LBCC Plans Full-Time Faculty Layoffs: Administration Cites Need to Cut $2 Million in College Programs

LBCC President Eloy Oakley sent out a campus-wide internal email yesterday, and the faculty union president followed-up, indicating that the administration personally contacted those full-time faculty members facing lay-offs.

And here's the report at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Long Beach City College to cut more programs, staff to save $2 million":

LONG BEACH — Long Beach City College is planning to eliminate several instructional programs next year in an effort to cut $2 million from its budget, officials announced Thursday.

The cuts, planned for the 2013-2014 school year, could include the loss of up to 20 programs and layoffs for around 10 full-time faculty members, said LBCC President Eloy Oakley.

The college has about 200 academic programs and 308 full-time faculty.

Oakley said the latest round of reductions is part of the college's ongoing plan to remain fiscally stable in the face of severe state budget cuts. The college has seen an overall 7.4 percent reduction in state funding.

In April, the Board of Trustees approved a plan to lay off 55 employees and reduce contracts for 96 positions for a savings of more than $5 million. The reduction in staffing was one of the largest in the college's history.

While LBCC has made some difficult decisions, even tougher cuts loom on the horizon if voters fail to pass a November tax initiative designed to fund education, Oakley said.

More at the link.

California can't afford a tax increase --- we're already the nation's economic basket case. But the Democrats are pushing hard for it anyway, "Gov. Jerry Brown formally kicks off Prop. 30 tax hike campaign."

PREVIOUSLY: "LBCC Announces 55 Layoffs — Tensions High as Faculty Union Prepares Jobs Actions and Protests," and "Dr. Gaither Loewenstein Appointed New Vice President of Academic Affairs at Long Beach City College."

RELATED: LBCC's in the national news, at the Chronicle of Higher Education, "At Calif. Public Colleges, Dreams Deferred." (The entire text is cross-posted to the LBCC website.)

Reckless Rhetoric: Southern Poverty Law Center Threatened With $100 Million Lawsuit

The Christian Group LivePrayer may sue the SPLC. National Review reports, "Christian Group to File $100 Million Lawsuit against SPLC" (via Memeorandum):

Bill Keller’s group just issued a press release warning the Southern Poverty Law Center to remove him and LivePrayer from their hate-group list within 72 hours or face a lawsuit. SPLC was founded in order to use civil litigation to bankrupt genuine hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, interestingly enough. Any lawyers out there who could evaluate LivePrayer’s prospects for success?

Check the link for the press release.

Plus, at Legal Insurrection, "Neo-Nazis in Rhode Island? SPLC exaggerates again." And The Other McCain, "Rhode Island Neo-Nazis and Other Mysteries of 21st-Century Hate."

More from Da Tech Guy, "Dana Milbank on SPLC “hate” or What a difference a little bloodshed makes." It turns out that the Washington Post disabled comments to the Milbank piece. No doubt the "tolerance" brigades were getting a little intolerant. Check Memeorandum for the link.

PREVIOUSLY: "Is SPLC a 'Hate Group'?"

Is SPLC a 'Hate Group'?

The left's über race-baiter Mark Potok of SPLC responds to the Family Research Council, "SPLC: Family Research Council License-to-Kill Claim ‘Outrageous’" (at Memeorandum):

... FRC President Tony Perkins attacked the SPLC, saying it had encouraged and enabled the attack [on the Council's headquarters] by labeling the FRC a “hate group.” The attacker, Floyd Corkins, “was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center,” Perkins said. “I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology.”

Perkins’ accusation is outrageous. The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about LGBT people — not, as some claim, because it opposes same-sex marriage. The FRC and its allies on the religious right are saying, in effect, that offering legitimate and fact-based criticism in a democratic society is tantamount to suggesting that the objects of criticism should be the targets of criminal violence.

The gentleman doth protest too much (and apologies to the noun "gentlemen").

Labeling every single person or group you disagree with on policy grounds is not "fact-based criticism." It's demonization, which is why SPLC is under fire for giving cover to hate.

Here's your hate, on steroids: "Depraved Homosexuals Blame Family Research Council for 'Climate of Violence' After Leftist Attempts Massacre."

More from Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "After DC Attack, Law Center Deserves Flak":

After holding off on making any statement about the shooting attack on his group’s Washington headquarters by a critic of their positions on social issues, the Family Research Center’s Tony Perkins spoke out today and placed at least some of the blame for the incident on the Southern Poverty Law Center, a generally respected liberal watchdog group. This will come as a shock to many whose knowledge of the SPLC comes from the good press it gets for its work over the years monitoring extremist hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. But in recent years, they have expanded their definition of a hate group to include not just the likes of David Duke and neo-Nazis but non-violent conservative advocacy groups. While the SPLC says it condemns violence, their actions have placed a bull’s eye on groups it dislikes and rendered them vulnerable to intimidation.

According to the SPLC’s way of thinking groups like the Family Research Center that oppose abortion and gay marriage are pretty much the moral equivalent of the Klan. Shockingly, the SPLC also lists on their website’s roster of haters people like Washington think tanker Frank Gaffney because of his position on the threat from Islamist terror groups like the Muslim Brotherhood which they interpret as a form of Islamophobia. Indeed, Gaffney is listed on the SPLC’s website on a roster of profile of hatemongers such as Louis Farrakhan and a leader of a white nationalist militia. While one may disagree with the Family Research Council’s religious conservatism or Gaffney’s ideas about the threat from shariah law, the idea that they deserve to be placed in such a context is outrageous. In doing so, they are also responsible for creating an atmosphere in which those who take such positions are to be intimidated into silence. Yesterday’s events ought to cause the Law Center to rethink its irresponsible labeling of political opponents.

The Law Center gained a certain degree of fame and respectability as a more secular counterpart to the Anti-Defamation League, which also monitors hate groups from a Jewish perspective. But the SLC seems to have made a strategic decision in recent years that it might be easier to raise money if it increased its scope from activities monitoring genuine hate groups to advocates of causes that they dislike like such as the Family Research Center who are deeply unpopular among liberal donors.

Recently, the Law Center has also taken up the largely bogus charge that America is suffering from a wave of Islamophobia. In doing so, it put Gaffney in their cross hairs and has now taken to treating the former Reagan administration Defense Department official as being no different than David Duke or Farrakhan. Just as outrageous is that, as Lori Lowenthal Marcus writes in the Jewish Press today, they have teamed up with the likes of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) to support the branding not just Gaffney but scholar Daniel Pipes and his Middle East Forum and investigative journalist Steven Emerson as part of a network of hate against Muslims. Again, one needn’t agree with Gaffney, Pipes or Emerson on every position they take, but the idea that they can be treated like KKK members is a frightening example of the way the left operates these days...

Well said. And Tobin goes on to note the irony of the SPLC allying with genuinely hateful groups like the Center for American Progress, which has been roundly criticized by Jewish organizations for its reprehensible anti-Semitism. But as Tobin points out, that's the way it is on the left nowadays. The SPLC, by its own logic, could be smeared as a "hate group."

And here's David Sessions at the left-wing Daily Beast, "Is the Family Research Council Really a Hate Group?":

Conservatives were outraged when the SPLC revised its list of hate groups in 2010, adding the Family Research Council and the American Family Association. The shooting on Wednesday brought the ire flooding back, as conservative journalists and bloggers insisted that the SPLC is the true hate group. Maggie Gallagher, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, linked to a 2010 article that quoted a SPLC research director saying her group sees no difference between anti-gay evangelical groups and white supremacists. “Trying to lump Tony Perkins with the guy who shot people at the Sikh temple is morally bankrupt on its face,” Gallagher wrote.

William Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School and author of the conservative blog Legal Insurrection, has attacked the SPLC for, in his view, expanding its focus to include more mainstream conservative political groups as well as racist groups. On Wednesday, Jacobson repeated the implication that the SPLC’s designation of the Family Research Council as a hate group is based on FRC’s opposition to gay marriage. “SPLC gave cover to those who use the ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate group’ labels to shut down political and religious speech, and now it has spiraled out of control,” Jacobson wrote.

There is no doubt that Perkins, the Family Research Council, and other conservatives are deploying the shooting to score political points. But they have raised a substantive concern that defies a simple answer, especially in a situation fraught with political and religious tension: which organizations can fairly be called hate groups? Can a word like “hate,” packed with visceral connotations, be part of a civilized debate about a public-policy issue?

More at the link.

Even Brian Levin, of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSU San Bernardino, cited by Sessions, rejects the "hate group" designation for FRC.

Tony Perkins comments are seen at the video here, "Before Shooting: Southern Poverty Law Center Put Family Research Council on ‘Hate Map’."

IMAGE CREDIT: Digger's Realm, "Hate and Slander For Profit - Part 1."

World Freedom Congress, September 11, 2012

At Atlas Shrugged, "September 11, 2012: D-Day in the Information Battle-Space."

More "ADL's Defamation of Proud Jews," and "VIDEO: Pamela Geller on NBC News Report on AFDI's “Islamorealism” Ads."

Mitt Romney's Whiteboard Lecture on Medicare Reform

Schooling Obama.

At Hot Air, "Oh my: Romney busts out the white board on Medicare."

Bill Whittle's Afterburner: 'The Democrats Are Terrified' of Paul Ryan

A cutting --- and cutting-edge --- analysis, with humor.

Lebanon Abductions Escalate Conflict in Syria

This is pretty amazing.

At the New York Times, "In Lebanon, Sunnis Threaten Shiites as Kidnappings of Syrians Rise":

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Sectarian tensions escalated across Lebanon on Thursday as Sunnis in border towns threatened Shiites after several Shiite families who had already abducted more than 30 Syrians added several more to their hostage total.

The expanded kidnapping wave occurred as the war in Syria staggered on — with battles in Aleppo and dozens of bodies found in a landfill outside the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to activists — and it suggested that the threat of regional chaos was increasing.

Lebanon has long been a country where international rivalries play out, and Lebanese security officials said Thursday that Syria’s 17-month-old conflict had pushed Beirut and the border regions closer to civil strife.

“It’s a very critical moment,” said one senior security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the heightened tensions. “We are open to the fact that there are going to be surprises.”

Those surprises included more kidnappings. A group of Shiites from the Zeeiter tribe told reporters on Thursday that they had kidnapped four members of the Free Syrian Army from hospitals in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, which borders Syria. Another tribe in the area, according to local news reports, kidnapped four other rebel fighters just across the border inside Syria.

The abductions on Thursday came a day after members of the powerful Mikdad family abducted nearly 40 Syrians to avenge the kidnapping of a relative, Hassan Salim al-Mikdad, by Syrian rebels on Monday.

The families of 11 other Lebanese hostages held inside Syria have also kidnapped several Syrians, after conflicting news reports suggested that some or all the Lebanese hostages had been killed by a Syrian airstrike. By Friday their fate had become clear: four had been killed, the Syrian rebel commander said in an interview on Lebanese television.

And while the Mikdads told reporters on Thursday that they had stopped taking hostages, the cycle of tit-for-tat abductions seemed to be spreading. Residents of some Lebanese border communities said Sunnis had also threatened to start kidnapping Shiites.

More at the link.

Hmm, it's hard to dismiss the idea that a U.S.-led protection force in Syria could long ago have prevented this kind of escalation. Of course, it would have never been approved before the U.N. But the U.S. bombed Kosovo in the 1990s without U.N approval, so it happens. Would that have risked war with Russia? Perhaps, although we're practically back in the Cold War with Moscow as it is. And Mosow's a smidgeon of its former self under Soviet rule. I doubt we'd make it anywhere near DEFCON 3 alert, as we were in the 1973 Middle East crisis. But I think that's getting ahead of things. Russia would probably huff and puff these days, as U.S. forces proceeded to toppled the regime in Damascus and install a friendly regime committed to secular politics and democratization.

More from Max Boot, at Commentary, "Extremists Filling Power Vacuum in Syria."

An Open Letter to MSNBC's Touré on Real Racism

From Kira Davis:

Progressives are horrible people.

That was my dad's generation. And I was called "nigger" when I was in school. I still have progressives launching racist attacks on me, amazingly. But they're supposed to be tolerant. See: "It's Come to This: Progressives Reduced to Racist Slurs Against American Power."

PREVIOUSLY: "Niggerization."

BONUS: At Big Journalism, "Romney Camp 'Discussing' Racial Slam with MSNBC Execs."

The Media's Strangely Subdued Reporting on Family Research Council Shooter

From Jill Stanek, at NewsBusters:

I was camping yesterday morning when a friend alerted me via Twitter on my iPhone there had been a shooting at Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Frightened for my friends, I began scanning Google for news reports. Ten minutes later the first story popped up, stating an FRC security guard had been shot in the arm, and the shooter had been arrested.

A bit relieved, I went ahead with a planned day trip, tuning in to news radio in the truck to keep up with the latest. Nada.

I switched to WLS radio, the Chicago ABC affiliate. More nada.

I thought to myself had this been a shooting at a NARAL or GLAAD headquarters, or at a Planned Parenthood clinic, the journalistic world would have stopped. But because FRC is conservative, a shooting wasn’t so big a deal.

Continue reading.

No one was killed, so that explains a lot of it. But as I noted yesterday, had it been HRC rather than FRC, well, you know... See: "CNN Waited 2 Hours and 45 Minutes to Report Shooting at Family Research Council."

Paul Ryan Shirtless!

Forget about the non-existent #RomneyRyan war on women. This guy is hot. Even Gayle King at 'CBS This Morning' noted Ryan's great shape during her interview with Mitt the other day.

And at PolicyMic, "Paul Ryan Shirtless: How the Romney VP Pick Became a Ryan Gosling Viral Sensation."

IMAGE CREDIT: Stoaty Weasel.

'Troops of Tomorrow'

So I'm clicking around on YouTube last night, cruising through some punk clips, and I find an upload from The Exploited's 1985 concert at The Olympic Auditorium. That was something else. I remember hanging out in the back, staying clear of the massive mosh pit. What a memory. The flyer's here, "The British Are Coming."

Below is a studio version of "Troops of Tomorrow," the title track off the band's second album, released in 1982.

I loved their sound, but The Exploited had issues. When I first saw them play, at The Lingerie nightclub in Hollywood, Wattie, the lead singer, started waling on the guitarist, and then the whole stage was in brawl. And that was it. Concert over. We (me and my buddies) were so f-king pissed. The club was half full. I was standing right at the stage. It was going to be fabulous. But Wattie was drunk off his ass and it ended up being a waste. Not a total waste, if I recall, since my buddy Victor and I met up with some smokin' beautiful women whom we'd met previously as some other gigs. (Victor was the drummer in the band F-Beat (which included Right Wing News blogger Michael Fell on base.) Here's an old Flipside Fanzine interview with Wattie from 1984, and he talks about the fight at The Lingerie:

Frank: Last time you were here you didn't get to play your scheduled show here in L.A. so you were gonna play a free show at a Roller Rink, what happened with that?

