Oops! Democrats Restore Language on Jerusalem to Party Platform

The idiots restored "God" to the platform as well.

The New York Times reports. And the supreme idiot Debbie Wasserman Schultz couldn't even explain the epic clusterf-k to softball interviewer Piers Morgan:

Also at CNN, "Just in: Democrats update platform with Jerusalem, God reference" (via Memeorandum).

It's natural that a hard-left secular collectivist party would delete reference to God from the party's platform. And I'm not sure who they're trying to fool by putting it back in. And Israel? Mitt Romney was right. This administration threw the Jewish state under the bus years ago, and there's been no turning back. I'm sure slowly but surely all but the most deranged Max Blumenthal-style Democrats will realize it and GTFO.

Michelle Obama Offers Personal Tribute to Husband

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Michelle Obama pays tribute to her husband in convention speech."

And the video is here.

Mooch is hard for me to watch. She's the ultimate progressive hypocrite:

Well, Michelle Obama's done. And those cheeseburgers are waiting backstage!
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 5, 2012

Teachers Unions' Alliance With Democratic Party Frays

So says the Los Angeles Times:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Teachers unions have been the Democratic Party's foot soldiers for more than half a century, providing not only generous financial backing but an army of volunteers in return for support of their entrenched power in the nation's public schools.

But this relationship is fraying, and the deterioration was evident Monday as Democrats gathered here for their national convention.

A handful of teachers and parents, carrying large inflated pencils, picketed a screening of "Won't Back Down," a movie to be released this month starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis as mothers, one a teacher, who try to take over a failing inner-city school.

The plot is ripped from the headlines: California has the first "parent trigger" law in the nation, which allows parents to petition for sweeping changes to improve low-performing schools. The first parent trigger attempts have occurred in Compton and Adelanto; the former failed, and the latter faces numerous obstacles.

Parent triggers, along with other emerging efforts, have some Democrats questioning their party's longtime support of guarantees that public school districts have made to teachers for decades. Those efforts also include merit pay, charter schools, weakening the tenure system and evaluating teachers partly based on their students' performance on standardized tests.

"There is no longer sort of this assumed alliance between the Democratic Party and the teachers unions," Michelle Rhee, a leader in the movement, said in an interview. Rhee, a Democrat who is a target of the unions' ire, discussed the issues on a panel after the film screening here and one at the Republican National Convention last week.

"There are now lots of Democrats who are saying, 'You know what, we're for teachers and teachers unions, we support the concept of collective bargaining, but there are clearly some things that need to change, and we are willing to stand up and talk about those challenges,'" she said.

More at the link.

Two reactions: One, I continue to be astounded at the supreme selfishness of America's teachers' unions. It's never about putting the children first, absolutely never. Two, I don't believe for a second that the unions' relationship with the Democrat Party is frayed in the least. Randi Weingarten and her ilk have nowhere else to go, in any case. They can grumble all they want about movies and school reform, but so far their bureaucratic death grip on the schools seems very secure.

See the related report at the New York Times from the other day, "School Choice Is No Cure-All, Harlem Finds." Black parents are searching frantically for a good education for the children. And big plans for school choice, like Mayor Bloomberg's, often come up short, with devastating effect for families.

DNC's Debbie Wasserman Schultz Caught Lying About Alleged 'Dangerous for Israel' Comment

As I've been saying, it's non-stop lies with these people, the cretins.

Philip Klein's initial report is here, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Israeli ambassador called GOP “dangerous for Israel”."

That would be Ambassador Michael Oren, who denied it: "Israeli Ambassador ‘categorically’ denies DWS claim he said GOP was ‘dangerous for Israel’."

When caught lying, the DNC Chair claimed she was "misquoted" by "a conservative newspaper."

But that's not so, as Alana Goodman points out, "Audio Proves DWS Wasn’t Misquoted."

There's audiotape here.

Hey, the New York Times even picked it up, "Wasserman Schultz Comments Draw Denial from Israeli Ambassador."

This story needs to go viral. The Democrats are all about accusing the Republicans of lies. And yet here we have concrete evidence that Wasserman Schultz lied, and then lied about her lies, the lying liar.

Alana concludes:

Could this possibly get any more embarrassing for the DNC? Wasserman Schultz not only misled Fox News, she also tried to baselessly smear a meticulous reporter, Phil Klein, who fortunately happened to record her statement on audio. Not only did DWS misrepresent the Israeli Ambassador’s comments, she also inaccurately claimed that Klein misquoted her. Why would any journalist — or, for that matter, any foreign diplomat — take her seriously again?

Push Positive

Amazing.

At Telegraph UK, "Lara Stone gets upfront for Calvin Klein."

Theo's Tuesday Hotties

What a roundup.

See, "Tuesday Totty...", and "Bonus Babe..."

Plus, "Bedtime Totty..."

Cathy McMorris Rodgers Speaks to the Republican National Convention

I missed this earlier, and folks know she's one of my very favorite Republicans:

And ICYMI, at Michelle's, "RNC recap in living color: The speeches and stories Obama wants to whitewash."

Classic Democrat Convention Video: 'Government Is the Only Thing We All Belong To...'

You can't make this stuff up, via BuzzFeed.

I'll bet Alexis de Tocqueville is rolling in his grave. Sheesh.

Michelle has more, "Creepy video: DNC propaganda clip asserts that “we” all “belong to” govt; Mitt Romney responds" (via Memeorandum).

'Obama Is Trying to Force Gay Marriage On This Country'

Actually, it's the depraved homosexual left's that's shoving gay marriage down our throats, but Obama swallows, so there you go:

And see Politicker, "Gary Bauer’s Anti-Same Sex Marriage Super PAC Campaign Against Obama is Just Getting Started." (At Memeorandum.)

Labor Day Weekend in Las Vegas

We got back from Vegas late last night. I didn't take many pictures, although my son took this one on his iPhone 4:

We stayed at the MGM Grand. At right is the walk-bridge over to New York New York, and at left is Excalibur. It was a great trip, although I never made over to the Marquee Nightclub. Maybe next time.

More later...

'Garden & Gun' Back From the Brink

A very interesting report, at the New York Times, "Garden & Gun Claws Its Way Back From the Brink":

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Among the many magazines that were battered by the recession, few survived such a precarious financial state as Garden & Gun.

In 2009, the two-year-old Southern lifestyle magazine lost financial support from its first publisher. Its employees, many of whom had relocated from New York City to work here, were left with dwindling buyout packages and the promise of freelance pay. Real estate developers could no longer afford to buy advertisements, and some new prospects said they would not give a cent to the magazine until the owners took “gun” out of its title.

David DiBenedetto, the editor in chief, recalled that when the magazine’s color printer broke, the staff did not have the money to replace it for two months. They had to print out proofs at a nearby Kinko’s.

“You didn’t know if you would be there the next week,” Mr. DiBenedetto said as he picked over a lunch of peach soup, fried green tomatoes and catfish at Charleston’s Husk restaurant. He and his wife moved here from New York so he could work at Garden & Gun. “You just didn’t know if the lights would be on.”

It did not help that Garden & Gun’s spare layouts and meandering prose differed radically from the shorter, flashier articles many magazines were moving toward to compete with Facebook and Twitter.

But now, its provocative name and contrarian approach seem to be paying off in a struggling magazine industry. The bimonthly won a 2011 American Society of Magazine Editors award for general excellence, and its editors have a three-book deal with HarperCollins to publish a Southern guide, a collection of dog columns and a cookbook.

With advertisers like Audi, Le Creuset and Brooks Brothers on board, the magazine’s owners forecast that it could be profitable for the first time this year. While circulation is slipping across the magazine industry, Garden & Gun’s circulation grew to 237,837 subscribers in December 2011 from 210,172 the year before, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The magazine, based out of a 200-year-old former pharmacy on Charleston’s historic King Street, was founded as what Jessica Hundhausen Derrick, its vice president and brand development director, described as “a love song to the South.”

