British Patriotism Explodes at London Olympic Games

This was at the Los Angeles Times on Friday, "London Olympics: British patriotism blossoms amid the Games."

And that day Britain's Mo Farah won the gold medal in the men's 10,000m --- and the entire stadium was on rocket boots. See Telegraph UK, "Mo Farah makes history as first British man to take gold in Olympic 10000m." It was a great sporting moment. And I loved when American Galen Rupp gave Farah a big hug (more here on that).

And here's Martin Samuel at the Daily Mail, "Thank you, sport... for lifting our spirits even in the toughest of times."

Now Usain Bolt is Jamaican, but you do get that explosive vibe on the cover of this morning's Dail Mail. And here's a report, "Lightning Bolt strikes gold: Usain storms to 100m glory and he answers his critics with resounding victory in 9.63 seconds." And Jamaica's a former colony of Britain --- and the island nation remains in the Commonwealth --- so there's some natural affinity. See the New York Times, "Usain Bolt of Jamaica Overjoys Britain With 100-Meter Gold."

EXTRA: I can agree with this: "Two BILLION people watch Usain Bolt's win... but none of them in America: Sports fans outraged as NBC fails to show 100m final live on TV."

Tania Gail is Smokin'!

Via Twitter, "Why yes, I am a Triathlete!"

And see, "2012 SheROX Triathlon – UPDATE!"

It Sucks for Children of Same-Sex Couples

Actually, it might not completely suck, but if it's important that a child grow up secure and healthy with both male and female adult role-models, then same-sex parenting is clearly inferior.

From Robert Oscar Lopez, "Growing Up With Two Moms: The Untold Children’s View" (via Darleen Click):

Between 1973 and 1990, when my beloved mother passed away, she and her female romantic partner raised me. They had separate houses but spent nearly all their weekends together, with me, in a trailer tucked discreetly in an RV park 50 minutes away from the town where we lived. As the youngest of my mother’s biological children, I was the only child who experienced childhood without my father being around.

After my mother’s partner’s children had left for college, she moved into our house in town. I lived with both of them for the brief time before my mother died at the age of 53. I was 19. In other words, I was the only child who experienced life under “gay parenting” as that term is understood today.

Quite simply, growing up with gay parents was very difficult, and not because of prejudice from neighbors. People in our community didn’t really know what was going on in the house. To most outside observers, I was a well-raised, high-achieving child, finishing high school with straight A’s.

Inside, however, I was confused. When your home life is so drastically different from everyone around you, in a fundamental way striking at basic physical relations, you grow up weird. I have no mental health disorders or biological conditions. I just grew up in a house so unusual that I was destined to exist as a social outcast.

My peers learned all the unwritten rules of decorum and body language in their homes; they understood what was appropriate to say in certain settings and what wasn’t; they learned both traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine social mechanisms.

Even if my peers’ parents were divorced, and many of them were, they still grew up seeing male and female social models. They learned, typically, how to be bold and unflinching from male figures and how to write thank-you cards and be sensitive from female figures. These are stereotypes, of course, but stereotypes come in handy when you inevitably leave the safety of your lesbian mom’s trailer and have to work and survive in a world where everybody thinks in stereotypical terms, even gays.

I had no male figure at all to follow, and my mother and her partner were both unlike traditional fathers or traditional mothers. As a result, I had very few recognizable social cues to offer potential male or female friends, since I was neither confident nor sensitive to others. Thus I befriended people rarely and alienated others easily. Gay people who grew up in straight parents’ households may have struggled with their sexual orientation; but when it came to the vast social universe of adaptations not dealing with sexuality—how to act, how to speak, how to behave—they had the advantage of learning at home. Many gays don’t realize what a blessing it was to be reared in a traditional home.

Continue reading.

And from Darleen:

It is unfortunate that this man had been ill-served by his upbringing. I find myself discussing with same-sex marriage advocates about the issues of gender and how men and women are just not fungible. The advocates all fall back on that any differences between the sexes are “social constructs” nothing more. Even when I have brought up the fact that there have been widely different societies throughout history, but the male/female paradigm has remained constant (even if the numbers of partners within a marriage has not) … I actually got the jaw-dropping response that all that proved was “millennium of bigotry.”

Same-sex couples regardless of legal status, do commit and do have children. They will not do their off-spring any favors in buying into the myth that gender can be ignored.

Well, you're not supposed to deviate from the accepted narrative.

Remember, "Progressives Attack Professor Mark Regnerus Over Same-Sex Parenting Research." And, "Why Are Progressives So Intolerant?"

Japan Observes 67th Anniversary of Hiroshima Attack

At London's Daily Mail, "Prayers for peace: Japanese light hundreds of lanterns to mark the 67th anniversary of those killed in Hiroshima bombings."

I post on this every year and it's always the same thing: the U.S. was horrible for dropping the bomb, etc., etc., and so forth.

But the U.S. decision to drop the bomb shortened the war and saved lives. Sixty-seven years later the world community lives under an American peace that allows such protests. When the U.S. pulls back from international leadership --- whenever that day arrives, this century or beyond --- there won't be any such guarantees of peace and prosperity, no automatic safety of the U.S.-led international order.

More at Telegraph UK, "Harry Truman's grandson arrives in Japan for Hiroshima visit."

Dan Richter, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Butler, Describes Last Days of The Beatles

At London's Daily Mail, "What John and Yoko's butler saw: A surreal account of the Lennons' live-in assistant during the last dark days of The Beatles":

I remember the day I was at Harrods, ordering white carpet for John and Yoko. It was to be specially made from natural unbleached wool on extra large looms in China. Another day, on a trip to town, I found white marble Empire mantelpieces.

One of my favourite finds was a Queen Anne Chinoiserie desk for John. In their bathroom, they wanted a gigantic circular tub. We considered willow-pattern antique toilets, but settled on modern.

John wanted a bed like a turntable for Tittenhurst, their Berkshire mansion, so we ordered a circular one. An army of people was established to accomplish all these and 1,000 other tasks.

I lived with Yoko and Lennon for four years; an insider witnessing their love affair and the break-up of The Beatles. I can still see the vivid cast that surrounded them: the stars, charlatans, groupies, politicians, sycophants, lawyers and hippies.

It was a time of absolute freedom, a time when everything changed. The world was turning on, tuning in and dropping out, and all to the beat of rock ’n’ roll....

I had an ongoing problem with heroin, needing it daily, but now I had to find it for John and Yoko too. I took the train into London every day to look for work and buy heroin for myself and for them.

Meanwhile, they were moving into Tittenhurst Park, their new 85-acre estate in Ascot with its mansion framed by lawns, stately trees and great walls of rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas.

By late 1969, John and Yoko spent most of their time in bed. They slept, ate, had sex, worked the phones, read the post, planned their next outing, and whatever else that made up their day. I would drop by to discuss what was going on or whatever needed their attention.

John was invariably sitting cross-legged on the bed strumming his acoustic guitar while Yoko took the lead in discussions. You always felt that Yoko and John had discussed things before you arrived and decided on what Yoko would say, while John appeared to be lost in his guitar...

Continue reading.

The dude's homepage is here.

Syrian Warplanes Pound Aleppo

The Australian reports:

SYRIAN regime warplanes have pounded rebel positions in second city Aleppo ahead of a threatened ground assault by more than 20,000 troops assembled around the commercial capital.

