Recovery Summer

From the Heritage Foundation (via Glenn Reynolds):

Maggie's Farm in the News

Actually, it's Bruce Kesler, one of the regular contributors at Maggie's Farm, and he's in California, not New England. That said, his criticisms of Brooklyn College have been picked up by the New York Times, "Brooklyn College Furor Is More Heated Online." And he's interviewed at New York Daily News, "Alum to cut Brooklyn College out of will over required freshman reading by 'radical' prof":

A Brooklyn College grad cut his alma mater out of his will because the school is requiring freshmen to read a book he calls propaganda by a "radical pro-Palestinian professor."

Bruce Kesler, Class of 1968, said he made the decision to cut what he called a "significant bequest" with "a very heavy heart."

"I am very fortunate to have gone to Brooklyn College back in the 1960s," said Kesler, 62, who described himself as a former "poor boy from Brooklyn" who lives in Encinitas, Calif.

"That book was a poor and insulting choice. I'm sure Brooklyn College is still a great avenue for education, but I don't think that I should send it any more money."

The book that upset Kesler is called "How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America" by a Swiss-born Brooklyn College professor named Moustafa Bayoumi.

It chronicles the stories of seven Arab-Americans in post-9/11 Brooklyn.

On his blog, Kesler wrote that Bayoumi's book "consciously draws a parallel, ridiculous on its face, between the horrible and pervasive discrimination and injustices that blacks were subjected to a century ago and Arab-Americans today."

Kesler, a Vietnam vet who has written blogs highly critical of President Obama, said his old school was a liberal bastion in the '60s and remains one still.

"But, there was no official policy to inculcate students with a political viewpoint," he wrote. "Now there is. That is unacceptable."

Bayoumi did not return a call for comment.

In a statement, Brooklyn College said it was "regrettable that Mr. Bruce Kesler misunderstands the intentions of the Common Reader experience and the broader context of this selection."

One point at issue is Bayoumi's edited volume, Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How It Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict. Bayoumi compares the plight of the Palestinians to the freedom struggle for black Americans in the 20th Century. It's a stretch, I agree.

In any case, Bruce has a post up on this, "New York Times Reports (Sorta) On Brooklyn College’s Indoctrination Book (UPDATES)." And follow all the links, because this is breaking out as an even bigger controversy.

Another Offshore Oil Rig Explosion in Gulf of Mexico

At LAT, "Oil Platform Explodes off Louisiana":

The opening scene was all too familiar. Black smoke rising from a burning oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico and workers plucked from the sea. But Thursday's fire on an oil production facility 100 miles off the Louisiana coast appears to have ended without disaster.

None of the 13 workers on board the platform was injured. The Coast Guard found no evidence of an oil leak, and by Thursday afternoon the fire was out.

The accident — the cause is unknown and under investigation — happened a little more than four months after BP's Deepwater Horizon rig blowout, which killed 11 workers and resulted in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Thursday's fire sent shudders along the Gulf Coast, but Houston-based Mariner Energy Inc. reported that it was able to shut in the wells connected to the oil and gas platform, averting leaks.

"Automated shutoff equipment on the platform safely turned off the flow of oil and gas from the platform's seven producing wells before the fire occurred and the crew evacuated," the company said in a news release.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the company told officials that the fire burned an oil product stored on the platform — unlike the BP drilling rig blaze, which was fed by an uncontrollable gush from its blown-out well.

"That's a very important point," Jindal said.

Thursday's accident occurred farther west than the BP blowout, on an oil and gas platform in shallow water south of Terrebonne Bay, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

Coast Guard officials said they received a call at 9:18 a.m. Central time that the platform was engulfed in flames. Crews on a nearby oil facility reported seeing an explosion on the platform.

The 13 workers, wearing red floatation suits, apparently leaped into the water, which is about 340 feet deep. They were picked up by a supply vessel and flown by helicopter to an onshore hospital. Mariner said were no reported injuries.

See also Memeorandum.

Iraq: The Necessary War

Daniel Henninger's piece is good: "If Saddam Had Stayed." (Via Memeorandum.)

