Pat Dollard Slams California Gay History Law

On Twitter:

PREVIOUSLY: "California Textbooks to Include Gay Achievements."

Pat Dollard's page is here.

Lady Gaga's YouTube Channel Shut Down

Temporarily.

It's back up now: "Lady Gaga's YouTube restored after copyright issues."

And Lady GagaVEVO's channel was unaffected:

Dow Jones CEO Resigns

It's Les Hinton.

See Wall Street Journal, "Dow Jones CEO Hinton Resigns."

And at New York Times, "Les Hinton's Resignation Letters to Murdoch and Journal Staff":

Dear Rupert,

I have watched with sorrow from New York as the News of the World story has unfolded. I have seen hundreds of news reports of both actual and alleged misconduct during the time I was executive chairman of News International and responsible for the company. The pain caused to innocent people is unimaginable. That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp, and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World.

Continue reading Hinton's resignation letter.

And Rupert Murdoch responds, "Murdoch on Hinton Resignation":

To Dow Jones employees,

You will have just heard that I, with the heaviest of hearts, have accepted the resignation of Les Hinton. It is a measure of his integrity and the quality of his character that he felt compelled to take responsibility even though he is far from the serious issues in London.

Les and I have been on a remarkable journey together for more than 52 years. That this passage has come to an unexpected end, professionally, not personally, is a matter of much sadness to me. I vividly recall an enthusiastic young man in the offices of my first newspaper in Adelaide, where Les joined the company as a 15-year-old and had the rather unenviable task of buying me sandwiches for lunch.

It was clear then that Les was a remarkable talent, and that he had the ability and the energy to carry him far. Little did we both realize that we would be travel companions on a journey through the world of magazines, Hollywood, television studios, coupons and the greatest newspapers on the globe. Little did we realize that our corporate relationship would end in these circumstances.

Through all of his many jobs he has displayed leadership – and that leadership has enabled us to make remarkable progress at the Dow Jones company while our competitors have been flailing because of structural change and economic crisis.

Continue.

Look for a thread shortly at Memeorandum.

More: At New York Times, "Executive Who Ran Murdoch Unit at Time of Hacking Quits."

U.S. Recognizes Rebels in Libya

The story's at New York Times and Memeorandum.

At the video is a portion of the president's March 28th speech. "Regime change" isn't mentioned, although that was the plan all along:

I wouldn't have authorized this deployment, but if you're going in don't lie about it. That's what I hate about R2P. It's so dishonest, but amounts to virtually the same logical outcome as democracy promotion policies. But if it's launched under a Republican president the "world community" rises up in arms at the "threat" of another "Hitler." When a Democrat does it it's "humanitarian intervention."

See: "'Saints Go Marching In': David Rieff at The National Interest."

Side Note: One more thing about R2P: Samantha Power invoked the doctrine for the invasion of Israel, which is just sickening to think about. Democrats will do that.

Robert Reich: Barack Obama Should Should Forget Budget Balancing and Binge Like a Drunken Sailor

Reich doesn't actually want Obama to do a Clinton, since the 42nd President actually balanced the budget in 1997. Message to Reich: Your program's been tried and found wanting. More spending doesn't work. It's bankrupting us, you freakin' commie.

See the former Labor Secretary at Wall Street Journal, "Can Obama Pull a 'Clinton' on the GOP?":

When the Great Recession wiped out $7.8 trillion of home values, it crushed the nest eggs and eliminated the collateral of America's middle class. As a result, consumer spending has been decimated. Households have been forced to reduce their debt to 115% of disposable personal income from 130% in 2007, and there's more to come. Household debt averaged 75% of personal income between 1975 and 2000.

We're in a vicious cycle in which job and wage losses further reduce Americans' willingness to spend, which further slows the economy. Job growth has effectively stopped. The fraction of the population now working (58.2%) is near a 25-year low—lower than it was when recession officially ended in June 2009.

Wage growth has stopped as well. Average real hourly earnings for all employees declined by 1.1% between June 2009, when the recovery began, and May 2011. For the first time since World War II, there has been a decline in aggregate wages and salaries over seven quarters of post-recession recovery.

This is not Bill Clinton's economy. So many jobs have been lost since Mr. Obama was elected that, even if job growth were to match the extraordinary pace of the late 1990s—averaging 300,000 to 350,000 per month—the unemployment rate wouldn't fall below 6% until 2016. That pace of job growth is unlikely, to say the least. If Republicans manage to cut federal spending significantly between now and Election Day, while state outlays continue to shrink, the certain result is continued high unemployment and anemic growth.

