Erick Erickson Brings Down the Hammer on GOProud's #CPAC Bashing

Everyone's all abuzz about the upcoming CPAC conference, especially as it turns out that the event sponsors have renewed the ban on GOProud's official participation. I wasn't so impressed with the GOProud idiots in 2011 when I was there, especially since they acted just like any other radical progressive group with regard to the political controversy. Now lots of the libertarian conservatives are whining about how mean the CPAC honchos are, or whatever, although I couldn't care less about making the tent bigger for these homosexual bullies.

In any case, here's Erick Erickson's smackdown, "This is Too Much For Me."

Read it at the link.

A lot of this is deja vu for me, but it's interesting nevertheless.

Blast in Crowded Market Kills Dozens in Pakistan

At the New York Times, "Explosion in Crowded Market Kills Dozens in Pakistan":

KARACHI, Pakistan — A devastating explosion ripped through a crowded market in the western city of Quetta on Saturday, killing at least 63 people and wounding at least 180, the police said.

The attack occurred in a neighborhood dominated by Hazaras, a Shiite ethnic minority that has suffered numerous attacks at the hands of Sunni militant death squads in recent years.

A previous attack on Jan. 10, when a Sunni group bombed a snooker hall in Quetta, killed almost 100 Hazaras, prompting domestic and international outrage.

The police said that Saturday’s bomb was apparently set off by a remote-controlled device, possibly hidden in a rickshaw. The explosion caused a building to collapse and the death toll to rise sharply.

RTWT.

Reeva Steenkamp Hid From Oscar Pistorius: Details of Murdered Star's Last Moments

At New York Daily News, "Model girlfriend fled to bathroom as Oscar Pistorius shot her through the door: neighbor":

Details of the Valentine’s Day murder emerged as Pistorius sobbed inside a South African courtroom before prosecutors alleged the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp was a cold-blooded killing.

THE MODEL girlfriend of Olympic hero Oscar Pistorius spent her final minutes cowering behind a bathroom door after a late-night fight with her gun-loving boyfriend. The internationally acclaimed double-amputee sprinter pumped four bullets through the door and into the helpless blond beauty, a neighbor told a South African newspaper.

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Oscar Pistorius 'tried to resuscitate dying girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp after shooting her four times': Blade Runner carried model downstairs after she was shot."

Added: "Was Reeva's skull crushed with bloodied cricket bat 'found' at Blade Runner's House? Horrific new claims about model's death."

Rising Gun Ownership Among Women is Statement of Independence and Personal Power

To hear radical feminists, you'd think that guns are the biggest threat to the very existence of women. (See Amanda Marcotte's deluded rants here, here, here, and here.) But according to the New York Times, amazingly, it's women who are now an increasingly robust demographic for gun sales. They are feeling independent and empowered --- exactly the opposite of what radical feminists want for women.

See, "Rising Voice of Gun Ownership Is Female":

PAINESVILLE, Ohio — Mary Ann Froebe stood feet apart with knees slightly bent and aimed the .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic.

“You’ve got some adrenaline running through you right now,” said Esther Beris, the coordinator of the northeastern Ohio chapter of A Girl and a Gun Women’s Shooting League. “It’s O.K., just relax.”

Ms. Froebe, 42, a small-business owner who described herself as a “virgin gun shooter,” concentrated and pulled the trigger. “It was awesome,” she said, her face flushed, after emptying the 10-round magazine. “The sense of control, of being in charge of me.”

In the debate over firearms regulations, the voices of gun owners have largely been those of men. But at firing ranges across the country, a growing number of women are learning to use firearms and honing their skills.

Women’s participation in shooting sports has surged over the last decade, increasing by 51.5 percent for target shooting from 2001 to 2011, to just over 5 million women, and by 41.8 percent for hunting, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

Gun sales to women have risen in concert. In a survey last year by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 73 percent of gun dealers said the number of female customers had gone up in 2011, as had a majority of retailers surveyed in the two previous years.

Manufacturers have increasingly geared advertising toward women, marketing special firearms models with smaller frames, custom colors (pink is a favorite), and accessories like the “concealed carry” “salmon kiss” leather handbag offered by Cobra Firearms or the leopard shooting gloves and Bullet Rosette jewelry sold by Sweet Shot (“Look cute while you shoot!” is the company’s motto).

Women’s shooting clubs have also proliferated — not just in small towns like Painesville, but also in Atlanta, Houston, even Manhattan, where a women’s gun club meets regularly at a firing range in Chelsea, a neighborhood better known for art galleries.

On a recent Friday, Ms. Froebe and eight other women attended the Painesville shooting league’s inaugural Breakfast and Bullets gathering at Perkins Family Restaurant for brunch and then moved on to Atwell’s Shooting Range. There, Ms. Beris taught them how to hold and load a handgun safely and then coached them on the range.

Though they may share a fierce belief in the Second Amendment with their male counterparts, female gun owners often learn to shoot for different reasons, their interest in and proficiency with firearms not just a hobby or a means for self-defense, but a statement of independence and personal power.

Continue reading.

Van Jones Falls for Hilarous Fox News Meteorite Photoshop

This is funny. At Weasel Zippers, "Former Obama Czar Van Jones Falls For Blatant Hoax Smearing Fox News…"

And at Twitchy, "Hilarious: Van Jones falls for ridiculous Photoshop smearing Fox News as Russian meteor truthers."

.@weaselzippers @vanjones68 @stevensinger3 FOX News is already reporting on this hoax story => twitter.com/LeftyBollocks/…
— Lefty Bollocks (@LeftyBollocks) February 16, 2013

And flashback to 2009, at ABC News, "Controversial Obama Administration Official Denies Being Part of 9/11 “Truther” Movement, Apologizes for Past Comments."

Lefties like Rachel Maddow are all about attacking conservatives as conspiracy freaks, but the MSNBC idiots should stay focused on their own backyard.

Deneen Borelli to Dr. Ben Carson: 'The Black Liberal Establishment is Not Going to Be Happy With You...'

One of the highlights of Dr. Carson's town hall with Sean Hannity:

'No Human Being Is Illegal'

Folks might remember radical open-borders activist Jose Antonio Vargas, who was featured last year in Time Magazine's disgustingly lawless cover feature on American's so-called "undocumented immigrants."

Well the douche testified before Congress this week. The Washington Times reports, "Illegal immigrant tells Congress not to call him illegal."

And here's Katie Pavlich from this morning's Fox & Friends, shredding the idiotic logic that "no human being is illegal":

Paleocons Attack Rand Paul for Backing Israel's National Security Interests

iOWNTHEWORLD gets right down to the nub of the issue.

See: "We Have Our Answer – Rand Paul is not the Jew Hater His Dad Is."

And amazingly, MSNBC hack Rachel Maddow aligns herself with the crackpot paleo Jew-bashers in trying to other-ize Rand Paul as a crazed conspiracy-monger: "Maddow blasts ‘space cadet’ Rand Paul’s conspiracy theories."

The paleocon freaks are joined with the anti-Israel left in an unholy alliance of hate and anti-Semitism.

Everything's pretty f-ked up these days  — except Rand Paul, who's been righteously right-on in his recent speeches and commentary.

Another Jennifer Nicole Lee Bikini Booty Slip!

She does this every time, at London's Daily Mail, "Oops! Jennifer Nicole Lee reveals more than she bargained for as her tiny string bikini slips during dip in the pool."

PREVIOUSLY: "Yet Another Batch of Jennifer Nicole Lee Bikini Pics!", and "Oops! She Does it Again! Smokin' Jennifer Nicole Lee Bikini Malfunction in Las Vegas."

Bonus Saturday Rule 5: Sabine Jemeljanova

This young lady just popped up in my timeline, and as I'm doing some Saturday Rule 5, enjoy:

RT @nutsmagicmon: #ff @sabinejofficial twitter.com/NutsMagicMon/s… :)
— Sabine Jemeljanova (@SabineJofficial) February 8, 2013

Rule 5 — On Demand

Folks are sending me their Rule 5 links, so I might as well get with the program.