Wattie: Me and Gary got in a fight and I knocked his front four teeth in. We were still gonna play, we were still pals and stuff, but it cost us $400 to get his face stitched up. Gary had really bad breath, and he was picking on the drummer right, 'cause he was drunk, and he stuck his face near mine. And if I'm drunk, if somebody puts their face near me I'll just hit them, I'm paranoid about that...

(Wattie tells us how Carl "lost" his guitar in Spain: the Exploited did some minor damage and were asked to pay a lot for it. When they refused, the police were called who arrested the band and put them in jail. By then the bill had doubled, the Exploited gave them all the money they had plus Carl's guitar and they got out. He finally got a new guitar after their four shows in L.A.)

More at Wikipedia.

PREVIOUSLY: "The Exploited - 'Hitler's in the Charts Again'."

Facebook Shares Fall to New Low as Investors Dump Holdings

At the Wall Street Journal, "Facebook Shares Fall to New Lows as Lockup Ends":

Facebook Inc. shares sank 6.3% to a record low on Thursday, falling below $20 a share on a day when some early investors were allowed to unload their stakes, adding further pressure on the beaten-down stock.

Rules expired Thursday that had restricted some early investors from selling down their stakes after Facebook's initial public offering. More than 271 million Facebook shares became eligible for sale Thursday, though holders could also choose to keep some, or all, of their stakes. Any additional shares would add to the 421 million already in circulation.

Facebook declined $1.33 to $19.87 on the Nasdaq Stock Market at 4 p.m. Thursday, after hitting a record intraday low of $19.69.

The prior closing low of $20.04 was hit Aug. 2. Upward of 141 million shares had traded by 3:30p.m. New York time, more than triple the stock's daily average over the past 30 days, according to the WSJ Market Data Group. That was greater than the full-day activity in all but two sessions: the first two days Facebook was public and the day after it reported second-quarter results in July.

"It's basically supply and demand," said Evercore Partners analyst Ken Sena. "You have a lot of supply of shares coming to market, so even to those who feel that the stock is priced attractively at these levels, there's no reason to step in and buy."

More at the link.

Politically Correct Olympics on Verge of Fascism

From Yulia Latynina, at the Moscow Times, "The Most Politically Correct Olympics in History":

The London Games have gone down in history as the most politically correct Olympics ever. Moreover, it was political correctness in its worst form — on the verge of fascism.

First, the leadership of the Greek Olympic Committee removed triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou from the games for the following joke she made on Twitter: "With so many Africans in Greece … the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!"

The joke is certainly offensive, but ruining someone's life over this matter — someone who has spent her whole life preparing for this competition — is pure fascism. It is the Ministry of Love punishing thoughtcrime.

In another case, a member of the German rowing team, Nadja Drygalla, was forced to drop out of the competition because of a comment that was made on Facebook. But she had nothing to do with it. It was her boyfriend, a former neo-Nazi, who complained of having to travel on a train "with blacks and Pakistanis."

Maybe the Olympic Ministry of Truth can answer one question for me: Why should Nadja Drygalla answer for the contents of her boyfriend's Facebook page?

What's next?

Disqualifying an athlete for the actions of his father? Or because another athlete's grandfather served in the SS? Or maybe because somebody's great-grandfather suppressed the Sepoy Rebellion in India?

But the most surprising aspect is the shameless double standards of the International Olympic Committee, or IOC. The Ministry of Love, standing by with a hot iron ready to dole out punishment for having politically incorrect boyfriends, turns out to be surprisingly tolerant of Nazism of another variety.

Take, for example, when several Lebanese Olympic athletes refused to train in the same room as Israelis. That is much worse than a tasteless joke on Twitter. It's pure racism. The IOC should have clearly said to the Lebanese athletes, "Your demand is contrary to the very spirit of the Olympic Games, so we are excluding you from the competition."

But instead of doing that, the committee simply put up a partition in the training room to appease the Lebanese racists and ensure that their tender feelings weren't offended....

I blogged a few of these example, but continue reading.

The enormously vile leftism is the main reason lots of folks revile the Olympic Games.

How to Manage Your Bulging Email Inbox

I have two email accounts, and the spam folder for my private Gmail works really well, blocking out not just spam, but also idiot progressive trolls like Walter James Casper III, who continues his obsession with this blog, the f-king freak.

 Check the report at the Los Angeles Times, "Tech Savvy: How to manage your bulging email inbox."

'Niggerization'

Touré's the perfect representation of progressive Democrat Party political, policy, and moral bankruptcy. 

And God bless S.E. Cupp for calling out that idiot's blatant race-hustling double standards.

At Hot Air, "Video: Touré pretty sure that Romney calling Obama “angry” is racial" (via Memeorandum).

Penélope Cruz Looks Awesome in New 'Super Mario Bros. 2' Advertisement (Video)

I had Penélope Cruz in mind yesterday, when I mentioned that Bar Refaeli wasn't the world's most beautiful woman. Ms. Cruz is swoon-worthy. At London's Daily Mail, "Penelope Cruz as you've never seen her before! Star transforms into Super Mario for new Nintendo advert."

Previous Penélope Cruz blogging is here. I've been slacking!

South African Police Open Fire on Striking Miners (VIDEO)

Longer versions of the video show the miners armed with huge machetes, and thus the police will be able to claim self-defense. Still, it's too much. At least 18 dead? It's just too much.

The New York Times reports, "Mine Strike Mayhem Stuns South Africa as Police Open Fire."

MARIKANA, South Africa — The police fired on machete-wielding workers engaged in a wildcat strike at a platinum mine here on Thursday, leaving a field strewed with bodies and a deepening fault line between the governing African National Congress and a nation that, 18 years after the end of apartheid, is increasingly impatient with deep poverty, rampant unemployment and yawning inequality.

In a scene replayed endlessly on television that reminded some South Africans of the days when the police of the apartheid government opened fire on protesters, heavily armed officers shot into a charging crowd of workers who walked off the job last Friday, demanding higher wages.

The strike has pitted the country’s largest mine workers union, which is closely allied with the governing A.N.C., against a radical upstart union demanding sharp increases in pay and faster action to improve the grim living and working standards for miners.

The strike and the government’s iron-fisted response are emblematic of the frustration with the slow pace of transforming South Africa’s largely white-owned business establishment and the growing perception that the A.N.C. and its allies have become too cozy with big business. As a result, many people here, especially the young, have looked for more radical solutions.

“N.U.M. has deserted us,” said one of the striking workers, who gave his name as Kelebone, referring to the older union, the National Union of Mineworkers, by its abbreviation. “N.U.M. is working with the white people and getting money. They forgot about the workers.”

Also at Guardian UK, "South African police shoot dead striking miners."

Ryan Pick Shifts Focus From Economy to Ideology

I noted this point earlier, and I'm thrilled about it.

At the New York Times, "Choice of Paul Ryan Shifts the Focus From Economy to Ideology."

However, I wouldn't put too fine a point on it. You can't lose focus of the economy in this economy. Obama is the emperor with no clothes. He can run, he can demonize his opponents, but he can't hide. The campaign's ideological focus sharpens differences on the economy. The Times implies Ryan's a liability, of course. Only the election will tell. But we know conservatives are energized and Team O's shaking in its boots. The Dems are walking a living nightmare.

Ecuador Grants Asylum to Julian Assange

At the New York Times, "Ecuador Grants Asylum to Assange, Defying Britain." (Via Memeorandum.)

Economic Downturn, High Taxes Hurt Hollywood as TV Production Joins Film Exodus

California's so uncompetitive that even the basic core of the state's historic entertainment industry is looking for more fertile pastures.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Los Angeles losing the core of its TV production to other states":

The five broadcast television networks will be rolling out 23 new one-hour dramas for the upcoming season. That would normally be good business for Hollywood's hometown industry — with bookings for soundstages and plenty of work for the costumers, camera operators and caterers needed to put a show on the air.