Iran appealed for help from governments with ties to the Syrian opposition in securing the release of 48 of its nationals seized from a bus in Damascus, as an Arabic news channel aired footage it said was of the Iranians in the hands of rebel captors who charged that their hostages were Revolutionary Guards.

A senior security official said Syria's army had completed its deployment of reinforcements to Aleppo, ready for a decisive showdown.

"The war is likely to be long, because there will have to be street battles in order to get rid of the terrorists," the source told AFP, declining to be named.

"All the reinforcements have arrived and they are surrounding the city," he said. "The army is ready to launch its offensive, but is awaiting orders."

More at Telegraph UK, "Syria: battle lines drawn in Aleppo with 'main course' still to come."

RELATED: At LAT, "Professed Syrian rebel says Iranian hostages are militiamen."

Gabby Douglas' Mom Filed for Bankruptcy

Gabby's lucrative endorsements are going to bail her mom out. At the New York Post, "Gabby’s gold in nick of time for her broke mom":

Gabby Douglas’ Olympic medal could be a golden opportunity for her broke mother. The gold-medal gymnast’s doting mom, Natalie Hawkins, has been struggling to make ends meet — and twice filed for bankruptcy — while her phenom daughter chased her Olympic dreams, according to federal court records.

But since Gabby won the Olympics’ coveted individual all-around gymnastics competition, she’s become the darling of the United States and world — and is worth a potential $100 million-plus in endorsement deals.

Hawkins, a single mother with three other children, had been just 24 hours from foreclosure on the family’s Virginia Beach home in January when she sought protection under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, public records show.

She had a measly $500 in the bank and was $80,000 in debt when she filed the papers. The bulk of the debt was from a $150,000 mortgage on the townhouse where Gabby and her three older siblings lived for more than a decade.

Hawkins also owes $20,000 to trainers at Excalibur, a well-regarded Virginia gym whose staff was working with Gabby, according to its owners — although the mom disputes incurring the debt, the Virginia Pilot newspaper said.

But now that her 4-foot-11 golden-girl daughter has become the first African-American to grab the top medal, Hawkins could be on easy street.

Her 16-year-old has already landed on a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes box and will get $100,000 for appearing in the upcoming Kellogg’s Tour of Champs.

And Golden Gabby still has two more shots at medals — on the uneven bars today and the balance beam tomorrow.

Okay, now check ABC News, "Missy Franklin Wants to Swim in College, Put Off Endorsement Fortunes." Franklin even turned down $100 thousand in Olympic prizewinnings to remain eligible for NCAA competition. And she personally dedicated her wins to the families of the Aurora shooting victims.

I'm happy for both Douglas and Franklin. And I hope they continue to have great success.

Andy Murray Wins Men's Tennis Gold at Olympics

It was a rematch of last month's epic match at Wimbledon. Murray came through on top.

See the Wall Street Journal, "Andy Murray's Golden Breakthrough":

WIMBLEDON, England—Andy Murray has finally broken through, and it couldn't be sweeter.

On a weekend in which athletes from Great Britain delivered the most scintillating highlights of these games, the 25-year-old Scot provided yet another home country Olympic thrill, upsetting top seed and world No. 1 Roger Federer in a dominant straight set performance, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to capture a gold medal in men's singles.

The victory is also a personal milestone for Murray, a gifted but often vexing player who has struggled to crack through in a tennis era dominated by greats like Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Though the Olympics occur only once every four years, Murray's win here carries great weight, as it came against his top competition and before a wild home crowd at the sport's most treasured cathedral, Wimbledon.

It was here, one month ago, that Murray had lost an agonizing four-set match to Federer, breaking down in the postgame trophy ceremony and tearfully assuring the crowd he was "getting closer." his time, Murray closed, and the only emotion was rapture. Murray dominated Federer from the start, breaking his serve twice in the first set, and coming close to shutting him out in the second. A capacity crowd at Centre Court applauded wildly at every one of Murray's winners, waving British flags and shouting repeated encouragement. At times the atmosphere resembled a soccer stadium more than a genteel tennis match.

When it was over, Murray looked almost stunned.

See also London's Daily Mail, "You're my hero and you deserve a hug! Schoolboy's embrace with Olympic champion Andy Murray captures buoyant mood of the nation."

Ethiopian Hottie Tiki Gelana Wins London Olympics Marathon

This lady was looking hot. Great stride and fully confident. Just awesome.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Ethiopia's Tiki Gelana sets women's Olympic marathon record."

Trying to Beat the Un-Bearable Heat

Via Theo Spark:

CNN's Eric Marrapodi: Sikhs Often 'Misinterpreted as Followers of Islam'

BuzzFeed picked up on this, "CNN: Sikhs "Unfairly" Mistaken For Muslims." (Via Memeorandum.)

PREVIOUSLY:

* "At Least 7 Dead in Sikh Temple Shooting in Wisconsin."

* "Progressives Call for Gun Control Before Facts Come Out in Wisconsin Temple Shooting."

* "Labor Historian Erik Loomis Attacks Governor Scott Walker on 'Bargaining Rights' Following Sikh Temple Massacre."

ABC News Claims Slain Suspect in Wisconsin Massacre Was 'Skinhead' or 'White Supremacist'

Here's the tweet:

'Skinhead' Believed Behind Sikh Massacre in Wis. abcn.ws/Q0FWoB
— ABC News (@ABC) August 6, 2012

And at ABC News, "7 Dead at Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wis.; Officials Believe 'White Supremacist' Behind 'Domestic Terrorism'":

Though police have not given any details on the identity or motive of the shooter, or released the identities of the victims, sources have told ABC News the shootings are the work of a "white supremacist" or "skinhead."

No word if that's Brian Ross doing the crack Internet research behind the scenes.

Here's what the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal is reporting, "FBI: Motive in Oak Creek Sikh Temple shooting unclear":

Though police have not given any details on the identity or motive of the shooter, or released the identities of the victims, sources have told ABC News the shootings are the work of a "white supremacist" or "skinhead."
No word if that's Brian Ross doing the crack Internet research behind the scenes.

Here's what the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal is reporting, "FBI: Motive in Oak Creek Sikh Temple shooting unclear":

The shooting at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek that left seven people dead, including the shooter, is being looked at as a possible domestic terrorism incident but no motive has been determined, FBI officials said Sunday night.

The agency also confirmed that they are investigating a home in Cudahy - presumably that of the shooter - in relation to the incident.

U.S. Attorney James Santelle, who is personally reviewing the matter, said it is not clear if it was domestic terrorism....

A source familiar with the investigation said the shooter was a white male in his 40s who had been discharged from the Army. The source said one firearm was recovered as well as multiple magazines....

Shortly after 5 p.m., a team of law enforcement officers, including from the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, surrounded a duplex in Cudahy.

Authorities cordoned off the 3700 block of E. Holmes Ave., just south of downtown Cudahy, where they have surrounded a duplex. A large contingent of law enforcement and fire department vehicles are in the vicinity. The neighborhood was being evacuated.

Kurt Weins said he rented the upper flat of the duplex authorities were searching to a single man in his 40s about month ago. Weins lives across the street from the duplex.

Weins said he had just been interviewed by law enforcement authorities and said he was uncomfortable providing much detail. However, he said, he was surprised by the attention his tenant has attracted.

"I had him checked out and he definitely checked out," Weins said. "The cops told me they don't want me to say nothing right now."

More details at the article.

