Norway Killings Shift Immigrant Debate in Europe

At New York Times, "Shift in Europe Seen in Debate on Immigrants":

BERLIN — Less than a week after the mass killings in Norway, evidence of a shift in the debate over Islam and the radical right in Europe already appeared to be taking hold on a traumatized Continent.

As the police in Norway and abroad continued to search for potential accomplices, expressions of outrage over the deaths crossed the political spectrum. Members of far-right parties in Sweden and Italy were condemned from within their own ranks for blaming multiculturalism for the attack. A member of France’s far-right National Front was suspended for praising the attacker.

Lurking in the background is the calculation on all sides that such tragedies can drive shifts in public opinion. Nonviolent political parties can hardly be blamed for the violent actions of a terrorist or a homicidal person. But politicians have begun to question inflammatory speech in the debate over immigrants, which has helped fuel the rise of right-leaning politicians across Europe in recent years.

More at the link above.

I'm kinda shocked to see right parties endorsing the killings, or at least defending Breivik. What he did is indefensible. More at the Right Perspective, "European Far Right Cautiously Stands With Brievik."

And at Telegraph UK, "National Front member suspended for defending Anders Behring Breivik."

VIDEO: Shaun White Snowboard Gold Medal 2010 Winter Olympics

And an interview at New York Times, "30 SECONDS: With Shaun White":

Q. Did you ever think as a child that boarding would allow you to earn millions of dollars in corporate deals and sponsorships?

A. I knew there was a certain level that I could get to within the sporting world. But as I continued with my career, not only did I grow, but the sport grew. All of a sudden, all of these doors opened to me. It’s been amazing. I guess I was born at the right time.

Q. You enjoy playing guitar. Who are your favorite guitarists?

A. Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Angus Young.

Q. Are you a better snowboarder or skateboarder?

A. Probably snowboarding, just because the tricks come easier. It’s easier for me to learn a new trick snowboarding because skateboarding is so technical. You’re not strapped into the board and any slight movement of your foot, your board goes flying away and the run is over.

Q. Tell us something no one knows about you.

A. I don’t really like the cold. I have asthma. When I go up into those mountains, I can’t breathe, man. I’m like, “It’s freezing up here.”

RELATED: "The Shaun White Interview," at TransWorld Snowboarding, October 2003.

Social Media Consumer Report

If I was on the job market I wouldn't do what I do online. And I know certain progressive academic bloggers who ought to be more careful, and they know it, although I can't name names at the moment.

See: "I Flunked My Social Media Background Check. Will You?" (via Kathy Shaidle).

FLASHBACK: "Academic Tenure and the 'Damascus Conversion to Unpopular Views'."

Progressive Sensitivity

From John Hawkins, "Liberalism In 120 Seconds: Nobody Needs Sensitivity Training More Than Liberals."

I keep telling him that it's "progressives" and not "liberals," although I haven't whaled on him like Zilla of the Resistance.

An End to Internet Anonymity?

Actually, it's a terrible idea, because ending anonymity online would empower governments. Not everyone who writes anonymously is a stalking douchnozzle progressive nihilist. Although folks should think twice about using their real names, especially if they have strong moral standards. The progressive left won't stop until you're destroyed. (And sometimes you've gotta fight back.)

The topic's in the news, at London's Daily Mail, "'It has to go away': Facebook director calls for an end to internet anonymity."

Critics complain that the forced introduction of some kind of 'on-line passport' would damage the freedom of speech and blunt the internet as a tool for dissidents to speak up against oppressive governments.

Also, at AdWeek, "Erin Andrews, Randi Zuckerberg Dish on Digital Dilemmas While Chelsea Clinton details 'survival skill'."

L'Oreal Ads Banned by Britain's Advertising Standards Agency

At Fox News, "L'Oreal Forced to Pull Julia Roberts Ads After Watchdog Groups Deems Retouching Unrealistic."

And at New York Times, "British Authority Bans Two Ads by L’Oréal":

On Wednesday, an advertising watchdog group in Britain upheld complaints that had been lodged against the cosmetics giant, forcing the company to withdraw two advertisements deemed misleading.

The group, the Advertising Standards Authority, began investigating the ads after Jo Swinson, a member of Parliament from the Liberal Democrat Party, filed a complaint about them. According to reports, Ms. Swinson and other Liberal Democrats support banning advertisements that use digital technology to create misleading ads.

