Go Ahead, Make a Voluntary Donation to Reduce the National Debt

I like this one, a lot:

Imagination Land

From Andrew Klavan, on the culture:

'Most feminists are feminists because they are marginalized from society to begin with by virtue of being women who aren't attractive'

I've been away from the gender wars for some time, but this shouldn't be missed: "FemCunts."

Jill Filipovic (woman-lawyer hot, manhattanite, woman-lawyer) who blogs for Feministe followed a pingback to my boyfriend’s blog post “Feminism is a Crazy Girlfriend” and tweeted it in mock disbelief. Kate Harding*, a fellow feminist writer who focuses on fat and body issues re-tweeted it [and then] a throng of manginas and single, cat women flocked to the post. I find it amusing that of the three that commented, one is a bearded, beta-male mangina posing with a natural, floral backdrop and the other calls herself “vegina” – a vegan, feminist, academic activist. Fuck.

Man, I'm off my game! This stuff is gold. I'm forwarding to Robert Stacy McCain, who also needs to brush up on his repertoire!

RTWT for the background to the quote at the title. There's something to this attraction hypothesis, but I'd like to see the hard data.

Americans Abandon the Heartland

Something that's always fascinating to me, at WSJ, "Population Leaves Heartland Behind: Census Shows Growth Fueled by Increasingly Diverse Metro Areas; in Kansas, a Small Town Tears Down Empty Homes":

Americans continued to abandon the nation's heartland over the past decade, moving into metropolitan areas that have grown less white and less segregated, the 2010 Census showed.

The U.S. population grew by 27 million over the decade, to 308 million. But growth was unevenly distributed. Metropolitan areas, defined as the collection of small cities and suburbs that surround an urban core with at least 50,000 people, accounted for most of the gain, growing 10.8% over the decade to 257.7 million people.

Rural areas, meanwhile, grew just 4.5% to 51 million. Many regions—from the Great Plains to the Mississippi Delta to rural New England—saw population declines. About 46% of rural counties lost population in the decade, including almost 60% of rural counties that aren't adjacent to a metro area, according to an analysis of Census data by Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

Keep reading at the link above.

Small-town life is the repository of traditional values, so it's sometimes sad to see the rural towns declining. I developed a feel for the rural life living in Fresno, and I've noted a couple of times at the blog that I've thought about relocating. It won't be anytime soon, since I'm not near retirement, but I think about it. I know my wife would consider rural Central California north of Fresno, but I'm thinking we might like it out of state. I'll think more about this. Some readers have warned me that I'll get tired of small-town life in no time ...

As More Americans Have Become Dependent on Federal Programs, Republicans Have Struggled to Uphold the Animating Principles of the Party

For some reason, progressives see the budget deal as a win for Republicans, and a few conservatives have as well. But we're going to need $100s of billions in reduced spending before we can really claim to be shrinking the public sector and restoring both fiscal sanity and limited government. And of course those on the left don't care about balancing the budget, since government expansion has been put in overdrive since Obama took office. But folks who do care should get a load of James Capretta's piece in the Winter 2011 issue of National Affairs, "Priorities for a New Congress."

In 2009, the federal government ran a budget deficit of $1.4 trillion, or 10% of the nation's gross domestic product. That was followed by a deficit of $1.3 trillion in 2010, or 8.9% of GDP. The 2011 deficit is expected to reach about 10% of GDP again. While revenues have declined because of the recession, this massive increase in deficits has been driven mostly by enormous growth in spending: Between 1990 and 2008, annual federal outlays averaged 20% of GDP, but in 2010 spending reached 23.8% of GDP — a difference of about half a trillion dollars per year. To see where such reckless imbalances lead, consider that, at the end of 2008, federal debt stood at $5.8 trillion; on its present course, it will be $20 trillion by 2020.

To make matters worse, these frightening figures do not even fully reflect the cost of paying out entitlement benefits to the retiring Baby Boom generation. Between 2010 and 2030, the number of Americans age 65 and older will increase from 41 million to 71 million. The Congressional Budget Office projects that spending on the nation's largest entitlement programs — Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — reached 10.3% of GDP in 2010, up from 5.4% in 1975. By 2030, the combined costs of these programs (including the provisions of the new health-care law, if it is fully implemented) will have risen to 14.7% of GDP, or nearly $3 trillion. In other words, over the next two decades, the federal budget is scheduled to absorb new entitlement-spending commitments that are roughly the size of the entire Social Security program today.