And a breaking report from Robert Stacy McCain, "Patch.com Reporter Jessica McBride Gets Scoop on Sikh Temple Shooting Suspect - UPDATE: More Details Emerge." Check Robert's links. That Patch report makes no reference to the suspect being a "white supremacist."

And more at the Los Angeles Times, "Gunman's tattoos lead officials to deem Sikh shooting terrorism."

More details later. We'll see if the "white supremacist" angle plays out. And for ABC's sake, let's hope so. We wouldn't want people jumping to conclusions, or anything, especially after the media's irresponsible reporting out of Aurora a couple of weeks ago.

I tweeted earlier, in any case:

Neat how #WI shooting called "domestic terrorism" so soon. After Ft. Hood we were told by DHS that it wasn't terrorism just "isolated" case.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 6, 2012

Updates forthcoming...

More a Milwaukee JS, "Suspect described as Army vet in his 40s":

Authorities would not divulge the identity of the suspect in the Sikh temple shootings, and did not describe his motive other than to label his actions as "domestic terrorism."

A few details did emerge about the man whose Cudahy duplex apartment was searched by police hours after the shooting. He was described as white, single, in his 40s and an Army veteran.

That description came in part from Kurt Weins, who lives in the 3700 block of E. Holmes Ave. in Cudahy. He said he rented the property to a man he believed to be from Chicago with no record of violence in Wisconsin.

Authorities did not tell Weins whether his tenant was the shooting suspect, but the description matches that of the man that sources said was the shooter.

ABC News, citing anonymous sources, said it was told the shootings were the work of a "white supremacist" or "skinhead."

The Journal Sentinel could not confirm that account.

Homosexual Fascists

At Angry White Dude, "HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES ARE RUDE, CRUDE, IN-YOUR-FACE BRUTES!":

Homofascists are their own worst enemy. The buycott of Chick fil A by millions of decent Americans was a huge success. The homosexual kiss-in protest was a total failure. The American people are rising up against the bullying tactics of this small, loud groups of perverts. Why? No, it’s not hate and it’s not fear. IT’S BECAUSE NORMAL PEOPLE DON’T ACT LIKE THAT!

Speaking of "homofascists," via The Looking Spoon:

PREVIOUSLY: "Obama's Gay Nightmare: Still Waiting for Barry's Backside Boogie Pics!"

BONUS: "Repsac3, Apologist for Homosexual Criminals, Remorselessly Defends Left's Hateful Intimidation and Vandalism on 'National Kiss-In Day'."

Labor Historian Erik Loomis Attacks Governor Scott Walker on 'Bargaining Rights' Following Sikh Temple Massacre

I guess he's still pretty sore about the recall election. But jeez, this is bottom-of-the-barrel:

The cop shot by the Wisconsin terrorist had his collective bargaining rights attacked by Scott Walker. Channeling @mikeelk
— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) August 5, 2012

You think people should just wait a bit before attacking political opponents? Give it some time. Let families gather their loved ones and let the police investigate the perpetrator. That's the decent thing to do.

But Erik Loomis isn't decent. A neo-communist historian, he blogs at the disgusting hate-site Lawyers, Guns and Money. Pretty typical of what goes on over there, actually. See: "Erik Loomis, University of Rhode Island History Professor, Calls for 'Decades-Long Fight to the Death' Against Conservatives."

PREVIOUSLY: "At Least 7 Dead in Sikh Temple Shooting in Wisconsin," and "Progressives Call for Gun Control Before Facts Come Out in Wisconsin Temple Shooting." Plus, updates at Memeorandum.

Progressives Call for Gun Control Before Facts Come Out in Wisconsin Temple Shooting

PREVIOUSLY: "At Least 7 Dead in Sikh Temple Shooting in Wisconsin."

And at Twitchy, "Horrible: Shooting at Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., hostage situation reported; Update: SWAT team preparing to go inside; Update: Some news outlets report several dead, many injured; Update: 7 dead, including shooter."

Pus,, "Left blames Wisconsin temple shooting on Michelle Bachmann and ‘racists like her’."

NRA staffers will have to come in on Sunday to issue statements about why guns had nothing to do with Sikh temple shootings.
— Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago) August 5, 2012

CNN saying its not about gun control but mental health. In reality shooting was caused by many factors, but all we know is he got a gun
— Mike Elk (@MikeElk) August 5, 2012

Now are we going to get actual human beings arguing that people inside the Sikh temple should have been armed?
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 5, 2012

Heartbroken by the Sikh Temple shooting in Wisconsin. When will this mindless violence stop? Take away people's ability to buy guns. Please.
— Kunal Nayyar (@kunalnayyar) August 5, 2012

Senseless hateful shooting at Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Pray for the victims and their families. And for more rigorous gun laws. Pls RT!
— Eric Benet (@ebenet) August 5, 2012

what is it going to take for us to fix our gun laws? “@cnn: Gunman, six others dead at Wisconsin Sikh temple. on.cnn.com/R2PDHc”
— Michael Schneider (@msfd) August 5, 2012

Seven dead in a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, bit.ly/OVB0q0 one of them a 10 year old kid. Thank you NRA for your efforts...
— Progressive Buzz (@progBuzz) August 5, 2012

We'll be seeing more progressive idiocy.

Expect updates...

Added: At the New York Times, "At Least 7 Dead in Shooting at Sikh Temple in Wisconsin." Plus, at Memeorandum.

3:09pm Pacific: Here's the Twitter search for "Wisconsin Sikh."

5:36pm Pacific: More at Lonely Conservative, "Sikh Temple Shooting Already Being Blamed on Republicans."

It's Legal to Walk Around Topless in New York

That is, it's legal to go around topless if you're a woman. Elsewhere, not so much, which makes this a civil rights issue.

Glenn Reynolds has more, "FEMINISM: A Woman’s Topless Fight For Equality."

Video here: "Moira Johnston: Topless in NYC."

At Least 7 Dead in Sikh Temple Shooting in Wisconsin

This is awful.

At the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal, "At least 7 dead, including shooter, at Sikh Temple."

At least seven people were killed, including one shooter, just after 10 a.m. Sunday at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, police said.

Four of the dead were inside the temple at 7512 S. Howell Ave. and three of the dead, including a shooter, were outside the temple.

A police SWAT team entered the building before noon and brought uninjured people out of the building at 7512 S. Howell Ave.

They started removing injured people from the temple's prayer room.

SWAT team members were still sweeping the building about 1 p.m. and an explosion was heard from the building at that time. It was unclear what the explosion was.

About six gunshots were heard at 2:30 p.m. in the area. The shots appeared to be coming from the temple.

The first officer on the scene Sunday morning encountered an active shooter and exchanged fire with him, according to Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt who briefed media on the scene.

The shooter went down and is believed to be dead, said Wentlandt. He said authorities had no evidence of a second shooter.

Check the thread at Memeorandum as well.

So far progressives haven't blamed the tea party, but ... Oh wait, here's Kathleen Geier, at The Washington Monthly:

No details have yet been been released about the gunman, but it seems reasonable to suspect that the shooting was racially motivated. I’d say the odds are good that the shooter was some idiot who believed that Sikhs are Muslims (and that Muslims, of course, are all terrorists).

Right. No details. Just like Brian Ross had no details on the Aurora shooter, but went ahead anyway and fingered the tea party. And who would be most likely to attack Muslims? Why, conservatives, of course. Because progressives just love them some Islamofascism!

Also at Blazing Cat Fur, "Reports of shooting at Sikh Temple..."

Expect updates...

