Gettysburg and the Eternal Battle for a 'New Birth of Freedom'

From Allen Guelzo, at WSJ:

The Civil War was in its third year when Abraham Lincoln was invited to deliver his "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg. For most of those three years, the war had not gone well for the Union he had been elected to lead as president. A breakaway Confederacy of 11 Southern states had seceded, playing on their declared right to self-determination and fighting off every effort by Union forces to subdue their uprising.

Lincoln understood that their appeal to self-determination was dubious at best. The self-determination the Confederate states desired was the freedom to protect the legalized slavery of 3.9 million black people, purely on the basis of their race, in defiance of what the Declaration of Independence had to say about equality.

And having taken that step away from equality, the Confederacy had kept moving further and further away until its entire life came to resemble a European aristocracy. The Confederacy established an internal passport system for all persons, levied a steeply graduated income tax, appropriated private property for military use, and nationalized Southern industries—iron-making, clothing for military uniforms and even railroads. Even among whites, a disdainful hierarchy of thousand-bale cotton planters and poor white sandhillers emerged.

"The admiration for monarchical institutions on the English model, for privileged classes, and for a landed aristocracy and gentry, is undisguised and apparently genuine," marveled the British journalist William Howard Russell in 1861. King Leopold I of Belgium, in 1863, hoped that the Civil War would "raise a barrier against the United States and provide a support for the monarchical-aristocratic principle in the Southern states."

No wonder, then, that Lincoln exulted when the Confederate army under Robert E. Lee met with a climactic defeat by Union forces at the small Pennsylvania crossroads town of Gettysburg in July 1863. In Lincoln's mind, there was a symbolic coincidence in receiving the news of the Gettysburg victory on the Fourth of July. It was, he told a crowd of well-wishers in Washington, as though a bright line had been drawn between "the first time" in 1776 that "a nation by its representatives, assembled and declared as a self evident truth that all men are created equal," and 1863, when "the cohorts of those who opposed the declaration that all men are created equal" had "turned tail" and run.

Continue reading.

Afghan Security Forces Defuse Would-Be Suicide Bomber Before He Blew Himself Up in Jalalabad

This is freakin' rad.

At London's Daily Mail, "The real Hurt Locker: Moment a brave Afghan soldier defused suicide vest while hog-tied terrorist was STILL WEARING IT."

And at Thomson Reuters, "A member of the Afghan bomb disposal unit approaches a suicide attacker after his vest was defused in Jalalabad province."

Jimmy Kimmel Skit Whaps Paula Deen With a Stone

Jimmy Kimmel was on a roll the other night.

Also at Newsmax, "Jimmy Kimmel Black Eye Skit Mocks Paula Deen's Apologies (Video)."

Nationwide Protests Grip Egypt

These are mondo massive protests.

At WSJ, "Widespread Opposition Protests Grip Egypt: Biggest Demonstrations Since Mubarak's Ouster Urge Morsi to Step Down, Call Early Elections; a Crowded Tahrir Square":

CAIRO—Egyptians took to the streets on Sunday for nationwide protests against President Mohammed Morsi, presenting a massive popular opposition that rivaled the size of demonstrations that toppled President Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago.

By early evening, legions of protesters had crowded into Cairo's Tahrir Square and filled several city blocks in front of Ittihadiya Palace, the president's main residence, demanding that Mr. Morsi step down and call early elections.

In most protest areas, the atmosphere was ebullient. Families walked with children in tow, some with their faces painted, munching on snacks and waving Egyptian flags. Passing motorists honked their horns, lending a festival aspect to the marches despite weeks of concern over the potential for violence.

Parts of the capital that would normally be starting a workday Sunday were largely quiet. Protesters marched through streets that were almost empty of cars. Shops and restaurants in Cairo remained closed.

Although the main protests remained peaceful, the nation's Health Ministry said five people were killed and more than 400 injured around the country, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo were set ablaze. People inside the building were seen firing at protesters.