The only real options for closing the budget gap are to lower spending, increase revenues, or pursue some combination of both. Republicans won the 2010 election in large part because most Americans do not trust the Democrats to solve this problem: They believe that unified Democratic control of the executive and legislative branches will mean a heavy tilt toward tax increases to reduce deficits and borrowing. Americans would prefer their elected leaders to come at the deficit problem from the other side, cutting government spending so that it does not exceed available revenue.

It's a great piece, so check out the rest at the link above.

Obama Plans National Budget Address for Wednesday: Tax Hikes On the Agenda

At Lonely Conservative, "Obama Suddenly Interested in Deficit Reduction, Will Propose Tax." And also Wall Street Journal, "Obama Puts Taxes on Table":

President Barack Obama will lay out his plan for reducing the nation's deficit Wednesday, belatedly entering a fight over the nation's long-term financial future. But in addition to suggesting cuts—the current focus of debate—the White House looks set to aim its firepower on a more divisive topic: taxes.

In a speech Wednesday, Mr. Obama will propose cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and changes to Social Security, a discussion he has largely left to Democrats and Republicans in Congress. He also will call for tax increases for people making over $250,000 a year, a proposal contained in his 2012 budget, and changing parts of the tax code he thinks benefit the wealthy.

More at the link above.

Democrats just don't believe increased taxes on the productive sectors of the economy will harm growth prospects. But the Bush tax cuts had reduced deficits by 2007, as GDP growth accelerated and unemployment declined. The far left-leaning New York Times reported in 2006, "Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit":

An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief.

On Tuesday, White House officials are expected to announce that the tax receipts will be about $250 billion above last year's levels and that the deficit will be about $100 billion less than what they projected six months ago. The rising tide in tax payments has been building for months, but the increased scale is surprising even seasoned budget analysts and making it easier for both the administration and Congress to finesse the big run-up in spending over the past year.

Tax revenues are climbing twice as fast as the administration predicted in February, so fast that the budget deficit could actually decline this year.

The main reason is a big spike in corporate tax receipts, which have nearly tripled since 2003, as well as what appears to be a big increase in individual taxes on stock market profits and executive bonuses.

See also Michael Medved's piece on this from a couple of weeks ago, "Don't Blame Tax Cuts for Catastrophic Deficits."

We need to reduce spending not raise taxes. Both parties are guilty on the spending side, but only the Democrats insist in raising taxes on "high income" earners (people making not much more than my wife and I, and we're by no means "rich"). But when you have an ever-increasing government, with entitlement programs impervious to reform, the inevitable result is uncontrolled demand for new revenues. It's obscene, frankly. But progressives are obscene, not to mention their RINO enablers.

'Atlas Shrugged': New Film Takes Sorta Randian Road to Big Screen

I'm surprised.

A decent and fair report on the front page of today's Los Angeles Times, "'Atlas Shrugged' finally comes to the screen, albeit in chunks."

It has taken businessman John Aglialoro nearly 20 years to realize his ambition of making a movie out of "Atlas Shrugged," the 1957 novel by Ayn Rand that has sold more than 7 million copies and has as passionate a following among many political conservatives and libertarians as "Twilight" has among teen girls.

But the version of the book coming to theaters Friday is decidedly independent, low-cost and even makeshift. Shot for a modest $10 million by a first-time director with a cast of little-known actors, "Atlas Shrugged: Part I," the first in an expected trilogy, will play on about 300 screens in 80 markets. It's being marketed with the help of conservative media and "tea party" organizing groups and put into theaters by a small, Salt Lake City-based booking service.

The fact that one of the 20th century's most influential books is coming to movie screens in such a fashion is — depending on whom you ask — a reflection of liberal Hollywood's aversion to Rand's ideas, a symptom of Aglialoro's rigid adherence to them, or a testament to the challenges inherent in adapting the complex tome.

Aglialoro ultimately made a movie that hews more to Rand's ideology than the conventions of cinematic storytelling, at the risk that far fewer people will see it. Taking a page from the independent blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ," however, he is paying for his own theater bookings and marketing his film to an audience Hollywood often overlooks.

Keep reading at the link. The piece notes that the producers "showed footage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington..." Also mentioned there is Freedomworks, where bloggers at the CPAC blog-bash saw a preview screening of the film's trailers.

The movie comes out next Friday, April 15th. There's a couple of local tea parties that day, so I might see it on Saturday --- and then I'll update with my own review.

