Reaffirming Our Independence

An editorial, at Orange County Register:

The Fourth of July, Independence Day, is a good time not only for hot dogs and fireworks, but to reflect for a moment on what makes this country unique, the qualities that enabled it to become in some ways the most successful country in history, and to contemplate the extent to which those qualities still animate Americans.

It has been said that the United States is the only country founded on an idea, or a set of ideas, rather than on ethnic or racial similarities, kinship, conquest or the simple fact of a relatively homogeneous group of people living in the same geographic region for centuries. Those ideas are summed up in the Declaration of Independence, the document whose signing and promulgation we celebrate. In some ways it can lay claim to being the most revolutionary public document in human history.

Aspects of the idea that people are not just vassals of the powers that be, interchangeable cogs in the great machinery of society presided over by leaders who had by and large established themselves through conquest and pillage, had been growing for centuries before 1776. But the circumstances surrounding the decision of the Colonists to separate from Great Britain offered the opportunity to summarize emerging principles in a uniquely eloquent manner.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident," the Declaration proclaims, "that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." By "created equal," of course, the founders were not so naïve as to believe that we were all equally tall, intelligent, beautiful or worthy, but that we have equal value in the sight of God or Natural Law and should receive equal treatment rather than preferences or punishment based on our status from government. Every human being has a certain inherent dignity, and decent people respect that.

Check that link above for the rest.

Also, from Jennifer Braceras, at Boston Herald, "The lasting lessons of independence."

BONUS: At American Digest, "How Beautiful We Were."

Progressives Cheer Death of Motorcyclist Who Died Protesting Helmet Laws

I guess the death of Philip Contos, who lost control and flew over the handlebars on his '83 Harley, hitting his head, gives ideological vindication to the progressive left, some of whom are gleefully mocking the rider. The background details are at Clutch & Chrome, "Rider dies at motorcycle helmet protest in New York State."

The death of a motorcycle rider while protesting helmet laws in upstate New York has made international headlines.

The tragic irony around the death of 55-year-old Philip A. Contos won’t be lost on those involved in the ongoing debate which weighs rights against needs in the case of mandatory helmet laws. Nor will it be the last time the events of Saturday June 2nd are discussed.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York near Syracuse. Contos was taking part participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York in an event organized by American Bikers Aimed Towards Education, or ABATE.

ABATE is a motorcycle rights group organized by chapters all over the United States and promotes motorcycle safety, awareness and education and organizes motorcycle rides.

Contos was riding his 1983 Harley-Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets when tragedy struck.

"He hit the brakes, lost control, was ejected and struck his head on the road,“ State Trooper Robert Jureller said, “He suffered a skull fracture."

Crooks & Liars is using the story to ridicule self-interested personal behavior, which is apparently a lesson for "Ayn Rand fans." See, "Moral of The Story: When You Always Put Your Own Interests First, It Can Work Against Your Interests." And even worse is ASFL John Cole at Balloon Juice, "Freedumb Riders."

Don Surber responds, "Mocking the Dead." (Via Memeorandum.)

Angie Harmon Squelches Rumors That 'Rizzoli & Isles' Characters Are Lesbian

Well, this story gives me a chance to blog Angie Harmon!

At Los Angeles Times, "'Rizzoli & Isles' — are they or aren't they?":

The first season of TNT's crime drama "Rizzoli & Isles" featured an episode with the title "I Kissed a Girl." Its stars, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, played on a softball team, shared some intimate dinners, drank wine over candlelight and hopped into the same bed for girl talk.

But this is not a gay show.

Series creator Janet Tamaro described Harmon's Rizzoli and Alexander's Isles as a "power couple" — the center of a buddy drama, one that broke cable ratings records in its debut run and returns for its second season July 11. But the women are not together, as in together.

Tamaro chalks up the rampant are-they-or-aren't-they discussion to throwing "two gorgeous actresses together who have great, natural chemistry." She contends that Harmon's tomboyish homicide detective and Alexander's stylish medical examiner "are straight women who don't fear the interest in or the speculation about their relationship."

