

http://totalbuzz.ocregister.com/2012/05/14/george-wallace-mailer-for-pauly-draws-complaint/85400/

Instead of the above silliness, let's talk policy. When Todd Spitzer was on the Board of Supervisors (1996-2002), he enabled the criminal behavior of corrupt county sheriff.

http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/tag/mike-carona/

"It's time to get away from politics that attempt character assassination rather than offering solutions. Deborah Pauly cares about the issues and the people. There Isn't a better candidate for Supervisor."

- John Beauman, Former Mayor of Brea

Expect Success in 2012!
Deborah Pauly

That second link goes to the Orange County Register, "George Wallace mailer for Pauly draws complaint":

Back in 1967, when Gov. George Wallace of Alabama was running for president on the American Independent Party ticket, Robert Walters was his California campaign manager.

Today, Walters lives in Orange. Last month, he mailed a letter on “Wallace for President” letterhead to 7,900 registered American Independent voters, asking them to support Deborah Pauly in her candidacy for the 3rd District seat on the county’s Board of Supervisors.

Wallace, who called for “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” famously stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama in 1963 in a symbolic attempt at preventing two black students from trying to enroll. Walters, then a UCLA student, wrote a book defending segregation, which he self-published two years later after failing to find a publisher.

In his letter to voters, Walters notes that Pauly condemned two Muslim speakers outside a Yorba Linda fundraiser where the two speakers were appearing in February 2011, then adds “We need Deborah Pauly and her brand of hard core limited government, fiscally-conservative positions on the County Board of Supervisors.”

In an interview, Walters said the $3,600 cost of printing and mailing the letter was paid by himself, his wife and his daughter.
“I was moved by her commitment to standing up for what I think are the right causes, so I thought I’d help her,” Walters said. ”She didn’t ask me to do it.”

He said Pauly knew about the mailer only because he sent her a courtesy copy. “Otherwise, she never would have seen it,” he said.

Campaign finance watchdog Shirley Grindle on Monday filed a complaint with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission because Walters did not form a donor committee before doing the mailing. Also, the envelope doesn’t state who paid for the mailing, Grindle wrote in her complaint.

Walters said he didn’t know about those requirements before he sent the letter, but is in the process of forming a committee.

Todd Spitzer, Pauly’s opponent in the supervisor race, brought the mailing to the attention of Grindle and Total Buzz.

Scott Baugh, chairman of the O.C. Republican party and a supporter of Spitzer, said of Pauly, “It’s not surprising to me that somebody who defended a racist email depicting the president as a monkey would also associate with a known segregationist.”

Pauly is a national patriot. She was in the news last year after being attacked by the Hamas-linked unindicted co-conspirator CAIR (Council on American–Islamic Relations) after she spoke out against Islamists Imam Siraj Wahhaj and Amir Abdel Malik AliAli, who headlined a fundraiser in Yorba Linda. See, "U.S. flags, signs at protest of Muslim event," and "Video: Councilwoman condemns Muslim speakers."

I'll likely be giving the Spitzer campaign a call later to tell them to knock it off. Pauly's right: This is a despicable and supremely juvenile political attack. Voters in the O.C. deserve better.

USS Iowa Relocating to Port of Los Angeles

The AP story is here: "WWII-era battleship USS Iowa being refitted to move to new home as naval museum in SoCal."

And from a week or so back, at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "USS Iowa store set to open Thursday in downtown San Pedro."

The museum opens in July. I'm going to make it over there, if I don't forget about it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikipedia Commons.

Keeping Hate Alive at The New York Times

This report was up on the sidebar at the New York Times yesterday afternoon: "Trayvon Martin Case Shadowed by Police Missteps." I thought it strange since blockbuster information came out yesterday as well, which worked to bolster George Zimmerman's account of the incident, and hence support both his theory of the case and the police department's handling of it. This AP clip has the background:

Now see Tom Maguire's analysis, "Zimmerman Case - Keeping Hate Alive The Times":

The NY Times can't quite bring itself to report on the latest news in the Zimmerman case - Zimmerman's medical file shows he was banged up and Martin's autopsy showed bloody knuckles - so they hand the mike to the Ben Crump, the Martin family attorney, and rehash every possible mistake made by the Sanford PD.

Presumably their goal is to pretend that, however ludicrous the current situation, the media and the prosecutor acted in good faith in bringing us here.

What would really be impressive would be a mea culpa about the Times mis-reporting and errors. Some of those errors have been corrected. On the other hand, the Times also makes new ones, such as the laugher in today's story (my emphasis)...

RTWT. (Via Memeorandum.)