Fellow Travelers!

At the People's Cube, "Come Out of the Political Closet, Fellow Travelers!"

RELATED: from Janice Fiamengo, at FrontPage Magazine, "Loving the Enemy: Why the Left Hates America."

If I Were Homosexual I'd Have a Flaming Crush on Daniel Day-Lewis

He's handsome as all get out, extremely well spoken, witty, funny, and gracious. What else could you ask for?

The Old Gray Lady Unchained

From Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, at PuffHo, "The New York Times Is Leaving the U.S Newspaper Industry Behind":

The announcement that the New York Times Company wants to sell the New England Media Group (including the Boston Globe) and focus on its flagship title illustrates how the New York Times is leaving the U.S. newspaper industry behind.

The paper that Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Sr. worked to transform from a Manhattan-based operation into a national operation through satellite printing and regional editions his son Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. now works to turn into a truly global news content company through an emphasis on digital subscriptions and new Portuguese and Chinese language editions oriented towards cosmopolitan elites in emerging markets.

This transition from metropolitan newspaper with national aspirations to metropolitan news organization with both national and international readership is not an easy move for the New York Times. But it is an impossible move to even contemplate for the Boston Globe, let alone the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the two titles that, with various related operations, make up the bulk of the New England Media Group.

By putting the New England Media Group up for sales, the New York Times Company and its new CEO, former BBC General Director Mark Thompson, has implicitly acknowledged that searching for a way forward for the Globe and the Telegram & Gazette, important as that is in itself, is an unwelcome distraction from the company's primary objective of moving the flagship title forward by building the national and international audience.

It is no longer clear that the Times has much in common with these titles, or that the synergies sought when they were bought in 1993 (in joint advertising sales, for example) matter very much anymore. It is, however, clear that these titles do not have the resources or the brand to cater to the global audience the New York Times itself seeks, and that they are now probably losing money or at best breaking even.

RTWT.

And at the Old Gray Lady, "Herald Tribune to Be Renamed The International New York Times."

I don't care. Just don't go out of business.

Folks can cry all they want about left wing bias at the New York Times --- and that includes me with some frequency --- but no matter. It's still at the top of the heap for the national newspapers. I read it. I critique it. What are you gonna do? You go to media war with the media you have.

We're Europe

At Lonely Con, "Video: How America Is Going the Way of Europe."

BONUS: Linkmaster Smith has commentary, "Yes."

EXTRA: From Steve McCann, at American Thinker, "The United States is a Euro-Socialist Nation."

Seth MacFarlane 'Pushed the Envelope'

Says Adam Carolla on last night's O'Reilly Factor:

PREVIOUSLY: "Plurality of 39 Percent Want Seth McFarlane Invited Back to Host the Oscars."

Plurality of 39 Percent Want Seth MacFarlane Invited Back to Host the Oscars

That's at the unscientific "Poll Daddy" survey at the Los Angeles Times, "Oscars 2013: How was MacFarlane as host? [Poll]."

Look, I loved Nikke Finke's Oscar's live snark, but I have to admit that I was ROTFLMFAO when McFarlane sang "We Saw Your Boobs" with the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. That's completely not what you're expecting. Sure, the dude probably should watch it on the ugly Jew-bashing jokes, although I personally was not offended by Rihanna and Chris Brown's date night for "Django Unchained."

In any case, ratings were up, at LAT, "Oscars 2013: TV ratings rise with Seth MacFarlane as host," and at NYT, "Academy Award Show Raises Ratings and Hackles."

More at LAT, "Oscars 2013: MacFarlane opens the show both crude and polished."

And from David Denby at the New Yorker, "THE WHITE HOUSE OSCAR," and Amy Davidson, "Seth MacFarlane and the Oscars’ Hostile, Ugly, Sexist Night."

And from Marlow Stern, at the Daily Beast, "The Juvenile Oscars."

But see Eisa Nefertari Ulen, at the Washington Post, "Seth MacFarlane and The Oscars: What’s all the fuss?":

... anyone familiar with Seth MacFarlane’s work expected him to teeter over the knife’s edge of good taste. This is the dude who created “Family Guy,” “American Dad,” “The Cleveland Show.” Someone with more power than MacFarlane even gave him the opportunity to hit The Big Screen, and Seth gave us “Ted.”

And last night was just as fresh. I don’t want waving peace signs. I don’t want an explicit request for greater diversity in the industry that purports to show us, bigger than life and in HD. I don’t want seductive yet vaguely paternalistic expressions of respect for women actresses. You want that? Dig in the crates. You’re gonna have to go back in the Academy Awards days to get that display of political correctness.

Me? I want exactly what I got last night. I want a 9-year-old black girl flexing muscles for millions of other 9-year-old black girls to see. (Beast it, Quvenzhane!) I want Robin Roberts bald and beautiful. I want Octavia Spencer just a little bit cocky on the mic. And I want a host willing to push buttons that will keep the audience awake, engaged, clicking about more than smoky eyes and body size.

More at that link above, and from the comments at the New York Times:

The Onion overstepped the bounds of civility. Mr. MacFarlane merely caused a bit of discomfort. His funniest line - cocaine trees! - got lost. Something tells me that there's a direct correlation between one's age and how offensive one found him.

Heidi Klum Lets it All Hang Out in Plunging Gown at Elton John Oscar Party

Actually, I was planning to write something about Seth McFarland's Oscar performance, but that'll have to wait. This is amazing.

At London's Daily Mail, "Liquid gold! Heidi Klum steals the show at Elton John's annual Oscar viewing party as she takes the plunge in a VERY daring Art Deco-style gown."

Don't Miss Nikki Finke's Snarky Oscar Smackdown

This is the ultimate takedown, "Nikki Finke's Oscar Live-Snark.

"Uh-oh. Seth MacFarlane opens the show with a lame joke. No one laughs. He does an impression. No one knows who he’s imitating. Does this guy even have any experience doing standup? Obviously not. This is one of the lamest show openings I’ve ever watched. The worst part is that Seth is killing every punchline by laughing over it. And here comes the inevitable Mel Gibson putdown.

This is going to be a loooooong night. “The room is dead,” says one agent from inside the Dolby Theatre.

Thank God, William Shatner (as Capt Kirk) is saying what I’m thinking; “The show is a disaster.” And I agree with that newspaper headline, “Seth MacFarlane Is Worst Oscar Host Ever.”

Read it all at the link.

And more from Ed Driscoll, "Hollywood Sucker Punch."

France: Leader of the Free World

A great piece, from Philip Delves Broughton, at Newsweek: "The French are a decisive, manly superpower. Unlike America."

France, of course, is nowhere near being the leader of the free world. But with his intervention in Mali, French President François Hollande has made a tremendously important statement about the need for leadership in the fight against global jihad. On objective measures, France can't do the job alone, which is why the U.S. is sending drone contingents to North Africa. But the moral statement is uniquely powerful. And the intervention raises questions of a renewed "idea of France" as a powerhouse of international relations. Read the essay at the link. France probably can't afford a long deployment, but if it gets other countries to face up to facing down the terrorists with real material capabilities --- i.e., boots on the ground --- it'll be worth the costs.

Domestic Terror Fears Spike in France

France is taking risks in Mali. Many risks, including a backlash among homegrown jihadis.

At the New York Times, "French Intervention in Mali Raises Threat of Domestic Terrorism, Judge Says."

Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown to Funnel More Public Funding to Poor Schools

Interesting.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Brown's school funding plan draws mixed reactions":

In the Anaheim City School District, where most students are low-income and struggling to learn English, teachers need special training, extra tutoring time and lots of visual materials to help their pupils achieve at grade level.

In the well-heeled Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, poverty and limited English are not widespread problems. But officials there say their student needs include more expensive Advanced Placement classes to challenge them with college-level material in high school.

