Fans First Coalition

I've dealt with this issue for years. I even had a buddy who did a pretty good job scalping tickets. The trick is to get them when they're first issued. But who gets them?

A report on concert middlemen, at New York Times, "Scalping Battle Putting ‘Fans’ in the Middle":

It’s the summer concert season and, as usual, many fans are frustrated that rampant ticket scalping online has made seeing their favorite performer almost as much a frustration as a thrill. But now a new group says it wants to help.

This week a new nonprofit group, the Fans First Coalition, announced itself with a mission of protecting ordinary consumers from predatory ticket scalpers. The group appeared to have broad support from the industry, including prominent artists like R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, Maroon 5 and Jennifer Hudson.

What fans might not know is that the coalition is financed by Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, and that it has grown out of a lobbying fight between Live Nation and StubHub, the biggest legal online ticket reseller, over control of the multibillion-dollar secondary ticketing market.

Muddying the waters further, there is another group with a confusingly similar name, the Fan Freedom Project, which also claims to represent the interests of consumers. But it is largely financed by StubHub, a division of eBay.

The organizations, which were introduced with the help of Washington public relations firms, are of a sort typically referred to as astroturf groups. They are unusual for the entertainment industry but to political watchdogs, the idea of powerful interests creating apparently populist nonprofits is all too familiar.

I'm old fashioned. I like to have ticket in hand when I head out the door. All I've got to do is get to the concert and get inside. But RTWT. The issue is how are markets for concert tickets organized. There's just a couple of big players, and few outlets drive up prices. Interesting, in any case. I'd like to see more concerts, especially with front row tickets.

Bachmann Scrutiny Rises With Poll Surge

You think?

For the last few days you'd have thought Michele Bachmann was the GOP frontrunner. And what's the big deal about headaches? Yeah, Congresswoman Bachmann's like the rest of us. She's sometimes out of it. Wow. You're disqualified!!

Anyway, that's Brian Ross with Bill O'Reilly. I saw him yucking it up on "The View" yesterday. All fun and games for the intrepid media hounds, I guess.

See Wall Street Journal:

NORWALK, Iowa—Michele Bachmann has captivated conservative activists here as she pushes to establish herself as a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

That fast start comes amid new scrutiny of her background and physical health as she seeks to translate grass-roots enthusiasm for her campaign into votes at a crucial straw poll next month in Ames.

he Minnesota congresswoman returned to Iowa early Wednesday morning as polls show her gaining ground nationally as a top alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the early front-runner for the GOP nomination. Since formally entering the race last month, she has eclipsed other Republicans in the field, including fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty, who has been actively campaigning all year.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll offered a statistical glimpse at their diverging fortunes. In the poll, 16% of the registered Republicans picked Ms. Bachmann as their top choice, putting her second behind Mr. Romney, who remains the first choice of 30% of the Republicans polled. In the same survey, 2% of registered Republicans chose the former Minnesota governor as their top pick, down from 6% in April.

Keep reading.

The Daily Caller gets a mention.

Walter Bagdasarian Conviction Overturned

The La Mesa resident, who issued a racist online diatribe against Barack Obama during campaign 2008, was convicted on charges of threatening to kill a major presidential candidate. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the lower court's decision. At Los Angeles Times, "Court reverses conviction in online rant against Obama":

With the Internet now a popular forum for political discourse, courts are increasingly called upon to relocate the moving boundary between protected speech and credible threats to political figures.

The 9th Circuit recently heard testimony in another case involving an Arizona man's threats to shoot Super Bowl spectators in Phoenix eight years ago that were never carried out. The appeals court has yet to rule on whether the threat itself was a crime, even though it wasn't committed.

Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said that he thought the majority "got it right" in interpreting Americans' free speech protection but that the ruling "pushes it to the limit."

"I only feel comfortable saying that having 20-20 hindsight in knowing that the threat wasn't carried out," Scheer said.

Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego that brought the case against Bagdasarian, refused to comment on the case or the appeals court action.