Demonstrations of comparable size were reported throughout the country, with streams of Egyptians flooding streets in the coastal city of Alexandria, southern Egypt and the heavily populated Nile Delta region. Smaller protests were held by Egyptian expatriates in Sydney, Paris, Washington and other capitals.

The size of the demonstrations—with the numbers of protesters estimated from hundreds of thousands into the millions—exceeded any of the protests that have taken place since Mr. Mubarak stepped down in February 2011. The massive turnout stood alongside Mr. Morsi's repeated claims that most Egyptians stood behind the country's first-ever elected president.

Continue reading.

And at the New York Times, "Video and Images of Anti-Morsi Protests."

Lady Gaga Changes National Anthem: 'Land of the Free, and the Home for the Gay...'

They're bringing on the backlash.

At Twitchy, "‘Disrespectful’: Lady Gaga ripped for changing the words to the national anthem."

And at the Washington Times, "Lady Gaga amends national anthem: ‘Land of the free, and the home for the gay’."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Cartoons."

Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

CARTOON CREDIT: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Sour Kraut."

RELATED: "Our Hapless, Powerless President Can't Do Jack About Edward Snowden's Global Jetsetting."

Julian Assange Interview on ABC's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos'

He just lies through his teeth at this clip.

HAT TIP: Memeorandum.

Traditional Sunday Rule 5

And by traditional, I mean traditional testosterone-driven male ogling of the feminine sex. All the gay "sweetness and light" is driving me crazy.

This is Miss Tori Lee at left.

And see Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup – Pre July 4th!" and "If All You See……is a horrible fossil fueled vehicle being washed with precious non-renewable water, you might just be a Warmist."

Also at Gator Doug's, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Jessa Hinton."

At Proof Positive, "Women of PETA XXXIV -- Because the world needs more naked, nearly naked and vegetable clad vegetarians!"

Now over at Randy's Rountable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Erica Redling."

At Zion's Trumpet, "It's Rule 5 Friday."

And going directly to Wine, Women and Politics, "Bonus Babes."

Also at Odie's, "Blonde Curtains ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

From Animal Magnetism, "Rule Five Friday – Animal’s Manifesto, Part Ten." And at Bob Belvedere's, "Rule 5 Saturday: Chloe Vevrier."

And 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Rule 5 Sunday With Links." And from Dana Pico, "Rule 5 Blogging: The IDF again!"

Soylent Green has "Afternooner: Hot Wheels," and "Your AM Angel."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "PAULINA GRETZKY IS STILL IN A BIKINI OF THE DAY."

Also, at Pitsnipes and Gripes, "Random curves." Plus the Right Way has "Friday Babe."

Check Egotastic! too, "India Reynolds Stacks Her Stacks Up Against Courtnie Quinlan in the Battle of the Boobtastic."

Wrapping it up is Theo, "Bedtime Totty..."

Add your links in the comments and I'll update!

Supreme Court Denies Petition to Halt Homosexual Marriages in California

I commented on this previously, "'Tonight it is chaos and lawlessness, and anyone who is concerned about the rule of law ought to be deeply troubled by what happened here...'"

And now at the Los Angeles Times, "Supreme Court rejects bid to halt same-sex marriages in California," and the Hill, "Report: High court rejects petition to halt gay marriages in Calif." (Via Memeorandum.)

Party time!

Toronto Gay Pride Week 2013

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Toronto Gay Pride Week 2013 Kicks Off with a Jew-Bashing Lecture."

Well, the left's disgusting and deathly agenda is all of a piece, isn't it?

More, "Let the games begin..."

Also, "King and Queen" and "Its only just begun..."

Plus, "Which one is Justin?" and "Random Strange."

Still more, "More stuff but the dog is cool," "Socialism," and "Pride floats fall into two categories Crappy and Crappier."

Finally, "I think this is the Chief" and "TDSB of course."