You can see where this is going. Republicans won't spend more. Wah!

And Chris Matthews, at the clip, thinks it'd work if more people lost everything and started jumping of bridges.

That's the plan. Great job guys.

FBI Opens Inquiry Into Murdoch's News Corp.

At Los Angeles Times:

The phone hacking scandal that has ignited a political firestorm in Britain jumped the Atlantic on Thursday as the FBI opened an investigation into whether British reporters tried to access cellphone messages and records of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in violation of U.S. law.

The preliminary probe further rattled the New York-based global media empire of Rupert Murdoch, who was forced this week to withdraw his $12-billion bid to take over Britain's largest satellite broadcaster, and raises new questions about the future of News Corp.

U.S. officials said the FBI is trying to determine if a full investigation is warranted, and no evidence has yet emerged to confirm that News Corp. employees sought to hack phones in the United States. But the unfolding scandal sent the company's battered stock down another 3% in trading.

CNN Hush Hush on Piers Morgan Hacking Allegations

Perhaps Playboy hotties Anna Berglund and Shera Bechard will provide the needed distraction.

See Adweek, "Network hasn't covered story about its anchor."

CNN hasn't been shy about covering the phone hacking related woes of News Corp., parent of rival news network Fox News. It's devoted more than 100 segments to the scandal, according to liberal press watchdog Media Matters. But there’s one angle the network hasn’t gone anywhere near yet: Questions concerning CNN primetime host Piers Morgan’s previous life as a tabloid editor, and allegations that, when he ran the U.K.'s Mirror from 1995-2004, he may have approved of some hacking of his own. (Morgan also served as editor of the News of the World, the now-defunct paper at the center of the scandal.)

Adweek asked CNN to confirm that so far, no air-time has been dedicated to reporting the Morgan-related side of the hacking story. A spokesperson confirmed as much, saying that the network hasn’t covered the matter because Morgan has not been officially called to testify in England.

More above, and at Telegraph UK, "Piers Morgan should face questions, say MPs."

Rebekah Brooks Resignation Letter

At Telegraph UK, "Rebekah Brooks resignation statement":

I have worked here for 22 years and I know it to be part of the finest media company in the world.

News International is full of talented, professional and honourable people. I am proud to have been part of the team and lucky to know so many brilliant journalists and media executives.

I leave with the happiest of memories and an abundance of friends.
As you can imagine recent times have been tough. I now need to concentrate on correcting the distortions and rebutting the allegations about my record as a journalist, an editor and executive.

My resignation makes it possible for me to have the freedom and the time to give my full cooperation to all the current and future inquiries, the police investigations and the CMS appearance.

California Textbooks to Include Gay Achievements

Governor Brown has signed the bill.

At Los Angeles Times, "New state law requires textbooks to include gays' achievements":

Reporting from Sacramento

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Thursday making California the first state to require that school textbooks and history lessons include the contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Brown took the action as lawmakers sent him scores of bills, including one that would allow undocumented immigrants access to privately financed student aid at state universities and colleges.

Before adjourning for a monthlong summer recess, the Legislature also proposed changing the way California holds presidential primary elections and awards its electoral votes.

In accepting a mandate that California students be taught the accomplishments of gays and lesbians, Brown said that "history should be honest." The bill, he said in a statement, "revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books.''

The measure had sparked hot debate in the Legislature, where Republicans argued that it would force a "gay agenda" on young people against many of their parents' wishes. State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said the new law, which he wrote, will reduce the bullying of gay students by showing role models in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens.

"Denying LGBT people their rightful place in history gives our young people an inaccurate and incomplete view of the world around them," said Leno, whose bill, SB 48, also covers the role of the disabled in history.

The governor's action drew criticism from conservative groups.

More at that link above.

And in related news, "Many options for parents who want to homeschool kids."

Call Obama's Bluff

From Charles Krauthammer, at Washington Post:

President Obama is demanding a big long-term budget deal. He won’t sign anything less, he warns, asking, “If not now, when?”

How about last December, when he ignored his own debt commission’s recommendations? How about February, when he presented a budget that increases debt by $10 trillion over the next decade? How about April, when he sought a debt-ceiling increase with zero debt reduction attached?

All of a sudden he’s a born-again budget balancer prepared to bravely take on his own party by making deep cuts in entitlements. Really? Name one. He’s been saying forever that he’s prepared to discuss, engage, converse about entitlement cuts. But never once has he publicly proposed a single structural change to any entitlement.

