Miranda Kerr Pregnant!

Hey, that's great news, and perhaps a quick post on the Victoria's Secret hottie and newlywed to Orlando Bloom might light up my Sitemeter a bit this weekend (and Linkmaster Smith's on the case as well). Besides, it's always nice to see this beautiful lady at these video clips:

Review — 'A Film Unfinished'

From Kenneth Turan, at LAT:

Squeezing half a million Jews into the 3 square miles of the Warsaw Ghetto led to almost unimaginable poverty and desolation. The beggars in pathetic rags, the starving people dying on the streets, the sick and destitute living in squalor, these make the most powerful of impressions.

Just as disturbing are the original footage's numerous close-ups of ghetto residents, close-ups that are simply awful to look at. Living faces haunted by knowledge of a sure death, these are among the most purely despairing images ever put on screen.

As bad, if not worse, are scenes that almost beggar description. There is the horrible humiliation of forcing women to disrobe and then filming them, clearly terrified, using a mikvah, or ritual bath. And shots of the numberless corpses piled one on top of the other in the ghetto's massive cemetery leave one speechless with despondency.

The Nazis, obviously, were not interested in a film that emphasized Jewish suffering. The aim of "The Ghetto," as far as can be determined, was to contrast this pain with the alleged callous indifference of better-off Jews, to show, as the voice-over says, "the paradise the Jews lived in." Only, there were no better-off Jews, let alone a paradise, which is where the Nazi fakery and manipulation came in.

Outtakes show that key scenes were staged over and over again from multiple angles. As a voice-over reading from the journals of Adam Czerniakow, the head of the ghetto's Jewish Council, makes clear, the sequences we see of Jews putting on evening dress to go to Champagne banquets were completely fabricated. As a survivor of the ghetto laconically says on watching a dinner with flowers on the table, "We would have eaten the flowers."

See also, NYT, "An Israeli Finds New Meanings in a Nazi Film."

I posted the trailer previously. I'll have some comments on the film later today.

The Rod Blagojevich Sleaze Show

Blago's just the headliner.

From Professor Charles Lipson, at Chicago Tribune, "Jersey Shore Politics in Illinois":

Rod Blagojevich may have escaped criminal conviction on most counts, but his trial offers no comfort to the state's long-suffering voters. It was a sleazy reality show, featuring insider deals and pay-to-play politics. Blago's closest aides either testified against him (acknowledging their role in a criminal conspiracy), or, like Tony Rezko and Stuart Levine, couldn't be trusted to testify.

And so ends another exciting season of Illinois' version of "Jersey Shore," starring the former governor as "The (Bad) Situation." On reality TV, the popular themes are casual sex and catty talk. In Springfield, they are sweetheart deals and cold cash, passed under the table or funneled into political campaigns. Friends of the governor whisper that the state is eager to fund your hospital, but first, let's discuss that $50,000 contribution you'll want to make to his campaign. Or maybe you'd like to hold a big fundraiser. Separate matters, ya understand. It's been a major national story for two years, and it makes Illinois a laughingstock. The joke, unfortunately, is on us, the state's voters and taxpayers.

Chicago has attracted the same kind of attention, and for good reasons. The city provides better services than the state — the parks are beautiful and the garbage gets picked up — but the corruption is just as bad. Aldermen are regularly carted off to jail for pocketing bribes, some 29 convictions over the past four decades. Hiring practices are notorious, despite federal rulings to restrict them. Mayor Richard Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich, was convicted of rigged hiring. Al Sanchez, boss of the powerful Streets and Sanitation department, has been convicted of bribery and patronage. Sanchez helped create a vital cog in the Daley political machine, the Hispanic Democratic Organization, which collapsed when several big shots were implicated in crimes ranging from perjury and fraud to the Hired Truck scandal.

If bribery and patronage hiring aren't bad enough, consider the city's notorious zoning practices. Top real-estate lawyers won't go near these cases. Just ask yourself, why would the city's most prominent law firms pass up rich hourly fees? Why would they hold their noses, back away and refer clients to politically connected lawyers? Puzzling, huh?