Who should get more state educational dollars? Last week, school districts got their first glimpse of how that question would be answered under Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed new funding formula: Anaheim would receive an estimated $11,656 per student annually; Palos Verdes would get $8,429 by the time the plan is fully implemented in seven years.

And that disparity draws distinctly different reactions.

"It's great news," said Darren Dang, Anaheim's assistant superintendent of administrative services. "Given our demographics, we'll be getting much-needed resources for our students."

But Lydia Cano, Palos Verdes' deputy superintendent of business services, said she believed the new scheme would shortchange her students. Disadvantaged students already receive a bigger share of state and federal dollars, she said.

"It's not fair," she said. "It will make the divide even bigger."

In the most significant change in four decades in how school dollars would be distributed, Brown is proposing to give all districts a base grant, then add an extra 35% of that for each student who is low-income, struggling with English or in foster care. If such students make up more than 50% of a district's population, another 35% supplement would be given.

The formula is part of Brown's proposed budget, which requires the Legislature's approval.

This program explicitly makes children from more affluent neighborhoods bear the costs of helping children from less affluent neighborhoods. Not all of the kids in the more affluent districts will be affluent, so the policy could have an exponentially negative affect on those less fortunate students in the more fortunate districts. But this is what happens when the state decides to redistribute resources to lift those who're more disadvantaged. In theory, this is exactly backward of what good public policy would promote. We should be boosting (relatively) the performance of the more advantaged students, because they'll be positioned as the next leaders of industry and society. They'll help lift the rest of their generation as they rise. In disproportionately assisting those least well off and those least advantaged, public policy is looking to achieve equality of result. It won't happen, not perfect equality of result, and indeed far from it most likely. But that's the progressive agenda in action.

Pope Benedict XVI Says He is Following God's Wishes by Stepping Down

At the Los Angeles Times, "In final Sunday blessing, pope pledges service."

Video: "Pope Benedict XVI delivers final Angelus blessing."

Daniel Day-Lewis Wins Best Actor for 'Lincoln'

Well, I would've been a little disappointed if he didn't win.

The Los Angeles Times reports, "It was Daniel Day-Lewis by a landslide for “Lincoln”."

If Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't win Best Actor it will define injustice. #Oscars2013
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 25, 2013

I haven't seen "Silver Linings Playbook." I'm sure it's a wonderful movie. But I thought Jessica Chastain would get Best Actress in what would've been at least a minimal recognition by the Academy of the tremendous movie that was "Zero Dark Thirty." Maybe she'll reject the radical left's progressive antiwar (anti-Bush) agenda, to say nothing of the progressive hypocrisy. In any case, I'll have more on this later. A complete shutout for director Kathryn Bigelow (well, not a complete shutout, if one considers the movie's tie for the sound editing category).

RELATED: "F*ck Your Consideration: Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty Doesn't Need You, Oscar."

Jessica Chastain: The Sweet Smell of Success

At the New York Times:

As she rose from her chair at the Calvin Klein fashion show in Midtown Manhattan the other week, Jessica Chastain was all but engulfed by an onrush of journalists and celebrity groupies imploring the lanky, flame-haired actress for a word, a glance, a nanosecond of her time.

Stefano Tonchi, the editor of W, embraced her showily as cameras clicked and whirred. Tim Blanks, the editor at large for Style.com, thrust a microphone in her face, pleading for an interview, before a pair of overzealous handlers leapt onto the catwalk to spirit her away.

Yes, Ms. Chastain can Hoover that kind of attention. One of Hollywood’s most avidly courted actresses, she is bait these days for the style set as well, having shone in recent months as fashion’s favorite clothes hanger. Reporters’ in-boxes are cluttered with bulletins announcing that she wore Roland Mouret to the Bafta Awards, appeared in Alexander McQueen on the SAG red carpet, and in Dior at the Writers Guild Awards. Before long we’ll be reading she was turned out in Dolce & Gabbana for the opening of a Sicilian breadbox.

Twice nominated for an Oscar (she is a front-runner on Sunday for best actress for her role in “Zero Dark Thirty”) and an increasingly high-profile presence on the red carpet, Ms. Chastain has become a paparazzi favorite, yet not one who projects the worldly glamour of a Cate Blanchett or Julianne Moore.

RTWT.

Funny, but as I was posting this, Kristin Chenoweth was interview Ms. Chastain on the red carpet at the Oscars. She's indeed looking fabulous.

More later...

Nationwide Day of Resistance Rallies — February 23, 2013

Doug Ross has a roundup, "Top 15 #DayofResistance Photos You Will Never See in Democrat Media."

I was cracking up at this photo below. It's the 405 Freeway tea party patriot. I've been seeing this guy during my afternoon drive time since late 2009. A couple of months back I saw him getting on the freeway around Seal Beach Boulevard and I snapped a couple of photos with my iPhone. I never did get around to posting them, but now's a good a time as ever, considering his appearance at the Westminster rally on Saturday, photo courtesy of The 405 Radio, "Day of Resistance - 2/23." More on that later.

Meanwhile, at Twitchy, "Thousands attend Day of Resistance rallies in support of Second Amendment [photos]."

'We live in a culture of violence, and that culture is nurtured and glamorized by the movies...'

From the letters at the Los Angeles Times, "Feedback: The culture of violence":

Betsy Sharkey's premise, "A Critic Says the Problem Isn't the Movies but Real Life, Where Killing Is All Too Common," is misguided and unrealistic [Feb. 17]. If killing and violence are all too common in real life, does producing more films, which seem to glorify gratuitous killing and violence, alleviate the problem? I don't think so.

After all, fashion, sexual behavior and language in films seem to have an influential and imitative effect in people's lives. Why would violence be exempt?

Sharkey claims that nothing she's seen in movies comes close to what she's witnessed firsthand. How can this be? In real life, one kick to the head could end a life, or most likely end the fight, but in films, a dozen kicks to the head seem to prolong a fight rather than end it.

We live in a culture of violence, and that culture is nurtured and glamorized by the movies. We can become only more inured to that violence and more violent as a society, because ultimately, life imitates art.

Giuseppe Mirelli

Los Angeles

More letters at the link.

And see Instapundit, "SHILLING FOR HOLLYWOOD: L.A. Times: Violent Movies Don’t Cause Violence, but Guns Do." Also, "IF YOU’RE WATCHING THE OSCARS TONIGHT — OR IF YOU’RE NOT — you might want to read my Wall Street Journal column: The Hollywood Tax Story They Won’t Tell at the Oscars: It’s easy to demand higher levies on the ‘rich’ when your own industry gets $1.5 billion in government handouts."

Damon Harris, Temptations Singer, Dead at 62

At the Baltimore Sun, "Otis ‘Damon’ Harris, Temptations singer and Baltimore native, dead at 62."

Harris is singing lead toward the end of the clip.

More here, "Damon Harris of the Temptations, RIP."

George Will Picks 'Zero Dark Thirty' for Best Picture

A rebuke to Senators Levin, Feinstein, and McCain.

From this morning's "This Week":

My preditions: Best Picture: "Argo." Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis for "Lincoln." Best Actress: Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty."

Not sure about Best Director or any of the others. We'll see tonight.

RELATED: At the New York Times, "A 9/11 Victim's Family Raises New Objections to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’." (At Memeorandum.)

Whiney bitches. Sorry for you loss, but sheesh.

Oscar Sunday Rule 5

Tonight the Academy Awards will broadcast from Hollywood. I'm sure I'll have some roundups from the red carpet tomorrow. In the meantime, here's Jennifer Lawrence, "'I don't want anything coming undone!': Jennifer Lawrence raises the wow factor in racy cut-out black dress at Independent Spirit Awards." (More here.)