See First Street Journal, "Rule 5 Blogging: In Iraq," and Reaganite Republican, "Ooh-La-La! Miss France 2012 is Marie Payet."

More at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is a drought world by a fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist."

And at Bob Belvedere's, "Rule 5 News: 16 February 2013 A.D.", and "Rule 5 Saturday,February 9: Saskia Howard-Clark."

Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Carly Foulkes." And Woodsterman, "The Brunette ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

More at Eye of Polyphemus, "Amanda Seyfried," and Laughing Conservative, "Nikki Cox."

And from Wirecutter, "Camel Toe." And Subject to Change, "Rule 5 Hotties."

Now over at 90 Miles from Tyranny, "Rule 5 - Girls with Guns."

And at Theo Spark, "Saturday Totties...", and "Bonus Totty..."

LAUSD's John Deasy Wants Test Scores to Count for 30 Percent of Teacher Evaluations

He'll be firing a lot of teachers. Basing teacher evaluations on student performance blames teachers for student learning problems over which they have little control.

At LAT, "Deasy wants 30% of teacher evaluations based on test scores":

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced Friday that as much as 30% of a teacher's evaluation will be based on student test scores, setting off more contention in the nation's second-largest school system in the weeks before a critical Board of Education election.

Leaders of the teachers union have insisted that there should be no fixed percentage or expectation for how much standardized tests should count — and that test results should serve almost entirely as just one measure to improve instruction. Deasy, in contrast, has insisted that test scores should play a significant role in a teacher's evaluation and that poor scores could contribute directly to dismissal.

In a Friday memo explaining the evaluation process, Deasy set 30% as the goal and the maximum for how much test scores and other data should count.

In an interview, he emphasized that the underlying thrust is to develop an evaluation that improves the teaching corps and that data is part of the effort.

"The public has been demanding a better evaluation system for at least a decade. And teachers have repeatedly said to me what they need is a balanced way forward to help them get better and help them be accountable," Deasy said. "We do this for students every day. Now it's time to do this for teachers."

Deasy also reiterated that test scores would not be a "primary or controlling" factor in an evaluation, in keeping with the language of an agreement reached in December between L.A. Unified and its teachers union. Classroom observations and other factors also are part of the evaluation process.

But United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher expressed immediate concern about Deasy's move. During negotiations, he said, the superintendent had proposed allotting 30% to test scores but the union rejected the plan. Deasy then pulled the idea off the table, which allowed the two sides to come to an agreement, Fletcher said. Teachers approved the pact last month.

"To see this percentage now being floated again is unacceptable," the union said in a statement.

Fletcher described the pact as allowing flexibility for principals, in collaboration with teachers, first to set individual goals and then to look at various measures to determine student achievement and overall teacher performance.

"The superintendent doesn't get to sign binding agreements and then pretend they're not binding," Fletcher said.

I couldn't care less about these union hacks, but the district will only punish teachers for students who refuse to learn, who live in disfunctional families, and who are influenced by the norms of hip-hop gang-bang culture 100 times more than the long lost culture of scholarly commitment.

More at that top link.

Three-Pointers Have Fundamentally Transformed the NBA

I don't often watch basketball, but when I do, there's few plays more exciting that a nothin'-but-net three-pointer.

At LAT, "Three-pointers: NBA's convenant of the arc":

Steve Kerr vividly recalls being a 10-year-old kid, with a basketball tucked under his arm, staring up at the rim from behind an imaginary three-point line he had paced off in the driveway.

The basket looked a block away.

"I remember thinking, 'How does anybody ever make one of these?'" said Kerr, 47, who never could have dreamed he would end a 15-year NBA career as the league's most accurate three-point shooter.

That long shot — once dismissed as a publicity stunt — has fundamentally changed professional basketball. It has reshaped offensive and defensive philosophies at all levels, and significantly enhanced the value of players who can make shots from long range.

"You always want to have a knock-down three-point shooter or somebody who can actually have the ability to create a three-point shot for anybody else," said guard Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, one of six competitors Saturday in the Three-Point Shootout, a highlight of NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston.

The three-pointer, first used by the NBA on a trial basis in the 1979-80 season, has morphed from a lightly used gadget to a cornerstone of the game. In that first season, teams averaged fewer than one three-point basket per game. Thursday night, for example, the Clippers made 16 three-pointers in a romp over the Lakers.

Three-point shooters were once specialists parked at the end of the bench who typically made brief appearances late in games. Occasionally, if they got hot at the right time, those sharpshooters might bring their team back from the brink of defeat.

These days, a player who can hit shots from downtown has undeniable upward mobility.

The NBA has a slew of power forwards in the 6-foot-10 range who can consistently drain long shots, thereby stretching defenses to their limits. That outside threat draws big defenders to the perimeter, and creates more room for guards to drive to the basket.

The NBA three-point line measures 23 feet 9 inches from the basket at the top of the free-throw circle and 22 feet at the corners, the spot most shooters prefer. To bump up scoring in the mid-1990s, the league briefly tried moving the line to a uniform 22 feet before returning to the current configuration. The three-point arcs in college (20-9) and high school (19-9) are closer to the basket.

"Where big players 30 years ago were confined to the low block, a lot of guys can shoot that shot now," said Mitch Kupchak, general manager of the Lakers. "Look at Pau Gasol. He's taken more threes in the last year or two than he took in the first eight or nine years of his career."

In the last 11/2 seasons with the Lakers, Gasol has made 15 of 53 three-point attempts. That approaches the total of his previous 11 seasons, in which he made 19 of 85.

The once-fluid pro game that was predicated on spacing and flow and movement is now more dominated by two groups of players: those clogging the middle and those sharking outside the arc and waiting to take their shot. Many experts believe that has had an impact on how well players perform in the area inside the arc but outside the key — the jump shot that once was a staple of the league.

"Very few players now can take one or two dribbles, pull up at 15 or 17 feet, and make shots," Lakers assistant coach Chuck Person said. Perhaps 15 or 20 players out of roughly 450 in the league, Person added, excel at the mid-range jump shot. "Teams just don't work on it anymore."

More at that top link.

I'm Thinking North Dakota or Montana Might Be Nice Places to Retire

Yeah, it's a while before I'll be able to retire, and then my wife will be working for some time after that. But we talk about it. Maybe California's a lost cause and it's time to start thinking about a nice place to live, lower taxes and a more traditional social environment.

A couple of weeks back Gallup mentioned North Dakota as one of the most conservative states in the union. See, "Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming Most Conservative States." I'm not sure about Alabama, but Wyoming might be nice.

And what about Montana? Next to North Dakota it's got the lowest percentage of self-identified homosexuals, so my wife and I won't be bombarded with the radical left's depraved rim-station ideologies all the time. See, "LGBT Percentage Highest in D.C., Lowest in North Dakota." North Dakota's at 1.7 percent homosexual self-identification, and Montana's at 2.6 percent. Check the piece for the full results. Most of the Mountain States look excellent. And of course it's not just the numbers, but the culture. California's trending away from American exceptionalism. That's not cool. We're not quite like the Nation's Capital yet. But it's not for trying.

(Note: Nevada's a little on the homosexual high side, but it's a no income tax state, so in the end it'll be a balance of factors. It ain't teh gays so much as the crushing collectivist ideologies that they're so hopelessly identified with.)

What It Feels Like Being a Conservative on the Internet

This is funny, at Buzzfeed.

Saving America: Dr. Benjamin Carson on Sean Hannity's Show

Dr. Carson spoke last Thursday, when I was traveling. Here's his speech criticizing President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast, "Dr. Benjamin Carson Addresses National Prayer Breakfast, Criticizes Obamacare."

And here's the opening segment from tonight's Hannity, which was just awesome:

And the interview continues here, here, here (focus group!), and here.

Also, Hannity's earlier interview with Dr. Carson, "Hannity Interviews Dr. Ben Carson About National Prayer Breakfast Speech."