Ouch!

Continue reading.

Rebekah Brooks Quits News International

The story's at New York Times, "Rebekah Brooks Resigns From Murdoch’s British Subsidiary" (via Memeorandum).

Also at Telegraph UK, "Rebekah Brooks: timeline of her role in the phone hacking scandal," and "Rupert Murdoch's daughter in 'furious' attack on Rebekah Brooks."

Professor Daniel Drezner Five Years After University of Chicago Tenure Denial

I first started reading blogs seriously around 2002 or so, when Professor Daniel Drezner published an essay on academic blogging at Foreign Policy. He's now a blogger at Foreign Policy, and there's no way I can find that old article through search. I have the hard copy in my office somewhere, so I'll go find it and search by exact title later. Anyway, he's got a new essay at the Chronicle of Higher Education, published with his wife, to commemorate his denial of tenure at the University of Chicago in 2005: "A Professor and His Wife on Absorbing the Shock of Tenure Denial."

In 2005, Drezner wrote a blog post on the news that he'd been turned down, "So Friday was a pretty bad day...." This was a pretty big sensation at the time, especially the hypothesis that he was denied tenure because he was a blogger (and hence not a serious scholar, etc.). I knew Drezner wouldn't have a hard time landing a new post, and in fact he was hired right away at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. I started my own blog shortly after this time (my first blog was Burkean Reflections, which I retired after I figured out I wasn't Burkean). I was tenured by then, but I was hesitant and tentative in my blogging, primarily because I hadn't figured out my own identity as a political scientist. Once I'd started American Power I'd figured out what I was doing in both blogging and life. And I don't worry about any backlash from blogging because blogging's my identity now, and teaching and activism. I couldn't have gotten to this point in my writing and commentary without being tenured, so if young untenured scholars come across this post my advice is don't do it --- especially if you're conservative (the academic neo-communist intelligentsia will seek to destroy you for deviating from the accepted narrative).

Anyway, read the essay from Drezner's wife Erika, "My Confident Husband, Suddenly Full of Self-Doubt." I like this part:

Things turned out well for us. We were lucky—my husband found a job, with tenure, and we moved to Boston, which just happens to be my favorite city. Our kids were young enough to move without much difficulty. I know that other people have had it a lot harder. They've struggled to find work, relocated to less desirable places, and have painfully disrupted family life. This is particularly difficult for couples in which both are academics. Those of us in more "portable" careers should be grateful to have avoided the two-body problem.

Exactly. Things have turned out better for them having Daniel been denied. (But of course it's gotta be an extremely painful experience, and academic tenure review is one of the most stressful experiences in anyone's career.)

Side Note: I stopped reading Daniel Drezner's blog years ago, when I noticed that he refused to stand up for Israel in his writing. He'd post the news but wouldn't offer any opinion, obviously worried about alienating powerful colleagues and fellow political scientists across the academy. He also co-authors academic papers with communist political scientist Henry Farrell, and thus Drezner's revealed he'll put professional mobility above moral clarity. I don't do that. It's costly, but I don't have to worry about peer recognition from inbred academic committees who hate America and disdain the real world.

Unsure Medical Future for Orange County Penis-Slashing Victim

This story gets a content warning.

At Orange County Register, "Penis-slashing victim faces difficult medical choices":

The Garden Grove man who had his penis cut off faces an uncertain prognosis, local doctors say. Even after reconstructive surgery, he might never regain normal sexual function.

The victim’s wife, Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, is accused of drugging him, tying him to the bed and then slicing off his penis after an argument Monday night.

Because of privacy concerns, few details about the unidentified victim, 60, have been released, other than he’s in “good spirits” at UCI Medical Center in Orange. Hospital spokesman John Murray says the victim has not expressed interest in discussing his ordeal, and the doctor who performed emergency surgery on him has not been made available to discuss the man’s treatment and recovery options.

But experts who have treated patients in similar situations say this victim is worse off than John Wayne Bobbitt, the Virginia man who became a household name in 1993 when his wife, Lorena, cut off more than half his penis. She had claimed he’d raped her after a drunken night out. Despite his wounds, the penis was surgically re-attached, and he told the ladies of “The View” earlier this year that it functions normally.

Bobbitt had most of his penis intact. The severed portion was found in a field after his wife had tossed it out the window. It was put on ice and preserved long enough to re-attach it. But the Garden Grove man’s penis was put through a garbage disposal, so there was nothing left to re-attach.

More at that link above, and the Los Angeles Times has a more hopeful piece: "There are options for penis repair after mutilation."