The real issue here is political control over land use, which translates into ready money for politicians. Remember, each alderman essentially controls zoning in his own ward. Let's say your land is worth more — perhaps much more — if the city gives you permission to build what you want. Corrupt politicians will want to share this windfall. In exchange for a zoning variation, an alderman may want you to make a campaign contribution, hire her favorite law firm, buy insurance from her husband, or use her brother as your real estate agent. Insider contracts work the same way, effectively dividing the profits between politicians and connected businessmen. Politicians grant valuable favors and receive contributions in exchange.

More at the link.

I'm just tripping on Blago's trial. Ace of Spades has this: "Breaking: Blago Holdout Retired State Employee Who Once Handed Out Campaign Literature For Relative Seeking Office; NPR and Liberal Talk Radio Listener."

This woman, this ward-heeler's moll, just sprung a guilty man free and cost the taxpayers millions.

Professor Lipson notes that U.S. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been one "squeaky clean" exception to the Illinois machine, but his days of fighting corruption in the Land of Lincoln may be over. See New York Times (FWIW), "Blagojevich Trial Ends Fitzgerald’s Successes."

Who Knows Obama's Religion?

That's the major finding at Pew's recent survey, "Growing Number of Americans Say Obama is a Muslim." Forty-three percent have no clue. Understandable too, since the guy hasn't really settled on one yet. He is leaning toward Islam, though. And more and more folks are starting to think so, and that's before he came out for the Ground Zero Mosque before he was against it. No wonder folks are in the dark. Obama's the Commander-in-Chief of Indecisiveness. Oh wait! Here's some decisiveness, or, well, maybe not. Shoot, I just don't know!

The Islamic Response to Pamela Geller

And this isn't Pamela's first death threat from Ibn Ali al-Turki, a.k.a, IslamicJihadi (background here).

The context is Pamela's entry yesterday, "Washington Post Headline Incites Violence Against Ground Zero Mosque Opponents." It turns out that Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post changed the headline of the recent article on Pamela and Robert. I commmented on it previously, although I didn't see the original title: "In flap over mosque near Ground Zero, conservative writers gaining influence." That was changed to "The pens of anti-Muslim conservatives impact N.Y.C. mosque debate mightily." And that's likely to incite jihadis to violence, the kind threaten above obviously with the Ibn Ali al-Turki. Pamela post Robert's letter to Ms. Boorstein of the Post:

Ms. Boorstein

Your article was silly and stupid enough as it was originally, especially with your misuse of my words about being deliberately provocative at the end, and your lazy repetition of the falsehood that Pamela Geller promoted the idea that Barack Obama is the son of Malcolm X.

But the new headline labeling us "anti-Muslim" is not just silly and stupid; it is malicious, libelous, and dangerous to us personally.

"Anti-Muslim" is a term that Islamic supremacists and their Leftist enablers like to use of people who are fighting for human rights against Sharia -- and it's easy to see why: it frames their opponents as "bigots" and "haters," takes the focus away from their anti-woman, anti-free speech, anti-free thought, anti-equality of rights agenda, and has the added bonus of stirring up their more bloody-minded coreligionists to violence.

And above all, despite the promiscuous Goebbels-style Big-Lie application of the term to Pamela Geller and me by the likes of Honest Ibe Hooper of Hamas-linked CAIR and his tool Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, it simply isn't true. I am not "anti-Muslim." I am anti-Sharia, anti-jihad, anti-oppression, anti-terror, and you should be also.

I ask you to have the decency to correct this headline.

Robert Spencer

Revving Up Weekend Rule 5 — Maggie's Farm Guidebook Edition

Check Maggie's Farm for some mindblowing Rule 5.

And as usual, prepping for the Linkmaster Smith's Sunday entry. (And check Pirate's Cove for some of recent roundups.)

Plus, check American Perspective for some hot blogging.

**********

And be sure to visit some of other friends of American Power:

* Another Black Conservative.

* Astute Bloggers (Honorary).

* Blazing Cat Fur.

* Bob Belvedere.

* Cold Fury.

* Classical Liberal.

* Daley Gator.

* Left Coast Rebel.

* Mind Numbed Robot.