And see Star Parker, at WND, "BEN CARSON OWES NO APOLOGIES."

#Dorner Died of Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

At NBC News 4 Los Angeles, "Sheriff's Officials: Dorner Died of Single Gunshot Wound to Head":

At a news conference Friday, sheriff's Capt. Kevin Lacey said the autopsy showed Dorner's cause of death to be a single gunshot wound to the head. He said he would not speak about the "manner of death."

"The information we have right now seems to indicate that the wound that took Christopher Dorner's life was self-inflicted," Lacey said.

Rifle found among #Dorner's weapons cache was inscribed with the word "vengeance." 4.nbcla.com/Up9zYN twitter.com/NBCLA/status/3…
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) February 16, 2013

'This is the Most Transparent Administration in History...'

Kira Davis questioned President Obama during yesterday's Google hangout event, at the second half of the video here.

O's lying again, of course. That's what he does best.

See Jim Harper at Cato, "With All Due Respect, Mr. President, That Is Not True," and also Mary Katharine Ham, at Hot Air, "Obama: Have I mentioned this is the most transparent WH in history lately?"

Plus, some pointed thoughts from Glenn Greenwald, "Obama DOJ again refuses to tell a court whether CIA drone program even exists."

Obama lives in a world of doublethink, and that's dangerous for democracy.

Another Syria Rebel Dude Bites the Dust

Keeping up with the Syria fighter dude blogging, this guy takes it in the gut or lower, and his lights go out at the 20 second mark:

More at Jawa Report, "War Porn: Why Did The Syrian Rebels Cross The Road?", and at Blazing Cat Fur, "Syrian Rebel Shows Marked Lack of Common Sense - 72 Raisins Are His."

Rand Paul Is the Republican to Watch in 2013

I've been thinking as much this last week. I like Rand, and if his recent turn on foreign policy is a longer-term indication, this is someone I could support in 2016.

From Josh Kraushaar, at National Journal:

One of the most intriguing sideplots from Senate Republicans’ successful filibuster blocking Chuck Hagel from becoming Defense Secretary was that one of the GOP ringleaders was recently tagged by critics as someone who shared his more-isolationist worldview.

But freshman Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who openly talks about his presidential ambitions for 2016, is playing the long game – and his politically savvy positioning suggests he’ll be a major national player. Unlike his father, he’s not interested in pursuing ideologically charged issues just for the sake of making a point, he’s learning how to make an impact in Washington.

One senior Republican leadership aide gushed with admiration over the freshman senator, emphasizing that he’s been able to tailor his libertarian ideology toward legislation that holds broader appeal. The adviser touted his involvement on right-to-work legislation, his call to audit the Federal Reserve, and even his leadership on legalizing industrial hemp – legislation first pushed by his father, which has now won support from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“Rand is somebody who has the generational know-how to turn it into 21st century machine. He gets branding. He understands there’s a need for credibility,” said the adviser. “He understands he doesn’t have the answers to everything. He’s not afraid of input, but is totally confident in listening to input to help achieve his goals.”

One of the areas where he’s taken a lot of feedback is on foreign policy, which critics have tagged as being synonymous with his father’s controversial views. But in a sign that he’s looking beyond just his next re-election, Paul made a high-profile trip to Israel, gave a foreign policy speech to the Heritage Foundation designed to smooth over the rough edges of his foreign policy worldview, and joined most of his Republican colleagues in blocking Hagel. He reached out to Israel supporters, framing his distaste for overseas interventions as one that would prevent the U.S. from putting undue pressure on Israel, getting a jibe at President Obama in the process.

More at that top link. Rand made that Heritage speech the day before I flew out to North Carolina and I've been meaning to watch on video. I might do that today some time and update with my thoughts. His emerging support for Israel is the clincher for me. His tea party background is already phenomenally appealing. More later.

Meanwhile, see Robert Stacy McCain for more, "Ron Paul Supporters Slam Rand After Republicans Block Hagel Nomination."

#Dorner Researched Irvine Couple Before Murders

The Orange County Register reports, "Dorner studied Irvine pair before killing, detectives believe":

Irvine police detectives believe fired police Officer Christopher Dorner gathered intelligence on his first two victims before he shot them on the rooftop of an Irvine parking structure, documents reviewed by the Register show.

The slayings of Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence opened what police say was a murderous campaign carried out by Dorner in retribution for his firing several years ago from the Los Angeles Police Department.

The two former basketball standouts, newly engaged, were shot so many times with a 9 mm pistol that investigators concluded the killer had used a high-capacity magazine, the court documents show. Orange County prosecutors were poised to file murder charges against Dorner and indicated that they would have sought the death penalty.

Instead, Dorner died earlier this week in a mountain cabin where he had barricaded himself for a last stand with law enforcement officers. The cabin burned after a volley of incendiary tear-gas canisters; the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department confirmed Thursday that charred remains found in the basement were those of Dorner.

"It is believed that Dorner conducted background on his intended targets ... and may be in possession of ... documents containing personal and professional information for Keith Lawrence, and the entire Quan family," Irvine Detective Jonathan Sampson wrote in an affidavit in support of a search warrant.

The couple were found shot to death in a car Feb. 3. The court documents reveal that Orange County authorities pinpointed Dorner as a suspect in the killing of Quan and Lawrence as early as Feb. 5. The next day, detectives requested permission to search Dorner's house immediately. By then, they were aware of an online statement titled "Last Resort," attributed to Dorner, that promised war against those he blamed for his dismissal from the LAPD.

Continue reading.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "In wake of Dorner shootout, questions over use of 'the burner'," and "Dorner manhunt: Setting fire to cabin justified, some experts say."

Also at the San Bernardino Sun, "Photos: Dorner’s Body ID’d in Burned Cabin," and "Roadblocks from Dorner shootout all removed."

More at CBS News, "EXCLUSIVE: CBS2 Gets First Look At Gun Believed To Have Been Used By Dorner."

Hagel Nomination Stalls

At the Wall Street Journal, "GOP Stalls Vote on Pick for Pentagon."

And from John Podhoretz, at the New York Post, "New Hagel Horrors":

Yesterday’s Senate stunner — a filibuster blocking President Obama’s nominee to head the Defense Department — isn’t the final act in this drama. At least two Republicans say they’ll let Chuck Hagel’s nomination go through later in the month — provided no new shoes drop.

But that’s not such a good bet.

The case against Hagel is coming together like a pointillist painting, with data points like tiny dots that join to form a distressing overall portrait of a disreputable whole.

The latest dot is a talk he gave at Rutgers University in March 2007, uncovered by Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon. A friendly blogger covered the talk the next day, noting — with approval — that Hagel had said the State Department was under the control of Israel.

“The State Department,” the blogger quoted Hagel as saying, “has become adjunct to the Israeli Foreign Minister’s office.”

This should be disturbing for two reasons. First, like many other data points emerging since Hagel’s nomination, this one emits a faint but distinct odor of a classic anti-Semitic stereotype — Jews as secret marionetteers, pulling the strings of unsuspecting Gentiles.

Second, it should trouble everyone who must vote to confirm Hagel — because the remark is spectacularly stupid.

RTWT.

And here's Alana Goodman's piece at the Free Beacon, "Report: Hagel Said State Department Controlled by Israel."

BONUS: As Charles Krauthammer wrote a couple of weeks ago:

The puzzle of the Chuck Hagel nomination for defense secretary is that you normally choose someone of the other party for your Cabinet to indicate a move to the center, but, as The Post’s editorial board pointed out, Hagel’s foreign policy views are to the left of Barack Obama’s, let alone the GOP’s. Indeed, they are at the fringe of the entire Senate.

New Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Attacked as Racist

Serves 'em right.

SI turned all progressive lately, so it's a taste of their own medicine

At the New York Times, "Sports Illustrated’s New Swimsuit Issue Rouses Ire Over ‘Ethnic Props’."

And see Althouse's response, "'This photo cements stereotypes, perpetuates an imbalance in the power dynamic, is reminiscent of centuries of colonialism (and indentured servitude)...'"