See also, The Stir, "Woman Who Severed Husband's Penis: Why Did She Do It?"

Update: After Leiby Kletzky Murder

A follow-up to "Reassessment After Leiby Kletzky Murder."

From Neo-Neocon, at Pajamas Media, "In Kletzky Killing’s Wake, We Can’t Lock Up Our Kids."

Great essay. Very reasonable. But again, I'm not sure reason returns very quickly after something so shocking. I don't think folks need to "lock up" their kids. I think we should all be more careful. That mother in Pico Rivera let her child, 6-years-old, go the restroom alone in a public park. My wife spoke about it at the time as something we'd never do. Rape is unconscionable, but the child is alive. Eight-year-old Leiby's forever gone from this world. His mother is gripped with guilt. I feel bad for her. I don't think she made a mistake. She's the mother. She would know her own child's ability. But as I noted already, my youngest boy wouldn't be ready for a 7-block walk all alone. It's not like he'd have a problem walking home. It's that he'd be distracted somehow and lose focus on the mission. He'd dawdle perhaps. He'd get absent-minded. He's got attention deficits. I don't know. But we're not at the trusting stage yet. Call me overprotective. That's fine. My son's well-adjusted and safely snug in his bed. But each child is different. My older son has all kinds of autonomy. But we still worry sometimes.

God bless the Kletzky family. I hope they're coping well. It's so sad.

Pat Austin has some comments on the case as well.

See also New York Daily News, "Leiby Kletzky died fighting for life: Confessed killer Levi Aron has marks indicating a 'struggle'."

Israel Navy Stops International Solidarity 'Fishing Boat'

The progressive exterminators are all up in arms about it, but they brought it on themselves.

At Israel Matzav, "'Palestinians': Israel fired on Gaza patrol boat."

The ship is the Oliva, according to the pro-terror Electronic Intifada.

Rob Grill, 1943 – 2011

Rob Grill, a singer and bassist with the Grass Roots, has died. The Washington Post has an obituary, "Rob Grill, lead singer of the Grass Roots band, dies at 67." There's a brief write-up at the Los Angeles Times as well.

The Lords of the New Church had a hit with their remake of "Live for Today." Sometimes K-Earth 101 plays the original version by the Grass Roots.

Michele Bachmann Makes a Gaffe!!!

Andrew Klavan at PJTV:

Behind Battle Over Debt, a War Over Government

At New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The endgame in the fight to increase the nation’s debt limit has only begun, but intense exchanges this week between the two parties have made it clear that this is not so much a negotiation over dollars and cents as a broader clash between the two parties over the size and role of government.

What makes a bipartisan “grand bargain” so elusive is less the budget numbers, on which compromise could be in reach, than each side’s principles, which do not lend themselves to splitting the difference. President Obama wants deficit reduction, including tax increases for wealthier Americans and corporations. Congressional Republicans, prodded by a cadre of junior lawmakers, want a vastly smaller government constrained by lower taxes. The two are not the same thing.

Mr. Obama will make his case on Friday in a White House news conference, his third in just two weeks.

However this showdown is settled, it seems increasingly likely to define not only the legislative record of this Congress, divided between a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-controlled Senate, but also the 2012 elections and Mr. Obama’s prospects for a second term.

More details at top link, and at the Wall Street Journal, "Plan B Emerges on Debt."

'Carmageddon'

I've been reading about this for months at the Los Angeles Times, but it's pretty interesting that the story made the front page at yesterday's Wall Street Journal, "For Los Angeles, 53 Hours Without the Freeway Spells 'Carmageddon': Closure of 405 Drives Stores to Slash Prices; 'It's the Perfect Time to Get a Tattoo'."

And at the video below, there's mention of Sepulveda Boulevard, which was covered at LAT yesterday, "405 Freeway's path tells a story of near-constant change: Between the time when the Sepulveda Pass was a trail and this weekend's 'Carmageddon,' the Sepulveda Pass has been under construction."

And on the front-page of the Orange County Register yesterday, "O.C. likely to survive 'Carmageddon'."

Well, this ought to be interesting.

Sheltered Hasidic Community Stunned by Kletzky Killing

At New York Times, "In a World That Shelters, a Killing Stuns in Many Ways."

Leiby Kletzky watched no television, a point that keeps coming up in news accounts, as allegedly Leiby for a time liked staying at Levi Aron's apartment.

More at ABC News, "Dismembered Brooklyn Boy's Alleged Killer Is Hearing Voices, His Lawyer Claims."