Bagdasarian's attorney, Ezekiel E. Cortez, declined to comment or make his client available to discuss the ruling.

Bagdasarian's lucky.

Ten Ways Progressive Policies Harm Society's Moral Character

From Dennis Prager, at FrontPage Magazine:

The leftist weltanschauung sees society’s and the world’s great battle as between rich and poor rather than between good and evil. Equality therefore trumps morality. This is what produces the morally confused liberal elites that can venerate a Cuban tyranny with its egalitarian society over a free and decent America that has greater inequality.

None of this matters to progressives. Against all this destructiveness, they will respond not with arguments to refute these consequences of the liberal welfare state, but by citing the terms “social justice” and “compassion,” and by labeling their opponents “selfish” and worse.

Yes, worse. Much worse.

I'll have more on this later. But progressivism is ideological destructiveness personified. And while there may be individual progressives who "are fine people," as Prager suggests, in my experience they're one in a million. Progressives are selfish immoralists who'll take your money while calling you racist, sexist, an exploiter, etc. They're losers. The trick is to never back down, even when they open up with all they've got. They'll still lose, because deception and thuggery can't be sustained over goodness of moral clarity. That's why I'm not progressive. These people are ASFL and they suck, a bunch of idiots slapping high fives and visualizing raping conservative women. The reckoning's coming. I'm loving it!

Rebecca Black's 'Moment'

A big essay on Rebecca Black at The Atlantic.

She's from the O.C.

More at WaPo, "With ‘My Moment,’ Rebecca Black premieres follow-up to viral hit ‘Friday’."

RELATED: At LAT, "Rebecca Black's 'Friday': There are a million good reasons you can't get it out of your head."

Toronto District School Board Lied, Falsely Claimed Not to Have Received Complaints Against Muslim School Prayers

At Blazing Cat Fur, "The Toronto District School Board Lied About Muslim Prayers - The Community Has Complained."

The TDSB lied when the stated they had not received complaints about the Islamic prayer rituals they have allowed in public schools. Unless of course you don't count the author of the following e-mail, a retired TDSB Teacher, as a member of the "community".

This is a bombshell blog post, so go over there and RTWT.

W. James Casper is a Coward, a Fraud, and a Liar

Well, again, I hadn't planned on engaging this debate too much further, but my ace commenter and good friend Jan bravely ventured over to enemy territory today to repudiate the vile hatred that boils at American Nihilist. I've already attempted to talk reason with these people, but that's impossible, as I noted in an earlier post.

I'm not linking American Nihilist directly, as I rarely send traffic to epic asshole W. James Casper. Here's the Google link for the thread. I take my hat off to Jan, wading through that muck of pure dreaded evil. A cesspool of cowardice and lies. Repsac3 refuses to answer questions because he's ASFL and a sick little stump of a man. Jan states:

"I don't think that anyone should be falsely accused of anything...it just isn't right. We all have faults, no one is perfect, but I don't see the good in making false accusations, or trying to make others look bad."

And here's the cowardly W. James Casper's total spineless dodge:

I'm not sure what you meant by that... but I'm hoping that it's placement in the comments of this particular post are not simply a matter of happenstance...

It'd be funny if this wasn't so serious and evil. It's a straigthforward statement. I posted the details to my final comment at the previous thread yesterday. W. James Casper refuses to acknowledge the facts. His allies have "falsely accused" me of sexual harassment, impersonation, civil rights violations (alleged mandatory requirements of exploitative materials), etc. This is fact. And coward W. James Casper runs like a burnt chicken. The whole thread's one big fraudulent scam. And W. James Casper's lying. He writes earlier at the post:

Why has he been using my full name in his recent posts (or, what he thinks is my full name, anyway), when he and I had a conversation several years ago about my preferring to use this screen name online? Don't you think he's attempting to do me some harm by doing so?