2:26pm Pacific: At The Other McCain, "‘It’s Pretty Much a Hate Crime’ — Seven Reported Dead in Sikh Temple Shooting UPDATE: Act of ‘Domestic Terrorism’."

2:39pm Pacific: At The Lede, "Reports from the Scene of Shooting at Sikh Temple."

2:41pm Pacific: And from the comments at Raw Story:

They should arrest Michelle Bachmann, Frank Gaffney, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Thomas Rooney, Lynn Westmoreland, John Bolton, and Glen Beck as accomplices.

2:48pm Pacific: Still little is known about the shooter, but here from Sarah Betancourt at Liberaland:

Online forums are rampant with racist comments about Muslims. Sikhs don’t practice the same religion as Muslims, but their long beards and turbans often cause them to be mistaken for Muslims, advocates say. According to a CBS report, “Sikh rights groups have reported a rise in bias attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Washington-based Sikh Coalition has reported more than 700 incidents in the U.S. since 9/11, which advocates blame on anti-Islamic sentiment.”

5:35pm Pacific: At Lonely Conservative, "Sikh Temple Shooting Already Being Blamed on Republicans."

6:10pm Pacific: At Sooper Mexican, "How to Politicize a Tragedy."

Rule 5 Sunday

Bob Belvedere's got a nice entry, "Rule 5 Saturday: Shay Maria."

And at The Other McCain, "You Had Me at ‘Boobs’."

More at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…is the flag of the world’s most Evil carbon polluter, you might just be a Warmist." (Hot!) Also, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

Also, at Eye of Polyphemus, "Gillian Anderson."

Checking over at Proof Positive, here's: "Friday Night Babe ... Arianny Celeste!"

And from Randy's Roundtable, "Midweek Rule 5 Break: Katy Perry."

Now, in political news, at Teresamerica, "Jenna Jameson Supports Mitt Romney Rule 5."

Plus, Guns and Bikinis, "Texas Longhorn Girl." And from Wirecutter, "Who doesn't love summer?"

More, at The Last Tradition, "Rule 5 Sunday - Katy Jurado, starred in Westerns of 50s and 60s 1st Latina American nominated for Academy Award."

And from last week's Rule 5 from Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 Saturday: Neha Dhupia."

BONUS: From WyBlog, "Some Rule 5 for the ladies: Tim Tebow, shirtless, in the rain."

EXTRA: At Theo's, "Sunday Totty."

Marisa Miller Expecting Baby Boy

In important celebrity news, at People Magazine, "Marisa Miller’s Blog: I’m Having a Boy!"

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Stockholm and the Information Battlespace

Pamela fights for freedom in Sweden, and confronts neo-fascism and a left-wing media apparatus willingly aiding it.

At Atlas Shrugs, "Anna Ringstrom of Reuters: Freedom Equals Racism."

First of all, we were "outnumbered" because we had to conduct our rally surrounded by police vans and police in riot gear -- not because we were violent, but because of the bloodthirsty leftist hoodlums who were screaming their bloodlust and doing everything they could to break through the police lines and do physical harm to the freedom fighters present. Many people told us they were afraid to come, or they'd get fired if they came. Some told us afterward that they wanted to come but couldn't get through the leftist hooligans and the police. So then Reuters reports this as our rally being "outnumbered" -- as if there was simply no interest. Yet when we had tens of thousands at Ground Zero to stand for freedom against the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque, they ignored it or severely underreported the attendance. Anything to defame our freedom movement.

PREVIOUSLY: "The War for Freedom on the Streets of Stockholm."

Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview: Martin Peretz, 'Obama Is a Child of the New Left'

And interesting interview with Marty Peretz, at WSJ, "Martin Peretz: From Truman to McGovern to Obama":

Is it too late for the president to visit Israel and mend fences? "Obama can't visit Israel," Mr. Peretz responds. "The Israeli public is uncontrollable. There would be a lot of unpleasantness. If he visited the Knesset—the Knesset is one of the most rambunctious parliaments in the world."

Such rapprochement, moreover, is foreclosed by Mr. Obama's indifference to the basic Zionist ideal, which was on full display in his 2009 Cairo speech to the Muslim world. There Mr. Obama cited the Holocaust—not millennia of Jewish ties to the land—as the basis for Israel's legitimacy. "It took him three-and-a-half years to get to the point where he could recite some version of Zionist narrative," Mr. Peretz sighs. "My father first went to Palestine in 1912"—that is, three decades before the destruction of European Jewry and the establishment of Israel.

All this stands in jarring contrast to the Democratic Party's foreign-policy traditions, Mr. Peretz argues. "You know, I disagreed with Bill Clinton on some things and I didn't disagree with him on others," Mr. Peretz recalls. But Mr. Clinton's administration "was in the deep tradition of the Roosevelt-Truman idea." He concludes: "In any case, I think the Democratic Party was restored to a center role. Yes, it took a lot for the Clinton administration to rescue Bosnia. And it took a lot for the Democrats to admit to a mistake in Somalia." But they eventually did both.

"We're now in a new era," Mr. Peretz warns. "I think that Obama is a child, or maybe let's say a grandchild, of the New Left, with casual moral judgments made about very intricate ethical alternatives." Later he thunders: "Leading by following—it's really a sick phrase."

Obama's a progressive asshole, that's what he is. Screw the f-ker.

Mitt Romney Will Be a Different Kind of President

At the Weekly Standard, "Ad: 'Romney Will Be a Different Kind of President—a Strong Leader Who Stands By Our Allies'."

More at CNN, "Team Romney lambasts Obama in two new ads." (Via Memeorandum.)

The second ad is here: "It's Just Not Getting Better."

Anaheim's Political Segregation

More on the recent crisis in Anaheim, at LAT, "In Anaheim, voting by district could alter the power dynamic."

The discussion is basic. Anaheim still uses at-large council elections, which politically disenfranchise the city's Hispanic majority. But especially interesting is the accompanying graphic, "Anaheim's racial and economic distribution." The 55 Freeway is the Newport Beach Freeway. Southbound takes you right down to Newport Beach and the Balboa Peninsula. Northbound the freeway ends at the 91 Freeway, which goes East and West. Heading East takes you to Riverside and San Bernadino and beyond. That stretch of Anaheim at the right of the graph is very affluent, one of the more prestigious parts of Orange County. It's a foothill area with winding roads and horseback riding --- a rural feel. Folks with money have moved up there for decades. When I was in high school in the '70s, Anaheim Hills High had a truly snooty reputation. South Anaheim over by Disneyland and Anaheim Stadium is resort-oriented with business and industry sprinkled throughout. It's the north part of Anaheim where there's lots of moderate and lower income families, with heavy minority populations. Lots of gang activity as well, it turns out. As I mentioned previously, the images from all the rioting reminded me of Santa Ana's demographics.

In any case, read it all at that top link.

And here's this from the New York Times a couple of days ago, "Fury Reveals Deep Rifts Near 'Happiest Place on Earth'."

PREVIOUSLY: "Social Unrest Exposes Long-Simmering Ethnic Divisions in Anaheim."

Change

Via Marathon Pundit:

RELATED: The Los Angeles Times tries desperately to spin last week's rise in unemployment, "Jobs report provides little to sway voters either way."

Even now, a great majority of voters already have made up their minds between President Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. By fall, as the remaining voters make their choices, the din of the campaigns, the presidential debates and whatever other news develops can be expected to drown out any but the most dramatic economic statistics.