Now, some Sunday Rule 5.

At the home of the originator, "Rule 5 Sunday: Gold, Girls And Guns."

Also at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is an evil big soft drink causing obesity which makes the world boil, you might just be a Warmist." And, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

More at 90Ninety Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress." Also, "Hot Pick of the Late Night - Rule 5," and "Lingerie Ladies - Rule 5."

And at Subject to Change, "Armed Chicks."

Still more from A View From the Beach, "Rule 5 Saturday – Katherine Heigl."

And at Laughing Conservative, "Alyssa Miller."

And speaking of restraining orders, we're going to have to put Bob Belvedere on lockdown! See, "Rule 5 Saturday: Caitlin Wynters."

Also going on lockdown is Reaganite Republican, "Mexican TV Weather-Girls: Today's Forecast? HAWT!"

Plus, at The H2 "Big Boob Friday," and at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart (on Saturday?) - Cameron Russel."

Plus, Theo's got his Sunday "Bonus Totty..."

And wrapping it up for now is Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Sabine Jemeljanova."

Portland, Maine, Police Officer Illegally Detains Lawfully Carrying Law Student, Promptly Gets Schooled on Arrest and Reasonable Suspicion Case Law

This is absolutely amazing.

At Gateway Pundit, "Ballsy Law Student Schools Uninformed Law Officer on Gun Rights (Video)."

Video at Adrienne's Corner, "Law student lawfully carrying gun refuses to be intimidated by police...(video)."

Don't Miss This Surprisingly Good Piece on 'Gleeful Provocateur' Michael GoldFarb at the New York Times

This piece had me laughing a couple of times, which is unusual for the reporting at the Old Gray Lady.

See, "Michael Goldfarb Gleeful Provocateur at Intersection of Many Worlds":

At 11:42 a.m. on Feb. 14, a conservative online magazine called The Washington Free Beacon posted a dispatch about a speech Chuck Hagel gave in 2007 in which it said he called the State Department “an adjunct to the Israeli foreign minister’s office.”

The report was based on “contemporaneous” notes an attendee posted online. An hour later on the floor of the United States Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina urgently cited that statement as another reason to delay Mr. Hagel’s nomination as defense secretary.

Mr. Hagel denied saying it, and no recording has surfaced. But after a successful filibuster against the nominee, a group called the Emergency Committee for Israel effectively declared partial victory and vowed to “redouble its efforts to bring to light Mr. Hagel’s complete record.”

All in all, it was a very bad day for Mr. Hagel, and a smashingly good one for the conservative political operative of the moment — Michael Goldfarb.

At 32, Mr. Goldfarb is a founder of The Free Beacon, which is gaining prominence as a conservative clarion; a onetime presidential campaign aide to Senator John McCain, who provided critical support for the filibuster; and the strategist for the Emergency Committee for Israel, an anonymously financed group that advertises against President Obama and Congressional Democrats as insufficiently supportive of Israel. On top of that, he is a partner at Orion Strategies, a consulting firm whose clients have included the national governments of Taiwan and Georgia.

An all-around anti-liberal provocateur, Mr. Goldfarb has blazed a trail in the new era of campaign finance, in which loosened restrictions have flooded the political world with cash for a whole new array of organizations that operate outside the traditional bounds of the parties.

Often working with money from major Republican donors, most of whom have preferred anonymity, Mr. Goldfarb has been in the middle of nearly every major partisan dispute of Mr. Obama’s presidency — over Iran, Israel, terrorism policy and now Mr. Hagel and guns. For a time, Mr. Goldfarb worked as a communications strategist to the leading bêtes noires of liberals, the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

Mr. Goldfarb did not come up via state politics, Capitol Hill or the Republican National Committee, proving grounds that made the careers of top party operatives like Lee Atwater, Karl Rove and Matt Rhoades, the campaign manager for Mitt Romney.

His career was spawned, rather, in the conservative confines of The Weekly Standard and allied organizations, namely the Project for the New American Century, which is well known for promoting the war in Iraq. He has since gone on to thrive in the influential world of outside ideological groups. Mr. Goldfarb, known as a flamethrower on both sides of the aisle, has achieved unparalleled hybrid status in the process.

In his work at The Free Beacon, for groups like the Emergency Committee for Israel and at Orion, he has combined a relatively new form of weaponized journalism, politicking and public policy into a potent mix.

“He’s at the intersection of a lot of different worlds,” said William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, who has been a boss, mentor and colleague to Mr. Goldfarb. He said Mr. Goldfarb was representative of a new generation of conservatives whose emergence at a low ebb of their party’s power has made them “a little more entrepreneurial, more outspoken and risk-taking — not so worried about moving up a corporate ladder.”

A wisecracking native of suburban Philadelphia, Mr. Goldfarb has described himself as a cudgel. His signature political attack can best be described as gleeful evisceration, which at times has exposed him to charges of going too far and of getting too personal.

The liberal writer Lee Fang got a taste when he wrote an article for The Nation linking work that Orion has done for Taiwan to articles in The Free Beacon voicing criticism of the Obama administration for blocking a sale to Taiwan of F-16 jets.

Mr. Goldfarb denied any connection between his work at Orion and the articles, saying he did not personally handle Taiwan’s account or write the articles.

But The Free Beacon responded viscerally, with a report featuring pictures of Mr. Fang — who formerly wrote for the anonymously financed liberal blog ThinkProgress that frequently attacks the Kochs — shirtless and blowing a thick cloud of smoke. The headline read: “High Times at The Nation.”

In an interview, Mr. Fang, 26, said the photographs were from college and could have been found only in his password-protected account with Photobucket. He said he had filed a police report to get to the bottom of it. He said he felt doubly violated because the photograph was in a file that included revealing shots of his girlfriend.

“I think he’s just out to hurt people,” said Mr. Fang, who first tangled with Mr. Goldfarb when he was writing for ThinkProgress about the Kochs. “I don’t understand what his greater goal is; what would be the perfect solution to fix the most serious problems in America?”

Though Mr. Goldfarb would not share how The Free Beacon obtained the photographs, he said in a telephone interview that they were publicly available and were secured by legal means.

As he tells it, he is simply trying to have fun while practicing his admittedly combative brand of politics — the humor of which, he said, his liberal critics are too self-serious to get.

Here's that piece, "High Times at the Nation." That alone is worth the price of this report. Man, that photo of Fang is hilarious --- perfectly encapsulating the stupidity of today's radical left-wing Democrats.

More seriously, check out the home page for the Emergency Committee on Israel, which features its YouTube ads right on the main page.

And don't miss the rest at NYT. A surprisingly pleasant read first thing Sunday morning.

Added: A Memeorandum thread.

Alhambra Woman Blown Away at Bank Mural Featuring Her Picture From 1926

An amazing story, at the Los Angeles Times, "Taken aback by a photo from way back":

A bank's branch office in Alhambra is helping Fame Rybicki become famous.

The 91-year-old former school administrator and community activist was startled to discover that a photograph taken of her in August 1926 had been incorporated into a large mural that decorates a newly opened Wells Fargo office on the city's Main Street.

The mural is a montage of historic photos that salute 112-year-old Alhambra's early days. A 5-year-old Rybicki is shown standing with family members and uniformed attendants in front of several cars gassing up at her father's service station.

"My father had just opened the service station at the corner of Fremont Avenue and Valley Boulevard," Rybicki said. "My mother and my uncle from back East are also in the picture."

Rybicki learned of the mural when she spied a photo of it in a newsletter mailed to her last month by the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband, Anton, 95, now live close to daughter Joan Steen in Newport Beach.

The gas station, named Fremont Service, was a focal point in Rybicki's life.