That's quite a bit. Check back at BCF for more.

How Will Homosexual Marriage Supporters Argue Against Polygamy?

Well, WND has this, "Next Up, Polygamy?"

Actually, proponents of polygamist marriage aren't holding back at all.

At Reason, "So How About That Polygamy? Time to Talk About It?":

Will Wilkinson, blogging at The Economist, makes an argument that as with prostitution, our criminalization of polygamy often does the opposite of what’s intended and increases the victimization of women and children because of its shadowy status in culture:

If a man can love a man, a woman can love a woman and a man. And if they all love each other... well, what's the problem? Refraining from criminalising families based on such unusual patterns of sentiment is less than the least we can do. If the state lacks a legitimate rationale for imposing on Americans a heterosexual definition of marriage, it seems pretty likely that it likewise lacks a legitimate rationale for imposing on Americans a monogamous definition of marriage. Conservatives have worried that same-sex marriage would somehow entail the ruination of the family as the foundation of society, but we have seen only the flowering of family values among same-sex households, the domestication of the gays. Whatever our fears about polyamorous marriage, I suspect we'll find them similarly ill-founded. For one thing, what could be more family-friendly than four moms and six dads?

There you go.

You're going to be seeing a lot of arguments like this. Americans have to hunker down and avoid the left's culture of depravity. It's nearly all enveloping, but a backlash is coming. I guarantee it.

And see from 2009, "How Does Gay Marriage Affect Me?"

Added: From William Jacobson, "Polygamy – another love that now dares speak its name again."

Who Are the True Defenders of the West?

"If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons." --- Winston Churchill, comments to his personal secretary John Colville the evening before Operation Barbarossa.

I'm struck by Melanie Phillips' last line in her response to Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer's reply to her original screed on the Home Secretary's ban:

You’d never think from this, would you, that I wrote the book Londonistan, and have been viciously and repeatedly attacked for ‘Islamophobia’ on account of my warnings against Britain’s systemic failure to acknowledge the religious nature of the Islamic jihad against the west. You’d never realise from this, would you, that in my piece about the banning order I specifically condemned the UK government for allowing into the country inflammatory Islamic extremists while banning Ms Geller and Mr Spencer. No, all this is simply brushed aside -- because I do not think common cause should be made with thugs and neo-Nazis....

It would be comic, were it not a tragic illustration of the west’s inability correctly to identify just who are its enemies and who are its true defenders.

The implication is that by snobbishly dismissing the EDL as a bunch of hooligans and Nazis she's able to seize the high ground over Pamela and Robert. It's an amazing piece of sophistry, especially coming from one of such purportedly high British pedigree. No doubt Ms. Phillips is aware of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's comments on June 21, 1941, the night before Nazi Germany embarked on its fateful strategic gambit to invade Soviet Russian in Hitler's final bid for Lebensraum.

The Soviets after World War II would ultimately become the biggest threat to liberty in the West, but at that moment in 1941 nothing was more important than the defeat of the totalitarian Nazi regime. No country would be safe from Germany's insatiable racist hegemony. The fate of the British Isles and the Empire lay at the hand of Churchill's government. He wasn't about to stick up his nose and diss Stalin as some dirtbag cracker from the Georgian hinterland.

I think this comment at Blazing Cat Fur's thread really sums up:

Spencer and Geller are correct; Phillips is trying to distance herself based on Leftist character assassination, as if the Left does anything else. Phillips should have thought this through and realized she's just isolated herself by trying to distance herself.

She forgets; there's no distance. We all live in Dar al-Harb.

There may be some high principles at stake in this debate. There may be some reasonable claims about the need to keep distance from EDL. But for all of her erudition and past advocacy --- recall that Ms. Phillips has long been one of my favorite writers on the left's destruction of liberty, decency, and national security --- it's clear that she's made a serious lapse of judgment with her internecine war on Pamela and Robert, the premiere counter-jihadists in the U.S.