As a result, the monthly release of jobs data probably has now begun to wane in importance. That leaves the contest on unsettled ground, with the economy not strong enough to guarantee the president's reelection nor weak enough to doom his prospects.

Well, perhaps. What the jobs report does is give the Romney camp a huge inventory of ammunition to destroy the president's bogus story line. More on that at the Weekly Standard, "Go for the Gold, Mitt!":

Mitt Romney will have many opportunities over the next three months to demonstrate to voters that they should choose him over Barack Obama: his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, the three presidential debates, major policy addresses, and more. But it may be that nothing will speak louder than his selection of a running mate.

Voters seem to care. In a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, 74 percent of registered voters said the selection of a running mate will matter—48 percent saying it matters “somewhat” and 26 percent saying it matters “a lot.” In a close election, as this one seems likely to be, Romney’s pick could help determine the outcome.

It’s not the first time we’ve said it, but it could well be the last: Go bold, Mitt! Pick Paul Ryan, the Republican party’s intellectual leader, the man who’s laid out the core of the post-Obama policy agenda and gotten his colleagues in Congress to sign on to it. Or pick Marco Rubio, the GOP’s most gifted young politician, the man who embodies what is best about the Tea Party and a vision of a broad-based Republican governing majority of the future. Barack Obama was right about this (if only this): Modern democratic politics is about hope and change. Ryan and Rubio, more than anyone else, embody Republican hopes and conservative change.

Also, at The Other McCain, "GIVE US RYAN!"

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Pump Up the London 2012 Olympics

And also Prince Harry of Wales.

At Telegraph UK, "William, Kate and Harry’s Olympic effort to 'sell' UK to the world":

Their daily presence at Olympic events sporting Team GB polo shirts has seen the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry emerge as the most visible brand ambassadors for UK plc during the Games.

While all three share a keen interest in sport, the royal trio, who have attended up to four Olympic events a day while also meeting with foreign dignitaries and international business figures, have embarked on a dedicated push to “sell” the UK to the world during and beyond the Olympic Games.

A royal aide said: “The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry have been throwing themselves into the Olympics with gusto as they recognise that the Games provides a unique moment for the country to sell itself and they recognise they are in a unique position to represent the nation to our friends and partners around the world.”

The Duke and Duchess plan to further consolidate their high profile drive to boost the British economy during their Diamond Jubilee tour of Singapore and Malaysia next month, when they will visit a new Rolls Royce aircraft engine manufacturing plant in Singapore, opened by the Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this year.

The Violent Ideology of Revolutionary Theorist Slavoj Žižek

There's no pullout quotes at John Gray's essay, at the New York Review, "The Violent Visions of Slavoj Žižek." Read it all at the link.

Žižek thinks both Hitler and Stalin were pantywaists, although he says both Mao and Pol Pot were on the right track. At the piece he's pictured with a poster of Joseph Stalin above his bed, although he calls himself a Leninist, as Lenin proclaimed violence and terror as essential to the revolutionary project. In other words, the guy's all over the place, blatantly obscene ideologically (especially on the Jews), and a hero for the contemporary radical left --- which figures.

PREVIOUSLY: "Lady Gaga Attracts Marxist Philosopher Slavoj Žižek (and Vice Versa)."

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Rumors Follow Everywhere You Go...

Enjoy The Gin Blossoms, "Found Out About You":

And check the live clip here, from a concert in Phoenix following the Gabrielle Giffords shooting last year.

California Finds Additional $119 million in Accounts

That's a lot of money.

At LAT, "California finds $119 million more in untapped funds":

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown's administration on Friday announced that $119 million more in untapped money was found in a sweeping audit of state accounts, bringing to more than $286.5 million the sum lawmakers were unaware of as they repeatedly cut government services.

The new discovery includes about $30 million for healthcare programs, almost $29 million for reimbursing crime victims and $12.5 million for cleaning up underground petroleum tanks. It follows revelations that nearly $113 million was languishing in a recycling program funded with consumers' bottle deposits and $54 million had gone unreported by state parks officials.

It's unclear how much of the money identified in the audit, launched last month in the wake of the parks scandal, could have been used to plug the state's deficit. Brown and lawmakers cut more than $1 billion from healthcare in the budget the governor signed five weeks ago.

On Friday, Brown, who had threatened to close 70 parks to help balance the budget, proposed using $20 million of the newfound funds for park maintenance and for matching the private donations that ultimately kept the parks open.

It's a circus up there.

And that's the people's money, not the state's. Government has lost the trust of people, and this is just one more example. $286.5 million. My goodness. We might be able to keep a couple of programs open, you think?

The Ladies Do It Right on 'National Kiss-In Day'!

Via Doug Mataconis on Twitter.

Jared Loughner to Plead Guilty in Giffords Shooting

At the Los Angeles Times, "Jared Loughner to plead guilty in Tucson shooting, sources say."

WASHINGTON — Jared Lee Loughner is set to plead guilty Tuesday in the shooting attack that severely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to knowledgeable sources, as mental health officials believe he is now competent to understand the charges against him in the assault, which killed six people and injured 13 at a gathering with the congresswoman’s constituents in Tucson.

At the hearing Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Tucson, psychiatric experts who have examined Loughner, 23, are scheduled to testify that they have concluded that despite wide swings in his mental capacity, at this time he comprehends what happened and acknowledges the gravity of the charges, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was still unfolding.

Via Memeorandum.

The left immediately politicized the killings, with the depraved TBogg at Firedoglake announcing, "Fuck it, I'm going there."

And flashback to Glenn Reynolds, "The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel":

Those who purport to care about the tenor of political discourse don't help civil debate when they seize on any pretext to call their political opponents accomplices to murder.

They don't really care about civil discourse, of course.

Repsac3, Apologist for Homosexual Criminals, Remorselessly Defends Left's Hateful Intimidation and Vandalism on 'National Kiss-In Day'

From the despicable hate-blogger and fascist Walter James Casper III:

In almost all political & social groups, violent & disrespectful members are the exception...despite what partisan propagandists say.
— J. Casper (@repsac3) August 5, 2012

The "partisan propagandists" are the creeps in the left-wing media who refuse to report accurately on what's going on. But as soon as there's any kind of gun violence, these same people are off the blocks with allegations of "the tea party did it!"

Previously: "Repsac3, Hate-Addled Internet Predator, Screams 'Liar' at Virtually Entire World on Politicization of Colorado Shooting." Plus, "When Even Sick Left-Wing Sites Like 'Wonkette' Want Brian Ross Fired, Despicable Hate-Blogger Repsac3 Attacks Michelle Malkin as 'Whiney Wingnut Victim'."

Caroline Glick, Scoop Jackson Lecture: The U.S, Israel and the Arab Revolution

She's awesome. Via Theo Spark:

The War for Freedom on the Streets of Stockholm

Pamela reports:

Today heralded the dawning of a new era of cooperation between pro-freedom groups in Europe, the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Freedom fighters from around the world converged in Stockholm to stand with one voice against oppression, tyranny and fascism. And the fascist thugs were out in force: police at one point found a suspicious package from the Leftists, and examined it out of concern that it was a bomb. It turned out to be a large firecracker, but clearly the Left-fascist who left it wanted police to think it was a bomb, and to create an atmosphere of menace and terror so that people would be too frightened to attend our event.

Continue reading.

Also at Blazing Cat Fur, "Leftist Violence erupts at anti-Islam protest in Sweden."