* Not a Sheep.

* Paco Enterprises.

* Panhandle Perspective.

* Political Byline.

* POWIP.

* Proof Positive.

* The Other McCain.

* Reaganite Republican (Honorary).

* Right Klik (Honorary).

* Saberpoint (Honorary).

* Serr8d (Honorary).

* Snooper's Report (Honorary).

* Stormbringer.

* Theo Spark.

* TrogloPundit.

* Washington Rebel.

* WyBlog.

BONUS: Don't forget Instapundit.

And drop your link in the comments to be added to the weekly roundups!

Google and Verizon's Scary Net Neutrality Plan

At Popular Science:

Google and Verizon announced a joint vision for the future of net neutrality this afternoon [August 9] -- a plan that may wield significant influence in the ever-intensifying debate over who controls the internet and its content. The plan calls for strictly regulated openness for today's wireline broadband--the DSL or cable internet you likely have at home. But for wireless networks ... the story is different.

For those that may be unaware of the issue, an exceedingly simplified fifteen-second net neutrality primer: The debate pits network providers (like Verizon) against companies and individuals who use said networks to deliver products and services to customers (like Google). As web applications become more central in nearly every aspect of public and private life, the network providers have grown increasingly interested in recouping the massive amounts of money they spend on building and maintaining network infrastructure by charging those companies who use an inordinate amount of bandwidth (like Google) for privileged access and delivery to customers. The internet has never worked this way, so the idea is obviously upsetting to many people, who cite the web's inherent openness as a key, if not the key detail that has allowed it to fundamentally change all of our lives in such a powerful way, and will allow it to continue to do so at the same breakneck pace in the future.

Google and Verizon's plan lays out specific rules to ensure that wireline internet services can not be used for any such tiered or paid access, and that all applications and services delivered over them (as long as they're legal) can be given no preference over any other traffic. That means established bandwidth hogs like YouTube and brand new bandwidth hogs built by Russian teenagers in their bedrooms like Chat Roulette will all get equal access to your eyeballs. This will also theoretically prevent broadband providers from intentionally limiting the speed of all BitTorrent traffic, something they've shown interest in doing in the past to avoid clogging their network with copyrighted materials; the protocol can just as easily be used legally.

But what has net neutrality activists worried--in my opinion, rightly so--is that in the new plan, almost none of these protections apply to wireless networks. Nor do they apply to a more ambiguously defined category of "additional, differentiated online services, in addition to the Internet access and video services (such as Verizon's FIOS TV)" using current wireline networks.

But it's the wireless exemption that strikes the most worry in the hearts of free-internet proponents. As anyone watching the future of telecommunications and the internet will tell you, wireless web access will almost certainly one day overtake traditional wired networks as most people's primary means of getting online. With the last five years' explosion of smartphone usage, we're already watching this happen. Heck, if your home is in a good coverage area, it's entirely feasible today to scrap your monthly cable or DSL broadband services for something like a wireless MiFi hotspot from Verizon or Sprint for all but the most intensive surfing.

Should Google and Verizon's suggested plan be implemented, whoever beams the signal to your MiFi hotspot can shape the traffic of the web however they choose. This means blocking high-bandwidth sites like YouTube, giving preference to one streaming service over another (like only allowing Netflix's Watch Instantly vs. any other movie-streaming service), or blocking certain protocols like BitTorrent altogether.

I don't like the sound of it, especially given the Democrat Party's love of "net neutrality." See, "Sen. Smalley and the Left Are Wrong on Net Neutrality."

The Cordoba Conquest at Ground Zero

Steven Taylor has an essay up at Outside the Beltway: "Ok, So What is the Problem with Cordoba House?" Unfortunately, Taylor hasn't actually focused on the question. Instead he offers a blanket condemnation of opponents of mosque construction projects elsewhere (this is Taylor's attempt to identify alleged anti-Muslim bigotry). The problem, not address by Taylor, is that Cordoba is code word to Muslims for conquest and domination, and it's a term that's historically flexible, and hence a bit devious and subterranean. This is (one more reason) why there's a "Problem with Cordoba House." See David Stein at Yes, But, However, "The “Ground Zero Mosque” – The “Cordoba” Question":

I believe Imam Rauf’s “hypocrisy” has a purpose, and I think many of his critics have missed it. Remember – this is a man who has been feted by three White Houses (including the Bush White House). By using Cordoba as his brand, he can appeal to U.S. political leaders and radical Islamists at the same time. The Cordoba name conjures up images of tolerance and plurality and savagery and persecution, depending upon which century you focus on. It was meant to be a Rorschach test.