But not this year. Just two of the 23 new fall and midseason shows will be shot in Los Angeles County, as cost-conscious producers seek tax-friendly production havens in New York, North Carolina, Georgia and other states.

The exodus has been going on for years, especially in feature film production. But television dramas such as"CSI,""Criminal Minds"and"Desperate Housewives"have long been anchors of Los Angeles' entertainment economy, helping to offset the decade-long slide in moviemaking. One 22-episode-a-year network series has a budget of $60 million and generates 840 direct and indirect jobs, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

That economic bang is beginning to fizzle. Fewer than 10% of new network dramas this season are based in Los Angeles, down from 50% in 2010 and nearly 80% in 2005.

"The loss of hourlong dramas is very significant," said Kevin Klowden, director of the California Center at the Milken Institute, noting that a typical drama shoots for eight to nine months, compared with just six to eight weeks for a film. "This is the heart of television production. If this continues, you're going to see a direct impact on the employment base of Los Angeles."

Though L.A. still hosts the bulk of new half-hour comedies and reality shows, dramas are more prized because they use bigger crews and have bigger budgets. That translates to more spending in the local economy....

New York had a record year for TV production last year and is on track to repeat in 2012. More than half a dozen new fall and midseason network dramas are expected to shoot in New York this season, including the CW's"The Carrie Diaries,"CBS'"Elementary" andABC's"666 Park Avenue."

At least seven new broadcast dramas will be shooting in Canada, includingABC's"Zero Hour," in Montreal, and "Hannibal" and"Beauty and the Beast,"both in Toronto, which also hosts the new drama "The L.A. Complex," about a group of actors trying to make it in Hollywood. Other new dramas are being filmed in North Carolina, Georgia, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

To be sure, creative reasons also factor in the decision-making. It made sense to shoot"Dallas"in Texas because the story is based there. But tax credits offered by Texas were also important, said Michael Robin, an executive producer on the series, who is also a producer on the new cable crime drama "Longmire," which is set in Wyoming but filmed in New Mexico, partly to take advantage of tax credits.

"The cost of producing these shows goes up every year, but the bottom line doesn't," said Robin, who is also producing the new cable drama"Major Crimes"locally. "The tax credits help close the gap."

"The reality is, as long as Sacramento continues to balk at having real incentives, we're going to continue to lose the most lucrative forms of television and film production," said Paul Audley, president of FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit group that handles permits for the city and county. "We're losing tens of thousands of jobs to New York."

The Concours d'Elegance Car Show at Pebble Beach

I think my buddy will be up at Pebble Beach again, with his 1913 American Underslung.

And it looks like it's going to be one hella show, "1936 Mercedes may break record at Pebble Beach auction."

Former Special Forces Officers Slam Obama Over Bin Laden Leaks

At the New York Times, "Ex-Officers Attack Obama Over Leaks on Bin Laden Raid."

Shooting at Family Research Council

The report from MyFoxDC, "Shooting at Family Research Council Headquarters."

And at Instapundit:

AMERICA’S WEIMAR MOMENT? Reader Kevin Hedges writes:

Many years ago in an undergrad World History course, the professor asserted that German democracy died not in 1933 with Hitler becoming Chancellor but years earlier. It died when roving bands of Brown Shirts beat up Jews in the streets, and the average respectable German citizen responded by looking the other way. I am reminded of that today with the FRC shooting and the MSM pretending it didn’t happen. Leftist shootings, vandalized Chick-fil-As, Black Panthers at voting stations, many, many churches burned and vandalized, media silence and the drumbeat of hate and demonization continues. I honestly wonder if democratic pluralism is dead. Some are openly saying it is. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Fascism.

Professor Reynolds responds, at the link.

And see Gina Dalfonzo, at National Review, "Leo Johnson of the FRC and the Best and Worst of Human Nature":

When early eyewitness reports — not yet confirmed by the police or the FBI — suggested that the shooter had said disparaging things about FRC’s views, the rhetoric got even crazier. The narrative that has emerged among certain members of the Left goes something like this: When a right-winger shoots a left-winger, the right wing is at fault. And when a left-winger shoots a right-winger, the right wing is also at fault, because people with their views are just asking for it.

Have we really gotten to the point in this country where some of us are willing to legitimize violence this way?

We have to be honest when talking about the motives of any given criminal. There’s no point in trying to hide or ignore them. But can’t we also be honest about the fact that on both sides of the aisle, violence tends to come only from the marginalized and deranged? Pinning the blame for a crime on an entire mainstream movement or belief system is a highly dangerous exercise. It means that when a crime is committed by someone who agrees with you — as will inevitably happen, since criminals come from all backgrounds and belief systems — you then have to quickly twist things around and protect yourself from any possible guilt by association. And if that means blaming the victim, well, so be it.

Yes, but it's the left that almost always does the twisting. Personally, I've never seen such hatred in my entire life. And yes, progressives will blame and attempt to destroy the victim. That's what they do. They have no grace.

PREVIOUSLY:

* "CNN Waited 2 Hours and 45 Minutes to Report Shooting at Family Research Council."

* "SPLC Gives Cover to Hate."

* "Depraved Homosexuals Blame Family Research Council for 'Climate of Violence' After Leftist Attempts Massacre."

* "Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Attacked Family Research Council as 'Hate Group' in 2010 Report."

* "Family Research Council Shooting at Washington, D.C., Headquarters."

Mitt Romney: Obama Will 'Do Anything' to Get Elected

I hope he keeps hammering O as he's been the last few days. I've been tweeting Team Romney with my concerns, so who knows, maybe I'm getting through. I know someone got through to Mitt over the last week or so. That Chillicothe speech was a knock out.

The Hottest Woman in the World

I don't know if Bar's the hottest in the entire world. She's up there, and extremely easy on the eyes, but I can think of a few others who top the list.

In any case, previously, "Bar Refaeli Rocks Maxim September 2012 Cover in Luscious Lingerie Shoot."

CNN Waited 2 Hours and 45 Minutes to Report Shooting at Family Research Council

Mary Katharine Ham noted CNN's long delay in her post yesterday, "Cops: Suspect in FRC shooting volunteered at Washington LGBT center." Also on Twitter.

No one was killed, but still. This incident really was political, whereas Aurora, Tucson were not. And it was big breaking news. Some were suggesting if it were "HRC" and not "FRC" the media clamor would have rivaled the Gabrielle Giffords shooting. An LGBT volunteer looking to massacre Tony Perkins and the staff at the conservative policy organization? Doesn't fit the left's accepted narrative.

SPLC Gives Cover to Hate

An outstanding essay from William Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection, "SPLC’s hatewatch gives cover to hate."

William notes that he was a big supporter of the SPLC when the organization's primary emphasis was exposing the KKK. But they've moved on to attack as "hate speech" any conservative speech with which the y disagree. Recently the organization moved to provide cover for the homosexual left on same-sex marriage. SPLC has provided creds to the "hate group" charge, and it's just taken off in recent weeks, with terrible consequences:

And so it came to pass, support for retaining the centuries old definition of marriage as one man, one woman, routinely now is labeled as “hate speech” on campuses and increasingly in the liberal-dominated media. Groups which support retaining the definition now are hate groups — with SPLC cited as the authority.

Chick-fil-A brought to the surface the hysteria. A company whose executives supported retaining the traditional definition of marriage was threatened by politicians with denial of business licenses, its products were called “hate chicken,” its employees were rudely confronted, and protesters outside its stores harassed and belittled those who disagreed. Now Chick-fil-A is being banned from campuses.