Her father, Giles Ratkowski, a civil engineer for the Chicago North Alton Railroad, had contracted tuberculosis on a trip to Washington, D.C., where he had gone to testify before Congress about government payments owed for services during World War I.

"It was believed at that time that the only cure for TB was sunshine," she said. "One of his friends had already quit the railroad and moved to Glendale, so my father wrote to him for information and we came to California in January of 1925."

Her father decided to open a gas station so he could work outdoors in the sunlight, Rybicki said.

He looked at a spot on Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue but "decided that there weren't enough residents there to warrant building a station," she said. "That corner is now worth millions."

Instead, Ratkowski settled on the corner of Fremont and Valley and bought a double-sized lot that contained a citrus grove and a rambling, 16-room Asian-themed house that had been built 24 years earlier by an engineer named Antonio Cajal, who had served in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion.

To clear space for his gas station and a planned mini-market, Ratkowski removed rows of orange, acacia, avocado and palm trees, Rybicki said.

Being an engineer, her father designed his eight gasoline pumps himself. "They were built to keep anyone from tampering with them and stealing gasoline at night. They were the first of their kind — the gas would go back into the tanks in the ground when they were turned off," she said.

Her father closed the station and its small market at midnight and carried the day's receipts back to the family home. He was never robbed.

Rybicki, whose first name is Euphemia but is known to friends as Fame, spent much of her childhood at the station. It was from there that her father taught her to drive the family's big Packard — at age 10. And it was in the Fremont Service mini-market that as a 13-year-old she met the man she would eventually be married to for more than 70 years.

"He was 17 and was in there buying something," she said. "He later told me that he told himself that day that someday he was going to marry that girl."

How the New ObamaCare Mandates Are Already Reducing Full-Time Employment

At WSJ, "ObamaCare and the '29ers'":

Here's a trend you'll be reading more about: part-time "job sharing," not only within firms but across different businesses.

It's already happening across the country at fast-food restaurants, as employers try to avoid being punished by the Affordable Care Act. In some cases we've heard about, a local McDonalds has hired employees to operate the cash register or flip burgers for 20 hours a week and then the workers head to the nearby Burger King or Wendy's to log another 20 hours. Other employees take the opposite shifts.

Welcome to the strange new world of small-business hiring under ObamaCare. The law requires firms with 50 or more "full-time equivalent workers" to offer health plans to employees who work more than 30 hours a week. (The law says "equivalent" because two 15 hour a week workers equal one full-time worker.) Employers that pass the 50-employee threshold and don't offer insurance face a $2,000 penalty for each uncovered worker beyond 30 employees. So by hiring the 50th worker, the firm pays a penalty on the previous 20 as well.

These employment cliffs are especially perverse economic incentives. Thousands of employers will face a $40,000 penalty if they dare expand and hire a 50th worker. The law is effectively a $2,000 tax on each additional hire after that, so to move to 60 workers costs $60,000.

A 2011 Hudson Institute study estimates that this insurance mandate will cost the franchise industry $6.4 billion and put 3.2 million jobs "at risk." The insurance mandate is so onerous for small firms that Stephen Caldeira, president of the International Franchise Association, predicts that "Many stores will have to cut worker hours out of necessity. It could be the difference between staying in business or going out of business." The franchise association says the average fast-food restaurant has profits of only about $50,000 to $100,000 and a margin of about 3.5%.

Because other federal employment regulations also kick in when a firm crosses the 50 worker threshold, employers are starting to cap payrolls at 49 full-time workers. These firms have come to be known as "49ers." Businesses that hire young and lower-skilled workers are also starting to put a ceiling on the work week of below 30 hours. These firms are the new "29ers." Part-time workers don't have to be offered insurance under ObamaCare.

Continue reading.

Obama Endorsed By...

Via What Bubba Knows:

Former First Lady Laura Bush Slams Radical Homosexual Coalition: Demands Removal From Same-Sex Marriage Advertisement

Good for her.

At WND, "Laura Bush: Remove me from pro-gay marriage ad."

And at CSM, "Laura Bush: Gay marriage group 'sorry' Bush wants out of gay marriage ads."

Yeah, decent folks like Mrs. Bush don't want to be part of your homosexual nightmare.

Texas Going Blue? Bwahaha!!

At WSJ, "Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Will Never Go Blue."

Progressives Attack Sen. Ted Cruz as the 'New McCarthy'

When the left attacks people for "McCarthyism" they've already lost the debate.

It's not red-baiting when your enemies really are red.

At Weasel Zippers, "MSNBC’s Grating Leftist Rachel Maddow Accuses Ted Cruz of “McCarthyism”… (VIDEO)." And at the Blaze, "TED CRUZ RESPONDS TO ‘NEW MCCARTHY’ NEW YORKER ARTICLE: ‘CURIOUS’ THEY WOULD ‘DREDGE UP A 3-YEAR-OLD SPEECH & CALL IT NEWS’" (via Memeorandum).

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on Cover of New Spanish Vogue

Lovely.

At London's Daily Mail, "Rosie Huntington-Whiteley debuts new blonde hairdo as she stars as Spanish Vogue's March cover girl." Also, "Model of joy and love: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley shows off new hummingbird tattoo as she steps out in olive leather trousers."

BONUS: At Egotastic, "Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Nipple Pokes and Asstastic Flashing Makes Our Day a Little Brighter."

Horrific Last-Lap Crash Mars Nationwide Race at Daytona

The New York Times reports, "Last-Lap Crash in Nascar Race Injures Fans."

And also at Deadspin, "Crash at NASCAR Nationwide Race at Daytona Leaves Kyle Larson’s Car Torn In Half By Fence, Spectators Injured By Debris."

NASCAR initially blocked this clip on YouTube, raising quite a controversy:

Emory President James Wagner's 'Contrition'

I saw the controversy over the 3/5 Compromise last week. I ignored it because it was so stupid.

But here's the headline at the New York Times' homepage, "Protest and Contrition After Slavery Comment." "Contrition"? That's big --- and stupid.

And clicking through at the link is the article, "Emory University Leader Revives Racial Concerns."

There's multiple layers of stupid here. The simple refusal to understand the 3/5 Compromise as a devil's bargain that made possible a constitutional agreement in 1787 is stupid. And the aggrieved leftists are monstrously stupid for applying at presentist epistemology to a political deal made 226 years ago. And it's a stupid lie that the 3/5 Compromise categorized black slaves as three-fifths human. The deal was that states with slave populations would be able to count them as three-fifths of the total number for purposes of representation. Black slaves had no rights, duh. Of course they were dehumanized. The institution of slavery was evil. But it's wicked stupid not to realize that there might have been no agreement on the Constitution had the deal not been struck. The stupid leftists are applying Marxist social justice ideology to attack President Wagner, who obviously wasn't in tune to the raging stupidity of political correctness that has infected America's campuses. Race and racial recrimination are enormous sources of power for the idiots of the radical left. Praising the 3/5 Compromise in such away is like giving away the store. You can call it a day with these retards. The Obama media will play up the non-troversy and the school's administration will capitulate to the stupid aggrieved race-mongers' demands. Rinse and repeat.

From the article:

ATLANTA — A reception Friday at Emory University to celebrate the work of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the years after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could have been more poorly timed, but not by much.

All week long, the president of Emory, James W. Wagner, had been trying to rewind a column that he had written for the university magazine. In it, he praised the 1787 three-fifths compromise, which allowed slaves to be counted as three-fifths of a person as a way to determine how much Congressional power Southern states would have, as an example of how polarized people can find common ground.

It was, he has since said, a clumsy and regrettable mistake.

A faculty group censured him last week for the remarks. And in a speech at Friday’s reception for the campus exhibition, “And the Struggle Continues: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Fight for Social Change,” Dr. Wagner acknowledged both the nation’s ongoing education in race relations and his own.