That hasn't stopped gay pop culture blog AfterEllen from dubbing the show, "totally gay, it just doesn't know it yet." Or another lesbian blog, CherryGrrl, from creating a "Rizzoli & Isles" drinking game, advising viewers to take a shot for interaction between the title characters that includes "stares lasting longer than three seconds," "sleeping in the same bed/couch/squad car," "adorable bickering which generally relates to sexual tension," or "complaining to each other about their inability to find a compatible mate, all while being completely compatible mates." The Washington Post even pointed to a hunky visiting FBI agent as a short-lived distraction from the "faintly lesbian undertones that the show keeps trying to establish."

Harmon, a veteran of "Law & Order," said she's familiar with the online chatter and that it's "super fun" to play a role that has some same-sex romantic vibes. She's relishing a character who's gruff and aggressive, the polar opposite of her own girlie personality, she said.

But as close as they are, Rizzoli and Isles are just best friends, she said. Really.

"I hate to disappoint, but these characters are straight," Harmon insisted. "If we lose viewers because of it — sorry!"

And that's amazing, that Harmon would note the possibility of LOSING viewers if the characters weren't gay. Reminds me of my post the other day, on the anti-hetero bigotry of Dan Savage. It's hard out there if you're straight. See: "Gay Sexual Abandon and the Perverse Inversion of Values by Same-Sex Extremists."

The Rizzoli & Isles page is here, on TNT.

The Meaning of Independence

At the clip, the finale from Saturday night's fireworks at Pechanga:

That was on of the better fireworks shows I can recall. A full video is here. The show was twenty minutes long and the finale was just spectacular.

And check out this essay from E.J. Dionne at the Washington Post, "What our Declaration really said":

Our nation confronts a challenge this Fourth of July that we face but rarely: We are at odds over the meaning of our history and why, to quote our Declaration of Independence, “governments are instituted.”

Only divisions this deep can explain why we are taking risks with our country’s future that we’re usually wise enough to avoid. Arguments over how much government should tax and spend are the very stuff of democracy’s give-and-take. Now, the debate is shadowed by worries that if a willful faction does not get what it wants, it might bring the nation to default.

This is, well, crazy. It makes sense only if politicians believe — or have convinced themselves — that they are fighting over matters of principle so profound that any means to defeat their opponents is defensible.

We are closer to that point than we think, and our friends in the Tea Party have offered a helpful clue by naming their movement in honor of the 1773 revolt against tea taxes on that momentous night in Boston Harbor.

Whether they intend it or not, their name suggests they believe that the current elected government in Washington is as illegitimate as was a distant, unelected monarchy. It implies something fundamentally wrong with taxes themselves or, at the least, that current levels of taxation (the lowest in decades) are dangerously oppressive. And it hints that methods outside the normal political channels are justified in confronting such oppression.

We need to recognize the deep flaws in this vision of our present and our past. A reading of the Declaration of Independence makes clear that our forebears were not revolting against taxes as such — and most certainly not against government as such.

Dionne so badly misses the point on the tea parties, to say nothing of the Declaration of Independence, that I feel bad for him. Keep reading at the link. Anyone can cherry pick the founding documents to find passages and quotations to fit their agenda. Progressives like Dionne are depressed that it's been conservatives and libertarians who've been much more successful in capturing and representing the spirit of individual liberty animating our political culture. I keep seeing progressives argue that the founding documents called for the expansion of government. I mean, c'mon: Dionne is arguing that opposition to taxation is not an element of the Declaration of Independence. But history disproves it, for the ability to tax is the ability to destroy, so to understand opposition to taxation is to realize that government extraction from the people destroys liberty. But again, I feel sad for people like Dionne, because they're getting worried that Americans have awoken from the slumber of affluence and industry, and taken a closer look at how the political class is destroying our very foundations.

In any case, Jeff Jacoby offers the big picture, "Philosophy, faith and the Fourth of July."

Fox News Twitter Account Hacked

It's trending at Memeorandum.

And a report at New York Times, "Apparently Hacked, a Fox News Twitter Account Sent Out Alarming Posts":

A series of alarming Twitter posts about President Obama appeared on Fox News’ Twitter account for political news early Monday morning, and the Web site for the cable television network said it was a victim of hacking.

The Twitter account, @foxnewspolitics, one of many that is operated by Fox News, claimed that the president died while campaigning in Iowa, but gave no source for the news. On Monday morning, FoxNews.com first posted a brief statement saying that the reports were incorrect, and that it regretted “any distress the false Tweets may have created.”