And in almost every instance, the justification is that support for retaining the traditional definition of marriage is hate speech, and often the SPLC is cited as the authority because it has designated groups like the Family Research Council as a hate group.

SPLC gave cover to those who use the “hate speech’ and “hate group” labels to shut down political and religious speech, and now it has spiralled out of control.

PREVIOUSLY: "Depraved Homosexuals Blame Family Research Council for 'Climate of Violence' After Leftist Attempts Massacre."

It's the Progressives Who Seeks to Put Us in Chains

Mike at Cold Fury's on fire with this post, "Is Romney learning"?

I had it at the sidebar Blog Item Finder but it deserves a full entry of its own. Read it at that link.

Depraved Homosexuals Blame Family Research Council for 'Climate of Violence' After Leftist Attempts Massacre

The Hill reports on the political reaction to today's attempted massacre at the Family Research Council, "Shooting spurs heated debate on gay rights, 'hate group' label" (via Memeorandum).

The left has been firing unhinged hatred all day, from some homosexual lowlife on Twitter, for example (via Twitchy):

Yo @ewerickson, a shooting at #FRC HQ was a long time coming. Though I'm surprised the #AFA wasn't 1st. Hate begets hate. #NOH8 #Bigotry
— Chase J. (@Way2Blue4You) August 15, 2012

Plus, here's Sally Kohn on Twitter:

Yes, Family Research Council is a hate group — and calling them such condemns climate of violence FRC has encouraged
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) August 15, 2012

And there is so much bottled hatred in this Jessica Naomi Twitter feed, it's shocking:

@wiz1965 I DO NOT TOLERATE FUCKING GAY BASHING JESUS FREAKS LIKE YOU & @dloesch & I DO NOT NEED FUCKING JESUS FREAKS TO TOLERATE ME
— JessicaNaomi (@JessicaNaomi828) August 16, 2012

@joemygod who cares what gay basher tyrannical theocRAT @dloesch spews, let her shove her kill gays bible down her own throat & choke on it
— JessicaNaomi (@JessicaNaomi828) August 16, 2012

And Joe.My.God. unleashed a torrent of tweets condemning Tony Perkins, for example:

.@dloesch Do you also condemn the FRC's claim that gay people are inherently mentally ill pedophiles? bit.ly/wKMrjj
— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) August 16, 2012

Epic hate-filled homosexual Dan Savage piles on:

Let's remember why FRC was labeled a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center. It wasn't opposition to gay marriage: splcenter.org/get-informed/i…
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) August 15, 2012

And another epic hater, John Aravosis:

@causeofourjoy Hate is hate. And sadly, a lot of "traditional values" groups are simply collections of people who hate.
— John Aravosis (@aravosis) August 15, 2012

And Aravosis has a blog post justifying the violence, "Does the shooting at the Family Research Council exonerate the group's 20 years of hate?":

The information is still coming in, but someone apparently started shooting in the lobby of the religious right hate group Family Research council in Washington, DC today. A security guard was unfortunately wounded.

Conservatives, such as CNN's Erick Erickson, are already trying to tie Democrats to the attack. Why? Because people on the left had the audacity to challenge the Family Research Council's decades of hateful and bigoted attacks against gay and lesbian Americans. And other conservatives are calling for the Southern Poverty Law Center to no longer list the FRC as a hate group because of today's violence. That would be wrong.

Because of conservatives trying to take political advantage of the shooting I'm now forced to recap just how hateful and bigoted an organization the Family Research Council really is. I'd have preferred to have avoided that this so soon after the attack, but conservatives leave us no choice.

Continue reading.

I guess Aravosis doesn't get the satanic irony of defending the violence against FRC (because they "hate"), and then attempting to reject the shooting on the other hand (because violence is "never justified).

Unlike conservatives, the left has built up an industry attacking conservatives, and people with "traditional values," as "haters." After a while you reap what you sow.

Jonathan Tobin had a thoughtful piece earlier today, "Will the Left Pause After DC Shooting?":

...liberals who have often jumped to the conclusion that all Tea Partiers are violent racists because of stray comments from extremists need to remember that such tactics cut both ways. Those who have repeatedly cautioned conservatives to mind their tongues and be careful about using language that would delegitimize their opponents now must think about what they have been saying in recent weeks and months about the so-called “war on women” or supporters of Chick-fil-A. If they thought violent rhetoric emanating from the right was a problem that could be linked to violence, then they must understand that incitement against conservatives is just as noxious. That is all the more true because almost all of the accusations of right-wing involvement in violence have been proven false while the Washington gunman’s statements make it clear that he was motivated by left-wing politics.

Word.

And also from John Hinderaker, Power Line, "THOUGHTS ON THE FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL SHOOTING":

One of the most troubling aspects of contemporary public life is the frequency with which violent episodes take on a political coloration....

A wrong turn was taken in the Jared Loughner case. Loughner was a lunatic, so deranged that it remained doubtful for a long time whether he would even be competent to stand trial. There is no reason to think that his killing spree was politically motivated, and to the extent that he had a (crazy) political outlook, it was leftist; he listed The Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books.

No matter. The Democratic Party and the media tried, incredibly, in retrospect, to blame Loughner’s shootings on Sarah Palin....

Then we had the absurdity of the Aurora, Colorado Batman shooter being identified breathlessly as a possible Tea Partier by ABC’s Brian Ross. No such luck. Another nut.

Today a public school teacher named Floyd Corkins II walked into the Washington, D.C. office of the Family Research Council, armed with a recently-purchased 9 mm pistol. He was stopped by the guard; news reports don’t clearly explain why. Perhaps he had already drawn his gun, or perhaps he just looked suspicious. Some reports say he was carrying a Chick-Fil-A bag. He shot the guard, who wrestled him to the ground. Along the way, Corkins made observations about the political positions of the FRC, and, when the guard pointed a gun at him–it is not clear, to me anyway, whether the guard was armed or he took Corkins’s gun away from him–Corkins begged him not to shoot, saying something to the effect that it was nothing personal, he just had a problem with the FRC’s politics....

...denouncing proponents of traditional marriage as “haters” isn’t the only instance of over-the-top liberal rhetoric; on the contrary, hysteria is their stock in trade. Thus, we see Barack Obama claiming that Mitt Romney causes cancer, and Joe Biden asserting bizarrely that Republicans want to put someone–African-Americans, I guess, by a process of elimination–”back in chains.” Liberals should take a deep breath and re-think how they talk about public policy issues. If they are looking for haters, it would seem that the mirror is a good place to start.

I've followed the homosexual left on almost a day-by-day basis since Proposition 8 passed on November 5th. 2008. It's been almost four years of non-stop intimidation, thuggery, crime, and violence. Today's attempted massacre was only the logical outcome of the left's long campaign of hatred. I think Moonbattery nailed it here, "Armed Moonbat Attacks Family Research Council":

Imagine if it turns out that Obama’s disgraceful election was the high water mark of moonbattery, and that faith, family, and freedom are the future. Libs aren’t going to get any less angry.

No, they're not. And that reminds my of some thoughts I wrote in 2008, "Shattering Myths on Domestic Radicals: 'The Baader Meinhof Complex'." There will indeed come a day in America when the radical left, the homosexual extremists, the Occupy Wall Street criminals, and the assorted enablers in the fever swamps of the Democrat (Socialist) Party finally get fed up with mainstream politics and take to the banner of revolutionary murder and violence.

Today's attempted massacre was indeed the culmination of left-wing hate and agitation. The seething anger is so palpable, it's bleeding from your screen. Someone's going to get killed one of these times, and the perp will be a radical leftist. The MSM's Obama-enablers are going to be shocked to have to report that the same people they've been pumping up for decades are in fact simply fanatical murderers who reject debate and won't take no for an answer.