But check Jay Ambrose as well:

Bush came to power with lots more on his mind than Saddam and little inclination to mess with him. Then came 9/11, and he had to consider that Saddam, a nation-invading, genocidal maniac responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and unendingly hostile to the United States, was harboring an al Qaeda chieftain, had supported terrorist groups and had paid for terrorists to be trained by al Qaeda. Experts said he still had a lot of WMD around.

At Bush's urging, Congress voted to back action against Saddam if he could not otherwise be curbed and Secretary of State Colin Powell convinced the United Nations to adopt a resolution authorizing military intervention if necessary. Though Saddam did allow weapons inspectors back in, his government dodged their demands, and as a U.S. senator named Joseph Biden said, there was "little option but to act."

We did just that, no WMD were found and critics screeched that President Bush lied us into war. In fact, an official search group did find weapons programs in contravention of the resolution. The head of the group thought some WMD remained hidden in Iraq and some had been shipped to Syria. As Herman notes, he told a Senate committee that "the world is far safer with the disappearance and removal of Saddam Hussein."

All could still have been lost if Bush had not faced up to his failures and then faced down widespread opposition in authorizing more combat troops operating under a new policy of keeping neighborhoods safe from terrorists that had been chased away. The effort set the stage for political stability, which remains uncertain.

It's an anti-historical contrivance that this war was an imperialist adventure to secure oil. Wars are always awful, and this one is no exception, though its monetary cost was no more than Obama spent on one ineffectual, politically corrupt stimulus bill. The war reduced risks from deadly menaces and could continue to do more of the same. That now depends on people other than Bush. Let's hope they perform as well as he did.

See also Cold Fury and Hot Air.

Teenage Girl Throws Puppies in River

I'm a little late on this, but it's nevertheless unfathomable. At Telegraph UK, "Teenage girl throws puppies into a river in online video."

Click the image to watch.

No doubt JBW thinks this is hilarious — no evil in the world, and all that, dontcha know?

Peace Through Strength

Beautiful.

Via Paco Enterprises and TrogloPundit:

Hillary Clinton for President

It's a novelty, and that's it. I don't for a minute expect a primary challenge to Obama in 2012, although if anyone could possibly bump Hussein off the ticket it's Hillary.

Israel Buries its Dead

The pictures are heartbreaking: "Islamic Antisemitism and Jewish Genocide: The Funeral."

And at Israel National News, "Shooting Victims Buried":

The victims of the Tuesday night terrorist attack near Hevron – Yitzchak Imas, his wife Talia Imas, Kokhava Even-Chaim, and Avishai Shindler – were buried Wednesday. The funeral procession began in Beit Chagai. As the town does not have its own cemetery, the burials were conducted in various cities around Israel.

Yitzchak and Talia Imas, parents of six children, were buried in the Mount of Olives (Har Hazeitim) cemetery in Jerusalem.

Their daughter Rut eulogized them, saying, “For 19 years you raised me... G-d, thank you for giving me wonderful parents.” She recalled their 25th wedding anniversary just two weeks earlier, “You promised you would reach your golden anniversary as well.”

“Mother, I promise to look over our family, to keep doing the things that were important to you, and to keep the family together,” she added. “I'll be there for the little ones, who will grow up with no mother or father.”

Kokhava Even-Chaim was buried in Ashdod. Her husband Momi spoke at her funeral. “I can't believe that I'm reading a goodbye letter to you, my wife, my beloved, the mother of our family. I've been to so many funerals, I want you to stay here with us.”

He spoke of the terrorists who murdered Kokhava and three others, saying, “Evil cowards, who harm innocent civilians... Only wicked people could call that war.”

Speaking to his wife, he said, “We are not the ones accompanying you. You are accompanied by the angels you created by the learning of a daily page of Gemara, by saying Tehillim [Psalms] - just in the past two weeks you finished the book of Psalms 22 times – and by the angels you created by guarding your speech. Few people know that you led a group of women committed to avoiding speaking ill of others.”

More at the link.

Larry Sabato's Labor Day Predictions

At the clip is Time's Mark Halperin, making the case for a massive blowout in November, with a tidal wave washing out as many as 60 Democratic House incumbents.