The ads in question featured the actress Julia Roberts and the supermodel Christy Turlington. Ms. Roberts’s ad was for a Lancôme brand foundation called Teint Miracle. Ms. Turlington’s ad, for a Maybelline brand foundation called the Eraser, showed parts of her face covered by the makeup as having fewer wrinkles in contrast to the parts of her face that were not covered. The ads ran in the February editions of women’s fashion magazines Red and Grazia in Britain.

The funny is that these are beautiful women without all the retouching.

More at the link.

Diagnosing the Left

A must-read, from David Solway, at FrontPage Magazine, "Diagnosing the Left."

It should be clear by this time that there is no medium of intellectual exchange with the left, that facts do not matter, that logic is helpless to convince or to prompt even the slightest reconsideration, and that practically every counter-argument can be turned on its head and interpreted as confirmation of the original idée fixe. As I wrote in The Big Lie, this is a tendency or disposition that bespeaks the resurgence of a political romanticism wedded to motives rather than consequences, unachievable ideals rather than practical values. It consists largely of the cryogenized remnants of an antique crusade for unperturbed happiness and tranquility, actuated by a child-like desire for transcendence that is the curse of liberal political civilization, and that, in various spiritual and revolutionary forms, has caused untold harm and suffering in the past.

Ultimately, it amounts to a prepossession that resembles a species of clinical paranoia, associated with symptoms like unbridled hostility where disagreement is perceived, extreme sarcasm often rising to livid vulgarity, an intense need for control and the belief in personal infallibility. It is, in effect, a squalid amalgam of hubris and the herd mentality. Obviously, the disorder is not exclusive to the left, but it is on that side of the political spectrum where it manifests most prominently and insistently.

RELATED: "W. James Casper is a Coward, a Fraud, and a Liar."

And a perceptive reader, from out of the blue, comments on clinical progressive W. James Casper:

Suzie Q said...

Has it occurred to you ... that you are a stalker??

Seriously. This is pure sickness.

RELATED: "British Progressives Allege Melanie Phillips Took 'Part in the Norway Massacre'."

Charles Johnson Browbeat Forbes' Abigail Esman After She Correctly Noted That Anders Breivik Voluminously Cited Little Green Footballs

"I've never seen such craven, dishonest spinning."

That's Charles Johnson attacking Bill O'Reilly. But it's actually a perfect self-description. And a textbook case of psychological projection. King Charles has been working feverishly to not only destroy his political enemies following the Norway massacre, but to also obliterate the facts of his post-9/11 counter-jihad blogging. And it's astonishing, but I don't think there's a single person more invested in the crass exploitation of these murders — and that's saying a lot. The other day, Forbes writer Abigail Esman wrote an analysis of the Norway killings: "What Really Lies Behind The Oslo Attacks – And Why It May Happen Again." Discussing Anders Behring Breivik, Esman wrote:

... he frequently praises a writer who goes by the name “Fjordman” and who is well known on the conservative, largely anti-Islam circuit; and he often cites posts from the site Little Green Footballs and Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugged, both of which are popular not only among anti-Islam activists, but amon[g] even more moderate types concerned about the rise of radical Islam in the West.

She linked to both Little Green Footballs and Atlas Shrugs at the quote, and The Lizard King fired off a blog post as soon as he checked his traffic stats: "Forbes Writer Gets Oslo Terrorist Story Very Wrong."

Actually, no. Folks should cruise around at Diary of Daedalus blog, which has chronicled just how intimately the work of Little Green Footballs played into the deranged mind of a killer. See "Rescued from Memory Hole: The Lost LGF “Fjordman” Articles," and especially, "Little Green Footballs, Anders Breivik’s and the United States Blog-based Anti-Jihad Movement":

The political left has been gleeful poring over the many references to certain anti-Islamist blog personalities mentioned in the document, and these sites have been diligently mining the 1500 plus page manuscript for juicy references to their favorite adversaries on the conservative right.

Unfortunately, most of these leftist bloggers and news sources are either myopic in their journalistic skills, or worst, just plain dishonest actors. Over and over they have pounced on every reference in the manifesto to persons such as Bat Ye’or, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, the mysterious writer “Fjordman,” Daniel Pipes and MEMRI, while at the same time, almost totally ignoring the former leader of this “movement” of anti-Islamic sentiment, the blog Little Green Footballs and it’s founder Charles Johnson.