Hello? No one's doing any "harm" to W. James Casper. I've never contacted his employer and W. James Casper blogs publicly, and he's done so as long as he's been stalking me and attempting to get me fired. He's a fraud, cheat, liar and coward. Here's his PuffHo page, with his name displayed for the entire world:

W. James Casper's avatar is a slithering reptile, and it's available on all his blogs, Twitter, and social networks. He's lying when he alleges he's being violated or "outed." The fact is he's an accomplice to bad acts that have crossed the line of propriety. When my good friend Jan called him out he went limp, avoiding the statement with "I'm not sure what you meant by that..."

Wrong. W. James Casper knows exactly what Jan meant by that. But his evil program of hatred forces him to lie and equivocate. He's like a vampire exposed to the sun. He's dying when forced with the truth.

That's what I have on my side: The truth and goodness. W. James Casper has lies and deceit.

Progressivism Incompatible with American Values

A big essay at Camp of the Saints, "When Mark Steyn Starts To Talk About The Break-Up Of The United States…." (Via King Shamus.)

This part is relevant to my recent experience:

Leftism is incompatible with American Values. It despises custom, morality, and Right Reason. It rejects the importance of tradition and, in fact, scorns and spits on it. Leftists seek not to learn from the wisdom of those who have come before them. They disdain the hard-won knowledge that politics is the art of the possible. They seek to remake the world in their image, to be as gods.

How can you deal with such people?

Well, actually you can't. Progressives (leftists) evince the mob mentality of violence and anti-rationalism. Anyone reading this blog over the last few days has seen the pure thug psychology at work among those who see themselves as enlightened. Michelle Malkin posted the violent death-wish hate mail yesterday, and I added a little reminder of the atheistic campaign of intolerance launched at my college last December. It's like a totalitarian regime with brownshirts beating those who think independently. According to TCOTs:

... there is no possible way normal reasonable people can deal with such people — nor should they because they will be outgunned every time because, unlike themselves, the Left will not feel any pressure to conform to the rules of Right Reason and civilization. The Right plays by a set of rules first forged by the hand of God on Mount Sinai; the Left makes up it rules as it goes along, believing the ends [Illumination, Heaven On Earth] justify the means [anything goes].

Anything goes. Absolutely. I'm living it. But I'm still standing to fight another day. And you have to fight:

The Left will not compromise in the ends they desire to force upon us — they are the most feverish and fervid and fanatical of believers, who are unbound to any sense of morality.

Gator Doug has more, "How can we live with the far Left? How indeed?":

There are those who will scoff at Bob’s belief that the Left are the true fanatics seeking to force their religion, Marxism, down all of our throats. But, nothing could be more obvious. The Left practices no tolerance, nor does it embrace, in the least, any diversity. The Left welcomes only those who march and speak in lock step with the Left. Those who do not are targeted for utter destruction.

Utter destruction. Sounds familiar.

Michele Bachmann: 'Courage'

Doug Ross has the post I meant to write when I first read the migraines story.

At Director Blue, "I'll Give You Three Guesses Who's Behind The Daily Caller's Migraine Hit Piece on Michele Bachmann (Or Should I Call It 'The Daily Cromney'?)."

'The Schadenfreude is so thick you can't cut it with a chainsaw'

On the road today. I'll have more blogging tonight.

Meanwhile, a don't miss editorial at Wall Street Journal, "News and Its Critics."

Rep. Allen West Stands by Email Calling Little Debbie Wasserman Schultz 'Vile, Despicable and Cowardly'

There's more on this, at Fox News, "Black Caucus 'Furious' Over GOP Rep. West's Email to Dem Party Chief." (At Memeorandum.)

PREVIOUSLY: "Follow-Up on Congressman Allen West." (James Joyner responded at the comments.)

Here's the original clip of Wasserman Schultz on the House floor (via Lonely Conservative):

Follow-Up on Congressman Allen West

Allen West was scheduled for a Monday fundraiser in the O.C. this week, but the event was cancelled due to the ongoing budget negotiations in Washington. West is tentatively committed to an October fundraiser, so I'm crossing my fingers for that. He's a good man and it was my honor to meet him at CPAC last February.

So following up on my post last night, "Rep. Allen West Slams Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz Over 'Vile' Comments on Floor of House of Representatives."