“I know that I personally have a long way to go,” he said.

His article has been seized upon by students and faculty who say it was yet one more example of insensitivity from the Emory administration, which in September announced sweeping cuts that some say unfairly targeted some programs popular with minorities.

About 45 protesting students showed up at the reception, silently holding signs that read “This is 5/5 outrageous” and “Shame on James” as Dr. Wagner; Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a veteran of the civil rights movement; and leaders of the S.C.L.C. spoke about the fight for racial equality.

Whether the cuts, which include the elimination of physical education, visual arts, journalism, and graduate programs in economics and Spanish, disproportionately affect racial minorities is in dispute at the university, whose student body is 31 percent minority.

Certain programs that focused on or made recruiting minorities a priority have been shifted to other departments or eliminated, but university officials say the numbers are not as drastic as protesters believe.

Savings from the reorganization will be reinvested in other departments, including neurosciences, studies of contemporary China, and new media studies.

Such academic realignment is starting to happen at liberal arts colleges around the country, said Phil Kleweno, a consultant at Bain & Company who specializes in higher education.

“Not every school can excel in every subject,” he said. “Given where we are financially, these are wise decisions for many universities to make.”

Yes.

More money for programs. What better way to get more money for programs the university can't afford than to shame the president as an unreconstructed racist.

More at the link.

And more of teh stupid here: "Almost Verbatim Emory University President James Wagner: “The 3/5 Compromise is a Model to Which We Should Aspire. Also, the Liberal Arts are Like Slaves and Should Be Treated As Such”."

Gun Culture

From the always interesting Theo Spark, "Pic Dump..."

More at Theo's, "Wednesday Wenches...", and "Bedtime Totty..."

Lame Impasse Looms on Budget Cuts

Well, it's Sequester Saturday. A boring Sequester Saturday at that. This is Obama manufactured crisis. The so-called "cuts" are minuscule to non-existent and if Republicans have a spine they'll continue to hold firm. We'll see.

The Wall Street Journal has a front-page report, "Budget Standoff Presents Political Risks on Both Sides."

See also Bill Wilson, at Forbes, "The Non-Existent Spending Cuts Wrought By the ‘Devastating’ Sequester" (via Memeorandum).

More at the Daley Gator, "Bob Woodward: Obama lied about the sequester," and go straight to Woodward, "Obama’s sequester deal-changer." (At Memeorandum.)

Plus, from Peggy Noonan, "Government by Freakout."

IMAGE CREDIT: "The Looking Spoon, "An Easy Visual Explanation of How Democrats Are Exaggerating the Depth of the Sequester."

Who the Hell is Kurt Eichenwald?

Asks Robert Stacy McCain, "Never Doubt That Kurt Eichenwald Cares Deeply About Gay Kids With Bad Haircuts."

Read it at the link.

Yet more weird shit from the progressive left.

Here's the post that started the controversy, "Austin Gates Is a Victim of Abuse, Homophobia, and a Really Bad Haircut."

Sex Scandal Engulfs Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg

This is pretty big.

At London's Daily Mail, "Sex scandal engulfs Clegg: At least 10 women claim the Lib Dem's Chief Executive molested them - and the leader's office knew about it."

The Deputy Prime Minister has been dragged into the sex scandal surrounding a top Liberal Democrat accused of molesting women.

Amid mounting claims of a cover-up, it emerged Nick Clegg’s private office was made aware of the claims as long as five years ago.

Aides to the Lib Dem leader refused to say how much he knew about the allegations that former party chief Chris Rennard had groped a string of female activists. But last night, evidence was growing that senior party officials ran an organised campaign to silence the women and shut down an internal investigation.

More at Telegraph UK, "Chris Huhne’s lover Carina Trimingham sold tale of Nick Clegg dalliances," and at the Sun, "Nick Clegg caught up in top Lib Dem sex allegations scandal."

Students Who Refuse to Affirm Transgender Classmates Face Punishment

This is bizarre, from Todd Starnes, at FOX News:

Parents across Massachusetts are upset over new rules that would not only allow transgender students to use their restrooms of their choice – but would also punish students who refuse to affirm or support their transgender classmates.

Last week the Massachusetts Department of Education issued directives for handling transgender students – including allowing them to use the bathrooms of their choice or to play on sports teams that correspond to the gender with which they identify.

The 11-page directive also urged schools to eliminate gender-based clothing and gender-based activities – like having boys and girls line up separately to leave the classroom.

Schools will now be required to accept a student’s gender identity on face value.

You will obey --- or else!

Via Protein Wisdom.

Antiwar Left Protests President Obama's Criminal Drone Escalation in Africa

Just kidding.

With the exception of a few far-left civil libertarians, no one's protesting this administration's criminal foreign policy. Or, it would be criminal if it was President Bush expanding U.S. drone missions to West Africa.

On Twitter:

U.S. sends troops to Niger for drone missions latimes.com/news/nationwor… #Obama #WarCriminal!
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 23, 2013

Here's That Video of Ann Coulter Slamming Libertarians as 'Pussies'

This is very entertaining. And I'll tell you, Ann Coulter pretty much nails it on the idiocy of libertine libertarians (on a host of issues, they're interchangeable with radical leftists).

Via Erika Johnson, at Hot Air, and Memeorandum:

BONUS: At Legal Insurrection, "Coulter on Stossel shows foolishness of Fordham’s cancellation."

'59% Think Most School Textbooks Put Political Correctness Ahead of Accuracy...'

Althouse has the report, from Rasmussen, and she writes:

Anybody putting together a schoolbook has to think about inspiring children and building ideals and character. I'm saying that even though I lean strongly in the direction of straightforward, factual information, and I think that it's a serious moral wrong to use compulsory education to indoctrinate children.

Well, my American government textbook is probably politically incorrect from the radical left's perspective. One of the main selling points is its strong emphasis on American exceptionalism and our founding beliefs in individualism, liberty, and self-government. Students are unfamiliar with these things when they get to my classrooms. They have only a passing acquaintance with what it means to be an American. Whether the problem's families or the schools, we have a lot of work to do in transmitting the democratic beliefs of our founding generation.

Dude Recreates '70's Pan-Am 747 in City of Industry Warehouse

You gotta love this story. I still daydream about the old 747s. As a kid, I was fascinated by the idea of a cocktail lounge in the sky. And now it turns out that a Southland man has recreated the Jumbo Jet '70's experience for guests to "fly" back in time.

At the Long Beach Press Telegram, "California man's lifelike model recreates Pan Am 747 in warehouse":

On an unusually warm December night, more than 25 years after her final flight with Pan American World Airways - 11 hours from Frankfurt to Los Angeles - Anna Gunther once again put on her pantyhose and blue uniform with white trim, so she could serve dinner on the upper deck of a Boeing 747.

But this airplane wasn't going anywhere. It was a model, like a child's playhouse, built by a man who had dreamed of re-creating the plane he loved as a boy.

This was a chance for Anthony Toth to unveil, for the first time, what he had created inside a 3,000-square-foot warehouse in the City of Industry. Here was his opportunity to show why he hired a contractor, spent more than $100,000 and used almost every vacation day he ever earned to reconstruct a major chunk of the interior of a Pan Am 747.
Sure, he had shown off airplane models before. He once even had a smaller replica inside the garage of his Redondo Beach condo. But at home there was no upper deck. And what's a 747, even a replica, without a second level?

There was another problem with his garage. Other than running to the kitchen, Toth had no way to prepare meals for his faux travelers. But the warehouse was different, and that's where Gunther came in.

She had never met Toth, a sales executive at United Airlines based in Los Angeles, but, almost on a lark, she agreed to help him. Toth wanted to pretend as if he were flying some of his co-workers and friends to another continent, and he wanted former Pan Am flight attendants to serve drinks and dinner, just as they might have three or four decades ago.