The six messages — which as of late Monday morning were still available online — created a flurry of attention overnight and senior Secret Service officials were gathering on Monday morning to discuss them, said to a law enforcement official who declined to be identified because of an investigation into the matter.

A spokesman for the Secret Service, George Ogilvie, said, “We’re not commenting on any of this.”

Jeff Misenti, the vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, said in a later statement on Monday that the news organization will be requesting “a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts.”

More details at the link.

And a screencap of the tweets is here.

And check this at Think Magazine, "UPDATED: Think Talks with the Group That Hacked A Fox News Twitter Account."

Jerusalem Post: Jewish Groups Denounce 'Save Switzerland' Anti-Semitic Poster

Following up from yesterday, here's this from Jerusalem Post, "Swiss Jewish groups denounce ‘anti-Semitic’ poster."

A far-right Swiss group called Geneve Non Conforme has advertised a national “Save Switzerland” day with a poster depicting a doll wrapped in an Israeli flag, wearing a yarmulke, bearing peyot (sidelocks), and lying on its back with an arrow through its head.

Although the message was posted on June 17, it only come to the attention of Jewish groups late last week. Johanne Gurfinkiel of the Swiss Jewish rights group CICAD said that the image “defines the deep anti-Semitic hate” of the leaders of the movement, adding that the poster is “a call to murder, pure and simple.”

GNC defines itself as an anti-immigration, anti-globalization cultural association, but denies that it is anti- Semitic.

Following CICAD’s complaint, the poster was altered, and the yarmulke and sidelocks removed.

A statement on the group’s website stated that the doll in the poster was supposed to represent “Israeli extremism (Zionism)” and “was not meant as an attack against Jews.”

“The message is just the same,” said Gurfinkiel in response, “The threat is just as dangerous.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center called on the Swiss authorities to take action against GNC.

Check the link for the Simon Wiesenthal Center's response, but notice how the GNC's going to leave left the arrow in the head at the poster. And anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. It's getting kinda Kristallnacht-ish over there.

'Twitter and Facebook are like personal wire services that filter the constant flow of information across the Web'

Says Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton. See, "At The Post, reporters get socialized to social media."

And here's this from Post writer Jura Koncius, who has 1,300 followers on Twitter:

Part of being on Twitter is “shameless self-promotion,” Koncius says; “you are your own public relations person” in journalism today. But another part is to engage in a conversation with sources and readers, showing them what interests you and what might interest them. And they respond in kind, showing her things she didn’t know before, Koncius says. “It enhances my day, it provides a smile.”

I've been on Twitter over two years now. I enjoy it. But I don't use it aggressively or addictively. Frankly, I should be using it more. The one thing about it that can't be beat is the instantaneous news reporting. I was blown away at the power of Twitter during the Iranian democracy protests in 2009. The quantity and quality of all kinds of news and social media at the time was transformational. I spoke differently about technology during my lectures. This kind of thing happens often if you're on Twitter quite a bit, but the last time I felt like that was when U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden. Keith Urbahn, a former staffer for Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted it, and it took off around the Twittersphere. By the time President Obama gave his national address I'd been tweeting for more than 90 minutes, and I was able to post on the release of the initial fake pictures to great effect. Thus it seems really weird that Washington Post writers are just now getting seminars in social media. None of these tools are new. It's the professional norms that are lagging.

Pamela Geller and the English Defence League

I followed this story for a bit yesterday. The short of is that the folks at Gates of Vienna are attacking Pamela Geller for calling out the English Defense League for the anti-Semitism in its ranks. I thought I'd blog on this sooner or later, and there's never been a question as to picking sides: Pamela's my friend and she's long been slammed by idiots like Charles Johnson. So now that she's warned some in the EDL leadership it's clear there's going to be no tolerance for this at Atlas Shrugs. Pamela updated with a new post yesterday, "The Evil That Men Do":

Apparently an update is required on the blogwar against Atlas that is being waged by vultures with an altogether nefarious agenda. It's not important, because these bottomfeeders just bang keyboards and jockey for position on the bottom of the food chain. But to be clear .......

I stand by my concern about the increasing antisemitism in the ranks of the admins at the EDL. We have no intention of breaking with the EDL if they purge these antisemitic elements. If they do not, they will be finished as a force for good in England. I was immediately reassured that these rogue elements would be routed out. End of story. This campaign to gang up on Geller by small "counter-jihadists" trying to make a name for themselves clearly is motivated by something enitrely different. Something very ugly and transparent.