It included articles about backyard gin makers, woodworkers crafting chairs from whiskey barrels, and Southern produce like Georgia rattlesnake watermelon. Among the lighter pieces by authors like Roy Blount Jr., there were richly detailed articles like the one from a lifelong friend of Eudora Welty describing how the author feared that if her dead mother saw her cook, “she’d weep with shame.”

And to feed advertisers’ anxieties, nearly every issue featured unapologetic articles in praise of hunting. There were essays on quail hunts, hunting clubs and hunting dogs, often written with an emphasis on land preservation and basking in sumptuous photo spreads to rival Vogue or National Geographic.

But the magazine has also taken a very modern approach to publishing. It began the Garden & Gun Club, which offers subscribers retail discounts and access to private concerts and talks. So far, 3,000 subscribers are paying $35 to $500 a year for one of three membership levels.

The magazine is holding 30 events this year, including a “Lowcountry Field Feast” in South Carolina, a golf event in Georgia and a New Orleans beer festival this fall. It also sells its own merchandise, like a limited-edition Garden & Gun hunting tie and, for the coming holidays, a Le Creuset dish in gunmetal gray.

These kinds of initiatives depend heavily on loyal readers, which Garden & Gun has in abundance. Subscribers knock on the door daily to introduce themselves. Readers write in about how they tested the Southern road trips and dive bars the magazine recommended. One reader even threatened to hunt down the editors and shoot them if they stopped publishing — which the editors emphasize was in jest.

Continue reading.

And checking over at the magazine, "Redefining the Southern Belle."

Hmm. A worthy addition to the reading list.

Rough Patch Ahead for the EU

A number of reports over the weekend indicated a big week ahead for the European Union.

The Astute Bloggers was on the case, "U.S. COMPANIES PREPARED FOR GREECE'S EXIT FROM THE EURO."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Euro Bond Markets Brace for a Stormy September":

Bonds issued by financially frail European countries have largely been on their best behavior in August, but several events in the next two weeks could awaken markets from their summer slumber.

The European Central Bank's governing council meets Thursday, and investors will eye the news conference that follows for details on the size and design of the central bank's proposed bond-purchase program.

Bond sales by some euro-zone countries are set to resume after a break last month, with Spain selling shorter-dated bonds only a few hours before the central-bank meeting.

A decision by the German Constitutional Court on the legality of the euro-zone's permanent rescue fund and parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, both on Sept. 12, will also fight for the attention of market participants. The outcome of the Dutch election remains highly uncertain at a time when investors are looking to politicians for decisive action.

Last, and most important, euro-zone finance ministers will meet Sept. 14. Following the meeting, Spain could well become the fourth country in the euro zone to seek assistance from its neighbors.

All these events are interlinked to some degree, which means that efforts to deal meaningfully with the crisis could still face hurdles.

Continue reading.

And at Der Spiegel, "Euro Crisis Starts to Bite: German Export Orders Fell Sharply in August."

More at The Economist, "As Greece fights to stay in the euro, Spain moves closer to a bail-out," and "Charlemagne: Don’t expect the European Central Bank single-handedly to save the euro."

The Grim Determination of the Charlotte Democrats

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Charlotte Democrats":

The Democrats gathering in Charlotte this week are united behind President Obama but more than a little nervous about their November prospects. The thrill of 2008 is gone, replaced by an almost grim determination. The party of hope and change has become the party of grind-it-out, slug-it-out, and hope to win as less awful than Mitt Romney.

This isn't the way it was supposed to be. The Obama Presidency was going to usher in a new era of long-term Democratic dominance, and the circumstances to make it happen were on their side. Democrats took power in a recession they could pin on Republicans, knowing they could take credit for the inevitable economic recovery and ride that to re-election. Young people went for them 2 to 1 and might have been loyal for decades. It all might have worked had they made the economy their priority.

But this misjudges the modern Democratic Party. Four years ago in Denver, we wrote that the country deserved to know that the Democrats who would really be running the country in 2009 would be named Henry Waxman, John Dingell, John Conyers, David Obey, George Miller, Barney Frank and James Oberstar. Those were—and mostly still are—the liberal barons of the House.

They weren't about to let a crisis go to waste, and so they went about using their accidentally large majorities to drive through a generation of pent-up liberal legislation. Mr. Obama famously let them write the stimulus and health-care bills. Republicans were helpless to stop them for two years. Liberals got nearly everything they wanted—which is what may be their ultimate undoing.

Democrats of the Obama era are united by cultural liberalism, but above all else they agree on the goal of expanding the reach of government. The Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist idea shop of the Clinton years, is moribund. The vanguard of ideas for the Obama White House is the Center for American Progress, which churns out proposals for government to mediate every sphere of economic life...

That is exactly right.

And this story again shows the scale of lies Democrats are willing to tell. See Politico, for example, "Antonio Villaraigosa: Obama continues Clinton tradition."

In any case, there's still more at WSJ. Today's Democrats aren't Clintonesque. They're an extreme left-wing party that bears little resemblance to the party of the Clinton years.

More later...

Kathy Shaidle Talks Pop Culture in Menzoid's Man Cave

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Michael Clarke Duncan, 1957-2012

I was shocked to see this obituary, at the Wall Street Journal, "Actor Michael Clarke Duncan Dead at 54." He was so young and full of life.

Democrat Thugs

Gaius reports, at Blue Crab Boulevard, "The Haters."

There’s a choice this election, alright. Which side are you on? If you’re on the side that fantasizes about knocking an 82 year old man off a stage for laughing at your leader, you might want to examine your soul.

#EmptyChairDay

Stormbringer has it, "EMPTY CHAIR MONDAY."

And at Michelle's, "Monday is National Empty Chair Day; Updated with photos," and "National Empty Chair Day photo album, part II."

Plus, check the overwhelming response at Legal Insurrection, "National Empty Chair Day (photos from around country)." Also, "National Empty Chair Day Photos, Part 2," and "National Empty Chair Day Photos, Part 3." (Via Memeorandum.)

More at The Other McCain and Memeorandum.

Don't Count On the So-Called 'Post-Convention Bounce'

Folks are speculating on the size and impact of the "bounce" coming out of the GOP convention in Tampa.

For example, Frank Newport has this, at Gallup, "No Signs of GOP Convention Bounce Yet" (via Memeorandum). And from wonderboy Nate Silver, at New York Times, "Sept. 2: Split Verdict in Polls on Romney Convention Bounce."

But while getting a big bounce would be nice, the fact is such polling surges are rare.

See Dante Chinni, at the Wall Street Journal, "Politics Counts: Don’t Read Too Much Into the Bounce":

With one convention down and one to go, the great game of bounce analysis is afoot. Over the next few days and weeks the media will scour polls to try to figure who “won” the political convention battle.

The better question may be how much it all matters in the end.

Conventions are important events in presidential campaigns. They provide each of the two major parties the chance to have the media largely to themselves and lay out their beliefs, as they see them, to the public. And they give the major candidates at least one night where can have an hour or so to speak directly to the American people in a presidential setting – or at least a semi-presidential setting, an arena filled with supporters cheering him on.

And, as we noted on Thursday in this space, when you get inside the numbers using the geographic/demographic Patchwork Nation breakdown of counties, there are some post-convention trends worth watching. In the coming weeks one critical question is whether GOP nominee Mitt Romney can win over voters in Republican-leaning communities like the small-town Service Worker Centers (in red on the map below) and the aging Emptying Nests (in light green). Mr. Romney will need them in November.

But in the end, the conventions are moments that pass. And even though they have migrated closer to the fall in recent years, they still are far enough away from Election Day to allow for plenty of change afterward, particularly in the modern media environment.