But Political Scientist Larry Sabato provides a more scholarly projection, "The Crystal Ball's Labor Day Predictions":

For decades I’ve advised students to let the facts speak for themselves, while avoiding the indulgence of shouting at the facts. In other words, we should take in all the available, reliable information; process it; and let the emerging mosaic tell its story—whether the picture pleases or not. The human (and partisan) tendency to twist facts into pretzels in order to produce a desired result must be avoided at all costs.

We’ve been patient and cautious here at the Crystal Ball as a year’s worth of facts has accumulated. We’ve sifted the polls, cranked up the models, and watched the candidates and campaigns closely. All political observers have “gut feelings” about an election year, but feelings make for good songs and lousy predictions. Forecasting is an imprecise art. People who get too far ahead of the facts or are too insistent about what will happen are usually partisans—openly or in disguise.

The Crystal Ball’s predictions are clinical. We are fond of people in both parties. We cheer for no one.

2010 was always going to be a Republican year, in the midterm tradition. It has simply been a question of degree. Several scenarios were possible, depending in large measure on whether, or how quickly, the deeply troubled American economy recovered from the Great Recession. Had Democratic hopes on economic revitalization materialized, it is easy to see how the party could have used its superior financial resources, combined with the tendency of Republicans in some districts and states to nominate ideological fringe candidates, to keep losses to the low 30s in the House and a handful in the Senate.

But conditions have deteriorated badly for Democrats over the summer. The economy appears rotten, with little chance of a substantial comeback by November 2nd. Unemployment is very high, income growth sluggish, and public confidence quite low. The Democrats’ self-proclaimed “Recovery Summer” has become a term of derision, and to most voters—fair or not—it seems that President Obama has over-promised and under-delivered.

Obama’s job approval ratings have drifted down well below 50% in most surveys. The generic ballot that asks likely voters whether they will cast ballots for Democrats or Republicans this year has moved increasingly in the GOP direction. While far less important, other controversies such as the mosque debate and immigration policy have made the climate worse for Democrats. Republican voters are raring to vote, their energy fueled by anti-Obama passion and concern over debt, spending, taxes, health care, and the size of government. Democrats are much less enthusiastic by almost every measure, and the Democratic base’s turnout will lag. Plus, Democrats have won over 50 House seats in 2006 and 2008, many of them in Republican territory, so their exposure to any sort of GOP wave is high.

Given what we can see at this moment, Republicans have a good chance to win the House by picking up as many as 47 seats, net. This is a “net” number since the GOP will probably lose several of its own congressional districts in Delaware, Hawaii, and Louisiana. This estimate, which may be raised or lowered by Election Day, is based on a careful district-by-district analysis, plus electoral modeling based on trends in President Obama’s Gallup job approval rating and the Democratic-versus-Republican congressional generic ballot (discussed later in this essay). If anything, we have been conservative in estimating the probable GOP House gains, if the election were being held today.

There's more at the link (and Sabato discusses GOP Senate prospects, the view on the governors' races, etc.).

As noted at the few times I've written about this, I personally wouldn't make predictions unless based on a district-by-district analysis of partisan electoral trends. So here we have in Sabato's analysis the kind of approach that's probably best for making projections, and that's topped off with the electoral modeling and the shares of the generic ballot. See my previous post, "How Bad For the Democrats in 2010?"

So, yeah, I guess JBW was smart not to take me up on the wager challenge. But bet or not, I'm not going to hesitate from a bit of gloating on election night. The administration is awful and the Dems just suck. And I'm not going be shy of saying good riddance.