Hugh Jackman's Wife Not Pleased With Gay Rumors

Man, the dude's a freakin' stud. And with a lovely wife of longstanding. Turns out she's "bothered" by the rumors of her husband's homosexuality. And who does this benefit? The radical left's homosexual freaks, no doubt, who would be thrilled to have Jackman on their side of the backside boogie fence.

At LAT, "Hugh Jackman: Rumor that he's gay 'bugs' his wife of 16 years."

Michelle Williams Looks Fabulous for 'Oz' Hollywood Premiere

And she's flashing as well.

At London's Daily Mail, "Spellbinding! Michelle Williams flashes her underwear in dress split to the thigh at Oz: The Great and Powerful premiere."

Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz also seen at the link.

Russia Meteor Shower

This is trippy.

At Reuters, "Possible meteor shower reported in eastern Russia."

More dashboard cam footage of meteorite crash youtu.be/90Omh7_I8vI
— Joe Brooks (@joebrooks) February 15, 2013

Added: At the New York Times, "Earth May Not Be Ready for the Next Close Encounter."

Businesses Will Raises Prices and Cut Employee Hours Under Obama Minimum Wage Hike

Here's the key quote from the Los Angeles Times piece on the administration's collectivist proposal to hike the minimum wage, "Reaction mixed to Obama's bid to hike minimum wage":

With unemployment at nearly 8%, and more than 12 million workers officially unemployed and millions more who have dropped out of the labor market, economists worry about what a bump in the minimum wage may do.

"I just see it as a nonstarter at this point," said Sophia Koropeckyj, a labor economist at Moody's Analytics. "I'm afraid it could have a bigger [negative] effect when there's more slack in the economy."

Employers in industries that typically pay minimum wage were also mixed in their views.

Selwyn Yosslowitz, co-founder of the California restaurant chain Marmalade Cafe, with 600 workers in 10 locations, said it was a bad time to raise the rate.

He already feels beleaguered by higher costs from Obama's healthcare overhaul, he said. Should a new wage hike take effect, Yosslowitz said, he may have to repeat what he did in 2007 after California's latest minimum wage law took effect. It gradually raised rates to $8 an hour a year later.

"You increase your menu prices and you reduce hours," he said. "People who come in normally at 9 o'clock in the morning, you try to get them to clock in at 9:30 and save half an hour. We also stopped hiring people. You can't stay in business if you don't."

Some business owners said a wage hike wasn't going to be a big deal, although economic research shows that raising the minimum wage displaces workers most likely targeted by such policies: the poorest workers with the least competitive job skills. See Erika Johnson, "Schultz: No way will raising the minimum wage hurt small businesses."

Friends in Shock at Loss of Reeva Steenkamp, 'Sweetest, Kindest Soul...'

At Guardian UK, "Reeva Steenkamp: friends in shock at loss of 'sweetest, kindest soul'."

And at the Daily Beast, "Blade Runner's Beauty Queen." And at London's Daily Mail, "'This should be a day of love - model Reeva Steenkamp's tragic Valentine's tweet hours before she was gunned down (PHOTOS)."

The full press conference is here.

Obama Lied About Deficit Reduction During #SOTU Speech

He's a liar who lied his way back to a second term as Liar-in-Chief.

At IBD, "Obama Peddles a Dangerous Fantasy About the Debt Crisis":

President Obama now says the deficit problem is all but fixed, so we can stop all this unpleasant talk about spending cuts and get on with government spending. Maybe this is good politics, but it's reckless policy.

In the run-up to his State of the Union speech, Obama was running around telling everyone how we've already "cut our deficit by more than $2.5 trillion," and are now "more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists . .. say we need to stabilize our debt."

Clearly Obama wants all the dreary talk of deficits off the table. That way he can attack Republicans who try to impose deeper spending cuts, and push for more federal "investments" to help grow the economy.

But there are just two problems with Obama's claim.

First, despite what Obama says, the debt crisis is nowhere near fixed — as anyone who's looked at the report from Obama's own debt commission would know.

That report opened with this stark statement: "Our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path." Left unchecked, it said, the rising debt "will put America at risk," and that "continued inaction is not a viable option."

The panel also made it clear that stabilizing the debt would require a huge, long-term commitment to spending restraint at every level of government, as well as an overhaul of out-of-control entitlement programs.

When the commission filed its report in 2010, the national debt was $9 trillion, or about 63% of the nation's GDP. The national debt today is over $12 trillion, and has already surpassed 76% of GDP.

Had the debt commission's plan been adopted, the deficit this year would be $646 billion, and on its way down to $279 billion by 2020. And the debt would be holding steady at about 65% of GDP.

Instead, this year's deficit will be $845 billion — even after the alleged $2.5 trillion in savings that Obama touts — and will start climbing again in three years, reaching back up to $1 trillion by 2023, according to the latest forecast from the Congressional Budget Office.

The national debt, meanwhile, never drops below 73% of GDP, according to the CBO, and starts climbing after 2018, reaching 77% of GDP by 2023.

Even that forecast is optimistic, since it assumes ObamaCare costs don't explode and that there's no recession over the next decade.

Meanwhile, on the same day Obama delivered his State of the Union speech, the head of the Congressional Budget Office warned Congress that the country will continue its charge toward the fiscal cliff unless "significant changes" are made to entitlements.

More at that top link.

President Obama Touts Community Colleges in Asheville, North Carolina

After visiting the St. Lawrence Basilica, I cruised back over to the other side of town and came across the Citizen-Times building. While taking photos I noticed the headline at the newspaper in the rack, "Obama to visit Asheville," seen at the bottom photo.

And from yesterday's paper, "Obama touts community college training."

Also, "Obama's Asheville visit stirs protests."

North Carolina Approves Steep Benefit Cuts for Jobless in Bid to Reduce Debt

All of a sudden I find myself interested in the news out of North Carolina.

At the New York Times:

North Carolina lawmakers approved deep cuts to benefits for the jobless on Wednesday, in a state that has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates.

In a debt-reducing effort, the Republican-controlled legislature voted to cut maximum weekly benefits to $350 from $535, a 35 percent drop; reduce the maximum number of weeks for collecting benefits to between 12 and 20 weeks from 26 weeks; and tighten requirements to qualify. The cuts would begin with new jobless claims on July 1.

If the bill is signed by Gov. Pat McCrory, as expected, North Carolina would be the eighth state to roll back jobless benefits under the growing financial burden of the recession.

The measure’s sponsors said it would spur job growth by paying down $2.5 billion in debt to the federal government. The bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 36 to 12.

“North Carolina owes the federal government $2.5 billion because of a broken unemployment insurance system,” said Mr. McCrory, a Republican. “We’re going to pay down that debt, make the system solvent and provide an economic climate that allows businesses, large and small, to put people back to work.

But critics warned of dangerous consequences. The state has the nation’s fifth-highest unemployment rate, at 9.2 percent, compared with the national average of 7.9 percent.

“We have a jobs crisis — there are about three unemployed workers for every job,” said Bill Rowe, the director of advocacy for the North Carolina Justice Center, which aids low income workers. “We’re turning down money to make cuts for what are not really legitimate reasons.”

Right.

"Not legitimate." As if improving the business climate isn't, the freaks.

More at that top link.

#Dorner Standoff: Hostages Set Up Endgame

At the Los Angeles Times, "Dorner hostage: 'I really thought it could be the end'":

Christopher Jordan Dorner was apparently holed up inside a Big Bear area condo for as many as five days before he took the husband and wife who own the property hostage, the couple said Wednesday night.

Dorner tied the husband and wife up with plastic zip locks, stuffed small towels in their mouths so they couldn't scream and covered the heads with pillow cases, they said.

“I really thought it could be the end,” 56-year-old Karen Reynolds told reporters.

She and husband JIm Reynolds, 66, provided new details on some of Dorner's movements in the apparent final hours of his life before he is believed to have died in a fire following a mountanside gun battle with officers. Law enforcement authorities previously said the fugitive had held two cleaning women hostage. The Reynolds spoke to reporters to end the confusion.