On Budget Issues, Paul Ryan is ' Vastly More Experienced' Than President Obama

Says George Will on today's "This Week":

Plus, "Obama Advisor David Plouffe: Budget Cuts Both 'Draconian' and 'Historic'" (via Memeorandum).

Also, at LAT, "Budget deal foreshadows larger fight ahead." And ABC News, "Debt Ceiling Crisis Looms After Budget Deal: Congress Now Has a New Hurdle to Overcome in Passing an Increase on the Federal Debt Limit."

State Troopers Haul Protesters Out of Washington State Capitol Building

Gee, Toto, I guess we're not in Madison anymore ...

Video at KIRO-TV Seattle, "Protesters Hauled Out Of State Capitol Building." See also, "Third day of 'sleep-in' at Washington state capitol." (At Memeorandum and Crooks and Liars.)

And thank goodness for the police. Looks like union thugs were taking over, threatening violence against state officials. At The Blaze, "Manufactured Madison Moments: SEIU Storms WA Capitol And Invades The Governors Office":

Israel Defense Forces On the Recent Escalation in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip

From the IDF YouTube channel at top, and at bottom a clip of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system at work (c/o Norman Gersman):

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer: 'The Ground Zero Mosque - The Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks', Calvary Chapel, Mission Viejo, April 9, 2011

Okay, the pictures below are from last night's screening and presentation of Pamela and Robert's film, "The Ground Zero Mosque - The Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks." The crowd in attendance was mostly baby-boomers and retirees. But folks were passionate and very receptive of the program. This was the first time I'd seen the whole thing through. (I saw the first 10 minutes of the movie at CPAC.) It's an excellent documentary which deserves a wide screening. And during the Q & A, Pamela and Robert again developed their theme of combating the lamestream media's enabling of sharia at home. Of course Pamela's talk was outstanding as usual. She reminded the audience that if we want to preserve our country and our security, we have to do it ourselves. "When you wake up in the morning, after rubbing the sleep from your eyes, ask yourself what are you going to do today to save the republic?" She got lots of applause. And for good reason. It's shocking sometimes to see things in their totality, but the movie does that, illustrating what's essentially media malpractice --- and then Pamela and Robert bring it all home at the wrap-up discussion. Now, while Pamela was pleased to report that so far not a brick has been laid at the Cordoba Mosque, er, Park51 initiative, the battle is far from over. And another protest is planned for Ground Zero on September 11th. We're going to need it. See, for example, the lastest whitewash on the Hamas-backing Ground Zero developer Sharif El-Gamal at the April 5th Los Angeles Times, "The Man Behind the Manhattan Mosque."

More later ...

Victor Davis Hanson at West Coast Retreat — President Obama's Postmodern Middle East Policy

Victor Davis Hanson gave the breakfast keynote address at the West Coast Retreat on Saturday, April 2nd. And out of a long day of many outstanding presentations, this one was truly special. I think Hanson's talk provided the weekend's biggest "Ah-Ha! Factor." That's the moment when all the pieces of the intellectual puzzle snap together and you say to yourself, "Ah-Ha!" It's a gleeful flash of recognition. The loose ends have been wrapped up and you really see things in a new light.

Continue reading at NewsReal Blog: "President Obama’s Postmodern Middle East Policy — Victor Davis Hanson Provides the “Ah-Ha! Factor” at West Coast Retreat."

I'm heading out right now to meet Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. They're giving a screening of their movie, "The Ground Zero Mosque - The Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks," at the Calvary Chapel in Mission Viejo (on Chrisanta Drive off La Paz). Doors open at 6:00pm. Hope to see you there!

'The Biggest Annual Spending Cut in History'? — President Obama on Budget Compromise

I'll try to do a fact-check later, but the biggest annual spending cut in real terms, as a percent of the deficit, as a percent of GDP, or what? I don't trust Obama. He lies. So I'll update with more on this later.

Meanwhile, Ace of Spades has been hawkish on the budget, so scroll down there for some good stuff. And Pat in Shreveport has some pros and cons, "Slaying the Budget Beast."

RELATED: The Other McCain has a big roundup from last night, "REPORT: Deal Struck, Averts Shutdown (Insert ’30 Pieces of Silver’ Joke Here)." And this sounds about right, at Washington Post, "Budget fight shows Washington still broken" (via Memeorandum).