On the big day, Gunther arrived at 3 p.m., wearing high heels, a bowler hat and a uniform (white blouse, blue they walked into his warehouse and past the ticket counter with the bright blue Pan Am logo. They saw a sign indicating Flight 21 to Tokyo would leave soon. Then they walked onto a short jet bridge, through a real aircraft door and turned left into first class.

On board, they took amenity kits tucked in plastic and filled with goodies like slippers and a damp "refresher towel." They picked up a real set of Pan Am headphones, ones they could plug into a jack on their seats to listen to music or watch the movie projected overhead. They grabbed vintage magazines protected by a Pan Am branded sleeve.

They took their plush seats - the cabin has 18 of them arranged in an alternating blue and red pattern - raised their leg rests and reclined. They looked around. Everything was accurate, from the distance between seats to the overhead bins to the aircraft's shell to the galley Gunther and her three colleagues used to ready drinks. Using his iPad and hidden speakers, Toth had even piped in the humming of jet engines.

It was so true to the real thing, it blurred the line between reality and fiction.

It was as if Pan Am was flying again.

Continue reading.

Washington's Ruling Class Orphans Millions of Voters

Angelo Codevilla updates his theory of America's morally bankrupt politics of the ruling class.

At Forbes, "As Country Club Republicans Link Up With The Democratic Ruling Class, Millions Of Voters Are Orphaned":

On January 1, 2013 one third of Republican congressmen, following their leaders, joined with nearly all Democrats to legislate higher taxes and more subsidies for Democratic constituencies. Two thirds voted no, following the people who had elected them. For generations, the Republican Party had presented itself as the political vehicle for Americans whose opposition to ever-bigger government financed by ever-higher taxes makes them a “country class.”  Yet modern Republican leaders, with the exception of the Reagan Administration, have been partners in the expansion of government, indeed in the growth of a government-based “ruling class.” They have relished that role despite their voters. Thus these leaders gradually solidified their choice to no longer represent what had been their constituency, but to openly adopt the identity of junior partners in that ruling class. By repeatedly passing bills that contradict the identity of Republican voters and of the majority of Republican elected representatives, the Republican leadership has made political orphans of millions of Americans. In short, at the outset of 2013 a substantial portion of America finds itself un-represented, while Republican leaders increasingly represent only themselves.

By the law of supply and demand, millions of Americans, (arguably a majority) cannot remain without representation. Increasingly the top people in government, corporations, and the media collude and demand submission as did the royal courts of old. This marks these political orphans as a “country class.” In 1776 America’s country class responded to lack of representation by uniting under the concept: “all men are created equal.” In our time, its disparate sectors’ common sentiment is more like: “who the hell do they think they are?”

The ever-growing U.S. government has an edgy social, ethical, and political character. It is distasteful to a majority of persons who vote Republican and to independent voters, as well as to perhaps one fifth of those who vote Democrat. The Republican leadership’s kinship with the socio-political class that runs modern government is deep. Country class Americans have but to glance at the Media to hear themselves insulted from on high as greedy, racist, violent, ignorant extremists. Yet far has it been from the Republican leadership to defend them. Whenever possible, the Republican Establishment has chosen candidates for office – especially the Presidency – who have ignored, soft-pedaled or given mere lip service to their voters’ identities and concerns.

Thus public opinion polls confirm that some two thirds of Americans feel that government is “them” not “us,” that government has been taking the country in the wrong direction, and that such sentiments largely parallel partisan identification: While a majority of Democrats feel that officials who bear that label represent them well, only about a fourth of Republican voters and an even smaller proportion of independents trust Republican officials to be on their side. Again: While the ruling class is well represented by the Democratic Party, the country class is not represented politically – by the Republican Party or by any other. Well or badly, its demand for representation will be met.

Representation is the distinguishing feature of democratic government. To be represented, to trust that one’s own identity and interests are secure and advocated in high places, is to be part of the polity. In practice, any democratic government’s claim to the obedience of citizens depends on the extent to which voters feel they are party to the polity. No one doubts that the absence, loss, or perversion of that function divides the polity sharply between rulers and ruled.

Continue reading.

And then check Gateway Pundit, "Rush Limbaugh: “For First Time in My Life, I’m Ashamed of My Country” (Video)."

And the introduction at this video is excellent (although you're on your own after that), from Greta Van Susteren, "Manufactured Mess? - Rush Limbaugh Says Sequester Crisis Is Bogus."

Walter Russell Mead on Joseph Stiglitz and Higher Education Reform

I mentioned Joseph Stiglitz's recent NYT commentary at my essay the other day on fatherhood at the Jordan Downs housing project.

Well it turns out Walter Russell Mead has some additional thoughts, "Blues Missing the Mark on Higher Ed Reform":

Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has a wide-ranging piece in the New York Times addressing the problem of income inequality in America, arguing that the U.S. is actually falling behind the rest of the developing world when it comes to social mobility. The piece touches on many issues, but the most interesting parts to us are his comments about how skyrocketing higher-ed costs are depressing upward mobility for the nation’s poor:

Unless current trends in education are reversed, the situation is likely to get even worse. In some cases it seems as if policy has actually been designed to reduce opportunity: government support for many state schools has been steadily gutted over the last few decades—and especially in the last few years. Meanwhile, students are crushed by giant student loan debts that are almost impossible to discharge, even in bankruptcy. This is happening at the same time that a college education is more important than ever for getting a good job.

Young people from families of modest means face a Catch-22: without a college education, they are condemned to a life of poor prospects; with a college education, they may be condemned to a lifetime of living at the brink. And increasingly even a college degree isn’t enough; one needs either a graduate degree or a series of (often unpaid) internships. Those at the top have the connections and social capital to get those opportunities. Those in the middle and bottom don’t. The point is that no one makes it on his or her own. And those at the top get more help from their families than do those lower down on the ladder. Government should help to level the playing field.

As time goes on, we’re seeing a growing consensus of the left, right and center that something is seriously wrong with our higher education system. But while Stiglitz gets the problem right, his solution, that government should be responsible for “leveling the playing field,” leaves much to be desired.

Continue reading.

Recall though that while Mead focuses on other problems at issue besides funding, I'm concerned about improvements in higher education that begin at the level of the family. Our problems are largely cultural. Sure, the state-led bureaucratization of education is enormously wasteful and ineffective, but that doesn't mean that even with moderate reforms it can't be made to lift and improve the lives of more people. Until we work on restoring a culture of learning in society, along with strengthening the centrality of traditional families in the economy, we'll continue to flail away on college success and higher education reform.

BONUS: My good friend Norm has some additional comments on Stiglitz, at the link.

Geert Wilders' Right to Speak

Dutch parliamentary leader Geert Wilders is speaking in Australia this week. Here's the editorial on the controversy, at the Australian, "Geert Wilders's right to speak":

FOR a liberal democracy that thrives on liberty, plurality and vigorous political discourse, the visit by controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders to these shores presents an opportunity to reaffirm these fundamental principles. When Mr Wilders was granted a visa last year, then immigration minister Chris Bowen rightly argued that Australian multiculturalism, our political system and our commitment to freedom of speech were strong enough to survive a visit by the Dutch MP.

Mr Wilders's views on the impact of large-scale Islamic immigration in Europe and the challenge that it presents to established cultures and the obligations of citizenship in Western countries are part of an important debate that Australians should be aware of.