To denounce Rauf as an “extremist” is to miss the point. He is an opportunist, reaping the fruits of presidential dinners, White House engagements, and U.S.-sponsored trips abroad, while retaining enough “street cred” to avail himself of the funding opportunities that come from radical Islam (hence his refusal to condemn Hamas – to do so would completely kill his cred).

Mission Accomplished

GSGF dubs it the "Surge Climax."

It's a climax, alright, although I'd use a bit of a different metaphor than does GSGF. I'm thinking of a V-E Day comparison, although the politics of the Iraq war aren't so conducive to ticker-tape celebrations. I'd suggest the magnitude is comparable, even though the historical eras differed as much as the nature of the wars. Americans have much to celebrate in bringing American troops home and in leaving behind a democracy in Iraq that will stand on its own, even though tough challenges remain. And worth your while (surprisingly), at LAT, "Iraq In the Rear-View Mirror."

Mama Lionesses

William likes Mama Warthogs. But it's hard to beat this clip of a mama lioness killing a cheetah. And note: "Lionesses do the majority of the hunting for their pride, being smaller, swifter and more agile than the males, and unencumbered by the heavy and conspicuous mane, which causes overheating during exertion."

Don't mess with the mamas!

9/11 Families Respond to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

From Debra Burlingame:

New York, NY, August, 18 — For the last four months, 9/11 families, first responders, survivors and concerned citizens have been asking where developers are getting funding for a $100-million dollar mosque and Islamic center planned for Ground Zero. The imam who is heading the project has refused to identify the source of the $5 million cash that was used to purchase the building, and told an Arab newspaper that he will get funding for the project from Arab and Muslim countries. Given the imam’s statements, that America was “an accessory to the crime” on 9/11, that “Osama Bin Laden was made in the U.S.A.” as well as his repeated refusal to condemn Hamas, we believe he has an obligation to come clean to the public on his financial sources. Our concern has been amplified by news that the imam’s worldwide “Shariah Index Project” is being funded by the Malaysian government, and that he is a principal figure in the Perdana Global Peace Project, the number one funder of the Gaza Flotilla, a violent attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Today we learn that instead of taking our concerns seriously, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi suggested that the opponents of the Ground Zero mosque should be investigated. This comment is clearly intended to intimidate those of us who are speaking out to preserve the sanctity of Ground Zero, where more than 20,000 human remains have been recovered, 1,845 in the last five years. We can assure Ms. Pelosi that whatever funds we have spent to get our message out, they pale in comparison to the price we have personally paid since that day, and continue to pay as a result of the mosque project. The vast majority of the American people support us. They lived through September 11 with us, and they know, as we do, that this not a “local issue.” What happened on 9/11 affected all Americans.

Debra Burlingame
Tim Sumner
Co-founders, 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America

See also Power Line (c/o Memeorandum).

VIDEO: Keep America Safe.

Who’s Extreme?

Via National Review and Nice Deb (c/o Memeorandum):

Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer Make Impact Nationally — And Get Smeared For It at WaPo

At Washington Post, "The pens of anti-Muslim conservatives impact N.Y.C. mosque debate mightily." (Via Memeorandum.) It's amazing that you can't read a story in the mainstream press that doesn't strain with incredulity at the moral righteousness of folks like Pamela Geller. She's flamboyant. Uh oh, that makes her untrustworthy? And not only that, the piece picks up on the smears forwarded by people like Charles Johnson and offers them as fact. For example, Pamela has never said President Obama is Malcolm X's love child. Robert Spencer responds: "This is lazy propagandizing at its very finest masquerading as journalism." And the Post identifies Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs as a "national security blog," to which Robert responds: "That's the funniest thing I've heard in weeks."