The Reynolds said Dorner had been at the condo since as early as Friday when they arrived to do maintenance in the yard. He told them he was watching them while they worked during the day before leaving to sleep at another property nearby.

When they entered the condo about noon Tuesday, they said, they were surprised to find the fugitive former Los Angeles police officer inside. They said they were held captive for about 15 minutes.

The couple stumbled upon Dorner when they went upstairs. Once they saw him, they said, he brandished a gun and yelled, “Stay calm.”

 Karen Reynolds said she tried to run down the stairs, but Dorner chased after her and caught her. He then took the couple to a bedroom, where he tied them up.

Dorner was a menacing presence but at other times tried to reassure the couple that he did not want to harm them, they said.

Continue reading.

#Dorner Standoff: Police Scream 'Burn This Motherf-ker Down!'

Here's that clip that's been getting a lot of play:

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Dorner: Sheriff's officials defend cabin-to-cabin search."

And at Reason, "We’re Not Going to Have an 'Adult Conversation' About State Violence, Are We?"

Rand Paul's Response to Obama's State of the Union Speech

Paul delivered the "tea party response" to Obama's SOTU.

And see Reason, "Brian Doherty on Rand Paul's State of the Union Response."

BONUS: Doherty at the New York Times, "After Ron Paul, Then What for Libertarians?"

Everything You Wanted to Know About Drones

At Popular Mechanics, via Instapundit.

Julie Borowski: Oppose the Violence Against Women Act

Via Right Wing News:

How Napoleon Chagnon Became Our Most Controversial Anthropologist

I read Chagnon's work in college, his research on the Yąnomamö.

At the New York Times:

Among the hazards Napoleon Chagnon encountered in the Venezuelan jungle were a jaguar that would have mauled him had it not become confused by his mosquito net and a 15-foot anaconda that lunged from a stream over which he bent to drink. There were also hairy black spiders, rats that clambered up and down his hammock ropes and a trio of Yanomami tribesmen who tried to smash his skull with an ax while he slept. (The men abandoned their plan when they realized that Chagnon, a light sleeper, kept a loaded shotgun within arm’s reach.) These are impressive adversaries — “Indiana Jones had nothing on me,” is how Chagnon puts it — but by far his most tenacious foes have been members of his own profession.

At 74, Chagnon may be this country’s best-known living anthropologist; he is certainly its most maligned. His monograph, “Yanomamö: The Fierce People,” which has sold nearly a million copies since it was first published in 1968, established him as a serious scientist in the swashbuckling mode — “I looked up and gasped when I saw a dozen burly, naked, filthy, hideous men staring at us down the shafts of their drawn arrows!” — but it also embroiled him in controversy.

In turning the Yanomami into the world’s most famous “unacculturated” tribe, Chagnon also turned the romantic image of the “noble savage” on its head. Far from living in harmony with one another, the tribe engaged in frequent chest-pounding duels and deadly inter-village raids; violence or threat of violence dominated social life. The Yanomami, he declared, “live in a state of chronic warfare.”

The phrase may be the most contested in the history of anthropology. Colleagues accused him of exaggerating the violence, even of imagining it — a projection of his aggressive personality. As Chagnon’s fame grew — his book became a standard text in college courses — so did the complaints. No detail was too small to be debated, including the transliteration of the tribe’s name. As one commentator wrote: “Those who refer to the group as Yanomamö generally tend to be supporters of Chagnon’s work. Those who prefer Yanomami or Yanomama tend to take a more neutral or anti-Chagnon stance.”

In 2000, the simmering criticisms erupted in public with the release of “Darkness in El Dorado,” by the journalist Patrick Tierney. A true-life jungle horror story redolent with allusions to Conrad, the book charged Chagnon with grave misdeeds: not just fomenting violence but also fabricating data, staging documentary films and, most sensational, participating in a biomedical expedition that may have caused or worsened a measles epidemic that resulted in hundreds of Yanomami deaths. Advance word of the book was enough to plunge anthropology into a global public-relations crisis — a typical headline: “Scientist ‘Killed Amazon Indians to Test Race Theory.’ ” But even today, after thousands of pages of discussion, including a lengthy investigation by the American Anthropological Association (A.A.A.), there is no consensus about what, if anything, Chagnon did wrong.

Shut out of the jungle because he was so polarizing, he took early retirement from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1999. “The whole point of my existence as a human being and as an anthropologist was to do more and more research before this primitive world disappeared,” he told me bitterly. He spent much of the past decade working on a memoir instead, “Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes — the Yanomamö and the Anthropologists,” which comes out this month. It is less likely to settle the score than to reignite debate. “The subtitle is typical Chagnon,” says Leslie Sponsel, an anthropologist at the University of Hawaii and a longtime critic of Chagnon. “Some will interpret it as an insult to the Yanomami and to anthropology in general.” Sponsel despaired that what is known as “the fierce controversy” would ever be satisfactorily resolved. “It’s quicksand, a Pandora’s box,” he said. “It’s also to some degree a microcosm of anthropology.”

He retired from UCSB the same year that I received my Ph.D. I never met him, however. I'm not that cross-disciplinary.

More at that top link. And note that Chagnon isn't a idiot radical leftist anthropologist, which explains a lot of the controversies surrounding him. As the piece points out:

Chagnon sensed that his access to the Yanomami was ending. Anthropology was changing, too. For more than a decade, the discipline had been engaged in a sweeping self-critique. In 1983, the New Zealand anthropologist Derek Freeman delivered a major blow when he published “Margaret Mead and Samoa,” charging that Mead had been duped by informants in her pioneering ethnography, “Coming of Age in Samoa.” Postmodern theory precipitated a crisis. Under the influence of Derrida and Foucault, cultural anthropologists turned their gaze on their own “texts” and were alarmed by what they saw. Ethnographies were not dispassionate records of cultural facts but rather unstable “fictions,” shot through with ideology and observer bias.

This postmodern turn coincided with the disappearance of anthropology’s traditional subjects — indigenous peoples. Even the Yanomami were becoming assimilated, going to mission schools, appearing on television in Caracas and flying to the United States to speak at academic conferences. Traditional fieldwork opportunities may have been drying up, but there was still plenty of work to do exposing anthropologists’ complicity in oppressing “the other.” As one scholar in the journal Current Anthropology put it, “Isn’t it odd that the true enemy of society turns out to be that guy in the office down the hall?”

One way to confront the field’s ethical dilemmas was to redefine the ethnographer’s role. A new generation of anthropologists came to see activism on their subjects’ behalf as a principal part of the job. Chagnon did not; to him, the Yanomami were invaluable data sets, not a human rights cause — at least not primarily. In 1988, he published a provocative article in Science. Drawing on his genealogies, he showed that Yanomami men who were killers had more wives and children than men who were not. Was the men’s aggression the main reason for their greater reproductive success? Chagnon suggested that the question deserved serious consideration. “Violence,” he speculated, “may be the principal driving force behind the evolution of culture.”

Marc Lamont Hill Cheers Cop-Killer Christopher Dorner as 'Exciting Real-Life Superhero'

From John Hayward, "Columbia Professor Hails Mad-Dog Killer as 'Exciting Real-Life Superhero'."

And see Katie Pavlich, "Columbia University Professor and Dorner Sympathizer Co-Authored Book With Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal."

Also at Twitchy, "Prof. Marc Lamont Hill: Dorner saga is ‘like watching ‘Django Unchained’ in real life. It’s 
kind of exciting!’"

'Water Bottle-Gate'

Kirsten Powers and Kate Obenshain discuss the left's response to Marco Rubio's response to last night's State of the Union speech:

And at Twitchy, "Biggest ‘news’ of the night: Marco Rubio’s awkward water grab; Update: Video added; Update: #Rubioing, #RubioFilms," and "Snort! DNC’s ‘thirsty for new ideas?’ Rubio water ad is a total fail."