Remember the excitement that followed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech in St. Paul in 2008? It seemed like ancient history by October.

So what’s in the bounce? It can depend a lot on the year and the campaign, but on the whole, the answer is usually less than meets the eye.

On average, Gallup says the typical post-convention bounce is worth about five percentage points. There have been notable exceptions, such as former President Bill Clinton’s 16-point bump after the Democratic convention in 1992, though as most everyone points out, that also followed independent candidate R. Ross Perot dropping out of the race. And in 2004, Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry got a negative bounce after his convention, a net drop of one point.

But more important than any post-convention bounce is a candidate’s ability to maintain or even grow whatever advantage they get out of their week of being front-and-center in the media. And using that measuring stick, the much-discussed bounce seems a bit over rated as recent examples show.

More at the link.

Democrat National Convention Set to Nominate First Flaming Buttfreak Candidate for the Presidency

The barebacking convention is getting fired up! (They're actually re-nominating the flaming faggy president, since Baracky didn't come out until his first administration.)

At Hillbuzz, "Is Barack Obama Gay?"

And more:

 * "Where Barry Met Larry: a grassroots campaign to historically mark Obama’s gay hot spots in Chicago."

* "Where Barry Met Larry Part 2: the grassroots campaign to historically mark Barack Obama’s visit to the Comfort Inn of Gurnee, IL (where he had sex with Larry Sinclair)."

* "Where Barry Met Larry, Part 3: grassroots campaign to historically mark the Gurnee, Illinois Comfort Inn."

* "Where Barry Met Larry – Part 4: will Dahleen Glanton and Chicago Tribune assist grassroots campaign for Obama-Sinclair historic marker?"

Image Credit: Zimbio/The Globe.

Outraged Michelle Obama is masterminding an elaborate cover-up to prevent a new gay scandal from tarnishing the President, sources tell the Globe in a sensational world exclusive. The furious first Lady has made it her mission to silence author Larry Sinclair, who has written a book called Barack Obama & Larry Sinclair: Cocaine, sex, Lies, Murder, insiders reveal In the work, Sinclair, 47, details the sordid fling he claims to have had with Barack Obama in 1999. He also accuses the President of abusing cocaine on at least two occasions. “The people in the background of the Obama Administration have done everything in their power to stop my book,” Sinclair tells Globe.

Democrat Abortion Extremists Reside Way Outside the American Mainstream

Following-up on Newt Gingrich's comments on Democrat Party abortion extremism, here's the editorial from the Augusta Chronicle, "Abortion, in the extreme: A look at the facts shows which party is more out of the mainstream":

Democrats have tried to make abortion an issue in this election, and may in their convention this week.

They think the majority of Americans are pro-choice. They think they can paint Republicans as “extreme” for being pro-life. They apparently think Barack Obama is the very picture of moderation on abortion.

Hmm.

Of course, the truth is not quite as convenient as all that.

For one thing, in the latest Gallup poll on the issue, pro-lifers outnumber pro-choicers 50 to 41 percent. And 86 percent of Americans believe abortion should be illegal in the third trimester.

In contrast, many Democrats not only support abortion as Anytime Birth Control – a Get Out of Responsibility Free Card – but partial-birth abortion as well. Partial-birth abortion is an especially late-term procedure in which the baby is delivered up to the head, whereupon the “doctor” proceeds to then suck the brains out of the baby. So, exactly who is extreme on abortion again?

And guess what: President Obama is even more extreme in favoring abortion than that – despite the fact that most African-Americans oppose it and despite the fact that abortion takes a disproportionate toll on the black population: Nationwide, 35 percent of abortion victims are black, while in big cities the rate is much higher. Even that isn’t enough for this president.

While a member of the Illinois state Senate, Mr. Obama actually opposed a bill that would protect babies who are accidentally born through botched abortions.

The so-called “Born-Alive Infant Protection Act” requires that medical care and sustenance be given to such babies, who are, after all, still human beings and continue to draw breath despite the abortionist’s best efforts.

A little-known horror story is that some such children have simply been left to die. Obama claimed in 2008 that he opposed the Illinois bill, which mirrored a federal law, because it didn’t contain a clause expressly protecting the right to an abortion. That claim appears to be false, with reports indicating the Illinois bill, like the federal law, did contain such a clause.

Not even the most virulent pro-abortion organizations opposed the Born Alive bill. But Barack Obama did.

These are unpleasant facts, requiring the most disturbing descriptions, which we take no pleasure in addressing. But we didn’t bring it up. Abortion has been brought up by extremists in the Democratic Party, who believe abortion is every bit the sacrament that they always claimed men would declare it to be if they could get pregnant...

That's a devastating editorial, so brutally true, leftists can't even face these facts.

Continue reading.

And ICYMI, "Sandra Fluke Outed As Complete Tool of Corrupt Democrat Party Infanticide Industry."

RELATED: "VIDEO: Senator Infanticide Said He Was 'Pro-Choice' on Third-Trimester Abortions in 2003," and "Democrat National Convention Shaping Up as Unprecedented Celebration of Infanticide."

IMAGE CREDIT: The People's Cube, "The DNC Freakshow."

The Democrats Descend on Charlotte, North Carolina

The Los Angeles Times suggest the party is more unified than in any time in decades, "After decades of fighting, Democrats show unified front":

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There is something unusual about the gathering of Democrats in this steamy Southern city, something that may be more significant than just about anything said or done once the convention starts Tuesday.

It's the sense of harmony.

The famously fractious party that tore itself apart in the 1960s and 1970s over civil rights and the Vietnam War, that lost a series of blowout presidential elections in the 1980s and painfully reinvented itself in the 1990s, faces little of the infighting or self-doubt that for decades seemed as much a part of being a Democrat as worshiping FDR or watching the South, a former party bastion, inexorably slip away.

It is not as though President Obama is a shoo-in come November. Democratic strategists believe the election will be hard-fought to the end with, at best, a slight tilt toward the incumbent, thanks to shifting demographics and a narrowly favorable electoral map.

But the party is unified to a rare degree: behind the president and against GOP nominee Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans, to be sure.

Right.

Unified, behind the socialist president and against a GOP nominee who'll restore America to its traditional foundations --- and not a moment too soon.

RTWT at the top link.

And also at the New York Times, "A New Guide to the Democratic Herd."

RELATED: At Legal Insurrection, "National Empty Chair Day (photos from around country)."

IMAGE CREDIT: Theo Spark.

Leiby Kletzky Killer Gets 40-to-Life Upon Conviction

From Howard Portnoy, at Hot Air, "Killer who butchered 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky gets 40 years to life":

The crime was so unimaginably gruesome — an 8-year-old walking home from day camp is abducted by a stranger, then murdered and dismembered — that the child’s parents were too devastated to attend his funeral. That was last summer. Now a year later, the man responsible for depriving young Leiby Kletzky of a life and future has learned his own fate.

The New York Post's story is here, "Levi Aron sentenced to 40 years to life for murder of Orthodox Jewish boy Leiby Kletzky."

I was deeply disturbed by this murder. My previous coverage is here.

Big-Game Hunter Melissa Bachman Cut From National Geographic's 'Ultimate Survivor Alaska' After Environmental Fascists Mount Boycott at Change.org

This is exactly what William Jacobson has been warning against, the ever-increasing progressive campaign to censor and silence conservative activity and opinion, anything that deviates from the accepted narrative of contemporary left-wing fascism. At the New York Times, "National Geographic Takes Hunter Off TV Show":

The National Geographic Channel said on Friday that Melissa Bachman, an animal hunter who writes for a blog called “Hardcore Huntress,” will no longer be a participant in the coming reality series “Ultimate Survivor Alaska,” after an online petition protesting her involvement received more than 13,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. According to the Hollywood Reporter’s Web site the petition posted on Change.org by Tim Martell, a Florida resident, called for a boycott of National Geographic and stated that the cable channel had abandoned its “traditional stance of conservation and protection” by working with Ms. Bachman, who also has her own Web site that contains hunting videos, tips and a photographic trophy room. “The National Geographic Channel has carefully considered the public discussion of our series on surviving the wilds of Alaska currently in production and premiering sometime next year,” the cable channel said in a statement.