RELATED: "FOX Money Rocks: Pamela Geller on Imam Rauf's Ground Zero Mosque Money."

U.X.A.

And now for something different --- U.X.A.:

More here.

Hey Monday

I'm bored with the Ground Zero controversy, so check out Cassadee Pope while I go read myself to sleep:

Check Atlas Shrugs, GSGF, The Other McCain, and Theo Spark as well.

Howard Dean Goes Off the Reservation...

...And radical leftists are not pleased:

'He's a Kind of a Spokesman For a Post-American World, and We Think He Represents an Important Piece of the Puzzle For Us'

That's Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel on the announcement that Fareed Zakaria will leave Newsweek to join Time Magazine as a contributing editor.

There is no "Post-American" world, of course. Or at least not outside of the ideological constructs of the Beltway media elite. As noted recently, international theory expects a continued long reign of American dominance in the international realm (see, "Do States Ally Against the Leading Global Power?"). The U.S. is not as preponderant as it once was, but to speak of a "Post-American" era is about as meaningful as the notion, from just a few years back, of "The Rise of the European Superstate" (to rival American power). How's that working out?

Tolerance and Suicide

A truly phenomenal presentation. From Bill Whittle, at Pajamas Media:

In related news, media outlets are playing up the "split" in the GOP establishment over the Victory Mosque. The Los Angeles Times has a front-page story today, "New York mosque debate splits GOP." Also, at WSJ, "Norquist and Gingrich: Debating a Mosque Near Ground Zero." (And at Memeorandum.)

Frankly, while this is a central issue, I'm surprised the debate's gone on --- as a front-burner issue --- for weeks now. I've discussed the debate in my classes as an excellent example of both freedom of religion and freedom of speech, but also of political polarization. House Speaker Nance Pelosi also provided yet another example of Democratic Party authoritarianism. See, "Pelosi's Preposterous Pontificating On the Ground Zero Mosque." Plus, "AUDIO - Rep. Pelosi calls for investigation of WTC mosque opposition."

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Have you heard the news, baby?

Van Halen's back together! See, "Van Halen Recording New Album With David Lee Roth."

I heard the news baby
All about your disease
Yeah, you may have all you want baby
But I got somethin' you need. Oh, yeah!
Ain't talkin' 'bout love
My love is rotten to the core
Ain't talkin' 'bout love
Just like I told you before. Yeah, before

You know you're semi-good lookin'
And on the streets again
Ooh yeah, you think you're really cookin' baby
You better find yourself a friend, my friend

Ain't talkin' 'bout love
My love is rotten to the core
Ain't gonna talk about love
Just like I told you before! Before! Uh, before! Uh, before! Before!

(Guitar Solo)

Ain't talkin' 'bout love
Babe, it's rotten to the core
Ain't talkin' bout love
Just like I told you before. Uh, before

I been to the edge
And there I stood and looked down
You know I lost a lot of friends there baby
I got no time to mess around

Mmm, so if you want it, got to bleed for it baby
Yeah! Got to, got to bleed, baby
Mmm, you got to, got to bleed, baby
Hey! Got to, got to bleed baby

Ain't talkin' 'bout love
My love is rotten to the core
Ain't talkin' 'bout love
Just like I told you before! Before! Before!

Ain't talkin' 'bout love
Don't wanna talk about love
Don't need to talk about love
Ain't gonna talk about love
No more! No more! Ahhh!

(Guitar Solo)

Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey, hey!

'I Want to Be Able to Say What's On My Mind Without Some Special-Interest Group Deciding This Is the Time to Silence Dissent'

It's an abbreviated quotation, from Dr. Laura Schlessinger, upon her announcement that she'll "end her radio career at the end of the year."

Shoot, I'd quit too (leftist ayatollahs are a pain, no doubt), except I'm hardly near the same income bracket as Dr. Laura.

EARLIER STEREOTYPICAL LEFTIST EXAMPLE: "Dr. Laura Apologizes For N-Word, But She's Still A Racist."

RELATED: "Dr. Laura Schlessinger to End Radio Show."