No doubt. (And continue reading here.) Diary of Daedalus notes that since 2007 Charles Johnson has been aggressively attempting to "convince people that he was never the person imagined on LGF, pre-2007, that he was always “fair and balanced” and that he never harbored any animosities toward any aspect of Islam or the political left." It's a mind-boggling thing.

In any case, Little Green Footballs is cited a number of times by Anders Behring Breivik. Abigail Esman was absolutely correct to note that Charles Johnson's blog was a major source for the murderer. But King Charles couldn't handle the truth. He apparently berated and browbeat the Forbes author, harassing her by e-mail on several occasions, until Esman removed his name hoping to end the abuse. See the comments at Esman's essay:

I can understand Esman's desire to prevent further attacks from Charles Johnson. Yet it serves as one more example of those who stand for the truth being beaten down by the progressive destroyers of reason. At his post calling out Esman, King Charles writes:

I’ve had nothing to do with the “anti-Islam” blogosphere for years — in fact, they absolutely hate my guts. And Breivik did not cite posts from Little Green Footballs — he republished old articles by “Fjordman” that cited LGF, and he also cites many articles viciously attacking me.

That's an epic lie. Breivik did indeed "cite posts from Little Green Footballs." The fact is, Charles Johnson was one of the very most important counter-jihad bloggers and it was less the four years ago that he initiated his abandonment of the right. I mean, seriously. Breivik cited Little Green Footballs voluminously. Check this one again: "Little Green Footballs, Anders Breivik’s and the United States Blog-based Anti-Jihad Movement." Also: "The Charles Johnson / LGF Connection."

Folks can also go right to the source: "2083 – A European Declaration of Independence."

A Short History of the Entitlement State

At Wall Street Journal, "The Road to a Downgrade":

Even without a debt default, it looks increasingly possible that the world's credit rating agencies will soon downgrade U.S. debt from the AAA standing it has enjoyed for decades.

A downgrade isn't catastrophic because global financial markets decide the creditworthiness of U.S. securities, not Moody's and Standard & Poor's. The good news is that investors still regard Treasury bonds, which carry the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, as a near zero-risk investment. But a downgrade will raise the cost of credit, especially for states and institutions whose debt is pegged to Treasurys. Above all a downgrade is a symbol of fiscal mismanagement and an omen of worse to come if we continue the same habits.

President Obama will deserve much of the blame for the spending blowout of his first two years (see the nearby chart). But the origins of this downgrade go back decades, and so this is a good time to review the policies that brought us to this sad chapter and $14.3 trillion of debt.

FDR began the entitlement era with the New Deal and Social Security, but for decades it remained relatively limited. Spending fell dramatically after the end of World War II and the U.S. debt burden fell rapidly from 100% of GDP. That changed in the mid-1960s with LBJ's Great Society and the dawn of the health-care state. Medicare and Medicaid were launched in 1965 with fairy tale estimates of future costs.

Continue reading.

Lyndon Johnson was once my favorite president. I used to be a Democrat, of course. I still admire him for signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but his establishment of the paternalistic entitlement state is almost an unforgivable failure.

More later ...

Cathy McMorris Rodgers Was Robbed! — The Hill's '50 Most Beautiful People for 2011'

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, and I just love her!

But she didn't make the cut at The Hill's annual roundup of 50 most beautiful people on Capitol Hill. That said, Freshman Rep. Kristi Noem makes the cut at #8, and who is Grace Johnson at #2? If I were single I'd be moving to D.C.!

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

'Bizarro' Budget Politics

Well, yeah.

It's pretty bizarro when politics turns to J.R.R. Tolkien, but perhaps it fits. It's been a while since I read "The Hobbit." See Ed Morrissey, "WSJ: Tea Party “hobbits” need to go back to Middle Earth, or something."

More at New York Times, "McCain vs. the Tea Party" (via Memeorandum).

Is the old John McCain back?

The fiery, independent version of the Republican senator from Arizona took to the floor of the Senate Wednesday morning. Demanding “straight talk,” Mr. McCain accused conservatives of abandoning reason by opposing the House Republican leader’s plan to resolve the debt crisis.

Mr. McCain mocked Tea Party-allied Republicans in the House for believing — wrongly, he said — that President Obama and Democrats will get the blame for a default if Republicans refuse to increase the nation’s debt ceiling.