'Tolerant' Homosexuals Berate Black Man Reading Bible Nearby 'Kiss In' at Chick-fil-A Chicago

Chicago values.

For the life of me, I can't understand how homosexuals think they're building support for their agenda.

From Anne Sorock, at Legal Insurrection, "Chicago Chick-fil-A Kiss-In protesters “chalk” homeless street preacher."

America's Navy: A Global Force for Good

Here's the "Power" advertisement that ran this week during the Olympics:

Hollywood Homosexual Takes Credit for 'Tastes Like Hate' Vandalism in Torrance, California

As I've mentioned previously, these are homosexual criminal values.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Chick-fil-A vandalism investigated by police in Torrance":

Huge crowds turned out Wednesday in a show of support for company President Dan Cathy, who ignited a national debate by publicly expressing his opposition to same-sex marriage. Critics have also said the company supports causes harmful to gays and lesbians.

Denise Spencer, who visited the Torrance restaurant Friday, said that she was sad to see the vandalism and that it hurt the message of tolerance that gay marriage proponents are pushing.

"The president of the company has the right to say what he feels, just like gays and lesbians do, but when you destroy someone's property ... it only creates negativity," Spencer said.

A gay artist took responsibility for the graffiti in an interview with the Huffington Post on Friday. "Everybody is entitled to free speech, but it seems like for the gay tribe, this is more of an issue of equal rights -- human rights," Manny Castro told the site. "I'm against what these people stand for, what this company stands for. They're trying to take away what little rights we already have."

Also at CNS News, "'Gaga Christ' Artist Claims Credit For Chick-fil-A 'Tastes Like Hate' Vandalism."

PREVIOUSLY: "'Tastes Like Hate' — Classy Homosexuals Vandalize Chick-fil-A for National 'Kiss In' Day."

RELATED: "'Tolerant' Homosexuals Graffiti 'Don't Hate' at Chick-fil-A in Des Peres, Missouri."

'Tolerant' Homosexuals Graffiti 'Don't Hate' at Chick-fil-A in Des Peres, Missouri

"Don't hate."

Right.

At Twitchy, "Second Chick-fil-A vandalized by ‘no hate’ crowd in Missouri."

And see KSDK 5 St. Louis, "'Don't Hate' Spraypainted on Des Peres Chick-fil-A."

BONUS: A roundup at Theo's: "Classy Homosexuals Defile Themselves on Chick-fil-A 'National Kiss-In Day'."

Bar Refaeli Rocks Maxim September 2012 Cover in Luscious Lingerie Shoot

Lovely, as usual.

At Egotastic: "Bar Refaeli Smoking Hot Lingerie Pictures Grace the Pages of Maxim Magazine."

FLASHBACK: "Whoa! Bar Refaeli Tops Maxim's 2012 Hot 100!", and "Is Bar Refaeli, 'Maxim's Hottest', Dating Skate and Snowboard Champion Shaun White?"

'Whistle'

My youngest likes Flo-Rida:

Gabby Douglas' Mom Talks About the Future

I've very happy for Gabby and her family:

And this is interesting, at Poynter, "How AP photographer captured Gabby Douglas Olympics photo: Practice, practice, practice."

However, some of the responses have been unusual. See William Jacobson, "Saturday Night Card Game (NBC gets an itsy, bitsy taste of its own medicine)."

I posted on that previously: "NBC Runs Commercial With Monkey Doing Gymnastics Right After Gabby Douglas Wins Olympic Gold Medal."

And here's this at London's Daily Mail, "NBC forced to apologise after ill-timed ad features a monkey doing gymnastics - right after showing Gabby Douglas' gold medal victory." (Via Memeorandum.)

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser Knocked Out of Olympics

These guys dominated in Beijing in 2008. It was a bit of shock watching them lose yesterday.

At LAT, "London Olympics: U.S. men's beach volleyball team loses to Italy."

Hateful Chick-fil-A Drive-Up Guy Posts 'Apologies and Clarifications' to YouTube

Following-up my earlier entry, "Adam Smith, Hateful Chick-fil-A Drive-Up Guy Who Made Videotape, Fired From His Position as Executive at Vante Corporation."

William Jacobson has the dude's new video, "Adam Smith video – “Apologies and Clarifications”."

I watched it last night. I'm not embedding it --- the guy's an asshole.

Actually, I much prefer Antoine Dodson instead:

More at the DC, "Antoine Dodson: ‘The gay community — we have went from being bullied to becoming bullies’."

Barry Rubin, Middle East Expert and Voice of Moral Clarity, Diagnosed With Inoperable Lung Cancer

Please join me with a prayer for Professor Barry Rubin, "Why I’ve Always Written So Much with Such Intensity … And Why I Won’t Stop Now." (Via Blazing Cat Fur.)

I attended Rubin's lecture in Brentwood last year, "Dr. Barry Rubin, Lecture, Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Los Angeles March 10, 2010." No one wrote with more authority on the revolutions in the Middle East. Rubin's voice was crucial in understanding the implications of events, especially in Egypt.

Homosexual 'National Kiss-In Day' Small Compared to Chick-fil-A 'National Appreciation Day'

Hey, maybe the homosexuals weren't too comfortable about the public sex part.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Chick-fil-A 'Kiss in' protest small compared to appreciation day."

At a Chick-fil-A in Torrance where vandals painted the words "Tastes Like Hate" on the side of the restaurant Thursday night, the "National Same-Sex Kiss Day" was off to a slow start.

A steady parade of cars made their way into the parking lot as diners strolled in and out of the restaurant. Some held signs that read "Jesus is the only answer." Many said they were there in support of Chick-fil-A and denounced the vandalism.

"It's a civil debate; it has nothing to do with defacing someone's property," said Alfonzo Rachel, 40, a Torrance resident who said he dines at the restaurant regularly.

Cole Donahoo, operator of the Torrance restaurant, declined to comment about Friday's vandalism.

"I'm just trying to operate a business," he said.

Donahoo said he did see a great turnout at the restaurant, at 182nd Street and Hawthorne Boulevard, for Wednesday's national "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" event, championed by conservative talk show host Mike Huckabee.

That would be AlfonZo Rachel, on Twitter here.

PREVIOUSLY: "Chick-fil-A Makes Front-Page at Los Angeles Times — Gets Slammed as Out of Step With 'Mainstream' Corporate Practices."

PHOTO CREDIT: Ringo's Pictures via Zombie.

Chick-fil-A Makes Front-Page at Los Angeles Times — Gets Slammed as Out of Step With 'Mainstream' Corporate Practices

Okay, following up on my post yesterday, "Did Media Coverage Ignore Chick-fil-A 'National Appreciation Day'?"

So here comes the Times with its front-page piece, on how Chick-fil-A's a corporate freak, or something. See, "Chick-fil-A Official Has Little Company in the Corporate World."

And here's the online version at latimes.com, "Many businesses seek favor among LGBT customers":

Chick-fil-APresident Dan Cathy's public opposition to gay marriage has landed him in a lonely corner of corporate America.

While the fast-food chicken chain has inflamed gay organizations and their supporters nationwide, many companies are going out of their way to court those groups.

J.C. Penneythis year hired lesbian talk show host Ellen DeGeneres as its spokeswoman and featured same-sex couples in its catalogs. Kraft Foods recently posted a photo of a rainbow-hued Oreo cookie to its Facebook page.