Refusing to Give Up Books

From Emma Silvers, at Slate:

On the 2 train uptown during the morning commute the other day, I was in my usual state of sleepwalk -- face crammed into a fellow passenger's armpit -- when a young woman standing 3 feet away from me removed an Amazon Kindle from her oversize designer purse and began to read. A surprising wave of disgust overcame me as I stared at the smooth metallic back of the thing, at her manicured fingernails positioned against it, at her face as she read ... whatever it was that she was reading.
That was part of it, I realized, trying to analyze my own ridiculous, knee-jerk judgment of this stranger. I couldn't see what she was reading, and it bothered me. I couldn't peer in that tiny window onto someone's interior world, or delight in the juxtaposition that a book choice sometimes presents -- when you notice a stuffy, 90-something grandma buried in a trashy romance novel, or a would-be gangsta engrossed in "Love in the Time of Cholera."
But at 26, a supposed child of the Internet generation (who, I recently discovered, must henceforth be referred to as "The Millennials," and discussed in the media mainly in reference to our refusal to get real jobs or move out of our parents' basements), I've begun to feel out of step with this particular aspect of youth culture. I'm starting to understand what my grandmother must feel when she heads to the library once a week to dutifully check the e-mail account my uncle created for her. As I stared at the woman, fully engaged, happily using this very practical and very expensive device that, for all I know, she saved her pennies for a year to buy, I felt something entirely out of proportion with the situation: I felt personally slighted.
I never thought my lack of interest in e-readers made me particularly unique -- until recently, when Consumer Reports and national headlines started implying I was actually in a freakish minority. Earlier this summer, you could practically hear the collective weeping of small publishers nationwide when Amazon announced that Kindle books were outselling hardcovers by a 180-to-100 margin. Then came the drumbeat for the thinner, cheaper Kindle model forthcoming in September, and the competitors' accompanying rush to stay in the game. A crop of stories attempted to sort out the so-called e-reader wars: Kindle vs. iPad vs. Nook – which is right for you? More service-oriented articles provided tips for all the people who aren't me: "Copying Text From Your Kindle to Computer," or "The Best Way to Highlight Passages on Your Nook" (hint: not with an actual highlighter). These articles all had slightly different aims, but their bottom line was the same: Of course you need to buy an e-reader. What are you, a Mennonite?

One recent story in the New York Times went so far as to claim that iPads and Kindles and Nooks are making the very act of reading better by -- of course -- making it social. As one user explained, "We are in a high-tech era and the sleekness and portability of the iPad erases any negative notions or stigmas associated with reading alone." Hear that? There's a stigma about reading alone. (How does everyone else read before bed -- in pre-organized groups?) Regardless, it turns out that, for the last two decades, I've been Doing It Wrong. And funny enough, up until e-books came along, reading was one of the few things I felt confident I was doing exactly right.

More at the link.

I haven't made the leap yet, although I doubt I'm as opposed to e-reading as our essayist here. 

We're Gonna Disappear...

The lead guitar is irresistible, and interestingly, the song has a long shelf life in pop culture.

Man, There's Got to Be Somebody For Me...

It took me a while to figure out this song back in the day, but once you do you realize how depressingly lonely it is. And hearing this yesterday on The Sound LA I was amazed at the breadth of the station's playlist. Frankly I'd forgotten about the Counting Crows, and I have their debut CD and I saw them live at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theatre when they were big. Anyway, enjoy "Mr. Jones."

Flags Only

Pamela urges folks to get the message out: "NO SIGNS AT THE 911 GROUND ZERO MEGA MOSQUE RALLY -- FLAGS!"

The Left is True Evil

From ace commenter Dennis, in response to the death threats against Pamela Geller:

This unfortunately is what happens when one challenges the Left. The Left generally lacks the capability and capacity to put forth a well reasoned argument so they are left with name calling, wishing those that disagree with them disease, death or other forms disaster, death threats, and ultimately the attempt to put those threats into action.

It is why you see that the vast majority of violence and attempted, in some cases actual, killing of others. There is always the attempt at "transference" to others because in most cases they want to deny or to try to fool people into believing they are not the perpetrators of the vast majority of these actions. How many people has the Left accused of these actions and then found out the perpetrator is a leftist or leans to the left? For them it becomes a sort of if one throw enough stones at others then nobody will recognize who is really at fault.

The left is true evil and is the Dark side of life. Go to any Leftist site and you see it demonstrated in 90 to 99.9 percent of the comments.

Discovery Channel Gunman 'Was Just an Average DC Nut Job'

John Lilyea would know. See, "Yeah, I Talked With the Discovery Channel Gunman":

I had a long conversation while waiting for the Code Pink/IVAW protest last October ...