Pamela and Robert are the true defenders of the West. It's shameful that Ms. Phillips would so hastily throw them under the bus.

And with that, here's Pamela's response this morning, "MORE ELITISM":

Apparently Melanie Phillips can dish it out but she can't take it. She was shocked that both Robert and I would respond to her gratuitous attack on our work. She is calling her cop-out column "A hysterical and ignorant response."

What did she expect? That we wouldn't defend ourselves? She has attacked me before. She praised a blogger who wrote that I was "a lunatic blogger." Please go here and read it all. I did not respond, because lord knows that intercine warfare is the last thing we need. But the last shot she took was a step too far. Not now, when the stakes are so high and time is too short.

Hysterical and ignorant? Pathetic. More elitism. She says she doesn't want to engage in ad hominen attacks, so she lets others do the dirty work and then praises them.

Forgive me if I don't drop to my knees in thanks because she called us "anti-jihad" and not "anti-Muslim," "anti-Islam," or "islamophobic" like the enemy does. That's how low her bar is -- we are supposed to be grateful that she doesn't defame us.

She pats herself on the back for opposing our banning order, but so did some of our most vicious enemies. Are we to be grateful that she didn't support the ban? Really? Please, Mel, don't help me. With friends like you, we don't need Harry's Place.

As for the evidence she presents against the EDL, it is weak and unconvincing. The EDL was formed because the BNP was racist and anti-semitic. They purge BNP from their ranks. The EDL has a Jewish division (and an LBGT division, a Sikh division, etc.). Tommy has been arrested? So what? I never said these were Nancy boys. They aren't. And they don't play in the sandboxes of Oxford, Cambridge or The Spectator. He has paid his debt to society; how long will his troubled youth be held against him? He is, in his way, a more eloquent and impassioned voice against the islamization of his country than is Phillips.

The EDL has nothing racist or xenophobic about its platform. Phillips knows full well that the rare nazi salute at an EDL rally is most often the work of an infiltrator, a deliberate schemer attempting to smear the group. They are removed from the demo immediately. She ought to be more critical of those who seek to manipulate her good opinion.

Phillips says that the EDL targets mosques, but it doesn't. Actually Islamic supremacists fake attacks on mosques and try to pin them on the EDL, but Tommy Robinson has said: "Anyone who knows anything about our group knows there is no way we do anything like that. It’s just so blatant it’s not us."

Her reference to Vlaams Belang is really a low blow. First, because we attended a conference in 2007 that Filip DeWinter happened to be at (here). That is the extent of my relationship. I knew nothing of him or his group (I still don't) when I went to Brussels along with Bat Ye'or, David Littman, Dr. Aryeh Eldad (Israel), Robert Spencer, Dr. Andrew Bostom, Friends of Oriana Fallaci and the world's leading counter jihadists. Hundreds were there. So was DeWinter. So what? Melanie Phillips is now attaching herself to the libels of the execrable Charles Johnson. That tells you everything.

PREVIOUSLY: "Pamela Geller: 'With Friends Like These...'"

Also, "Free Speech Dies in UK: Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller Banned from Entering," and "Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Banned From Britain."

Battle of Gettysburg Reenactment

KNXV-TV ABC15 Phoenix, "Thousands flock to witness reenactment of battle of Gettysburg."

And from Selena Zito, at the Pittsburgh Tribune, "Gettysburg: Where America got its chance to start over."

And a video at Telegraph UK, "Thousands take part in Gettysburg re-enactment."

'American Music'

From the band's January concert at the Observatory in Santa Ana. I looked into getting some tickets, but it was too late.

Why Humans Throw So Well

This is cool.

At the New York Times, "Scientists Unlock Mystery in Evolution of Pitchers":

No one knows whether Homo erectus, the early ancestor of both the Yankees and the Red Sox, threw the split-finger fastball.