The Hill has this, "Wasserman Schultz brushes off West email." (At Memeorandum.)

One the things I admire about Allen West is his willingness to stand up to progressive abuse. At town hall meetings he's challenged malicious attackers, people making false allegations of "racism," etc. He's repeatedly rebuked the left's thuggery and violent intimidation. And you know what, people don't like that he's standing up. In response to West's Wasserman Schultz smackdown, James Joyner posts a tiny little hit piece, "Allen West is an Embarrassment." James uses West's Iraqi interrogation incident to take a cheap shot, writing:

Somehow, he persuaded people that he was a war hero and rode that to Congress–despite the local Veterans of Foreign Wars endorsing his opponent.

Somehow?

You don't get elected to Congress without the approval of the voters, and West's rigorous bearing must have satisfied his constituents. West has taken responsibility for his actions and said he'd do what the moment required if faced with the same circumstances today. That's called integrity in my book.

Meanwhile, the boys at Outside the Beltway take cheap shots from the bleachers, while the terrorists abroad and progressives at home slap high fives at the useful idiots doing their bidding.

Reader Comment on W. James Casper Campaign of Misogyny and Criminal Harassment

Okay, I thought I was done with W. James Casper's ring of hatred, but reader Jan e-mailed. And she's right: RESPAC = CASPER = RACIST = MISOGYNIST = CRIMINAL HARASSER. The blog is a ring of organized hatred, and Kevin Robbins indicates that he'd rape commenter Jan if he wasn't homosexual. As always, this is what progressives are all about:

I've never been so disgusted!

I've been following this for awhile, but haven't been over to his site, until today. I went with an open mind, determined to try to see both sides of the story if I could, and what I saw was worse than I thought.

I don't know how anyone could say that his site is not one of hatred, ridicule, and pure maliciousness! If it is supposed to be humorous, as he claims, I wish someone would show me where to find the humor!

I certainly didn't find the comment from Kevin Robbins, in reference to me, humorous at all! And all because Repsac was commenting on a comment that I had posted on your blog last year. I had no idea that he had replied to that comment on his blog, but now they are milking it for all its worth, I guess.

They seem to take some delight in being as vulgar, evil, and hateful as possible, as evidenced by this comment from Mr. Robbins:

Kevin Robbins said...
So much hilarity Don. Really glad Reppy invented you.

'Some of my commenters, Jan for example, have risked their safety to enter into your comment threads to point out your evil.'

Don't worry Jan is safely tied up in the Rim Station basement. Soon as I get my Snidely Whiplash moustache grown out it's the railroad tracks for her. Hope Amtrak is on time.

Lucky we're all such fags over here or we'd be having our way with her. Well, late for mutual hummer time. Toodles Donnie! And don't worry you are still the wingnuttiest wingnut on the internet. Sorry was that derisive?

I think that pretty much demonstrates the calibre of his commenters, and their mindset.

Good luck, Professor, in ever getting an apology out of that bunch of....never mind. I won't say, because I don't want to sink to that same level.

I do wonder, though, if they would like to have anyone say such things about their wives, daughters, sisters, mothers, as Mr. Robbins said about me?

Maybe not, since they seem not to care how cruel, or unkind, they can be, anyway.

Background is here: "W. James Casper Continues Campaign of Intimidation and Criminal Harassment."

Muslim Prayer Service at Valley Park Middle School in Toronto

The Calgary Herald has a nice background report, "Turning school into a mosque victimizes minorities."

And here's Ezra Levant with Kathy Shaidle, via Blazing Cat Fur, "Ezra Levant & Kathy Shaidle On The Marxist Racists At The Toronto District School Board":

Also a great report from Mark Steyn, "HOW UNCLEAN WAS MY VALLEY."

And at National Post, "Spreading Islamist misogyny -with your tax dollars":

It's rare that I see a photograph that makes my blood roil in anger. Or that leads me to share the opinions of Toronto Star columnist Heather Mallick. But a picture published in Saturday's Star managed to do both in one afternoon.