Bank of America and nearly 40 other companies now offer tax relief to gay employees — triple the number of firms with the same option last year. In Washington state, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and his wife last month donated $2.5 million to back a gay marriage ballot initiative already endorsed by Microsoft, Starbucks and Nike.

Business donations to Los Angeles gay pride events, including a festival and a short parade, have doubled in five years to $300,000 last year, when Bud Light, Johnson & Johnson andCoca-Colawere sponsors.

It's not hard to see why. Estimates peg the self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender demographic at about 3.8% of the American population — or roughly 9 million people. Their buying power is expected to reach $790 billion this year, according to Witeck Communications, a marketing firm specializing in LGBT issues.

They're not shy about spending, dropping more than $60 a week each on restaurants, according to a 2010 report from Community Marketing Inc. More than a quarter of gays and lesbians bought a high-definition TV that year.

Nationwide, more Americans now support same-sex marriage than oppose it, according to recent surveys from the Pew Research Center. Backing is particularly strong among young people, a demographic that advertisers are keen to reach. LGBT characters are gaining prominence in popular entertainment, with more major roles in music, television, movies and even comic books.

As customers shift with the cultural tide, many formerly conservative companies are doing the same.

"Corporate America is definitely following the trends, reading the tea leaves," said Jason Snyder, an assistant professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management. "It's more symbolic of what's happening in society — that supporting gay marriage is becoming a less risky or taboo position."

Gay consumers also tend to react faster and more forcefully to slights. They pay attention to which companies promote diversity and lend support to same-sex causes — factors that heavily influence where their dollars go, according to the Community Marketing report.

And the LGBT population is often highly organized in using Twitter and Facebook to pull together mass petitions and boycotts within hours. More than 14,000 people signed up on Facebook for National Same Sex Kiss Day atChick-fil-Aon Friday, an event arranged mostly online.

The Times, to its credit, had good coverage yesterday of the left's vandalism of the Torrance Chick-fil-A location. But as noted, its coverage of the Wednesday buycott was relegated to the business section, not the front-page.

And so look at this today: A total of 14,000 people organized on Facebook "within hours"? Well, blow me down! And how many people turned out around the country on Wednesday to support Chick-fil-A's corporate practices? The company won't release exact details, although it did say that the sales were "unprecedented." That is news. That is front-page news. We'll see how it goes at some of the rest of the national media today. Here's Thursday's report at the Weekly Standard, "Mainstream Media Blacks Out Chick-fil-A Story?" And at AoSHQ, "Media Blacked Out Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day":

Okay, in the post below, I was going to claim the media blacked it out, but I didn't know if that was true; for one thing, I don't watch the media, so I had no idea. For another, I saw a stray mention in a comment or on Twitter that it was being covered on some local broadcast. So I thought maybe they were covering it.

Nope. The major papers embargoed the actual news.

More later.

I'll choke on my chicken if a photo of homosexuals kissing makes the front-page a major metropolitan daily.

P.S. Not mentioned by the Times is how gay marriage referendums have failed each and every time they've been placed before the voters at the state level --- 32 times by the latest counts. Kudos to Jeff Bezos for putting his corporate money where his mouth is. We'll see if he's on the right side of history when Washington state voters head to the polls in November.

U.S. Audits Gold Bars Stored at Federal Reserve Bank of New York

More serendipity.

It turns out I just watched both "Die Hard" and "Die Hard With a Vengeance" last week. And now here's this, at the Los Angeles Times, "What's in your vault? Uncle Sam audits its stash of gold at the New York Fed":

NEW YORK — For decades, the U.S. government has stashed gold five stories beneath Manhattan in a vault under the Federal Reserve's fortress near Wall Street.

Or has it?

Some conspiracy theorists suspect that the billions of dollars' worth of bullion might have been looted in a dramatic heist, a la the movie "Die Hard: With a Vengeance." Others claim that the gold has been used in a shadowy government transaction, or swapped with gold-painted bars. It's even caught the attention of politicians like Rep. Ron Paul and members of Germany's Parliament.

Now all of us may finally get some answers.

The federal government has quietly been completing an audit of U.S. gold stored at the New York Fed. The effort included drilling small holes in the bars to test their purity.

The Treasury Department has refused to disclose what the audit has revealed so far, saying the results will be announced by year's end. But as one former top Fed official said recently, the testing may finally prove that "Goldfinger didn't sneak in at night" and take the gold.

"The calls for audits are saying, 'We don't trust the government for the last 200 years,'" said Ted Truman, a former assistant Treasury secretary and Fed official. He called perennial questions about the country's reserves "the gold bug equivalent of the birther movement."

RTWT.

Global Warming in U.S. Wildly Overestimated, New Study Shows

I posted Anthony Watts' announcement at my sidebar a week or so ago. Watts Up With That? released a major research paper on Sunday, July 29: "New study shows half of the global warming in the USA is artificial."

I skimmed the paper. It's not too long. And pretty interesting. Doctor Zero has a summary, at Human Events, "THE DEBUNKING OF GLOBAL WARMING CONTINUES." And following the links takes us to James Delingpole, "Global Warming? Yeah, right":

What Watts has conclusively demonstrated is that most of the weather stations in the US are so poorly sited that their temperature data is unreliable. Around 90 per cent have had their temperature readings skewed by the Urban Heat Island effect. While he has suspected this for some time what he has been unable to do until his latest, landmark paper (co-authored with Evan Jones of New York, Stephen McIntyre of Toronto, Canada, and Dr. John R. Christy from the Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Alabama, Huntsville) is to put precise figures on the degree of distortion involved.

For the full story go to Watts Up With That NOW!

There is, of course, one very, very sad aspect to this story – and truly it pains me to mention it but journalistic duty compels me to do so – and that's the dampening effect it may have on the grandstanding of a hapless fellow by the name of Professor Richard Muller.

Yes, the Richard Muller thing. It turns out that Muller, a UC Berkeley physicist and erstwhile global warming skeptic, published a breathtaking op-ed at the New York Times the day before Watts' paper came out. See: "The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic." Read it at the link. Not only does Muller do a complete about-face, he also fingers humans "as the cause" of so-called global warming.

But what really got me going here was a post from radical history professor (and Middle East expert, not climate science expert) Juan Cole, "The Collapse of the Climate Change Contrarians and the End of Coal." Cole is responding to Professor Muller's turnaround. I recommend the whole thing, but this paragraph captures the spirit:

Since 1750, humans have begun altering the climate in a steady and systematic way, overwhelming the ability of the earth to absorb the CO2 and causing it to build up steadily in the atmosphere, producing long term effects on surface temperature. Human activity in the past 250 years has interrupted and reversed a 2000-year long natural climate tendency toward cooler temperatures. If we go on the way we have been, spewing ever more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we will produce a tropical planet with no ice on it and will forestall any further ice ages for at least 100,000 years. Since there are places humans now live, such as cities in Sindh, Pakistan, that already reach over 130 degrees F. in the summer, likely the planet we are creating will have large swathes of uninhabitable scorching places on it. Climate change will involve extreme weather events like massive storms, and these in turn may damage the ozone layer, sunburning us all to death. [Bold is in the original.]

It's HUMANS, HUMANS, HUMANS!!

You see, if it really is humans who're causing all of this, then boom!, we can get rid of fossil fuels and implement the United Nations-approved supranational environmentally-sustainable socialist redistributionist green energy program. It's as simple as that!