But he could have, according to a group of scientists who offer new evidence that the classic overhand throw used by baseball players at all positions, and by snowball, rock and tomato hurlers of all ages, is an evolutionary adaptation dependent on several changes in anatomy. They first appeared, the researchers say, around 1.8 million years ago, when humans were most likely beginning to hunt big game and needed to throw sharp objects hard and fast.

No other primate throws with anything comparable to human force. Chimpanzees, who are much, much stronger, pound for pound, than human beings, can throw, as any zoo visitor knows. But the best an adult male can do is about 20 miles per hour. A 12-year-old human pitcher can easily throw three times that fast.

Clearly, the reason is not muscle strength, according to Neil Roach of George Washington University, first author of a report in the journal Nature released on Wednesday. Dr. Roach, who conducted the research as a graduate student at Harvard, and his colleagues there used motion-capture video to analyze the throwing motion of 20 college athletes, who hurled baseballs at a target about 100 feet away, with and without a brace that restricted shoulder motion.

They analyzed the structure of the shoulder and upper arm, the motion and the forces involved, and concluded, first, that muscles alone cannot account for how hard and fast humans throw. The shoulder and arm and the rest of the body involved in the throwing motion must be storing elastic energy, like the long tendon of a kangaroo when it hops, or the human Achilles’ tendon in running and jumping, they said.

“You’re storing energy in your shoulder,” Dr. Roach said, speaking from Africa, where he was heading to Lake Turkana to look at fossil footprints of human ancestors about a million and a half years old. The storage occurs in the cocking motion, when a thrower brings hand and ball back, preparing to throw. “It works just like a slingshot would. You’re actually stretching the ligaments.”

Several developments in anatomy allowed humans to throw this way, he said, including a waist that allows twisting and a relatively open shoulder, compared with those of other primates like chimpanzees.

Looking at the fossil record, Dr. Roach and colleagues put the moment at which these changes came together in one body at about 1.8 million years ago, when Homo erectus first appeared. “It’s possible that Homo erectus could throw as fast as we do,” Dr. Roach said.

More at that top link.

Kate Upton for Vogue Brazil

On Twitter:

#voguebrazil pic.twitter.com/4MuIGRQvkN

— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) June 27, 2013

And at London's Daily Mail, "Kate Upton the queen of curves brings smouldering glamour to Vogue Brazil in her 'favorite' photo shoot yet."

Obama Visits Fake Slave House, Gazes Through Trash Door

Historians have debunked this "slave house" visit.

And Blazing Cat Fur has more.

I commented on this earlier as well, with considerable contempt.

'Tonight it is chaos and lawlessness, and anyone who is concerned about the rule of law ought to be deeply troubled by what happened here...'

That's John Eastman, Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage, quoted at the Los Angeles Times, "Prop. 8 backers make emergency effort to block same-sex marriages."

He needs to let this one go. And the Prop. 8 sponsors need to let this go too. The game was rigged. Use that against them in future battles, but let it go for now in California. See SCOTUS Blog, "Emergency stay of California same-sex marriages sought" (at Memeorandum).

Guardian and Observer Runs Front-Page Story on Secret European-U.S. Surveiliance Deal Sourced to Jew-Hating Conspiracy Theorist Wayne Madsen

Here's the cover image on Twitter:

OBSERVER FRONT PAGE: "Revealed: secret European deals to hand over private data to America" #skypapers pic.twitter.com/MTRmz9qrZq
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 29, 2013

Here's Michael Moynihan:

Holy shit. Guardian just did an NSA story sourced to insane crackpot Wayne Madsen. Is their Google broken? http://t.co/Mcb3vd0OdE
— Michael C Moynihan (@mcmoynihan) June 29, 2013

And Louise Mensch calls out Madsen:

Guardian and Observer Weakend - run front page NSA story based on word of conspiracy theorist crackpot (Obama's gay, Israel caused 911)
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) June 29, 2013

And checking the Guardian's homepage, here's the headline at the link for the article, "Taken down: deals to hand over private data to America."