The Berkowitz and Bell Statements on the Goldstone Report

From Rick Richman, at Current Jewish Issues, "The Berkowitz and Bell Statements on the Goldstone Report -- What Justice Goldstone Heard at Stanford on March 28":

The March 28 debate on the Goldstone Report at Stanford University Law School may have had a significance beyond the substantive discussion, because Justice Richard Goldstone was in attendance and, three days after the debate, published his now-famous recantation in the Washington Post.

Set forth below, with permission, are the Opening Statements made at the debate by Peter Berkowitz and Avi Bell, followed by the Rebuttal prepared by Berkowitz with respect to the speakers who spoke in favor of the Report. The yellow highlighting is mine.

The Berkowitz and Bell statements are worth reading not only for their devastating analysis but also, given the time and place in which they were made, for the fact that some believe that they may have impacted Goldstone’s subsequent action.

RTWT at the link.

I read about this earlier, particularly Avi Bell's comments at Jerusalem Post, "Richard Goldston's Legacy."

Last Monday, I debated with Richard Goldstone about the controversial Goldstone Report at Stanford Law School. Three days later, Justice Goldstone finally admitted, in The Washington Post, that, contrary to the report’s assertions, Israel did not intentionally target civilians. A Palestinian outfit called the International Middle East Media Center carried a story this weekend lamenting that two “racist Zionists” at the debate – Peter Berkowitz and I – were responsible for convincing Goldstone of the error of his ways. Sadly, this is, at best, only partly true.

The debate at Stanford was not designed for enlightenment. Besides the moderator, there were five of us debating under a format that let Goldstone avoid responding directly. The debate had too many participants, too large a topic and too crimped a format to allow a serious probing of the report’s defects. The International Law Society, which organized the debate, tipped its hand by inviting an organization called “Students Confronting Apartheid by Israel” to cosponsor the event.

Even with the friendly format, Richard Goldstone cannot have enjoyed the criticism. As I watched him sitting through the debate stone-faced, his wife sitting next to him, and as I thought back on his lengthy resumé, I recognized the enormous tragedy of a man, once lauded as a champion of human rights, becoming a shill for a terrorist organization.

Also RTWT.

Bell thinks Goldstone's contrition insufficient, and others have called for an official apology to Israel.

Added: See also Stanley Kurtz at National Review, "Did Peter Berkowitz Change Goldstone’s Mind?"

Susannah Breslin on Blog Marketing and Hustle

At Forbes (via Instapundit):

These days, it’s not enough to be a good writer online. You have to be a smart marketer, your own content factory, your own publicist. If you can do it all, you are golden. If you cannot, you are screwed.

Breslin's using her own experience moving from True/Slant to Forbes as a case study, but the quote cited is applicable to anyone who's writing online nowadays. When I was away at the Horowitz West Coast Retreat last weekend I didn't bother with my blog. I think I put up just one post on Saturday, and maybe three on Sunday. And of course there was no promotion, through cross-posting, Facebook, Twitter, etc. My traffic numbers were already down for March but I think I had just over 1300 hits last Saturday, which is way down. I've been writing less frequently all around, in any case. Partly because of burnout, but not entirely. I've been reading, spending time with my wife and sons, going to the movies and bookstores, and out to eat! And then of course there's my work, which has been pretty interesting of late, especially with the panel on Egypt the other day, which had me preparing in advance for most of the week.

Anyway, this reminds me that Doug Ross had my blog ranked 100 out of the top 150 conservative websites --- which was surprising, since I don't do that well on the Alexa rankings. And besides that, my Wikio numbers have been eroding over the last year. I thought I was going to be bumped from the top 100 at Wikio but I've dropped down to 93 for the March rankings. I'd by lying if I said I didn't care. When you blog full-time --- as a second but very low-paying job --- the rankings provide a little recognition. That's why William Jacobson's always joking about how he doesn't pay attention to his top blog ranking for both legal and political blogs, precisely while he's writing another post on his top blog rankings for both legal and political blogs! William cites Technorati's rankings, and checking over there my blog is currently #65 for political blogs and #61 for U.S. political blogs --- so I guess that's not too bad. I'm surprised it's that good, since as noted I've been worrying a lot less about promotion. It's time consuming and takes a helluva lot of work. But I keep plugging away -- at blogging, promotion, and original reporting --- since this seems to be what gives me the most intellectual enrichment right now, and that's to say nothing of my addiction!

More later ...

CNN Ratings Fall as Breaking News Fades

At New York Times.

Fox News is dominating the cable networks, but I thought for a moment that television all around was losing the breaking news market to the Internet. That is happening, since more and more people look online for news, although in this case it's just a discussion of the ratings war. Fox's success reminds us again just how out of touch the lamestream media really is.