Christopher Dorner is Dead: Police Recover Suspect's Remains at Big Bear Cabin

Police won't officially confirm the identification of the body until tests are concluded, and I'll update if it's not Dorner.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Dorner manhunt: Investigators work to ID charred human remains."

And here's the background report from this morning's hard-copy of the newspaper, "Dorner manhunt leads to deadly standoff":

Last week, authorities had tracked Dorner to a wooded area near Big Bear Lake. They found his torched gray Nissan Titan with several weapons inside. The only trace of Dorner was a short trail of footprints in newly fallen snow.

On Tuesday morning two maids entered a cabin in the 1200 block of Club View Drive and ran into a man who they said resembled the fugitive, a law enforcement official said. The cabin was not far from where Dorner's singed truck had been found and where police had been holding press conferences about the manhunt.

The man tied up the maids, and he took off in a purple Nissan parked near the cabin. About 12:20 p.m., one of the maids broke free and called police.

Nearly half an hour later, officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted the stolen vehicle and called for backup. The suspect turned down a side road in an attempt to elude the officers but crashed the vehicle, police said.

A short time later, authorities said the suspect carjacked a light-colored pickup truck. Allan Laframboise said the truck belonged to his friend Rick Heltebrake, who works at a nearby Boy Scout camp.

Heltebrake was driving on Glass Road with his Dalmatian, Suni, when a hulking African American man stepped into the road, Laframboise said. Heltebrake stopped. The man told him to get out of the truck.

"Can I take my dog?" Heltebrake asked, according to his friend.

"You can leave and you can take your dog," the man said. He then sped off in the Dodge extended-cab pickup — and quickly encountered two Department of Fish and Wildlife trucks.

As the suspect zoomed past the officers, he rolled down his window and fired about 15 to 20 rounds. One of the officers jumped out and shot a high-powered rifle at the fleeing pickup. The suspect abandoned the vehicle and took off on foot.

Police said he ended up at the Seven Oaks Mountain Cabins, a cluster of wood-frame buildings about halfway between Big Bear Lake and Yucaipa. The suspect exchanged gunfire with San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies as he fled into a cabin that locals described as a single-story, multi-room structure.

The suspect fired from the cabin, striking one deputy, law enforcement sources said. Then he ducked out the back of the cabin, deployed a smoke bomb and opened fire again, hitting a second deputy. Neither deputy was identified by authorities. The suspect retreated back into the cabin.

The gun battle was captured on TV by KCAL 9 reporter Carter Evans, who said he was about 200 feet from the cabin. As Evans described on air how deputies were approaching the structure, he was interrupted by 10 seconds of gunfire.

Deputies drew their weapons and sprinted toward Evans. Someone yelled for him to move — then about 20 more seconds of shooting erupted.

"Hey! Get … out of here, pal," someone shouted. Evans was unharmed.

The gunfire gave way to a tense standoff. Mountain residents locked their doors and hunkered down.

Holly Haas, 52, who lives about a mile from where the shootout unfolded, said she heard helicopters buzzing on and off until about 3:30. One dipped so close to her home, she said, "I could throw a rock and hit it."

Others watched the standoff unfold on television. At her home, Candy Martin sat down to watch TV when, to her surprise, she spotted her rental cabin on-screen — where the suspect was believed to be holed up.

She contacted police and told them that the furnished, 85-year-old cabin had no cable, telephone or Internet service. No one had booked it for Monday.

"There should have been nobody," she recalled saying. "Nobody in any way."

Within hours, authorities moved in on the cabin. The fire broke out, setting off ammunition that had apparently been inside. On TV, viewers saw only the orange flames and curls of black smoke.

As night fell, authorities had yet to enter the building, said San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman. "They believe there is a body in there," she said.

Botched Media Reporting on Fate of Christopher Dorner

News reports claimed earlier this evening that the body of suspect Christopher Dorner had been recovered from the burned out cabin, only later to be retracted as police denied confirmation.

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Dorner manhunt: Confusion over whether body was found."

And at the New York Times, "Conflicting Reports Over Fate of Christopher Dorner." (At Memeorandum.)

Also at CBS News Los Angeles, "Transcript: Reporter Carter Evans Trapped In Center of Dorner Gunfight."

Another Syria Dude Shoulda Ducked!

At BCF, "Syrian Rebel Forgets to Keep Head Down."

PREVIOUSLY: "Shoulda Ducked: Syria Fighter Dude Shot Dead in Wicked Roadside Sniper Pick Off."

Modern Family: Selfish Adults Produce Children Absent Marriage, Romance, or Commitment

This is how progressives operate.

The family is an anachronism. And children are just accessories. I feel bad for the kids raised without loving, married biological parents. Because when hipsters decide to have kids in this manner, it's ultimately not with the child's best interests in mind.

At the New York Times, "Seeking to Reproduce Without a Romantic Partnership":

Rachel Hope is 5-foot-9 and likes yoga, dance and martial arts. A real estate developer and freelance writer in Los Angeles, Ms. Hope, 41, is seeking a man who lives near her, is healthy and fit, and “has his financial stuff together,” she said. Parker Williams, the 42-year-old founder of QTheory, a charity auction company also in Los Angeles, would seem like a good candidate. A 6-foot-2 former model who loves animals, Mr. Williams is athletic, easygoing, compassionate and organized.

Neither Ms. Hope nor Mr. Williams is interested in a romantic liaison. But they both want a child, and they’re in serious discussions about having, and raising, one together. Never mind that Mr. Williams is gay and that the two did not know of each other’s existence until last October, when they met on Modamily.com, a Web site for people looking to share parenting arrangements.

Mr. Williams and Ms. Hope are among a new breed of online daters, looking not for love but rather a partner with whom to build a decidedly non-nuclear family. And several social networks, including PollenTree.com, Coparents.com, Co-ParentMatch.com, and MyAlternativeFamily.com, as well as Modamily, have sprung up over the past few years to help them.

“While some people have chosen to be a single parent, many more people look at scheduling and the financial pressures and the lack of an emotional partner and decide that single parenting is too daunting and wouldn’t be good for them or the child,” said Darren Spedale, 38, the founder of Family by Design, a free parenting partnership site officially introduced in early January. “If you can share the support and the ups and downs with someone, it makes it a much more interesting parenting option.”

The sites present what can seem like a compelling alternative to surrogacy, adoption or simple sperm donation.

“I’ve met so many women in this same situation, who aren’t married and feel like they missed the boat,” said Dawn Pieke, 43, a sales and marketing manager in Omaha, Neb., whose daughter, Indigo, was born last October. Ms. Pieke met Indigo’s father, Fabian Blue, on a Facebook page for Co-parents.net in June 2011, not long after the end of her 10-year relationship. She wanted a baby, but feared doing it alone because, she said, “I didn’t grow up with my dad.” Rather than focusing on a love match, she decided to find someone to share both the financial and emotional stresses of child rearing.

Mr. Blue, for his part, had wanted to be a father since 2006. He had considered adoption, but “figured no one would let a single gay male adopt a child, and I didn’t have the kind of income for a surrogate,” he said. He went on Craigslist and parenting Web sites and had coffee dates with a handful of women, but “just like in any relationship there needed to be a spark and it simply wasn’t there,” he said. With Ms. Pieke, though, he said the electricity was palpable from the start. The two corresponded on Facebook and then Skype, asking each other questions about everything from religion to dating to child-rearing philosophies. By November he decided to move from Melbourne, Australia, where he was living, to Omaha.

“My twin sister was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ” Ms. Pieke recalled with a laugh. “I said, ‘No. He wants a child. I want a child. We want to meet and see if it’s anything bigger.’ ”

They first met in person on Thanksgiving 2011. “I felt like this guy was my relative or long-lost brother, but then again he was also a stranger,” Ms. Pieke said. They continued the dialogue: reading each other’s medical charts, undergoing fertility tests. He moved into a separate bedroom in her home, and, she said, four weeks later, “He handed me a semen sample, we hugged, and I went into my bedroom and inseminated myself.”