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "I Blame Rachel Maddow!"

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Attacked Family Research Council as 'Hate Group' in 2010 Report

I'm sure there's lots more recent attacks, but this SPLC hit piece garnered at lot of attention at the time. See: "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda." And SPLC's got an FRC information page as well.

The FRC responded with a campaign called "Stop Hating | Start Debating":

Tell the radical Left it is time to stop spreading hateful rhetoric attacking individuals and organizations merely for expressing ideas with which they disagree. Our debates can and must remain civil -- but they must never be suppressed through personal assaults that aim only to malign an opponent's character.

Yeah, personal gun assault. No doubt the progressive "tolerance" brigades missed the memo.

More from Kerry Picket, "Human Rights Campaign posted Ryan would speak at 'hate group's annual conference' day before shooting at FRC." And At Twitchy, "Dangerous: Left screeched about Ryan speaking at ‘hate group’ FRC; HuffPo labels FRC hate group again." And, "Shooting at Family Research Council, suspect in custody; Update: Bomb squad enters building; Update: Mitt Romney issues statement; Update: Shooter ID’d."

More at Legal Insurrection, "HuffPo attacks Family Research Council just hours after shooting."

And the damage control begins, at GLAAD "LGBT organizations release joint statement regarding the shooting at Family Research Council (FRC)." (Via Memeorandum.)

PREVIOUSLY: "Family Research Council Shooting at Washington, D.C., Headquarters."

'Back in Chains': The Race Clownery of Obama-Biden

From Michelle's syndicated column, "Black like us: The race clownery of Obama-Biden."

Looks like Vice President Joe Biden has been taking extracurricular Democratic jive-talking lessons. The results of condescending liberals’ cynical racial pandering attempts are, as always, seismically cringe-inducing.

At a campaign event in Danville, Va., the gaffetastic veep dropped his g’s and picked up a bizarre twang in front of an audience of black voters. Middle-Class Joe swapped his Home Depot apron for an A.M.E. preacher’s robe and sermonized about the big, bad GOP.

Romney’s “gonna let the big banks once again write their own rules,” Biden shouted. “Unnnn-chain Wall Street,” he exclaimed with pulpit bravado. “They’re gonna put y’all back in chains,” the pasty Delaware wheeler-dealer faux-drawled. Extra-emphasis on the “y’all.”

Yes, Biden is rattling chains like an extra in “Roots.” This is the same politician of pallor who cracked jokes about Indians who work in 7-Elevens and who referred to his now-boss as “clean” and “articulate.” Yet, Biden’s demagoguery was met with approving hoots and hollers. Or rather, hollas.

Continue reading.

IMAGE CREDIT: The Looking Spoon.

Family Research Council Shooting at Washington, D.C., Headquarters

Thank God no one was killed.

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Guard Shot at Family Research Council Headquarters."

And at the Washington Examiner, "FRC was attacked as a ‘hate group’."

And at Instapundit, "I BLAME THE HATE-FILLED ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND ITS SUPPORTERS..."

No doubt.

More at Memeorandum. And Hot Air has updates. Turns out a second person was shot as well.

UPDATE: At Twitchy, "Crosshairs: Left calls Family Research Council ‘hate group,’ reacts to shooting; Shooter yelled about FRC’s ‘values’; Update: Left offers fake sympathy for FRC shooting; qualifies with ‘totally had it coming, haters’." And, "Unconfirmed reports: Family Research Council shooter carried Chick-fil-A bag, posed as intern; Update: NBC confirming."

Apparently the suspect, reportedly seen at this picture, was carrying Chick-fil-A promotional materials, attempting to look sympathetic to FRC's policy agenda. In contrast to recent shootings like Aurora and Tuscon, the FRC suspects's a vicious, hate-addled left-wing criminal perp. More at JWF, "Suspect Identified in FRC Shooting." Plus video reports at Associated Press and The Right Scoop.

The big story coming up will be the Obama-media's reporting. That Chick-fil-A angle is especially devastating to the radical left's bullshit "tolerance" agenda.

More, from ExJon on Twitter:

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” RT @jaketapper i'm told the WH will have a statement on the FRC shooting...
— Jon G. (@ExJon) August 15, 2012

JWF updates, "Suspect Identified in FRC Shooting; Update: Was Volunteer at LGBT Clinic."

ZOMG! The Return of the 'Lightworker'

In 2008, the MSM's Obama-enablers constantly built up the Democrat candidate with ethereal, other-worldly iconography. The worst messiah-worship was from Mark Morford at the San Francisco Chronicle, which was deconstructed by Michelle Malkin quite mercilessly, "Obama the Lightworker." And media photography repeatedly portrayed Obama with the celestial imagery of a halo, for example, "The Halos of Barack Obama."

So you can imagine my chagrin at this AP photo at left, published at Buzzfeed, "Barack Obama Is A Wizard," with the disclaimer, "This photo from the AP has not been doctored in any way." And the caption below the picture reads, "A light shines behind President Barack Obama as he speaks during a campaign event at Bayliss Park, Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, during a three day campaign bus tour through Iowa."

So there you go, "The Lightbringer."

Isn't that wonderful? Indeed, hard-line leftist Libby Spencer felt the thrill up her legs, "The Magic Moment":

Took me all day to decide if I liked this photo or not. Decided that I like it a lot. BuzzFeed billed it as The Wizard. I think I would have called it The Visionary. Either way it's a brilliant catch by the photograher. Confirmed to be authentic, as in not photoshopped.

Oh brother. "The Visionary."

Yeah, Obama can envision trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, and then some. Even after four years Ms. Spencer still elevates Obama atop some mystical pedestal of "visionary" enlightenment. Who knows, perhaps O can employ his light-working skills to a circus job next January, that is, if he has time out for a vocation after his hectic golfing schedule.

And by the way, recall that Libby Spencer is the neo-communist blogger who, along with the antiwar Newshoggers hacks, cheered the insurgency's use of mentally-challenged women suicide bombers in Iraq as a "brilliant" tactical innovation. You can't make this stuff up. See: "Surge 'success' fades with resurgence of violence."

For the record, assuming it's true, I think it's just horrible that whoever was behind this latest disaster used Down's women to perpetrate the bombings but I don't see it as a sign of desperation. I see it as a sign of adaptation and a brilliant one at that.

Right.

A "brilliant" adaptation.

Despicable, but it makes sense. Ms. Spencer reflects perfectly the kind of demonic antiwar radicalism that candidate Obama presented in 2007, when he was the single most anti-American member of the U.S. Senate. Obama launched his presidential bid by declaring the war in Iraq a "complete failure." Basically, with our men and women dying in the field, progressives like this were rooting for their defeat. The enormous depravity involved in this is staggering, almost unfathomable. But you see it all the time if you keep your eyes on the neo-communist left. God have mercy on these people. Seriously.

RELATED: See, "The Great Betrayal: Obama's Wars and the War in Iraq."

BONUS: Last October, Libby Spencer's co-blogger Captain Fogg contacted my college with libelous complaints in one more of the many despicable attempts to get me fired from my teaching position. At the time there were two complaints, both anonymous. I knew Fogg complained because he cribbed his email to my college off the comments he left at the hate-blog American Nihilist. This was in response to comments I left at The Impolitic, Ms. Spencer's blog. So logic would suggest it was these two tag-teaming the workplace intimidation at my college. See: "W. James Casper's Demonic Band of Progressive Totalitarians."

This is the kind of evil you have to deal with when you stand up for decency and right out here. It's a lot of work, but vital for the preservation of freedom.

More later...