Boy, National Geographic caved in seconds flat. That's probably a record. Whoo hoo!

There's more at the link.

And at Hollywood Reporter, "National Geographic Channel Drops Survivalist Over Animal Rights Complaints."

Folks better wake up, alright.

Marquee Nightclub

It's in las Vegas.

Seth Stevenson reports, "The Starbucks of Nightclubs."

Erin DiMeglio, 17-Year-Old Senior at South Plantation High, Believed to Be First Girl to Play Quarterback In a Florida High School

This is so cool.

At the New York Times, "Girl Is Pioneer at Florida High School":

South Plantation High School’s third-string quarterback was warming up on the sideline before the fourth quarter of a recent preseason game, and each pass was quick, concise and purposeful. The quarterback’s nervous mother, Kathleen DiMeglio, was capturing the moment on video from the bleachers. Then, in an instant, the quarterback vanished from the frame, lost amid the sea of white jerseys.

“Where’d she go? Where’d she go? Where’d she go?” DiMeglio said, and then it quickly dawned on her: “Is she going in?”

When the Seminole Ridge Community High School announcer told the crowd Erin DiMeglio was at quarterback, there was little reaction, because the name Erin, when pronounced, does not connote a gender. But then everyone saw her ponytail swaying as she jogged onto the field. Then there was some buzz. Is that the girl? Can she play? Can she throw?

South Plantation Coach Doug Gatewood knew that the answer to all three questions was yes. The one question he did not know the answer to, and did not want to know, was whether she could take a hit. So when DiMeglio dropped back for her first pass, saw no open receivers, and began to roll to her left, Gatewood felt queasy.

“Go down, Rock,” he said quietly. “Go down.”

DiMeglio, who is 5 feet 5 inches and 140 pounds, did not go down, but she did fire a pinpoint pass to a receiver, who turned upfield for a 10-yard gain. Fans cheered. Cheerleaders chanted Erin’s name. Kathleen DiMeglio exhaled.

“Oh, my God,” she said.

This event, observed on video and recounted by Gatewood in an interview, was not a publicity stunt or a tale of a small-town football team with a jersey to spare. South Plantation High is near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., nestled in one of the nation’s high school football hotbeds. The Paladins’ roster is filled with college prospects. The star running back has committed to Miami, and its starting quarterback has offers from Navy and Air Force. And, yes, one of the backup quarterbacks is a girl.

Erin DiMeglio, a 17-year-old senior, was 2 for 3 passing in that scrimmage at Loxahatchee. And on Friday night, she took two snaps in the Paladins’ 31-14 season-opening victory against Nova, handing the ball off both times. She is believed to be the first girl to play quarterback in a Florida high school football game.

Continue reading.

Vice President Joe Biden: Gaffe-Prone Crazy Uncle Who Should Have Retired Years Ago

"Back in chains" is just the latest in an extremely long list of "Bidenisms."

The old man's walking, talking gaffetastic extravaganza --- and Republicans are looking to get some decent mileage out of that.

At the Seattle Times, "GOP portraying Biden as liability":

With relentless attacks aimed at portraying Vice President Joseph Biden as a gaffe-prone crazy uncle who's hung around the political scene too long, Republicans hope to raise the stature of GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, who will debate Biden next month.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Republicans have a new rhetorical punching bag: Vice President Joseph Biden.

With relentless attacks on President Obama's running mate, Republicans hope to raise the stature of GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, who will debate Biden next month, and score points in closely contested states such as Ohio, Florida and New Hampshire.

As Democrats prepare for their convention in Charlotte, N.C., the GOP is casting the 69-year-old former Delaware senator as a gaffe-prone crazy uncle who's hung around the political scene too long.

The strategy tries to undermine the Obama campaign's chief surrogate and liaison to white, working-class voters and seniors, influential groups courted aggressively by both parties. At the same time, Republicans hope that sullying Biden's image will help confirm Ryan, the 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman, as a deep thinker destined to take on many of the nation's most pressing challenges.

In an opinion piece published this past week by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson noted that Biden had said the economy felt like "a depression" and he accused the vice president of straying from "the Obama campaign talking points."

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman praised Ryan at last week's Republican convention in Tampa, Fla. "Contrast this to Joe Biden. Vice President Biden has told people out of work to 'just hang in there' — so much for 'hope and change."'

At the GOP convention, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who joined Obama, Biden and House Speaker John Boehner for a round of golf last year, recalled Biden telling him he was a "good golfer. And I played golf with Joe Biden, and I can tell you that is not true, as well as all of other things that he says."

Even unscripted moments have included knocks at Biden.

Actor Clint Eastwood's convention monologue, beside an empty chair, included a swipe at Biden.

"You're crazy, you're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden," Eastwood cracked in his made-up conversation with Obama. "Of course we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it."

More at that top link.

Go Topless Protest at the White House

From Glenn Reynolds, "NEWS YOU CAN USE: Reason TV: What We Saw At The “Go Topless” Protest. But the Reason TV folks chickened out.

Here's the video:

But see Althouse, "Photos from the Go Topless Protest at the White House":

Warning, lots of large photos of breasts at the link, which I recommend not for the usual gawking at breasts, but for the careful contemplation of the expression and demeanor of the various women.

Yeah, read it all at the link --- and check out those breasts.

'Lying Is a Virtue'? If Anyone Should Know It's Stephanie Cutter

I'll be honest. This kind of gutter politics makes me angry.

As I've been highlighting repeatedly of late, progressives and Democrats are liars. And not just any old little fibber kind of liars. Progressives live their entire existence predicated on falsehood and deceit. It's simply pathological. Really. I don't know how someone like Stephanie Cutter sleeps at night. Perhaps it's Machiavellian, that she thinks the ends justify the means, damn morality and basic human decency. Reelecting Barack Hussein requires fomenting such enormous untruths that frankly everything is relative. Just destroy your opponents and keep a death-grip on power.

And there is no question that Stephanie Cutter is an inveterate liar. She was called out big time with her claims of ignorance on the cancer man, Joe Soptic. See, "Business as Usual: Obama Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter Lies and Prevaricates Her Way to Election Day." And at Twitchy, "Lying liar Stephanie Cutter doubles down on Soptic lies; bashes Giuliani, Palin to defend idiot Biden."

And now we've got Ms. Cutter attacking Republicans as liars on "Face the Nation." See, "Self-awareness fail: Lying liar Stephanie Cutter on ‘Face the Nation’; Romney, Ryan ‘believe lying is a virtue’."

Here she is, at 1:45 minutes:

More at Weasel Zippers, "Top Obama Campaign Official Stephanie Cutter: Republicans “Think Lying Is A Virtue”…" (via Memeorandum).

Obama Worried About Reelection

The Wall Street Journal reveals the inside dope on O's reelection prospects, not the kind of pessimistic introspection you normally hear from the Democrats.

See, "A More Worried Obama Battles to Win Second Term":

When President Barack Obama emerged from his car in Charlottesville, Va., to address a crowd of 7,000 mostly college kids Wednesday afternoon, he asked longtime friend Valerie Jarrett: "Why am I having a short day?"

Mr. Obama was unhappy there weren't more events for him to make his case for re-election. "There should be no short days," he said.