The piece is still available, however, at Democratic Underground (with a Che Guevara avatar adding a nice touch there), "GUARDIAN: Revealed: secret European deals to hand over private data to America":

At least six European Union countries in addition to Britain have been colluding with the US over the mass harvesting of personal communications data, according to a former contractor to America's National Security Agency, who said the public should not be "kept in the dark".

Wayne Madsen, a former US navy lieutenant who first worked for the NSA in 1985 and over the next 12 years held several sensitive positions within the agency, names Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Italy as having secret deals with the US.

Madsen said the countries had "formal second and third party status" under signal intelligence (Sigint) agreements that compels them to hand over data, including mobile phone and internet information to the NSA if requested.

Under international intelligence agreements, confirmed by declassified documents, nations are categorised by the US according to their trust level. The US is first party while the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand enjoy second party relationships. Germany and France have third party relationships.

And it's clear the Guardian's editors knew of Madsen's reputation as a conspiracy theorist, as the article makes mention of their source's controversial background:

In an interview published last night on the PrivacySurgeon.org blog, Madsen, who has been attacked for holding controversial views on espionage issues, said he had decided to speak out after becoming concerned about the "half story" told by EU politicians regarding the extent of the NSA's activities in Europe.

He said that under the agreements, which were drawn up after the second world war, the "NSA gets the lion's share" of the Sigint "take". In return, the third parties to the NSA agreements received "highly sanitised intelligence".

Madsen said he was alarmed at the "sanctimonious outcry" of political leaders who were "feigning shock" about the spying operations while staying silent about their own arrangements with the US, and was particularly concerned that senior German politicians had accused the UK of spying when their country had a similar third party deal with the NSA.

Although the level of co-operation provided by other European countries to the NSA is not on the same scale as that provided by the UK, the allegations are potentially embarrassing.

"I can't understand how Angela Merkel can keep a straight face, demanding assurances from Obama and the UK while Germany has entered into those exact relationships," Madsen said.

Read the whole thing at Southport - UK Front Pages.

And it turns out this Madsen dude's a regular on 9/11 truth central's Prison Planet with Alex Jones.

And according this pro-Israel website, the dude's a raving anti-Semite, "Wayne Madsen Promotes Classic Anti-Semitism on Iran’s PressTV," and "So Typical of Wayne Madsen’s Paranoia, Da Joos “Control” Obama and Romney." (Follow the links at those entries.)

I'll update with developments, but it's pretty telling that the far-left Guardian went ahead with a front-page story, with the hard copy print runs already rolling, while sourcing a hardcore 9/11 truther and Jew-hating conspiracy theorist. Well, come to think of it, that's not too different from Glenn Greenwald's ideological program, so there you go.

PREVIOUSLY: "Glenn Greenwald Speaks on NSA Surveillance at Socialism 2013 Conference."

Glenn Greenwald Speaks on NSA Surveillance at Socialism 2013 Conference

I think it's pretty telling that these people (Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill who introduces him) are addressing a conference of Marxists, who are by definition anti-American. Greenwald goes on about how the main responsibility of journalism is to piss off those in power. I'm amazed at how radical leftists reject the idea that there is nothing that government might keep secret in the name of carrying out national security programs. Certainly more honesty and transparency in government is needed, especially under this administration, which has done nothing but lie about what it's doing, but the left's cries of tyranny would be much more credible if they were joined by widespread protests against the Democrats and calls for impeachment of President Obama. Progressives pushed for impeachment of President George W. Bush, to say nothing of multiple calls for war crimes trials for the entire membership of the hated Bush-Cheney cabal. One those who called for that very thing, who now talks a tough game on civil liberties while refusing to walk the walk, is the idiot Kevin Gosztola at Firedoglake.

He's got an entry on this up this afternoon, "Glenn Greenwald’s Speech to the Socialism Conference [with Transcript]." (Via Memeorandum.)