Mr Wilders is the founder and leader of The Netherlands Party for Freedom. His political mission is to halt what he says is the "Islamisation" of his country. He argues that Islamism is a totalitarian political ideology enforced by violence and rigid adherence to it, quite different from the faith of Islam. In his article in The Australian earlier this week, Mr Wilders outlined his views that many will find challenging, but they were respectfully put and hardly deserve the vilification he has received from extremists. Mr Wilders's visit provides Australians with a window into a sociopolitico challenge in the northern hemisphere. How Islam can be absorbed into Western democracies, given the cultural differences between the two, is being debated and discussed in journals such as the centre-left magazine Prospect, where a recent contributor argued: "Islam's accommodation with the liberal-democratic societies of Europe and North America is one of the most urgent questions of our times."

Mr Wilders is welcome here, provided that he abides by the law, as all visitors must. Our laws include prohibiting racial vilification and inciting violence, but there is no suggestion he has come close to violating them. So far, it is his opponents who have displayed the illiberalism they accuse him of. A core duty of citizens in a free society is to welcome debate on contentious subjects. A mature country that is comfortable with its own laws, cultures and traditions would defend the right to express views that some of its citizens may not agree with. Last year, British preacher Taji Mustafa addressed a gathering in Sydney and argued for Islam to be spread throughout Australia, not as a religion but as a system of government. These views are repugnant to most Australians, yet they were allowed to be expressed. Moreover, a group of Muslims marched through the streets of Sydney last year under the black flag of jihad - also the flag of al-Qa'ida - spreading a message of religious hatred. Muslim leaders quickly denounced the vile protests.

While we do not face the same challenges that exist in Europe, flashes of Islamic extremism surface from time to time. The lesson is that our non-discriminatory immigration policy and the continuation of our largely harmonious multi-ethnic society - one of the most diverse in the world - depends on a tolerance for this diversity and a commitment to Australian values. Citizenship is not only about rights; it is also about civic responsibility, whether the citizens are Muslim, Christian or neither. Not everyone will agree with Mr Wilders's views, but we should all defend his right to express them.

More at Tundra Tabloids, "GEERT WILDERS SPEAKS IN AUSTRALIA, PEOPLE LISTEN…"

Also at Bare Naked Islam, "GEERT WILDERS IN AUSTRALIA," and Bill Muehlenberg's, "Why Geert Wilders is Right."

And at PA Pundits International, "Geert Wilders In Australia – If You Need This Much Security For Criticising Islam ..."

PHOTO: "Faith, Freedom, and Memory: Report From Ground Zero, September 11, 2010."

Milton Friedman on C-Span's 'Book Notes' in 1994

I hadn't planned to watch the whole thing --- and this interview's an hour long --- but I got sucked in after just a couple of minutes listening to Dr. Friedman. The other day, when I was renewing my kid's colonial history books at the library, I bought a paperback copy of Friedman's "Free to Choose" for 25 cents at the library's bookstore. I'm just getting into the book, but I've been watching videos online and came across this one. Friedman's lamentations about the creeping socialization of democratic societies --- a trend seemingly inexplicable in 1994, since "everybody agrees that socialism has been a failure" --- are particularly relevant in the age of Obama.

Watch this video in full. If you don't have time, bookmark it for later. It's amazing.

And buy the book, Free to Choose: A Personal Statement.

President Armageddon

A great editorial on the sequester, at WSJ, "The Washington Monument ploy and other Obama gambits":

Americans need to understand that Mr. Obama is threatening that if he doesn't get what he wants, he's ready to inflict maximum pain on everybody else. He won't force government agencies to shave spending on travel and conferences and excessive pay and staffing. He won't demand that agencies cut the lowest priority spending as any half-competent middle manager would.

It's the old ploy to stir public support for all government spending by shutting down vital services first. Voters should scoff at the idea that a $3.6 trillion government can't save one nickel of every dollar that agencies spend. The $85 billion in savings is a mere 2.3% of total spending. The agencies that the White House says can't save 5% received an average increase in their budgets of 17% in the previous five years—not counting their $276 billion stimulus bonus.

Continue reading.

BONUS: Speaker Boehner's op-ed at the paper, "The President Is Raging Against a Budget Crisis He Created" (via Memeorandum).

Bill Schmalfeldt is Disgusting

The Other McCain's continuing coverage of Bill Schmalfeldt, which is really just the residuals of the freedom to blog battles of last year, which generated a lot of attention nationwide at the time of the swattings, is endlessly fascinating. This is so especially since while Schmalfeldt is truly bizarre, he's not that bizarre in the context of the left-wing ideology that is the foundation of his evil. He's really quite representative of the depravity of progressivism.

See, "Dishonest Bill Schmalfeldt Got Banned from Daily Kos for Anal Rape 'Satire'."

Read it all at the link, but worth adding here is the link to Lee Stranahan's post, "Bill Schmalfeldt: Too Disgusting For Daily Kos":

R.S. McCain has been putting the career of Bill Schmalfeldt into proper perspective over at The Other McCain and it felt it was time to highlight another aspect of Schmalfeldt’s work and personality.

Bill Schmalfeldt is disgusting.

That sounds like a petty insult. It’s not. In the case of Mr. Schmalfeldt, it’s true and very specific.  He is intentionally sickeningly repulsive and his writings show a sexual obsession that is profoundly disturbing.

I’m not a prude. I’m not easily offended. This isn’t even a liberal / conservative thing. Bill Schmalfeldt actually managed to offend the readers at the Daily Kos so much that he was essentially run off the website back in May of this year in an article entitled The REAL Conservative Case Against Gay Marriage.

Here’s just one paragraph from that article. Welcome to the mind of Bill Schmalfeldt...

Keep reading both of those posts at the links.

Schmalfeldt's Photoshops are too disgusting to post here, and that's a lot, since I post just about anything.

3 Reasons to Build the Keystone XL Pipeline

From Reason TV:

RELATED: At PuffHo, "Obama Golfed With Oil Men as Climate Protesters Descended on White House."

Funny that.

Majority Says Illegal Immigrants Should Be Deported

Well, I can't see how the administration would get much GOP support, in any case. But we're not in a normal political cycle. Texas Gov. Rick Scott caved on the ObamaCare exchanges today, so who know's who many Republicans will cave on amnesty?

At Reuters, "Majority of U.S. citizens say illegal immigrants should be deported" (via Memeorandum):

(Reuters) - More than half of U.S. citizens believe that most or all of the country's 11 million illegal immigrants should be deported, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday that highlights the difficulties facing lawmakers trying to reform the U.S. immigration system.

The online survey shows resistance to easing immigration laws despite the biggest push for reform in Congress since 2007.

Thirty percent of those polled think that most illegal immigrants, with some exceptions, should be deported, while 23 percent believe all illegal immigrants should be deported.

Only 5 percent believe all illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States legally, and 31 percent want most illegal immigrants to stay.

These results are in line with other polls in recent years, suggesting that people's views on immigration have not changed dramatically since the immigration debate reignited in Congress last month, according to Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

More at the link.

$50 Million in Diamonds Stolen in Brash Heist at Brussels Airport

Someone on Twitter yesterday snarked that this had to be an inside job.

And amazingly, it's the front-page story at this morning's Wall Street Journal, "Gunmen Waylay Jet, Swipe Diamond Trove":

BRUSSELS—As 29 passengers sat aboard a Zurich-bound flight here Monday evening waiting for the last bags to be loaded, gunmen wearing police uniforms raced up to the plane and stole more than 120 packages of diamonds worth at least $50 million, and possibly much more.

Some of the eight masked robbers stood in front of the Helvetic Airways jet plane with machine guns, pointing laser sights at the pilots, while others forced ground workers to open the plane's cargo doors, according to Belgian prosecutors and other people familiar with the events.

The thieves snatched the parcels of jewels and sped off in minutes without firing a shot, said Belgian prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch. Many travelers on the plane and inside the terminal didn't know what was happening. "It was well-prepared and very professional," she said.