As Mr. Obama heads to the Democratic National Convention next week, the biggest change from his campaign four years ago is reflected in that complaint. The president is having to work more relentlessly to stay in the White House than he did to get there in the first place, and he knows it.

Mr. Obama arrives in Charlotte, N.C., with polls tightening and the economy far from recovery. When he accepts his party's nomination Thursday, Americans will see a charismatic figure much as they did four years ago, and one who, polls say, is more well-liked personally than is his GOP foe, Mitt Romney.

They will also see a more worried politician, who publicly insists he will win his re-election while privately he concedes he knows he could lose. His job-approval ratings have struggled to cross the magic 50% line. Advisers say he is keenly aware of the tough environment.

"He knows it's his last election," says Ms. Jarrett, who is one of his senior advisers. "He won't look back and think he could have done more."

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, says the president faces a tougher election because of a shortage of bipartisan achievements, arguing Mr. Obama backed away from big potential budget and tax deals with Republicans. "He was deeply disappointing," Mr. McConnell said in an interview. "He was not the adult you would expect in the White House.…The president's campaign slogan is, 'It's not my fault.'"

Over his first term, Mr. Obama, 51 years old, has fundamentally shifted his view of modern presidential power, say those who know him well. He is now convinced the most essential part of his job, given politically divided Washington, is rallying public opinion to his side.

As a result, if he wins a second term, Mr. Obama plans to remain in campaign mode. "Barack is grayer, but he's wiser from the battles," says Charles Ogletree, a friend and one of Mr. Obama's professors at Harvard. "This time Barack will use the bully pulpit."

The White House declined a request to interview Mr. Obama.

The president views a second term in some ways as a second chance, an opportunity to approach the office differently, according to close aides. He would like to tackle issues such as climate change, immigration, education and filibuster reform.

He has told some aides that a sizable mistake at the start of his administration was his naiveté in thinking he could work with Republicans on weighty issues. "He's not cynical, because he still gets disappointed," one adviser says. "But he won't make that mistake again."

Still, even some people close to the president acknowledge he missed bridge-building opportunities, given his personal style and aversion to the traditional political niceties that can nurture relationships in D.C. circles.

I love that quote from Mitch McConnnell. And on the president's social graces, the White House admits "The One's" an asshole and snob who couldn't care less about building coalitions, even if it takes work and compromise.

Here's more from WSJ:

The president's team is concerned about the lack of enthusiasm, particularly among young voters and Hispanics—both central to Mr. Obama's strategy. Mr. Obama is trying to energize the Democratic base with tough talk about Mr. Romney and the GOP. He recently launched an effort to rally college students in battleground states.

On Wednesday in Charlottesville, after addressing the crowd, mostly students from the University of Virginia, he went online to Reddit.com, a website popular among young people and the tech cognoscenti, and participated in an "Ask Me Anything" question-and-answer session.

"This is a different Barack Obama at this stage," one senior adviser says. "Last time, he thought Hillary Clinton had been his toughest opponent and that the heavy lifting was behind going into the general election." This time, he "understands that—whether Mitt Romney is the greatest candidate or not—the dynamics in this country make victory a harder prospect."

Mr. Obama arrived at the White House in January 2009 with strong Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and a cache of political capital based on his promise to be a consensus-builder. He netted several big legislative achievements, including an economic-stimulus package and overhauls of financial regulations and health care.

But once in the White House, Mr. Obama struggled to find bipartisan consensus on the tough economic issues he inherited, and strained to maintain the connection he established with voters in 2008. He has had his share of legislative and national-security successes but also a host of battles and losses. In his passage of health-care overhaul, victory came after protracted, messy fights that went all the way to the Supreme Court, and closed-door dealings that hurt his standing with voters.

Republicans leveled the field in the 2010 midterm elections by taking a majority in the House and narrowing Democrats' majority in the Senate. It was clear Mr. Obama had lost some of his connection with voters.

By January 2011 Mr. Obama's advisers were holding focus groups twice a week, a former senior White House official said, and test-driving phrases and policies aimed at resonating with key voting groups.

Mr. Obama is particularly bothered that Republicans and some business leaders have painted him as antibusiness. He argues privately that he hasn't gotten proper appreciation for his work in pulling businesses, particularly the financial sector, out of the recession's ditch. "They say I don't get it, but I'm the one who saved it," Mr. Obama complained to a close ally after the 2010 midterm vote.

John Engler of the Business Roundtable, and former GOP governor of Michigan, said Mr. Obama's efforts to help business have been offset by some policies that have been harmful, citing parts of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul. He said senior administration officials have made substantial efforts to reach out to business in recent years, including a call to him this week about issues like export control. But, he said, "There's been some disconnect on the follow-through."

To underscore their contention that Mr. Obama doesn't understand the private sector, Republicans have seized on a remark the president made in July, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." Obama aides say the line has been taken out of context, as it was made after a reference to government investment in infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

The poor boy.

O's upset that people "misunderstood" his anti-business comment "You didn't build that" --- as if that's the first time he's ever dissed business owners and entrepreneurs. He personally pledged to crush the coal industry and he long ago attacked everyday Americans as bitter clingers.

F-k him.

After failing to achieve a sweeping bipartisan debt deal that summer—and then, watching as a smaller compromise struggled through the Republican House—Mr. Obama's new view of his campaign and presidency emerged, aides say: He decided to focus largely on re-election. David Axelrod, a longtime adviser, recalled Mr. Obama phoning him to say, "From here on out, I have to take my case to the American people."

In a sense, Mr. Obama is doubling down on his well-documented distaste for socializing with lawmakers and nurturing personal relationships with Washington insiders. Allies and foes alike say this tendency may have made his road tougher because he never established a rapport with Republican leaders.

Mr. Obama, for instance, rarely opens up his golf foursome to anyone outside his close friends and aides, and hasn't hosted members of Congress at Camp David. Both are tools that previous presidents used to mix business and pleasure. Mr. Obama, in contrast, prefers to spend social time with family and close friends.

His aides say that socializing with Republicans would have made no difference anyway, given their intent on unseating him. During his first year, Mr. Obama held occasional Wednesday-night receptions for members of Congress. "But he stopped those niceties because they didn't make a difference when Republicans' only goal was defeating him," an adviser says.

What total buttfreak asshole.

And don't miss the Los Angeles Times, "Obama faces deep division":

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was the promise that first brought Barack Obama to national attention, and the one that his presidency has most conspicuously been unable to fulfill — the hope of national unity.

"There's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America," Obama, then a candidate for the U.S. Senate and relatively unknown outside Illinois, declared in his keynote speech to the Democratic convention in 2004.

That speech — and the image it created of a political leader with potential to reach across partisan bounds — formed the springboard that helped Obama make the improbable leap from freshman senator to the Oval Office just four years later. Against the backdrop of deep partisan division during George W. Bush's presidency, many voters saw a potential healer in the young, biracial candidate who had spent limited time as a member of the deeply unpopular Washington political elite.

Today, as he prepares to accept his party's nomination for a second term, 3 1/2 years in office have ground away much of that nonpartisan aura, leaving behind a deeply polarized view of the nation's 44th president.

Many Republicans denounce Obama as a "socialist." They express fears that he seeks to radically transform the country. Polls repeatedly have shown Republican voters expressing pessimism about the country's future and worrying that the U.S. has been set on a path toward decline.

At the same time, despite complaints from the left about issues as diverse as the war in Afghanistan, which he has pursued, and efforts to cap greenhouse gases, which he has not, Obama has retained strong support within his own party.

As measured by Gallup, his job approval during most of his tenure among members of his own party has surpassed that of any Democratic president since John F. Kennedy.

The partisan gap in views of Obama is among the largest in modern history, only exceeded — and then just barely — by the division over Bush.

Republicans have sought to exploit a shift in Obama's public image. His rival, Mitt Romney, seldom lets a speech go by without criticizing Obama as a "divider."