At 150th Anniversary, Civil War is Still Relevant to Most Americans

A new poll, from Pew Research, "Civil War at 150: Still Relevant, Still Divisive":

As the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War approaches, most Americans say the war between the North and South is still relevant to American politics and public life today.

More than half of Americans (56%) say the Civil War is still relevant, according to the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted March 30-April 3 among 1,507 adults. Nearly four-in-ten (39%) say the Civil War is important historically but has little current relevance.

In a nation that has long endured deep racial divisions, the history of that era still elicits some strong reactions. Nearly half of the public (46%) says it is inappropriate for today's public officials to praise the leaders of the Confederate states during the war; 36% say such statements are appropriate.

Nonetheless, a majority (58%) say they have no particular reaction to the Confederate flag, the symbol of the South. Among those who have a reaction to the flag, more than three times as many say they have a negative reaction as a positive reaction (30% to 9%).

More at the link above. An interesting correlation would be to cross-tabulate opinion on the Civil War with party identfication. The Pew results find 37 percent independent, 32 Democrat, and 25 Republican. No doubt Democrats are most likely to have negative reaction to the Confederate Flag. Which reminds me, the attacks on people as racist who show any pride in Southern heritage are pretty pathetic. Yeah, Charles Johnson, Scott Lemieux and a few other progressive losers, I'm talkin' to you.

Wasted: Manny Ramirez Walks Away From Baseball After Second Drug-Related Offense

Former Cleveland and Boston slugger Manny Ramirez will retire. See LAT, "Manny Ramirez tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug":

Ramirez struggled with injuries but still hit .298 with nine homers and 42 runs batted in in 90 games for the Dodgers and White Sox last season. He's a career .312 hitter with 555 home runs in 18-plus seasons, including some of his best with the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox.

It was after signing with the Dodgers, though, that his reputation was sullied.

The erratic Ramirez performed well on the field and became a fan favorite, with “Mannywood” signs popping up around town, and wound up signing a $45-million, two-year contract to remain with the Dodgers. But in May 2009, he was suspended for testing positive for human chorionic gonadotropin, a banned female fertility drug that is often used to help mask steroid use.

“I'm shocked,” said Colorado's Jason Giambi, who has acknowledged taking steroids during his own career. “He always kind of portrayed that he was out there, but he knew how to hit, man. He was unbelievable when it came to hitting.”

Texas Rangers Manager Ron Washington was more somber in his assessment of Ramirez's career.

“Until the past couple of years, I thought he was on his way to the Hall of Fame,” Washington said. “I don't think many guys got as many big hits in their careers as he has. There weren't many guys who had as big an effect on a game as he had. You hate to see greatness all of a sudden just fade.”

It's just a waste, plain and simple. I always enjoyed watching Ramirez play, especially when he was with Boston. Drugs are a waste.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton: 'If these Republicans insist ... then we have got to make them pay the price'

That's right after she said "It’s time that the District of Columbia told the Congress to go straight to hell."

That's belligerent and threatening, more of the new tone progressives keep talking about, or something.

At Fox News, "D.C. Delegate Tells Congress to Go 'Straight to Hell' Over Budget Battle." And MyFox DC, "Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton Upset Over Treatment of DC During Shutdown Resolution Talks":

Ezra Klein Shills for Planned Parenthood Abortion Industry

I never cease to be amazed, but Boy Wonder Ezra is up to his progressive tricks again, "What Planned Parenthood Actually Does" (via Memeorandum).

... As you can see in the chart atop this post, abortion services account for about 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s activities.

Check the post for the chart he's talking about, but no matter. The "3 percent" figure is a blatant lie, and the rest of Ezra's post is questionable on the facts, and a diversion from the real issue in any case. Here's Live Action on the numbers, "38.4% of Planned Parenthood’s 2009 “Health Center Income” is from Abortion":

THE TRUTH

• Annual abortions performed at Planned Parenthood: 332,278 Source: Planned Parenthood 2009 services fact sheet


• Average cost of abortion: $468 Source: Guttmacher Institute estimate


• Total income from abortions: $155,506,104


• Total health center income: $404,900,000 Source: Planned Parenthood 2009 annual report

This means that fully 38.4% of Planned Parenthood health center income comes directly from aborting unborn children.

So, only "3 percent of activities"? I guess for Ezra abortion services are kinda like the Constitution --- too hard to understand.