While Mr. Blue and Ms. Pieke plan on sharing parenting responsibility for Indigo equally, they never drafted any kind of legal agreement, which they both agree was unwise. “There were so many things I didn’t anticipate — like, how much should I be responsible financially? What happens if I lose a job? What happens if he does? It’s not a marriage,” she said.

More:

Colin Weil and the mother of his 2-year-old daughter, Stella, made sure to draw up a contract and even went to couples therapy before she got pregnant. Mr. Weil, who is gay, met Stella’s mother, who asked that her name not be used, in October 2009 through a mutual friend who knew that both were single and wanted children. A courtship of sorts ensued, with strings of e-mails and endless phone calls. They met each other’s friends and families, and “decided to go for it,” said Mr. Weil, 46, director of marketing at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan. He said they spent the next few months trying to convince themselves they shouldn’t, “because it seemed crazy.” But Stella now spends one night a week with Mr. Weil and they plan to work up to more.

Mr. Weil believes this type of parenting arrangement is completely logical.

“When you think about the concept of the village, and how the village was part of child rearing for so many cultures for so many thousands of years, it makes total sense,” he said. “The idea that two people — let alone one person — would do it without the village is really nutty.”

But Elizabeth Marquardt, director of the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values, a nonpartisan advocacy group in New York, vehemently disagrees. “It’s a terrible idea, deliberately consigning a child to be raised in two different worlds, with parents who did not even attempt to form a loving bond with one another,” she wrote in an e-mail. “As children of divorce will tell you, it’s very difficult to grow up in two different worlds, with your parents each pursuing separate love lives that can be increasingly complex over the course of a childhood.”

Others say she is missing the point that parenting partnerships actually spare a child the future pain of divorce. “Certainly, from a research standpoint, I don’t think having a romantic relationship is necessary to have a good co-parenting relationship,” said Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan, an associate professor in the Ohio State University department of human sciences. “Research shows that if parents can have a warm, cooperative, co-parenting relationship, then that’s going to be positive for the child’s development.”

It's a bunch of homosexuals servicing selfish and immature women.

Our society is getting pretty f-ked. Grow up people. It's not all about you and your needs.

A Rational Debate on Guns

Actually, I doubt the gun-grab freaks really want a "rational" debate, since it usually ends up something like this, at iOWNTHEWORLD, "This Empty-Headed Anchorman Better Outlaw His Guest Because He Just Got Assault-Weaponed With Facts and Logic."

Will the Next Pope Be Black?

Who knows? Although I'm reminded of how the United Nations always seeks a candidate from the Third World to serve as Secretary General. Perhaps the Vatican will look to the "Global South" for its next pope.

At London's Daily Mail, "Will the next pope be black? Ghanaian and Nigerian cardinals lead race for Vatican."

LeRoy Carhart Botched Late-Term Abortion Leaves Mother Dead

Robert Stacy McCain reports, "Doctor Death: 29-Year-Old Patient Dies After Late-Term Abortion in Maryland UPDATE: Complete Media Blackout by Feminists, Major News Organizations," and "Carhart Victim Identified: N.Y. Woman Sought Abortion for ‘Fetal Abnormalities’."

Also, "How Many More Women Will Die Before Abortionist LeRoy Carhart Is Stopped?", and "Despite Death in Carhart Clinic, Fanatics Want to Open Abortion Clinic in Wichita."

Pope Benedict XVI to Step Down

This was the huge story at Memeorandum yesterday.

See the Wall Street Journal, "Pope Resigns in Historic Move: Citing Age, Illness, Benedict XVI Becomes First Pontiff to Step Down in Six Centuries":

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI will become the first pontiff in six centuries to resign, marking the end of a transitional papacy that focused more on theological and internal renewal and less on the broader challenges that face the Roman Catholic church at the start of its 21st century of existence.

The pope's surprise announcement paves the way for a successor who will confront anew the task of rebuilding the church's foundations in an increasingly secular and skeptical West while continuing to spread its roots in the rapidly growing emerging world.

The 85-year-old pope, who before his 2005 election was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, announced the decision to step down in a speech in Latin Monday to a small group of cardinals, saying he no longer had the vitality to perform his duties. Only two top Vatican cardinals were informed beforehand about the historic announcement, which quickly ricocheted around the world.

"His fidelity to maintaining the truth and clarity of the Catholic faith, to cultivating ecumenical and interfaith dialogue and in reaching out to inspire the next generation of Catholics have been great gifts to us all," said Boston Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley.

The resignation of Benedict, who heads a church of one billion world-wide, was emblematic of a pope who, though doctrinal in his teachings, often bucked traditions when it came to opening the Vatican up to the world beyond its medieval walls.

Among other achievements, he took on a centuries-old rift between the Catholic and Anglican churches, introducing a pathway for disaffected Anglicans to enter the Catholic fold. He also tried to lift the veil on the Vatican's opaque finances by bringing in international observers to monitor the creation of the Holy See's first financial watchdog. He was the first pontiff to seize on social media, sending messages to a sea of followers over Twitter.

The pope also spoke out about the scandals involving sexual abuse by priests that have roiled the church in the U.S. and other Western countries, and removed some of the bishops implicated in them. Still, he drew criticism from some that he didn't speak out strongly enough or deal forcefully enough with the crisis, which has cost the church hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements with thousands of abuse victims and badly damaged its image world-wide.

In all, his concerns were typical of a pope who didn't shy away from the most volatile issues facing the Catholic Church. "Some people describe him as merely an intellectual who moved in a metaphysical world. No, he's also a man who governed with a huge sense of moral responsibility," said Cardinal Julián Herranz, who has worked closely alongside the pope.

In his speech Monday, Pope Benedict, who was elected in April 2005, said his strength "had deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity." After he steps down, the pope will retreat to a monastery to pray and write, his spokesman said.

More at the link.

And at the New York Times, "Successor to Benedict Will Lead a Church at a Crossroads."

Push to Gauge Value of College Gains Steam

We'll be seeing more of this, especially since continued high unemployment rates leave recent graduates with woefully diminished chances.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Cost of College: Push to Gauge Bang for Buck from College Gains Steam":

U.S. and state officials are intensifying efforts to hold colleges accountable for what happens after graduation, a sign of frustration with sky-high tuition costs and student-loan debt.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) are expected to reintroduce this week legislation that would require states to make more accessible the average salaries of colleges' graduates. The figures could help prospective students compare salaries by college and major to assess the best return on their investment.

A similar bipartisan bill died last year, but a renewed push has gained political momentum in recent weeks. "This begins to introduce some market forces into the academic arena that have not been there," said Mr. Wyden, adding that support for the move is unusually broad given the political divide in Washington. Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.), the House majority leader, said he intends to support a similar measure in the House.

High-school seniors now trying to decide which college to attend next fall are awash with information about costs, from dorm rooms to meal plans. But there is almost no easy way to tell what graduates at specific schools earn—or how many found jobs in their chosen field. Supporters say more transparency is needed as students graduate deeper in debt and enter the rocky job market.

The Wyden-Rubio bill doesn't spell out exactly how this information has to be assembled. The goal is that students and parents could use the U.S. Department of Education website to query data from all 50 states. But the bill relies on states to knit together wage data submitted by employers with information on graduates submitted by colleges.

Virginia, which recently began publishing wages by colleges and program on its own, linked these two data sets using Social Security numbers. It didn't publish the Social Security numbers.

Some colleges are resisting the broader push, saying it would be a burden for states to compile the information, and that it would tell students little they don't know already.

"You don't need a database to tell you that people who major in fine arts won't earn a lot of money when they graduate," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, a trade group that hasn't taken a position on the bill by Messrs. Wyden and Rubio. Some officials worry that salary is too narrow a measure of the value of a liberal-arts education.

Privacy advocates have concerns with compiling so much data. One potential issue, they say, is that the data could be sliced so thinly that it would reveal information about individuals. "It's the risk of re-identification in small samples," says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C.