Ironically, however, if Obama wins a second term, a shift toward greater partisanship that began a year ago may well prove the single most important reason why — the key to his recovery from near-collapse last summer.

Obama portrays his failure to bridge the partisan gap as among his biggest frustrations in office.

"I haven't been able to change the atmosphere here in Washington to reflect the decency and common sense of ordinary people — Democrats, Republicans and independents — who I think just want to see their leadership solve problems," he said earlier this summer in an interview with CBS correspondent Charlie Rose. "And, you know, there's enough blame to go around for that.

"I think there is no doubt that I underestimated the degree to which in this town politics trumps problem-solving," Obama added.

Yeah, ain't that rich, coming from the Blamer-in-Chief.

What a dick.

The election is tighter than a witch's nipple, despite all the talk about how Obama leads in the swing states, blah, blah.

More on that here: "Ohio Is Ultimate Battleground State."

Newt Gingrich: 'The President of the United States Voted Three Times to Protect the Right of Doctors to Kill Babies Who Came Out of an Abortion Still Alive'

Newt on "Meet the Press" this morning.

Must-see TV, at The Right Scoop: "Newt Gingrich eviscerates news media for ignoring Democrat extremism on abortion, defends Todd Akin":

Newt blasts the news media bias on Republicans and abortion by masterfully highlighting the extreme views of Democrats on abortion, saying there is no way they could defend that position if the media spent as much time explaining that as they do trying to vilify Republicans. Bam!

Note how Tom Friedman won’t even defend that position when challenged by Newt...

Watch it at the link.

Ohio Is Ultimate Battleground State

Today's front-pager at the New York Times positions Ohio as a challenge for Mitt Romney, a hurdle over which all else depends: "In a Tactical Test, Romney Stakes Hopes on Ohio." (At Memeorandum.) The piece cites the latest poll from Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times, for example:

Mr. Romney is running closely with Mr. Obama in most national polls, but the story is different in several states that will decide the race for the necessary 270 electoral votes. Many polls in those states show Mr. Obama holding an advantage over Mr. Romney as the Democrats prepare to open their convention on Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C. In a Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News poll released just over a week ago, Mr. Obama had a six-point advantage over Mr. Romney in Ohio for the second month in a row.

To give a sense of Mr. Romney’s challenge: he could win Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Virginia — all carried by Mr. Obama in 2008 — and still fall short without Ohio and its 18 electoral votes.

Here's the poll, "Ryan Micro-Bump In Florida, Wisconsin, But Not Ohio, Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times Swing State Poll Finds." One thing highlighted there not highlighted by the Times: "Independent voters tip to Romney 48 - 43 percent."

Ouch.

And here's Rasmussen from August 15th: "Election 2012: Ohio President Ohio: Obama 45%, Romney 45%."

Exactly. It's a dead heat.

That said, I don't discount the stakes for the GOP in Ohio, as the Times rightly points out:

No Republican in modern times has reached the White House without carrying Ohio, and the alternatives strike fear into Mr. Romney’s quickly expanding team in the state.

If Romney does take Ohio, expect the left to mount an all-out legal challenge to the results. The hate-bloggers at Booman Tribune have that, the assholes: "Stealing the Election." (Via Memeorandum.)

Sandra Fluke Outed As Complete Tool of Corrupt Democrat Party Infanticide Industry

I shake my head at these people, the scum of the earth.

It turns out that Sandra Fluke was in Tampa, making the political rounds, accompanied by party big-wigs like Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Rockin' conservative Dana Loesch tried to track her down and get a commitment for a woman-to-woman debate on women's issues. So far Dana hasn't heard back. And recall Fluke's scheduled for a big speech at the Democrat convention next week:

I’m told by a few that Fluke’s public remarks are heavily orchestrated, thus the reason she dodged open discussion at #RNC2012 w dissenters.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 1, 2012

And the Daily Caller has a write-up on this, "Sandra Fluke chickening out on women’s issues debate with Breitbart’s Dana Loesch?":

Loesch isn’t surprised that Fluke has not agreed to a debate.

“If Sandra Fluke is going to come here and talk about women’s issues, then why not talk to actual conservative women about women’s issues?” Loesch told The Daily Caller. “I mean, that’s the whole point. You can’t just come here and hold a press conference and not take any questions. You can’t just go on MSNBC and say whatever you want. Is she an advocate or propagandist? Which one is she? If she’s an advocate, she’s completely willing to have a discussion on the issues. Democrats don’t speak for women. They don’t speak for me. I would like to hear why she thinks she speaks for all women because she obviously does not.”

“She hasn’t shown any desire to listen to what conservative women have to say and why they’re happy with the Republican Party and why they are voting for Republicans,” Loesch continued. “She thinks that the Democrats have a patent on women’s issues? Here you have the Obama White House which has actual pay inequality and here you have the Obama White House which removed the sovereignty women have over their own body and then there’s this unelected board for Medicare that’s not regulated by HHS? Where is she on those issues if she’s such a women’s advocate.”

Because Fluke is “not willing to engage on the issues,” Loesch said that “signals to me that she’s not an advocate but she’s a propagandist.”

“I’m genuine,” Loesch said. “I want a genuine discussion. I don’t understand why Democrat women — when they claim to speak for all women — why they’re stopping this very important discussion.”

“Is she afraid to be challenged on the ideas?” Loesch added. “That’s what it signals to me is that she’s unwilling to actually engage in a conversation with real conservative women. Is it because she’s afraid and doesn’t have the strength of her own conviction? That says to me quite a lot. I’m willing to put it on the line, why isn’t she?”

Loesch said she thinks Fluke is nothing more than a creation made by President Barack Obama as part of an effort to push liberal politics. “I don’t know of any other ‘private citizen’ who is represented by the Knickerbocker PR firm in Washington, D.C., which happens to be run by Anita Dunn, Barack Obama’s former communications director,” Loesch said. “I don’t know any private citizen who just happens to have that affiliation. This was an entirely fabricated narrative from the Democrats and they needed a face to put on it and so Sandra Fluke was the face that they put on it. I want to know if she’s woman enough to come talk to me.”

Fluke has not responded to a request for comment from The Daily Caller about Loesch’s challenge either.

Sandra Fluke is a kept woman. Her entire public charade has been a top Democrat Party political production. Sure, it's propaganda. But at base Fluke can't talk to Dana Loesch because she --- just like any other ethically bankrupt pro-abort progressive --- can't defend the left's moral abomination of the abortion holocaust industry. It's as simple as that. The left is not about "choice." They are about killing the innocent. It's the biggest stain on America since the Jim Crow segregation. But that we overcame. Where we had once reached a high point of moral decency in working to desegregate and guarantee equal justice for all, the left has spent four decades expanding the immoral atrocity of abortion, with today's Democrat Party platform abandoning it's not-so-long-ago purported commitment to making baby-killing exceedingly rare. Now no one even attempts to cover up left-wing infanticide. It's late-term abortions all the way, and nothing's going to stop me! My body. My choice. My dead baby.

I'm think I'm going to be sick.

Wife-Auditioning: Secret Scientology Ritual Picked Iranian-Born Beauty Nazanin Boniadi to Wed Tom Cruise Over Katie Holmes

I don't know if Scientology's weird so much as Tom Cruise is weird, but you gotta admit: Wife auditioning? That is a bit over the top.