The theft rattled Antwerp, a world hub for trading in gems and precious metals. Nearly all of those valuables pass through Brussels Airport.

The thieves appeared to have detailed information about both the cargo and operations at the airport, and likely had help from people at the airport, according to an aviation-security specialist knowledgeable about the incident. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, international law-enforcement officials have been concerned about security threats posed by people working inside airports and other sensitive facilities.

he brazen heist is Europe's highest-value airport-tarmac holdup in a decade, aviation-security exports said. Authorities on Tuesday didn't detail exactly what was stolen, so estimates of the value of the goods varied. The declared value of the stolen diamonds, a mix of rough and polished stones, was about $50 million, according to a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, a coordinator for local diamond traders. The aviation-security specialist knowledgeable about what happened said the jewels could be worth up to $350 million.

Ms. Van Wymersch, the prosecutor, declined to place a value on the stolen gems.

That is rad.

Front-Page Los Angeles Times Coverage of Orange County's Ali Syed Murders

Just tweeted:

Cover at today's @latimes. twitter.com/AmPowerBlog/st…
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 20, 2013

And at the paper, "O.C. shootings leave four dead, many questions."

Check the search results for more, at the link.

Soledad O'Brien Out at CNN!

Robert Stacy McCain reports, "Ratings-Killer @Soledad_OBrien Fired by Obscure Third-Place Cable News Network."

And oooohhh, Jezebel is so sad, "Oh Crap: Soledad O’Brien Is Rumored to Be Pushed Out at CNN." No, Soledad isn't "whip-smart." She's an unprincipled hack Obama lap-dog journalist who turned CNN's morning programming into a black urban ghetto. Zucker ain't stupid and he certainly ain't politically correct. Now let's just wait for the left's attacks on the network for RAAAAACISM! Or, well, crickets!

PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons.

Murders, Carjackings Leave Four Dead in Orange County

Honestly, there are indeed some people who should not have access to guns.

I was on the road a little after 6:00am yesterday morning, and when I got to the college I saw the news on Twitter.

Sad.

And strange that this kind of thing happens nearby right as you go along your morning business.

A video report at KABC 7 Los Angeles, "Orange County shooting spree: Suspect kills 3, commits suicide; motive sought."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "O.C. shootings: College student attacked randomly, police say," and "O.C. shootings: Ladera Ranch neighbor heard a 'bunch of ruckus'."

More at the O.C. Register, "Slaying shocks, saddens Ladera Ranch community."

China's PLA Unit 61398 Behind Hacking Attacks in U.S.

An extremely fascinating story at yesterday's New York Times, "China's Army Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S."

It's a detailed report. Read it all at that link.

Why the Hell Should Anyone Vote For the Republican Party?

Yeah, why the hell?

From John Hawkins, at RWN.

John nails this part: Where are the Republicans on law and order?

Law and order? Americans in bad neighborhoods who are suffering terribly because of gangs and drugs are apparently of no interest whatsoever to any Republicans in charge of anything judging by the amount of time they spend discussing this issue — which is close to zero. Additionally, the biggest law and order issue on the table today is illegal immigration, where the Republican Party is working hand and glove with the Democrats to reward 11 million people who are here illegally with amnesty.

Continue reading at the link.

Heidi Montag Shows Off Her Big Guns!

Well, not those big guns.

She's got some real firearms, at London's Daily Mail, "We need protection! Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt show off guns at home admitting they feel unsafe from crazed fans."

Also at New York Daily News, "Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag pose with firearms during ‘Spedi: Scandal, Secrets and Surgery’ UK documentary."

Here's That Video of Megyn Kelly Covering the 'Vomit All Over Your Rapist' Story

Twitchy has the background, "While most of the media stay silent, Megyn Kelly addresses Salazar, UCCS rape remarks."

And the video is here, "Controversy Over a Woman's Right to Defend Herself With a Firearm."

Also, I cribbed the title of this post from Katie Pavlich:

. @megynkelly covering the "vomit all over your rapist" story
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) February 19, 2013

PREVIOUSLY: "Colorado Democrat Rep. Joe Salazar: Women Don't Need Guns If They 'Feel Like They’re Going to Be Raped'."

Samsung Challenges Apple's Cool

This is something I've been thinking about more often since getting an iPhone. It's an amazing piece of technology, but what's the competition? Who makes a better device? Remember, I mentioned the iPad had a huge glitch with the browser crashing, so that experience really tarnished the user vibe for Apple products. Their stuff is still the most invulnerable from malware --- or, that's what they say. But criminal programmers will get to them sooner or later.

In any case, at the New York Times, "Samsung Emerges as a Potent Rival to Apple’s Cool":

Apple, for the first time in years, is hearing footsteps.

The maker of iPhones, iPads and iPods has never faced a challenger able to make a truly popular and profitable smartphone or tablet — not Dell, not Hewlett-Packard, not Nokia, not BlackBerry — until Samsung Electronics.

The South Korean manufacturer’s Galaxy S III smartphone is the first device to run neck and neck with Apple’s iPhone in sales. Armed with other Galaxy phones and tablets, Samsung has emerged as a potent challenger to Apple, the top consumer electronics maker. The two companies are the only ones turning profits in the highly competitive mobile phone industry, with Apple taking 72 percent of the earnings and Samsung the rest.

Yet these two rivals, who have battled in the marketplace and in the courts worldwide, could not be more different. Samsung Electronics, a major part of South Korea’s expansive Samsung Group, makes computer chips and flat-panel displays as well as a wide range of consumer products including refrigerators, washers and dryers, cameras, vacuum cleaners, PCs, printers and TVs.

Where Apple stakes its success on creating new markets and dominating them, as it did with the iPhone and iPad, Samsung invests heavily in studying existing markets and innovating inside them.

“We get most of our ideas from the market,” said Kim Hyun-suk, an executive vice president at Samsung, in a conversation about the future of mobile devices and television. “The market is a driver, so we don’t intend to drive the market in a certain direction,” he said.

That’s in stark contrast to the philosophy of Apple’s founder Steven P. Jobs, who rejected the notion of relying on market research. He memorably said that consumers don’t know what they want.

Nearly everything at Samsung, from the way it does research to its manufacturing, is unlike Apple. It taunts Apple in its cheeky advertisements while Apple stays above the fray.

And the Korean manufacturer may even be putting some pressure on Apple’s world-class designers. Before Apple released the iPhone 5, which had a larger screen than earlier models, Samsung had already been selling phones with even bigger displays, like the 5.3-inch screen Galaxy Note, a smartphone so wide that gadget blogs call it a phablet.

Samsung outspends Apple on research and development: $10.5 billion, or 5.7 percent of revenue, compared with $3.4 billion, or 2.2 percent. (Samsung Electronics is slightly bigger than Apple in terms of revenue — $183.5 billion compared with $156.5 billion — but Apple is larger in terms of stock market value.)

Samsung has 60,000 staff members working in 34 research centers across the globe, including, Russia, Britain, India, Japan, Israel, China and Silicon Valley. It polls consumers and buys third-party research reports, but it also embeds employees in countries to study trends or merely to find inspiration for ideas.

Designers of the Galaxy S III say they drew inspiration from trips to Cambodia and Helsinki, a Salvador Dalí art exhibit and even a balloon ride in an African forest. (It employs 1,000 designers with different backgrounds like psychology, sociology, economy management and engineering.)

“The research process is unimaginable,” said Donghoon Chang, an executive vice president of Samsung who leads the company’s design efforts. “We go through all avenues to make sure we read the trends correctly.” He says that when the company researches markets for any particular product, it is also looking at trends in fashion, automobiles and interior design.

Continue reading.

And see Steve Kovach, at CNN, "How Samsung Is Out-Innovating Apple."