By that flawed logic, “Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced budget amendment and reform entitlements and the Tea Party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth,” he said, quoting a Wall Street Journal editorial.

“This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into G.O.P. nominees,” he jeered, referring to two losing Tea Party candidates for the Senate in 2010.

And Senator McCain's "bizarro" moment today on the Senate floor:

And check Los Angeles Times, "Stubborn debt-deal problems plague Boehner and Reid."

Also, at National Journal, "Six Similarities Between the Boehner and Reid Debt Plans."

World's Youngest Blogger: Niklas Dietrich Smith

Congratulations to Chris Smith and his wife: "I Have, In Fact, Fathered One Ridiculously Handsome Fellow":

As beautiful as he is, I was unable to convince my wife to have another baby!

Perhaps if we soon welcome the world's youngest female blogger?

X Games 17: Shaun White

The vertical skateboarding competition is set inside the Nokia Theatre.

Shaun White was on Leno's last night: "Shaun White Interviewed on ‘The Tonight Show’ July 26 (Video)."

Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg: 'We Will Not Be Intimidated'

At BBC, "Norway will stand firm, says PM Jens Stoltenber."

Also, at The Independent UK, "Norway to form independent commission to probe attacks":

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg vowed today that Norway will fight back against the twin terror attacks with "more democracy" and said an independent commission is being formed to investigate the massacre and to help survivors and relatives.

Norwegians will defend themselves by showing they are not afraid of violence and by participating more broadly in politics, he told reporters.

"It's absolutely possible to have an open, democratic, inclusive society, and at the same time have security measures and not be naive," he said.

Stoltenberg underlined his commitment to openness, defending freedom of thought even if includes extremist views such as those held by the 32-year-old Norwegian who confessed to Friday's bomb blast at government headquarters and to the shooting massacre at a Labor Party youth camp hours later. At least 76 people were killed.

"We have to be very clear to distinguish between extreme views, opinions — that's completely legal, legitimate to have. What is not legitimate is to try to implement those extreme views by using violence," he said.

"I think what we have seen is that there is going to be one Norway before and one Norway after July 22," he said. "But I hope and also believe that the Norway we will see after will be more open, a more tolerant society than what we had before."

He later announced the independent commission, saying "it is important to be able to clear up all questions about the attack in order to learn from what happened."

East Africa Famine

Go straight away to this photo essay at The Atlantic, "Famine in East Africa."

And at Christian Science Monitor, "International groups accelerate effort to relieve East Africa's famine."

"Pro-Al Qaeda Islamists" are preventing food aid from reaching the starving. Naturally.

Boehner Pushes to Unify House Republicans

At National Journal, "Boehner Working for Support; Internal Tensions Boiling Over."

Also: "Whipping the Boehner Proposal to Raise the Nation's Debt Ceiling."

Plus, at Politico, "Boehner tries to tame the right."

And at The Other McCain: "‘F*** JOHN McCAIN!’"

Smurfette

Katy Perry on Twitter, tweeting to Neil Patrick Harris.

My son's all hip to this flick. I'm not making any promises, because we're behind on our movies, but it looks fun:

And at MTV, "Katy Perry 'May Take Over The World,' 'The Smurfs' Co-Stars Say."

Republicans Who Oppose Boehner's Debt Deal Are Playing Into Obama's Hands

At Wall Street Journal, "The GOP's Reality Test" (via Memeorandum):

If conservatives defeat the Boehner plan, they'll not only undermine their House majority. They'll go far to re-electing Mr. Obama and making the entitlement state that much harder to reform.

Scroll forward at the video for Jake Tapper's report Monday night from the White House.

VIDEO: Utøya Shooting Norway

Saber Point has a report: "Norwegian News Videos Show Scenes of Massacre." It's chilling:

One of the videos shows Breivik walking among the dead at the edge of the island. Click on the white-on-red arrow at the top of the bottom half of the screen, showing the island. The video is very short.

And this is from Live Leak. Oh dear God:

'Piece of My Heart'

Well, I've been reflecting back a bit since Amy Winehouse passed away. It's the 27 Club, and I'm not the only one. See Vanderleun, "Someone Wonderful: Janis 'Didn't I make you feel like you were the only man —yeah!'":

With Janis Joplin I just want to teleport back to late 1960s to see her sing. Look at the clip. She makes love to the music at the guitar interlude. And as always, beholding her emotional pain is crushing.

Oh, and check the comments at the blog. An interesting discussion.