At Vanity Fair, "Tom Cruise’s Scientology Marriages: The Secret Wife-Auditioning Process Before Katie Holmes, Revealed":

In the October issue, Vanity Fair special correspondent Maureen Orth reports that in 2004 Scientology embarked on a top-secret project headed by Shelly Miscavige, wife of Scientology chief David Miscavige, which involved finding a girlfriend for Tom Cruise. According to several sources, the organization devised an elaborate auditioning process in which actresses who were already Scientology members were called in, told they were auditioning for a new training film, and then asked a series of curious questions including: “What do you think of Tom Cruise?” Marc Headley, a Scientologist from age seven, who says he watched a number of the audition videotapes when he was head of Scientology’s in-house studio, tells Orth, “It’s not like you only have to please your husband—you have to toe the line for Scientology.” Both Nicole Kidman and Penélope Cruz ran afoul of Scientology and David Miscavige, according to another former Scientologist. “You can’t do anything to displease Scientology, because Tom Cruise will freak out,” Headley says. (Scientology representatives deny that any such search took place and have dismissed several of the story’s sources as disgruntled apostates. David Miscavige and Tom Cruise declined to be interviewed.)

According to Orth, Nazanin Boniadi, an Iranian-born, London-raised actress and Scientologist, was selected and dated Cruise from November 2004 until January 2005. Initially she was told only that she had been selected for a very important mission. In a month-long preparation in October 2004, she was audited every day, a process in which she told a high-ranking Scientology official her innermost secrets and every detail of her sex life. Boniadi allegedly was told to lose her braces, her red highlights, and her boyfriend. According to a knowledgeable source, she was shown confidential auditing files of her boyfriend to expedite a breakup. (Scientology denies any misuse of confidential material.) The source says Boniadi signed a confidentiality agreement and was told that if she “messed up” in any way she would be declared a Suppressive Person (a pariah and enemy of Scientology).

Definitely bizarre.

There's more at that top link.

And also, "Scientology, Katie Holmes, and Tom Cruise: Who Is Nazanin Boniadi?"

BONUS: At London's Daily Mail, "Revealed: How Scientology officials 'auditioned dozens of women to marry Tom Cruise'... and Katie Holmes 'WASN'T their first choice'."

PHOTO CREDIT: Nazanin Boniadi, at the 2008 London premiere of "Iron Man," via Facebook.

Lauren Booth, 'Pro-Palestinian' Activist, Refuses Questions on the Hamas Charter

You know, responding to reasonable questions about the Hamas Charter's plan for the extermination of Israel is just crazy talk. Lauren Booth, sister-in-law to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and convert to Islam, has no time for anything like that.

Via Blazing Cat Fur, "Lauren Booth's Hate Speech":

Lauren Booth spoke at the Ar-Raham Mosque in Fontana, CA, 7/20/2012, and spewed so much hatred no one would believe it if it wasn't on film - Nobody from the Mosque was the least bit fazed or embarrassed.

Lauren Booth's hate speech lies were spread out among the Jews, Israelis, Americans, Christians, and Zionists. The Muslim Americans at the Mosque loved the message. Watch the video and come to your own conclusions."

Ice Picks Make Comeback As Weapon of Choice for New York City Gangsters

This is a fascinating piece, at the New York Times, "The Ice Pick Seems Antiquated, but It Still Shows Up on the Police Blotter":

The young man staggered down a city street as blood flowed from a puncture wound. The weapon used in the steely attack — an ice pick — was sticking out of his lower back.

The scene was reminiscent of an era in the 1930s and ’40s when members of a notorious Brooklyn murder syndicate left a trail of bodies riddled with ice-pick holes. This attack, however, was set in modern-day New York City, specifically, on Aug. 21, at 4:20 p.m. in the Norwood section of the Bronx.

While guns top the list of weapons used in violent assaults, every so often, a crime is committed with a weapon that is suggestive of a different era and seems mystifyingly out of place in the New York City of today.

One such weapon is the ice pick — often associated with the 1940 murder of the Russian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky: He was killed with an ice pick’s cousin, an ice ax, while he was in exile in Mexico, by an assassin who, acting on the orders of Joseph Stalin, crept up behind Trotsky and slammed the ice ax into his skull.

“There is no prohibition right now against carrying an ice pick in New York City,” said City Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr., chairman of the Public Safety Committee, “which is interesting because I don’t know of any legitimate use for an ice pick.”

“I think the ice pick went the way of the milkman,” he added.

Not so. Plenty of hardware stores around the city still sell ice picks.

At NHS Hardware on Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx, a worker, Jose Santana, strode toward the back of the store and grabbed a $3.89 model, whose wrapper said that it was of “professional quality” and “high carbon steel,” from a display of ice picks hanging from a peg.

“There are some weird people looking for this,” Mr. Santana said with a hint of a smile. “It’s weird, no?” ....

The ice pick never completely disappeared as an implement of crime, but it seems to have rebounded as one recently.

Late last year, a Bronx man, John Martinez, was dubbed the Ice-Pick Bandit by prosecutors and the news media after being caught and convicted of a series of robberies and burglaries. On separate occasions, Mr. Martinez brandished an ice pick and terrorized six women, stealing cash, jewelry and cellphones. In one case, Mr. Martinez threatened to stab a woman’s child if she did not hand over more cash.

The recent attack in the Bronx unfolded when an unidentified man, apparently lying in wait inside a parked car, ambushed two young men, ages 19 and 20, on the corner of East 208th Street and Perry Avenue. A witness described seeing one victim with the ice pick jutting out of his back.

The attacks were not fatal, though one victim was seriously injured. A police spokesman said the motive remained unknown and no arrests had been made.

Under the city’s consumer-protection and public-safety laws, it is illegal to sell a box cutter to anyone under 21. Retailers who break the law face a maximum $500 fine for each violation.

When asked whether the law also applied to ice picks, Mr. Vallone said it did not — and then got to thinking: Why not? The question prompted him to draw up a bill that would amend the law to include a ban on the sale of ice picks to anyone under 21. He said his committee would probably hold a public hearing on the proposal in the next several months.

“I would entertain expanding it further, banning all public possession, once we learn, during the hearing process, whether there are any legitimate uses in this day and age for an ice pick,” he said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

Mann Rosa, 32, who lives on Perry Avenue about a block from the scene of the recent attack, said ice picks were back in vogue among street gangs all across the city.

“The ice pick, from what I know, is the new thing,” Mr. Rosa said, noting how easy it was to buy and conceal. “It’s definitely the new wave.”

That's gotta be a gnarly way to go, like Trotsky, getting hammered in the back of the skull with an ice-axe.

Video Shows Taliban Militants With 'Severed Heads' in Pakistan

These are Pakistani Taliban.

At London's Daily Mail, "Horrific picture shows armed Taliban militants lording it over 12 decapitated heads of Pakistani 'soldiers'."

Watch it here: "Pakistani Taliban release video of severed heads" (via Bare Naked Islam).

More at Weasel Zippers, "Taliban Release Video Showing Severed Heads of 12 Pakistani Soldiers…"

And there's background at Long War Journal, "Pakistani Taliban 'chopped off the heads' of 7 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan."

PREVIOUSLY: "Taliban Release Video of 17 Beheaded Pakistani Soldiers."

Michelle Fields Out at 'Daily Caller'

I guess Tucker Carlson fired her for a "lack of productivity."

FishbowlDC reports, "Michelle Fields Out at The Daily Caller."

And it's appropriate that FishbowlDC's reporting, as those freaks have been jonesin' on Ms. Fields since she arrived in Washington: "FishBowlDC's Bizarre Obsession With Michelle Fields."

Michelle's on Facebook here and Twitter here.

She's young, beautiful and smart. We'll be hearing from Michelle for a long time to come.

BONUS: Reaganite Republican has a crush on her, "RED HOT Conservative Chicks- Daily Caller/Fox News' Michelle Fields!"

And the hat tip goes to The Other McCain, "Thank You, Everybody! (And Thank God)."

Paul Ryan Could Pave Romney Path to Victory

At IBD, "Could Paul Ryan Pave Romney's Path to Victory?":

Can a vice presidential candidate be the decisive factor in a presidential race?