Mitt Romney Campaigns in Chillicothe, Ohio

I don't see the full video anywhere, but below's a highlight clip from the haters at Daily Kos.

And see The Hill, "Romney slams Obama in tough new speech" (via Memeorandum):

Mitt Romney used a tough new campaign speech to personally blast the Obama campaign on Tuesday, saying comments earlier in the day from Vice President Biden are "what an angry and desperate Presidency looks like."

"Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago," Romney said while campaigning in Ohio.

Romney was responding to Biden's suggestion that the GOP ticket's economic policies would “put y’all back in chains."

The vice president made the remark while campaigning in Virginia, during a discussion of Wall Street regulation.

"They’ve said it. Every Republican’s voted for it. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they’re proposing. Romney wants to let the — he said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules — unchain Wall Street," Biden said. "They’re going to put y’all back in chains. He’s said he’s going to do nothing about stopping the practice of outsourcing."

Romney repeatedly and harshly criticized Team Obama for the remarks.

The New York Times is also calling it a tough speech, "Romney Delivers a Harsh Rebuke of Obama at Final Stop on Bus Tour":

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Hours after the vice president said that the Republican presidential ticket wanted to put Americans “back in chains,” Mitt Romney concluded a four-day bus tour with his harshest rebuke of the Obama administration to date, saying that its negative campaign tactics have “disgraced the presidency.”

In a speech that was striking in its stinging sweep, which aides said was animated by personal frustration with the recent tone of the race, Mr. Romney lashed out at attacks that he called “wild and reckless.”

“His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then cobble together 51 percent of the pieces,” Mr. Romney said. “If an American president wins that way, we all lose.”

The latest offense, Mr. Romney said, came on Tuesday, when Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. delivered a speech in Iowa. Mr. Biden mocked Mr. Romney for seeking to undo regulations on big banks. “Unchain Wall Street,” the vice president said. “They’re going to put y’all back in chains.” Later, an Obama aide said the White House stood by those provocative words.

Continue reading.

Plus, Robert Stacy McCain was on the ground, "THE CHILLICOTHE ADDRESS: Romney’s Best Speech of the Campaign":

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — Folks, Mitt Romney’s event tonight in Chillicothe was the best I’ve seen of this campaign. The crowd was huge — estimated between 5,000 and 6,000 — and the setting was awesome: In front of the beautiful courthouse downtown, with the sun just setting behind the courthouse and the sky glowing golden.

The speech itself was awesome. I’d already heard Mitt speak twice earlier today — first at a coal mine in Beallsville and then in downtown Zanesville — and parts of the speech were already familiar. But I noticed Mitt was reading from a teleprompter at the Chillicothe event, so this particular speech was prepared in advance. But given the content, including references to the “wild and reckless accusations . . . a few hours ago in Virginia,” it was obvious that it had been updated quite recently.

At several points, Mitt was interrupted by cheers and applause, and at times the crowd broke into chants of “Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!” or “USA! USA! USA!” The candidate was fired up and the crowd was fired up, and it was very exciting to be there with my 13-year-old son Jefferson. Afterwards, as we left, I talked briefly to a National Correspondent Whose Name You Would Recognize and said, “Great speech, huh?” The correspondent replied: “He wrote it himself, you know.” My reaction was skeptical. Does any big-time politician write his own speeches anymore? I said, “Really? He wrote it himself?”

The correspondent said, “Swear to God. He wrote it himself” — and then did a cross-my-heart motion.

How would the correspondent know Mitt wrote the speech himself? I don’t know, but his confidence was such — and the speech was so genuinely awesome — that I called my source at Romney campaign HQ in Boston and asked him if he he had a text of the speech he could send me. It just arrived by e-mail and so here, ladies and gentlmen, is what I call The Chillicothe Address...

Read the full speech at the link.

More at The Lonely Conservative, "Romney to Obama: “Take Your Campaign of Division and Anger and Hate Back to Chicago”." And at Weasel Zippers, "Chutzpah: Obama Campaign Accuses Romney of Being “Unhinged”…"

I'll be updating this post with some of my earlier commentary on Romney's rapid response efforts. This is good, but Eric Fehrnstrom, Andrea Saul and the others can't continue falling down on the job.

Off! Opened for Red Hot Chili Peppers' Two-Night Stand at Staples Center

RHCP made it a punk rock homecoming at Staples Center over the weekend.

At LAT, "Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers celebrate L.A. at Staples."

"Hello L.A., my beautiful home, my beautiful home!"

The words were heartfelt and unsurprising from Flea (nee Michael Balzary), spoken Sunday with intense passion by the acclaimed bassist at the second of two sold-out nights at Staples Center with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

It is all part of the band's life mission, which was never just musical, but also remains an endless celebration of the city and punk-rock scene that birthed them in the early 1980s.

The Chili Peppers catalog includes many lyrics and song titles about "Hollywood," "L.A." and "California," and the same message was there onstage, down to the Lakers banner draped across Flea's amplifiers and their opening act, Off! — homegrown punks chosen specially for the two Staples shows.

It's a glowing write-up, by Steve Appleford, and he concludes with hip review of Off!'s performance:

Off! is a band at all times stripped down to the punk-rock essentials, each of them dressed in T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, raging on guitar, bass and drums. The foursome — also including guitarist Dimitri Coats, bassist Steven McDonald and drummer Mario Rubalcaba — erupted immediately with "Panic Attack," as band members raged and hopped and banged their heads.

Bearded in ripped jeans and with long dreadlocks down his back, Morris barked with rage, humor and charisma, slapping his forehead or leering at the crowd. Songs were barely a minute in length, drawn from the band's two collections, including its album "Off!"

There were no covers from their former bands. No Circle Jerks or Black Flag favorites, just new tunes to set the stage on fire.

Sounds awesome. RTWT at the link.

Mountain Lion Roaming Los Angeles Griffith Park

I love the stories of mountain lion in the local parks, but this one is unusual in that Griffith Park is completely surrounded by urban areas. The lion must have crossed at least one freeway to get up there. It's a three-year old puma and, boy, he's a beefy sucker.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Mountain lion makes itself at home in Griffith Park."

The photos are here, "A mountain lion has settled in Griffith Park."

Sarah Palin on Biden's 'Back in Chains' Comments: 'Unhinged'

A great interview with Governor Palin, at C4P, "Governor Palin Goes ‘On the Record!’ (Video)."

Palin shakes her head and denounces Vice President Biden as a "drag on the ticket." She suggests Hillary Clinton should be brought on the bolster the ticket, jettisoning the Biden "unhinged" dead weight. Good Stuff.

RELATED: At LAT, "Biden clarifies 'chains' remark, takes shot at GOP rivals."

Paul Ryan Interview With Brit Hume on Fox News

Here's the video clip, at Fox, "Paul Ryan on Medicare, budget plan, relationship with Romney." If you're pressed for time, Ryan discusses Medicare, quite effectively, at about 10:00 minutes.

And FWIW, check the related piece from yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "A closer look at Paul Ryan's federal budget plan."

Russia Helps Syria Evade U.S.-European Economic Sanctions

I read the Wall Street Journal's report early yesterday, "Syria's Russian Connection: Regime Attempts to Sidestep Sanctions by Using Foreign Banks in Oil Sales."

And CNN had an interesting segment yesterday afternoon, and the video clip is here "Syria, Russia plans to bypass U.S.-EU sanctions?"

WSJ's report is behind the paywall, but the Current.Mil-Tech.News blog cross-posted it. An excerpt:

Syria's embattled regime laid plans to use Russian banks as part of an emergency effort to sidestep American and European sanctions on oil and financial transactions, according to Syrian government documents and correspondence reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The documents offer an inside look at how a shrinking group of regime loyalists is working to prop up Bashar al-Assad's government. Over the past several weeks, senior Syrian officials have held a series of meetings to discuss how to conduct business after being cut off from most Western banking institutions and trade, the documents indicate.