The photo depicts a row of girls sitting in the cafeteria of Valley Park Middle School in Toronto. The row is segregated behind a mass of students who are participating in an Islamic prayer service. The reason the girls in the back are not praying is because -wait for it -they have their periods.

One is tempted to say: Is this the Middle Ages? Have I stumbled into a time warp, where "unclean" women must be prevented from "defiling" other persons? It's bad enough that the girls at Valley Park have to enter the cafeteria from the back, while the boys enter from the front, but does the entire school have the right to know they are menstruating?

These aren't college kids, who are adults or on the verge of adulthood, and can make up their own minds about whether they are comfortable with religious practices that relegate women to the back of the bus. These are impressionable young women, Grade 8 students, who are being sent a very clear message: You are second-class citizens compared to the boys in your school, and third-class at certain times of the month.

And yet more, from Bruce Bawer, at Pajamas Media, "Sharia in Toronto: the Muslim Girls on Their Period Have to Sit in the Back."

Legal Campaign Against Free Dominion

Blazing Cat Fur has the links.

It's up in Canada, but I'd be there if I could. See, "FD in Ottawa Court - July 21st - Baglow Dismissal Motion," and "Tonight Richard Warman sued FD AGAIN! Lawsuit number FIVE!"

And a commenter left this J.S. Mill quotation:

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.

Progressives stand against this tradition. That's why people of good moral standing must continue the fight. See: "W. James Casper Continues Campaign of Intimidation and Criminal Harassment."

Academia's Crisis of Irrelevance

From Naomi Schaefer Riley, at Wall Street Journal, "As more students question rising college costs, professors defend useless research and their lack of teaching."

Read it at the link. The key is academe's divorce from the real world, and I'd pile on about how this is killing the education of waves of students.

What's Camilla Belle Wearing?

Photos at InStyle, "Who's Wearing Who."

I saw Camilla Belle in Push (2009), with Chris Evans (and he's starring in Captain America: The First Avenger, in theaters this Friday).

Rebekah Brooks Testimony Before Commons Select Committee

A few reports:

* At Telegraph UK, "I was 'disgusted' by Milly Dowler phone hacking."

* At The Guardian, "Rebekah Brooks: phone-hacking payments were not my responsibility."

* At New York Times, "Murdochs Caught a Break at Hearing, Stock Analysts Say."

After days of intense anxiety over their appearance before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, there seemed to be consensus inside the company and out that the Murdochs and the News Corporation had finally caught a break.

Instead of finding a signal that this was the beginning of the end of Rupert Murdoch’s run at the helm of his company, analysts stressed that there was no single revelatory moment during the proceedings. If the Murdochs seemed at times distant, even oblivious, to what was going on in their own company, there were no obvious admissions of wrongdoing or glaring contradictions in their testimony, analysts said.

“This was the best day these guys have had in a really long time,” said David Bank, media analyst for RBC Capital Markets. “No shoe dropped, no smoking gun was found, it all sort of sounded kind of contained.”

RELATED: At Wall Street Journal, "Brooks's Husband's Laptop Found in Garbage":

Campaign of Hatred Against Michelle Malkin Again Shows Progressives' True Colors

At Michelle's, "You’ve got hate mail: Midsummer night edition; Update: And now…a lawsuit threat."

A sample:

from Lou Typ faktory81@yahoo.com
to writemalkin@gmail.com
date Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 3:52 PM
subject Hopefully your cousin dies you cunt and you never rest again
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
Every time you sleep I hope you wish you weren’t such a piece of shit. Maybe if you weren’t a cunt nothing would’ve happened?

Keep reading at the link.

This reminds me of the Elizebeth Edwards episode. I finally closed the comment thread after some idiot progressive wrote, "Donald Douglas is a contemptible political hack who can eat shit and die." And closing the comments enraged these terrorists even more. I got a few personal e-mails. And of course, these brilliant death-wish masters thought it'd be a great idea to contact my college, for example, "On Religious Right Grave-Robbers."

This is what they do. Tolerance?

RELATED: "W. James Casper Continues Campaign of Intimidation and Criminal Harassment."