Most analysts will tell you that no presidential contest has ever been decided by a vice presidential pick. But Paul Ryan is putting that record to the test.

Since picking Ryan, Mitt Romney's poll numbers have risen, the GOP has unified and Romney has added the dimension of entitlement reform to his campaign.

And the Obama campaign seems worried enough that it put out an Internet ad attacking Ryan almost exclusively.

History weighs against Ryan having a big effect. In 1988 Lloyd Bentsen, vice presidential candidate for Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, destroyed Republican George H.W. Bush's running mate, Dan Quayle, in one of the most lopsided debates ever. Yet Dukakis lost to Bush.

Some delegates still think Ryan's impact will be sizable.

"Ryan is a real, true asset to Romney," said Will Deschamps, a delegate and state chairman of Montana. "Watch how they react between themselves. They seem very comfortable together."

On Aug. 9, the day before Romney announced Ryan as his running mate, the Real Clear Politics average of national polls showed President Obama leading 48.4%-44%. Since then, his lead has shrunk to 46.8%-45.7%.

We can do this.

Continue reading.

Image Credit: The Looking Spoon.

Teenager Killed While Sticking Head Out of Roof Hatch on 'Sweet 16' Party Bus — Hit Head on Highway Underpass Near George Washington Bridge

I wonder if the kid was decapitated. It's bad all around, but to see the kid's lifeless body like that, headless ... that would be a life-scarring event for some of the kids on board, 65 in all, en route to a "Sweet 16" birthday party.

At the New York Times, "Teenager Dies After Sticking Head Through Bus Hatch and Striking Underpass."

Jason Biggs, 'American Pie' Star and Voice of Leonardo on Nickelodeon's 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', Deletes Vile Sexual Assault Tweets Without Apology

This story's been going on for a few days, and folks have been sending their outraged responses to Nickelodeon on Twitter.

At Twitchy, "American Weasel: Jason Biggs quietly deletes vile tweets about Ann Romney and Janna Ryan."

Nickelodeon's Twitter feed is here.

More at Twitchy, "Pressure mounting for Nickelodeon to throw the pie at American idiot Jason Biggs."

Well, if he gets fired, perhaps he'll be able to find a job as a Democrat congressional or White House staffer.

Donny Ray Williams, Jr. — Ex-Obama Staffer Accused of Drugging and Sexually Assaulting Women

And let's just stipulate, okay: The dude's a big black mofo.

At London's Daily Mail, "Ex-Democrat staffer who briefly worked for Obama administration 'drugged, sexually assaulted and threatened women'."

And from Daniel Halper at Weekly Standard, "Former Dem. Hill Staffer and Obama Admin. Official Accused of Drugging and Sexually Assaulting Women."

The initial report is at the Washington Post and Memeorandum.

And Halper adds:

"And though the Washington Post story fails to mention it: The staffer has worked only for Democrats, including: Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Rep. Jan Schakowskay of Illinois, Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, and Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, among others."

Plus, Jammie snarks:

"Maybe Donny Ray Williams is available to speak at the DNC."

No doubt.

They're a bunch radical homosexual-enabling criminals as it is. Throw in a few Democrat congressional rapists and then folks will really be going to town.

MORE: At PJ Media, "Accused Democrat Sex Predator: ‘If it can be done on the Hill, I’ve done it’."

Ellen 'I Love Everybody…Except U Right-Wing Fuckin' Morons' Barkin: Clint Eastwood Wants to Kill President Obama

At Twitchy, "Ellen 'I Love Everybody…Except You Right-Wing Fuckin' Morons' Barkin: Clint Eastwood Wants to Kill President Obama."

Barking Ellen Barkin tweeted:

"Been unable 2 watch any RNC convention "speeches"...but did Clint Eastwood really make the slitting throat motion...meant for our POTUS???"

And then all the progressive douchebags yammer, "He did, he did. Call the Secret Service!"

And there's more: "Ellen Barkin: Is Twitchy defending Clint Eastwood’s ‘death threat’ against Obama?"

"Wow Is Twitchy defending Eastwood gesture..."as he revealed his secret disire to kill the POTUS" ? No violence/death threat there, right?"

Secret desire. Okay.

Ellen Barkin's a gasbag. What a progressive gay-enabling loser.

PREVIOUSLY: "Ryan Killed It, Romney Rocked It, and Clint Eastwood Hammered the Living Shit Out of Barack Hussein."

Lean Forward Bend Over: How MSNBC Became the Most Blatantly Dishonest Network on Cable News

Every time I watch the hacks on MSNBC I'm impressed by how shamelessly they lie. They lie about everything, and then they forget their own lies. A few months back I posted on Rachel Maddow's Fast and Furious lies, then debunked them with programming from her own earlier episodes. If you've ever had the misfortune of knowing a pathological liar, then you've already experienced what it's like to watch MSNBC.

In any case, Alessandra Stanley, at the New York Times, perhaps thinks she's clever with the comparison to Fox News at her article on the self-identified socialist network, "How MSNBC Became Fox’s Liberal Evil Twin." The end result, however, is to ridiculously impugn the conservative network with the comparison. MSNBC's ratings have improved, sure. But that's because progressives will swallow anything they're told. Not only that, Stanley gets some of the basics of the story wrong, for example:

Both Fox News and MSNBC have experienced reporters in the field who stay neutral even when their anchors let loose. The NBC network’s anchors keep their opinions to themselves, and so do its star reporters, like Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd, who appear on both cable and network shows, and somehow skillfully navigate past the rockier shoals.

Umm, no.

You can't count the number of times that Andrea Mitchell's been hammered for her bias by the conservative blogosphere. For example, when Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitchell made the disgusting comment that Ryan wouldn't appeal to suburban women. Ericka Johnson, for one, reported on that at Hot Air, "MSNBC’s Mitchell: Ryan “not a pick for women”." And see NewsBusters as well, also calling out Stanley's huge errors in reporting, "NYT Admits MSNBC's Liberal Bent, But Falsely Claims NBC's Chuck Todd, Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell Stay Neutral."

That said, Stanley does tear into the hopelessly stupid hacks at the network, especially Chris Matthews, who outdid himself with this week's convention coverage:

MSNBC has a growing cast of anchor-bloviators — hosts like Martin Bashir, Tamron Hall and, of course, Al Sharpton, who rant and then invite like-minded guest commentators to assure them that they are right.

Chris Matthews, who hosts a Sunday talk show syndicated by NBC and a daily MSNBC show, seemed determined during this convention to outflank his most outspoken rivals, including Mr. Sharpton.

He started with a bruising harangue against Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee Chairman, that made even his hosts on “Morning Joe” wince. Mr. Matthews looked almost thuggish on Wednesday night when the Arizona governor, Jan Brewer, 67, speaking from the din of the convention floor, complained she couldn’t hear his question.

“You can’t hear me?” he said. “Well, that’s convenient.”

On Thursday, Mr. Matthews fulminated against Paul Ryan’s — admittedly misleading — assertion that Mr. Obama did nothing to prevent the closing of a GM plant in 2008. Then Fox News attacked media figures who attacked Mr. Ryan. CNN took the harder course of parsing the entire issue: The correspondent Tom Foreman gave a long, industrious analysis that explained where and how Mr. Ryan finessed the facts.

MSNBC talk shows are to network newscasts what blogs are to newspaper columns, shaggier and often less considered. And increasingly, viewers, like readers, have a hard time distinguishing one from the other. But it’s all that attitude on MSNBC that raises eyebrows.

Read it all at the link.

PREVIOUSLY: "The Jacobin: Chris Hayes of MSNBC."

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "When It Comes to ‘Brazen Lies,’Nobody Excels Joan Walsh." That's the brazen liar Walsh appearing at the clip on Matthews' show.