And about that Facebook page (pictured), Pamela writes:

There are pages and pages of this kind of stuff. Here is just one example. "Hel Gower" is a powerful EDL administrator. She "liked" this page.

I've read through the comments at Gates of Vienna, and mostly this is a prestige thing (there's rank jealousy of Pamela), but a lot of ugliness over there as well, for example, this comment from DP111:

The EDL is the only grassroots movement in the West that is against the destruction of Western civilisation. It is the only one that has the courage to go out on the streets, even into Muslim areas, and face the hostility and violence of Muslims, Left wing extremists, the police and the media. There is nothing like it in the West. There are now movements in the West that have modelled themselves on the EDL.

The EDL is way above and beyond the likes of single bloggers such as Geller and Spencer, or for that matter any blogs. The EDL does not need to apologise or explain itself - its very being and what it does, is more then enough. The rest is immaterial. It does not need to have an apology from Spencer or Geller, as it is far bigger, stronger, and motivated enough to step on to the real battlefield, rather then merely bemoan the Islamisation of the West - they are real soldiers, who get bloodied and injured, rather then armchair commentators on the passing scene.

My hat off to the EDL. Support it, as your life, and the lives of your descendants, depends on these few.

My scholarly work covered European interwar politics, and reading that reminds me of the Brownshirts of Hitler's Germany. So this guy is calling out Pamela and Robert Spencer for raising questions about EDL affiliations? And as Pamela and Robert are by no means "armchair commentators" it seems that some of the animosity toward them is generated by an irrational hatred in response to challenge. And the commenter insinuates that fighting in the street, fighting with violence, is what it takes to fight the left and Islamization (see the Daily Mail on this). So it's a dispute on tactics as well. And not to read too much into one comment, but it's not a long step from the street thuggery against Muslims to attacks against Jews as part of a global conspiracy. (See this anti-Semitic British National Socialist blog post, for example, and the sidebar graphic there, which says "REMEMBER: PRO-ISRAEL + ANTI-ISLAM = New World Order.)

Anyway, see Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch, "EDL leader: 'We repudiate any individual, group or writing that favors anti-Semitism, neofascism, and any race-based ideology'. "

And Robert Stacy McCain has more on the controversy, "Genesis 12:3." And following the link there takes us to Da Tech Guy, "Not late to Pam’s side this time."

Happy Fourth of July!

From Tania, the patriotic free spirit at Midnight Blue:

Cindy Crawford Cover Photo Gallery

"Fast-loading, one page–no stupid, time-wasting slideshow," says economist Craig Newmark, "400 Classic Cindy Crawford Covers" (via Right Wing News).

Louis M. Cruz, Former LBCC Construction Manager, Convicted, Served Time in Texas for Felony Conspiracy to Commit Bribery

The Los Angeles Times reports on my college, "Former building projects manager at Long Beach City College served time for job-related bribery in Texas."

Officials at Long Beach City College say they do not screen employees of private contractors, such as Cordoba and Gateway.

"We don't want to get into the business of trying to intervene in their hiring decisions," said college president Eloy Oakley. He added, however, that the college's lawyers were looking into whether contractors could be required to conduct background checks on employees assigned to the school.

Oakley said he had no indication that Cruz engaged in any misconduct at the campus. Officials of the L.A. college district said there were no problems with Cruz's performance at Mission College.

Pretty interesting. And note this:

At Long Beach City College, Cruz oversaw construction of a new fitness center, an academic building and other projects.

That "academic building" would be the South Quad Complex:

Preserving Liberty

Glenn Reynolds has a piece at the Washington Examiner, "Sunday Reflection: Three things you can do for liberty" (via Lonely Conservative).

One of his suggestions? Get active:

It's surprisingly easy to get involved in politics locally, and you can acquire responsibility and influence quite rapidly if you're good with people and willing to put in the work.

Alternatively, you might join a Tea Party group. Those are still springing up all over, and are already having a dramatic influence on both national and local politics.