W. James Casper Continues Campaign of Intimidation and Criminal Harassment

An apology to readers: I've been in and out all day today, and I've also been trying to get progressives to take responsibility. So, here's an update to my post from the other day: "Progressive Trolls? Update on W. James Casper, Commissar of State Security, People's Commissariat for Internet Affairs."

I'm currently in the process of getting written apologies and retractions from the criminal progressives who mounted campaigns of workplace intimidation, and as W. James Casper has been a ringleader, by his own words, I'm putting this comment here for the record:

You recruited bloggers to harass, ridicule, and intimidate:

'I intended for American Nihilist to be a one off joke on the silly "nihilist" meme you created. I sent invites to all the "nihilsts" I could find, thinking we'd all just have a quick laugh at the expense of the silly little meme, & that'd be it... But some of 'em wanted to sign up, and once they did, and started writing--in character--it became something better than the one off joke I intended...'

YOU CROSSED THE LINE!!!!!

These are your words. They are posted at your own blogs. You thought it be just a laugh, but quickly escalated into workplace intimidation and outrageous campaigns of harassment. THAT IS ILLEGAL. YOU HAVE LEGAL LIABILITY AND YOU ARE ON RECORD. Your very words show you ORGANIZED a conspiracy. And you have people currently in your threads making threats, issuing taunts, and spiking the football.

YOU've not denounced a bit of it. Why? Answer that. Why? Because I blog and "attack" people. That's what you say repeatedly. Because I blog and "attack" people you decided to round up a lynch mob. YOUR words. This is what you have done and continue to do. YOU are on record.

YOU are the administrator of this blog and YOU thought it perfectly fine to publish this.

When that was posted you didn't reject it. YOU didn't repudiate it. YOU endorsed it and clapped about how my my college administration should "be aware of his antics." Then later you pulled the post when your lackey left you hold the bag of sh*t. YOU f**ked up. It was never the right thing to do. Always an evil act. It's done. It's on record. YOU are the accessory to make this happen. That sucks you got used. But you recruited people who then f**ked you up. Sucker!! You deserve it. It's you who organize the hate. Make it right by apologizing.

And YOU continue to promote the hate. YOU consort with criminal progressives who continue their campaigns. YOU are doing this. YOU sponsor it right here in this thread. THIS thread.

YOU pledged an intimidation campaign: "As long as Donald Douglas is posting a public blog that accepts comments, I'm going to continue to comment on what he posts, whenever and wherever I choose'

I banned YOU. But you publicly admitted my wishes were to be disrespected and that you would taunt, harass, and intimidate "whenever and wherever I choose."

And one of those places was my college. YOU had henchmen do it for you so you could claim plausible denial. But the cat's out now. YOU are liable.

And YOU ignore, deny, distort and blow off the facts of YOUR evil as some 'crazy paranoid allegations'.

Not.

Don't deny. Don't ignore. Don't dismiss. Don't prevaricate.

Man up to your program. THIS is what you do.

These are your words. YOU recruited all you could find to harass, ridicule and intimidate. YOU endorsed, as the admin, a campaign by (O)CT(O)PUS. And YOU have defended all the others right here in this thread. YOU do not denounce the hate and criminal activity.

YOU are the ringleader of hate. THIS is a hate site. I POINT OUT your evil action. YOU deny because you're without a shred of decency.

You need to be right with goodness in the world and issue that apology!!

I know some readers wonder why I deal with this, and believe me, it's not fun. But since my college has been involved there are a lot of loose ends legally that I'm working to wrap up. W. James Casper harbors a clinical hatred for me and he's long mounted a war of personal destruction. I can't impinge his free speech rights, but he's got no legal right to his continued campaign of criminality and the politics of personal destruction. He's a sad man, I know. But he's more than the laughingstock of the progressive left. He's Satan's henchmen working to destroy those of good will who stand up for what's right. I'll keep fighting because that's what you do: Never back down to the mob. It only emboldens them and they will kill and maim even more. This is what these people are about.