And one more thing. The New York Times has an amazing surprise of a report, which is the perfect conclusion to all the blather about CO2 this and NOAA that. See: "Who Are Your Sources?":

Two years ago I traveled to southern Indiana to write about a House race between an incumbent Democrat, Baron Hill, against a Tea Party-supported Republican, Todd Young.

Mr. Hill said he believed that climate change was real, human activity was causing it and government must act to address it. He voted for a cap-and-trade bill that passed the House by a narrow margin in 2009. Mr. Young said he was skeptical about the human impact on the climate and that any global warming trend was probably a cyclical phenomenon. His Tea Party supporters agreed with him, and he won the contest by 10 percentage points.

A number of voters who supported Mr. Young and shared his views on climate change told me they got much of their information from Fox News, a handful of radio personalities such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and the Bible.

As part of The Agenda series in The Times, I’d like to explore more deeply where people go to learn about the state of the earth’s climate, which sources of information they trust the most, whether people change their minds and, if so, what causes the shift of opinion.

Some of the best work on these questions comes from Yale University and George Mason University, which have jointly run a project on climate change communication for the past several years.

I can't comment on the Times' "Agenda" series. Mostly, what the article shows is that the debate on climate change is completely political. It's barometer for partisanship and ideology, and one's orientation toward the proper role of government. And because the stakes are so high, it's doubtful that there will ever be any meaningful consensus on the science itself. No amount of carefully conducted studies, rigorously vetted and peer reviewed, will convince either side. Especially since the scientific process itself has been corrupted by the very same people and institutional forces who have the most power over the political agenda. I'm referring to the Climategate Scandal. The best source on that is Steven Hayward, "Scientists Behaving Badly," and "Climategate (Part II)." Also, "Why the Climate Skeptics Are Winning."

And because this is political, the policy outcomes on climate change will continue to reflect the balance of political power. The Obama administration has relied on bureaucratic mechanisms [EPA] to implement its green energy agenda. It can't do it through the Congress because there's no political support for such radicalism. And if the Republicans can retake the presidency and retain the House in November, then perhaps the U.S. can start moving toward a new comprehensive energy policy that protects the environment and builds on new technologies, while exploiting the breakthroughs in extraction that will allow the U.S. to reduce reliance on Persian Gulf oil.

Dominique Moceanu Interview at Los Angeles Times

Last night, NBC ran a feature segment on the 1996 women's U.S. Olympics team --- mostly about Kerri Strug, and how can you forget her, right?

Okay, but while watching I couldn't remember Dominique Moceanu's name. Turns out she has a new book out, Off Balance: A Memoir.

And she's interviewed at the Times, "5 Questions: Dominique Moceanu on Olympic training":

Dominique Moceanu captured the world's attention as the youngest member of the 1996 U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team, the first American women's team to ever win gold for the United States. Moceanu was just 14 when she competed that year in Atlanta and quickly became the new face of the sport.

But in her new book, "Off Balance" (Touchstone) the now 30-year-old mother of two describes as cruel the legendary coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi and criticizes the methods they used to create champions. Here, she talks about her experiences.

In your book, you talk about the training methods used by your former coaches, Bela and Martha Karolyi. Do you think that what they did is necessary at the Olympic level, or could it be toned down a bit?

I don't think it's necessary at the elite level. I don't believe that it's ethical for people to use intimidation and humiliation as a method to achieve success.

Weighing your athletes in front of their peers is humiliating. They did that at the 1996 Olympics and at training camp. [Bela Karolyi] was always using me as an example and making me feel insecure. There was name-calling — imagine being a 14-year-old girl and getting called "Easter egg," "piggy," "balloon." They were using these terms when they thought I gained weight.

But they had this success in the sport, so people feel that they were doing something right.

More at that link.

Bela Karolyi and his wife were interviewed at that NBC program last night. He commented on his reputation as being mean and abusive, shrugging it off as what it takes to churn out champions.

A clip of Moceneau from 1996  is here. She was so tiny, like a little pixie.

Her website is here.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "The Olympic Princess Fantasy."

Rafalca Derangement Syndrome

This is perfect, from Michelle, "Horse hockey: The Left’s Rafalca Derangement Syndrome":

You don’t need to be an equestrian expert to understand that the Left’s vicious, class-warfare attack on Mrs. Romney reeks worse than horse hockey. The GOP presidential candidate’s wife began riding horses 12 years ago as therapy for her multiple sclerosis. As Dressage News reported, “Back then, Ann could ride the trot on a horse for not even close to a minute and then have to walk for at least anther five minutes because of the crippling effects of MS.” Mrs. Romney has devoted her time ever since to promoting therapeutic riding programs and clubs across the country.

When Democratic operative Hilary Rosen disparaged Mrs. Romney for having “never worked a day in her life,” First Lady Michelle Obama herself said “families are off-limits. And I think my husband said it, and he was clear on that. And I totally agree with him. I also — and my comment that I tweeted, which was we need to respect all women in the — in whatever positions and roles they play in this society.”

Using Rafalca to smear the Romneys and stoke class envy is vulgar abuse of a political figure’s family member. Don’t take my word for it. The Democratic National Committee itself acknowledged earlier this month that it had crossed the line with its own video mocking Rafalca — although it blamed viewers for misconstruing its slimy intent.

Democrats are basically human refuse. These attacks on Mrs. Romney really hit bottom and keep on digging.

More at the link.

Harry Reid Has Long History of Romney Bashing

An interesting report, at the New York Times, "In Reid’s Taunting of Romney, Taxes Are Just a New Opening":

WASHINGTON — Senator Harry Reid’s decision this week to hurl a taunting, unsubstantiated accusation at Mitt Romney is hardly out of character for the cantankerous Democratic leader of the Senate, who revels in provocative comments and once called Mr. Romney “kind of a joke.”

On a personal level, Mr. Reid has long been publicly contemptuous of Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee and a fellow Mormon. In 2008, he said Mr. Romney would have been “a tremendous drag” on the Republican ticket. Last year, he said Mr. Romney “doesn’t stand for anything.” And in the last month, he has said that Mr. Romney could not be confirmed as a dogcatcher or a cabinet secretary.

But Mr. Reid’s latest series of tart-tongued volleys — in which he cited an unnamed source who claims Mr. Romney has not paid taxes for a decade — have generated more than the usual outrage from his Republican colleagues and from Mr. Romney himself, who on Friday spent a second day condemning the remarks.

“Harry Reid really has to put up or shut up,” Mr. Romney said as he campaigned in Mr. Reid’s home state, north of Las Vegas. “I have paid taxes every year, and a lot of taxes, a lot of taxes. So Harry is simply wrong, and that’s why I’m so anxious for him to give us the names of the people who have put this forward.”

The testy exchange between the two men is the latest manifestation of the broader Democratic strategy to highlight Mr. Romney’s wealth and offshore accounts as the party’s leaders seek to disqualify him in the eyes of middle-class voters. The Republican candidate has refused to release more than two years of his tax returns, prompting sarcastic television ads from President Obama and his allies.

The Democrats have no decency at all. The lowest of the low.

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NBC Runs Commercial With Monkey Doing Gymnastics Right After Gabby Douglas Wins Olympic Gold Medal

More #NBCFail.

At Buzzfeed, "Did NBC Just Air a Racist Commercial?" (Via Memeorandum.)

Saying it's "bad timing" won't cut it. Or is that just too PC? Check Ed Driscoll's response, "Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkeys — and Walruses…and Cannibalistic Self-Devouring Ice Cream Men?"