Still, Bryce Harrison, who graduated last May from Goucher College, a private school in Baltimore, said wage data could have helped him pick his major. Mr. Harrison, 23 years old, hoped his political-science degree would land him a job with the government.

He has had no luck. With about $100,000 in student loans to repay, Mr. Harrison spent the summer working for his father, power-washing houses. But business slows in the winter, so he is now unemployed and is considering joining the National Guard.

"Was college worth getting in the amount of debt I'm in?" he asks. "At this point, I can't answer that."

Pro Tip: Don't take out unsustainable student loans for an undergraduate degree, to say nothing of graduate or law school. Work your way through college even if it takes longer to complete. It can be done. Avoid the maw of the student loan/student scam industry. This debt can't be wiped out by bankruptcy. Some people are immediately indebted for life.

Americans Were Under Attack. Then: Nothing

I haven't blogged about Benghazi much lately, mostly because the political system's largely moved on. Hillary Clinton smoked her congressional testimony. And the press treats this administration as if it were royalty. There have been a few exceptions, but most in the MFM didn't think Benghazi rated investigative coverage. Indeed, if it wasn't for Fox News, we would have had a couple of perfunctory reports on the networks and the remaining cable channels and that would've been it. Sure, CBS's Sharyl Attkison was pressing hard against the administration's cover-up, but for her probing she was soon shut out of the press loop.

No doubt the scandal remains politically potent, if enough attention can be paid. And recent testimony has shed some unwanted light, from the administration's perspective, on the events of September 11, 2012. But at this point, I suspect people are moving on. Anointing Hillary is more important than getting to the bottom of things.

In any case, see William Kristol and Peter Wehner, at the Wall Street Journal, "The Absentee Commander in Chief":

We've both had the honor to work in the White House. We've seen presidents, vice presidents, chiefs of staff and national security advisers during moments of international crisis. We know that in these moments human beings make mistakes. There are failures of communication and errors of judgment. Perfection certainly isn't the standard to which policy makers should be held.

But there are standards. If Americans are under attack, presidential attention must be paid. Due diligence must be demonstrated. A president must take care that his administration does everything it can do. On Sept. 11, 2012, as Americans were under attack in Benghazi, Libya, President Obama failed in his basic responsibility as president and commander in chief. In a crisis, the president went AWOL.

Thanks to the congressional testimony of outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey late last week, we know they met with President Obama on Sept. 11 at 5 p.m. in a pre-scheduled meeting, when they informed the president about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The meeting lasted about a half-hour. Mr. Panetta said they spent roughly 20 minutes of the session briefing the president on the chaos at the American Embassy in Cairo and the attack in Benghazi, which eventually cost the lives of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, security personnel Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, and information officer Sean Smith.

Secretary Panetta said the president left operational details, including determination of what resources were available to help the Americans under siege, "up to us." We also learned that President Obama did not communicate in any way with Mr. Panetta or Gen. Dempsey the rest of that evening or that night. Indeed, Mr. Panetta and Gen. Dempsey testified they had no further contact at all with anyone in the White House that evening—or, for that matter, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

That's not all we discovered. We now know that despite Gen. Dempsey having been informed of Ambassador Stevens's repeated warnings about the rise of terrorist elements in Benghazi, no forces were put in place or made ready nearby to respond to possible trouble. It also seems that during the actual attacks in Benghazi, which the administration followed in real time and which lasted for some eight hours, not a single major military asset was deployed to help rescue Americans under assault.

And we learned one other thing: Messrs. Panetta and Dempsey both knew on the night of the assault that it was a terrorist attack. This didn't prevent President Obama, Secretary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice from peddling a false version of events in the days and even weeks that followed, as the administration called the incident spontaneous, said there was no evidence of a coordinated terrorist attack and blamed the violence on an anti-Muslim video. So the White House, having failed to ensure that anything was done during the attack, went on to mislead the nation afterward.

Why the deception? Presumably for two reasons. The first is that the true account of events undercut the president's claim during the campaign that al Qaeda was severely weakened in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden. The second is that a true account of what happened in Benghazi that night would have revealed that the president and his top national-security advisers did not treat a lethal attack by Islamic terrorists on Americans as a crisis. The commander in chief not only didn't convene a meeting in the Situation Room; he didn't even bother to call his Defense secretary or the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Not a single presidential finger was lifted to help Americans under attack.

Continue reading.

FLASHBACK: "Benghazi Reveals Obama Is a Coward and Disgrace."

Forget the Dress Code: Smokin' Kate Perry Busts Out of 'Show-Stopping Key-Hole Cut-Out Dress' at Grammy Awards

Nikki Finke reported on the dress code, "Breasts, Buttocks, Genitals Ban at Grammys – But Also Message-Sending Lapel Pins."

Well, some folks gave their own interpretation of the code, but perhaps none so fabulously at Katy Perry, at the Superficial, "Katy Perry Is the Only Two Things That Mattered at the Grammys. The Only Two Things."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Well that looks a bit different! Katy Perry's arresting Grammys dress was first worn by Chinese star Bingbing Li."

Sullivan High School Students Want Traditional Prom — Without LGBT Radicals

Well, at some point folks push back against homosexual "super rights." I imagine this won't be the last we'll be hearing about this kind of stuff.

At New York Daily News, "Some Indiana parents, teacher want 'traditional prom' to ban gays, lesbians."

And get a load of this response from Christian-bashing "anti-bullying" bully Dan Savage, "Anti-Gay Bigots at High School In Indiana Can't Ban Gay Kids From Prom..."

Young, Big Government Progressives

It remains to be seen, but whether this is an ephemeral trend that coincides with the current Obama-led Democrat-socialists or a longer, secular political realignment is an important question. Either way, conservatives have their work cut out for in them.

At the New York Times, "Young, Liberal and Open to Big Government":

MISSOULA, Mont. — This funky college town, nestled along two rivers where five mountain ranges converge, has long been a liberal pocket, an isolated speck of blue in a deeply red state. Now Montana is electing more politicians who lean that way, thanks to a different-minded generation of young voters animated by the recession and social issues.

Sam Thompson, a 22-year-old environmental studies major at the University of Montana here, considers himself “fiscally conservative” but opposes cuts to Medicare; he expects to need health coverage when he grows old. Aaron Curtis, 27, a graduate student, admired Jon Huntsman, a moderate Republican, but could not stomach Mitt Romney’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

Billie Loewen and Heather Jurva, editors at the student newspaper, speak of a Depression-era mentality that is pushing their generation to back Democrats. Saddled with student debt, they worry about health care and are terrified that they will not find good jobs. “You might be just one accident away from losing everything,” said Ms. Jurva, who has worked 40 hours a week waiting on tables to put herself through school.

It is no secret that young voters tilt left on social issues like immigration and gay rights. But these students, and dozens of other young people interviewed here last week, give voice to a trend that is surprising pollsters and jangling the nerves of Republicans. On a central philosophical question of the day — the size and scope of the federal government — a clear majority of young people embraces President Obama’s notion that it can be a constructive force, a point he intends to make in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

“Young people absolutely believe that there’s a role for government,” said Matt Singer, a founder of Forward Montana, a left-leaning though officially nonpartisan group that seeks to engage young people in politics. “At the same time, this is not a generation of socialists. They are highly entrepreneurial, and know that some of what it takes to create an environment where they can do their own exciting, creative things is having basic systems that work.”

Well, if they're not "a generation of socialists," young people ought to be gravitating toward folks like Sen. Rand Paul instead of the brain-addled, entrepreneurial-crushing Democrats like President Obama and the idiot Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

We'll see. More at that top link in any case.

Cartoon Credit: William Warren.

Basilica of St. Lawrence, Asheville, N.C.

I'm traveling back to California today, so this post will have to hold down the fort. I have plenty more photos to share, but I just love this one of the Basilica:

The Basilica of St. Lawrence, Roman Catholic Church, Asheville, N.C. #Values #ProLife @rsmccain twitter.com/AmPowerBlog/st…

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 9, 2013

Visit the website here.