The documents, which span a period from March until early July, also underscore the difficulties facing Western governments in sustaining comprehensive sanctions against Syria, as long as Damascus keeps its strong diplomatic alliance with Moscow. Earlier this month, Russia received a delegation of top Syrian economic officials, including its oil and finance ministers, to discuss the possibility of government loans and long-term oil deals, Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said in a news conference.

The sanctions, which began last year and were strengthened this spring, are aimed at Syria's oil and financial sectors. The unilateral actions are coordinated by Western and Middle Eastern countries allied against Syria, but aren't legally binding on Russian and other companies that don't have operations in the U.S. or Europe. Russia and China have used their veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block the possibility of international sanctions.

A cache of documents reviewed by the Journal includes what appears to be authentic correspondence between Syrian government officials and certain foreign companies. In interviews with the Journal, some people who were parties to correspondence confirmed details. None of the people reached by the Journal questioned the authenticity of documents referenced in this article, although some denied conducting any business with Syrian entities.

Syria isn't a globally significant oil producer. The 360,000 barrels of crude it pumps daily represent less than 1% of the world's daily oil production. But Syria's oil sales are one of the last sources of foreign currency for President Assad.

The roughly 150,000 barrels per day Syria has available for export, after its domestic needs are met, are worth approximately $380 million per month at current prices. That is a key reason why the U.S. and the European Union targeted Syria's state oil companies, its central bank and financial sector. The sanctions have cut Syria off from its traditional buyers in Europe, including in Italy, Germany and Spain...

The Syria crisis reminds me of Cold War international politics, which I've written about previously. See: "U.S. to Focus on Forcibly Toppling Syrian Government."

Republican Political Professionals 'Fret Over' Paul Ryan

I didn't read this Politico hit piece yesterday, at Memeorandum, "GOP pros fret over Paul Ryan."

Romney's Ryan pick is so bold and significant I almost laughed at the headline.

So now it turns out that the editors at the Wall Street Journal were irked enough to write about it. See, "The Bedwetter Caucus: GOP 'pros' trash the Republican ticket."

BONUS: Bryan Preston at PJ Media hammers Politco's "Frummish" report, "Attack of the Raging Professional Moderates!"

Anything Goes for Morally Bankrupt Obama Campaign — And There's No Price to Pay

From Roger Aronoff, at Accuracy in Media, "For the Left, Anything Goes and No Price to Pay":

It shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point that Stephanie Cutter, the deputy campaign manager of the Obama presidential campaign, could be so completely caught in a lie, as she was last week in the cancer ad produced by the Obama-linked Super PAC that was shown to be dishonest on so many levels, with no price to pay. She came back on numerous shows—NBC’s The Today Show, Andrea Mitchell’s show on MSNBC—and wasn’t even asked about that. On Andrea Mitchell’s show today she was asked about Vice President Joe Biden’s comment earlier in the day before an audience in Danville, Virginia that included several hundred black supporters. Biden told them that if elected president, Mitt Romney was “going to put y’all back in chains.” Cutter told Mitchell that President Obama stood behind both the sentiments and the comments themselves.

They're abject f-king liars.

More at that top link, and also seen there, Victor Davis Hanson, "Our Not So Best and Not So Brightest."

Mitt Romney 'Has Not Launched the Type of Aggressive Messaging and Counter Offensive Necessary to Beat the Campaign of a Saul Alinsky Acolyte'

From Laura Ingrahm on the O'Reilly Factor last Friday, the day Team Romney announced Paul Ryan's veep selection. Hey, it's been pretty awesome since then, but with the exception of the grassroots enthusiasm for Ryan, I'm not seeing the kind of really hard punch back we should be seeing. I'm personally enthusiastic, but still waiting for #RomneyRyan to get Obama on the ropes, to hammer him until he's staggering.

Here's Ingraham, "Laura Ingraham: What Mitt Romney has to do to turn his campaign around":

Now, I realize that some of you won't like hearing this, but if the election were held today, Romney would probably lose. Two surveys released within hours of each other by CNN and Fox reported Obama up by seven points and nine points respectively.

The swing state story is not a good one either. The real Clear Politics average has Obama up seven in Pennsylvania, five in Ohio, and three in Virginia. Obama leads by slim margins in Florida and Colorado.

So with unemployment still above eight percent and two-thirds of the country thinking that we're going in the wrong direction, how on earth is Obama still ahead? Is every poll other than Rasmussen flawed or biased? First reason, negative ads and Romney brand management.

Just about every week this summer, Democrats have launched a new attack against Romney. And by August, they've stereotyped him as a tax dodging, cancer causing, outsourcing, 1950s aristocrat with a car elevator. Romney has spent a lot of time raising money which is important and he's done that well. But he has not launched the type of aggressive messaging and counter offensive that is necessary to beat the campaign of a Saul Alinsky acolyte.

The Obama team throws a knife and Romney's team tosses a pillow. An effective rapid response team would have nailed Obama on the Super PAC cancer ad. I would have said something like this, we're all getting sick, sick of this poisonous style of campaigning and sick of politicians like President Obama who blame others for their broken promises and failed policies. Instead, Romney's spokeswoman responded by lauding universal healthcare in Massachusetts. Terrible...

Watch it at the link.

See also Politico, "Laura Ingraham: 'Romney's losing'."

PREVIOUSLY: See also my earlier concerns, "Mitt Romney Sought 'Pact' With Obama to Take 'Business or Family or Taxes' Off the Table."

Ashley Greene Bikini Pics!

Looking good.

At London's Daily Mail, "Making them Greene with envy! Ashley shows off her incredibly toned bikini body as she goes paddle-boarding with an equally buff mystery man."

I just mentioned Ms. Greene the other day. See, "Helen Gurley Brown, Former Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, Dead at 90."

Emily Hart's 10 Reasons Why Dating Sucks

Quite a change of pace from Karen Alloy, right old chap?!!

See London's Daily Mail, "'There's no point dating someone that you can't see impregnating you.' Emily Hart discusses the dating game in her weekly 10 reasons why blog."

And on YouTube here.

She's funny.

Theo Spark is On Fire!

Man, Theo's been posting all kinds of lovely ladies over there!

See Tuesday's "Bedtime Totty...", and "Tuesday Totty..."

And, "Bonus Babe..."

PHOTO: Monday's "Bedtime Totty..."

'Off the Grid' Voters and Campaign 2012

Here's a new poll from SAY Media, "Research Abstract: Voters Going Off the Grid: 2012."

And here's the write-up, "Will “Off the Grid” Voters Decide the Next Presidential Election?"

Plus, see Emily Steel at the Financial Times, "Voters turn on but tune out political ads":

American voters are increasingly oblivious to the political ads dominating the airwaves during this election campaign, according to a study of media consumption habits.

Nearly a third of likely voters had not watched live TV in the past seven days, according to a June poll conducted by Say Media, a digital publishing company, in conjunction with two political advertising consultancies and two pollsters that represent both Democrats and Republicans....

For years, TV has dominated US political ad budgets. About 66.8 per cent of all US political ad dollars – or $6.6bn – is expected to be spent on broadcast and cable television this year, according to the research firm Borrell Associates.

But political campaigners must now doubt whether television ads will still sway voters. Simply dusting off tried and tested strategies for political advertising no longer works. In closely fought elections, campaigns that deploy the savviest digital advertising strategies increasingly claim victory, political consultants say.

More at the link.