The tea parties have matured quite a bit since they first broke out in 2009. But joining some kind of group helps form the networks to all kinds of activities and meetups, and some of these involve ties to candidates and party organizations. It'a amazing, really, how substantially local activists and organizations have been mobilized by the Obama regime in Washington. I don't quite recall anything like it, and the Republicans have a lot to worry about from the grassroots as well. Liberty knows no party, and it's time to cut government and restore some freedom.

16th Annual Pechanga Pow Wow

I headed back out to Pechanga yesterday for the Native American Pow Wow at Pechanga Resort, and also a spectacular fireworks show last night.

News reports are at North County Times, "Pechanga Pow Wow tradition carries on," and Southwest Riverside News, "16th-annual Pechanga Pow Wow celebrates Native American culture."

Hundreds of tribal members from throughout the U.S. congregate to Pechanga for the annual event in hopes of sharing their pride, traditions and indigenous culture with surrounding community members.

I missed the morning grand parade, but here's some pics from the evening, around 6:00pm with temperatures still around 90 degrees. Hot.

Tribal dancing and a crowd shot:

It's a festival event, with lots of vendors. Militant Indian paraphernalia is common:

This gentleman kindly stopped so I could take a picture:

Militancy goes hand in hand with ethnic separatism, an ideology ruthlessly exploited by hardline neo-communist anti-Americans (recall my reporting from Phoenix last year):

And at a vendor's stand a couple of spots over, a Lori Piestewa shirt on sale for $25.

Private Piestewa was a Hopi and the first Native American woman killed in combat while serving in the U.S. armed forces and she was the first woman killed in the Iraq war of 2003. Piestewa died an American, and think all Americans should be proud of her service to country. And I know that many Native Americans take great pride in their military service, so there's a tension there when we confront the militant imagery alongside the patriotic.

Holiday Cartoon Roundup

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

VIDEO: Anne V Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2011

Continuing Rule 5 weekend, Anne V at Sports Illustrated:

Plus, at Maggie's Notebook, "Rule 5 Saturday Night: Charlene Wittstock Princess of Monaco." And at Proof Positive, "Tonight's FNB* is Genevieve Morton!" Added: At Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

Obama: Eliminating 'Tax Breaks' is a 'Spending Cut'

President Obama can't even come out and say he's for raising taxes, which is what eliminating "tax breaks" is. Democrats used to call tax hikes revenue enhancements. Now they've got Orwell: Freedom is tyranny, poverty is theft, repealing tax breaks is spending cuts. At about 1:40 minutes:

And see Human Events, "Top 10 Obama Attacks on Capitalism." (Via Cold Fury.)

Very Religious White Americans More Than Twice as Likely to Identify With GOP

But religion has no effect on blacks, who identify with the Democratic Party regardless of religion orientation.

At Gallup, "Religion and Party ID Strongly Linked Among Whites, Not Blacks."

Personal religiousness makes little difference among blacks ... as the powerful partisan pull of Democratic identification among black Americans trumps any influence of religion. Only 9 to 10% of blacks in each of the three groups of varying religiousness identify as Republicans, while more than three-quarters in each group identify themselves as Democrats.

Reminds me: "The Democrat Party Has Always Been the Party of Racism."

Anti-Israel Dyke March in Toronto

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Jew Haters Crash Dyke Parade."

Also, "Video: Suicide Pride - Pride allows QuAIA to march in Dyke Parade."

Not the kind of coverage available at Toronto Sun, "Dyke March takes a stand."

RELATED: At Vlad Tepes, "Toronto’s fourth Journey of Faith Conference. Where you too can find tolerance through Islam’s Revelations and Prophetic Traditions!"

Greece Arrests Captain of Gaza-Bound 'Audacity of Hope'

At New York Times, "Greece Jails U.S. Captain in Gaza Flotilla."

At the video, Communist Party member Angela Davis and Professor Rashid Khalidi, former PLO advisor to Yasser Arafat. Oh, and anti-Israel propgandist Noam Chomsky, the intellectual rock star of today's Jew-murdering left. And so many more:

Israel is the only country in the world held out for this kind of visceral hatred. It's anti-Semitic. Prominent people, shilling for terrorism. It's perverted.

Supermodel Linda Evangelista's Son Fathered By Salma Hayek's Husband

A compelling story, at New York Post.

And at Robert Stacy McCain's, "Dude."

And American Perspective goes for a roundup, with lovely photos: "Linda Evangelista and Salma Hayek - Rule 5."