He was steeped in all kinds of Leftist blather. But he spewed out a lot of Ron Paul crap mixed with some Republican talking points – whatever fit his protest sign. He was a raving lunatic and I wouldn’t blame any political party for James J. Lee like some people have. He was just an average DC nut job.

I posted on this yesterday, especially on the typical leftist reaction to label this sick man a "right-wing extremist." See, "Charles Johnson, Think Progress Strain to Portray Discovery Gunman as Right-Wing Anti-Immigrant Extremist."

Additional background at Verum Serum, "Violence at the Discovery Channel (Video of James Lee Added)." (Via Memeorandum.) And at ABC News, "Police Say Discovery Channel Gunman James Lee Posed 'Grave Danger' to Hostages: Gunman's Brother Believes James Lee Wanted to Be Killed By Police."

Cutting Through the Left's Web of Deception on Israel

From Admirath:

"No other country in the world has been so heavily and unfairly scrutinized as Israel. Everything about it is questioned: its borders, its army, the places where its citizens live, the ways in which it defends itself from invaders, even the right to its existence…"

More at the link (via Blazing Cat Fur).

Scientist's Firing After 36 Years Fuels 'PC' Debate at UCLA

I'm not buying the school's argument. And 36 years? It's not easy to fire someone with that kind of tenure, although UCLA's Department of Public Health hired some non-tenured faculty members on a contract basis. That's great as far as performance standards are considered (folks wanting to inject more market approaches to university appointments, etc). But the dude's dismissal looks pretty politically motivated. The story's at Fox News:

Dr. Michael Siegel, professor and associate chairman at Boston University's School of Public Health, says the reasoning raises some red flags.

"The mission of the department is to study the impacts of the environment on human health and that's exactly what Enstrom does," Siegel told FoxNews.com. "…What the department appears to be saying is it's not the nature of his research but the nature of his findings."

Siegel says he doesn't even agree with a lot of Enstrom's findings, but he agrees with his right to relay them without fear of losing his job.

"The significance of this is a threat to academic freedom and it's also a threat to academic science," Siegel said. "If scientists have to produce work that meets a certain view to keep their jobs, researchers are going to stop publishing negative findings for fear of being fired."

But UCLA says Enstrom's findings had nothing to do with his dismissal.

"The nature of research results, political views or popularity are not appropriate factors and are not considered when evaluating individuals for reappointment," Hilary Godwin, associate dean for academic programs at UCLA's School of Public Health, said in a statement.

She said Enstrom's position at the school was non-tenured and was appointed for fixed terms that are renewable subject to established departmental and university review procedures.

Hat Tip: Moonbattery.

Double Tapper Customizes His IDF Issue M4 Rifle

With photos at the link:

Tea Party Tidal Wave

Awesome commentary, at IBD:

The defeat of Alaska's Lisa Murkowski by a little-known conservative lawyer is the latest evidence of a tidal wave building that may sweep aside an out-of-touch establishment. "We the people" won't be ignored.

Shays' Rebellion, an uprising of 1,200 farmers led by one Daniel Shays, angry over conditions in Massachusetts in 1786, prompted Thomas Jefferson to write to James Madison that "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing" for America.

A more peaceful rebellion is now occurring across the country, and we believe it's a good thing for America. Considering the excesses of this administration and Congress and their abuse of power to the point of ignoring the Constitution itself, it's also a very necessary thing, an idea whose time has come.

With her concession, Sen. Murkowski became the third incumbent to bite the political dust this season, joining Utah Sen. Bob Bennett and Pennsylvania party switcher Arlen Specter. The old argument about seniority and influence no longer flies among voters who increasingly believe, as Jefferson did, that government is best which governs least ....

America was born through a popular uprising that didn't like taxation without representation. It may be reborn from an aroused people unhappy with both their taxation and their representation.

This Day in History: The Invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939

We're dealing with international history in the first few weeks of my World Politics course (theory too, but the history's also a foundation for the class). And I thought about September 1st today, while discussing the German challenge to international security, 1919-1939. In any case, there's a report at Digital Journal, "Ceremonies Mark Invasion of Poland and Outbreak of WWII." And check Wikipedia for the historical entry there.