Senate Panel Expected to Vote on Syria

At LAT, "Draft Senate Syria resolution would limit use of force and time frame":

WASHINGTON – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday will consider a newly drafted resolution to authorize military force against the Syrian government that specifically rules out any commitment of ground forces and would narrow the time frame for action to no more than 90 days.

The panel’s top Democrat, Chairman Robert Menendez (N.J.), and top Republican, Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), reached an agreement on revisions to a resolution, which was sent to Congress by the White House on Saturday and was swiftly criticized by lawmakers in both parties as too broad.

The new language calls for the use of force “in a limited and tailored manner” against military targets in Syria for the purpose of responding to the Syrian government’s use of “weapons of mass destruction,” to deter the future use of such weapons and to degrade the nation’s capacity to use them in the future.

Congress’ authorization for the use of force would expire 60 days after it was approved, but the resolution would allow the president to extend the authorization by 30 days if he notified Congress that it was necessary and if Congress does not vote to forbid an extension.

The resolution also calls for the administration to provide within 30 days to key committees an “integrated” strategy toward achieving a settlement to Syria’s civil war.

“With this agreement, we are one step closer to granting the president the authority to act in our national security interest,” Menendez said in a statement.

Corker told CNN on Tuesday that the committee may vote on the revised proposal Wednesday.

And at the Hill, "Kerry seeks to convince reluctant lawmakers to back Syrian action."

And at BuzzFeed, "John Kerry Won’t Rule Out Ground Troops In Syria." (Via Memeoranum.)

Obama's Inept Foreign Policy

Here's this from Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today, "The president's Syria coalition (France) is dwarfed by the international coalition involved in the Iraq War."

But I think "inept" should read "clusterf-k." Must be a typo or something.

.341 BAC

Now this is something else, "When you read this girl's arrest story, you won't believe she's still alive." Via Instapundit.

I was joking around this weekend about having a "Jim Beam" hangover.

Okay, I'm back. Jim Beam messed up my Twitter time. #Vegas
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 1, 2013

That was some end-of-summer partying, although not being arrested like the young lady I have no clue what my BAC would have been. I'm at the hotel with my wife, with no plans to get behind the wheel of a car. So, let it rip!

Well, maybe not. I don't know what got into this lady to drink what was essentially 8 shots of vodka in about 15 minutes, and she weighs just 100 pounds. That's a recipe for death. She didn't see it that way, it turns out. Something of a college binge-drinking badge of honor. As the piece indicates:

Point three four one. That was the blood-alcohol content of a woman named Samantha Lynne Goudie, 22, who tried to jump onto the field during a Northern Illinois–Iowa game and got arrested for public intoxication. Once her mom bailed her out of jail, she tweeted from the Twitter handle @Vodka_samm (yes, really):

Just went to jail #yolo
— Samantha (@Vodka_samm) August 31, 2013

Blew a .341 in jail
— Samantha (@Vodka_samm) August 31, 2013

My mom had to get me out of jail and had to take a breathalizer #lmao
— Samantha (@Vodka_samm) August 31, 2013

My mom hates me too
— Samantha (@Vodka_samm) August 31, 2013

I'm going to get .341 tattooed on me because its so epic
— Samantha (@Vodka_samm) August 31, 2013

Well, Ima disagree with how "epic" this is --- she could have gotten herself killed.

Here's this from the University of Oklahoma Police Department, "PPROXIMATE BLOOD ALCOHOL PERCENTAGE":

0.20 BAC: Feeling dazed/confused or otherwise disoriented. May need help to stand/walk. If you injure yourself you may not feel the pain. Some people have nausea and vomiting at this level. The gag reflex is impaired and you can choke if you do vomit. Blackouts are likely at this level so you may not remember what has happened.

0.25 BAC: All mental, physical and sensory functions are severely impaired. Increased risk of asphyxiation from choking on vomit and of seriously injuring yourself by falls or other accidents.

0.30 BAC: STUPOR. You have little comprehension of where you are. You may pass out suddenly and be difficult to awaken.

0.35 BAC: Coma is possible. This is the level of surgical anesthesia.

0.40 BAC and up: Onset of coma, and possible death due to respiratory arrest.

More at Bro Bible, "Girl Blows .341 After Trying to Jump on the Field During Iowa Game, Tweets #YOLO About It."

YOLO = YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE.

But you might want to live a little longer, sweetie.

Still More: At Iowa's Little Village, "AMID A DISAPPOINTING LOSS AT KINNICK STADIUM YESTERDAY, A VODKA-SOAKED STAR IS BORN."

Boxer Tommy Morrison Dead: WBO Heavyweight Champ Also Played Tommy Gunn in 'Rocky V.'

He was so young.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Tommy Morrison dies at 44; former heavyweight boxing champion."

Former heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Morrison, who starred in the 1990 movie "Rocky V" and later saw his fighting career shortened by a positive HIV test, has died. He was 44.

Morrison died Sunday night at a Nebraska hospital, his former manager, Tony Holden, told the Associated Press. The fighter's family did not disclose the cause.

In 1993, Morrison beat George Foreman for the World Boxing Organization heavyweight belt but soon lost it and a looming $7.5 -million payday to unheralded challenger Michael Bentt. Morrison later lost to another former distinguished heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis.

"Tommy had a good left hook and quite a bit of ring savvy, and if his opponent was having a little bit of an off night, he'd win," said Bruce Trampler, the matchmaker for the boxing company Top Rank that promoted 27 of Morrison's 52 fights.

However, Morrison "was in obvious decline the last few years," Trampler said.

Nicknamed "The Duke," Morrison was born in 1969 in Gravette, Ark., and grew up in Oklahoma. He enjoyed a strong amateur career that was stopped short of a U.S. Olympic bid in a 1988 loss to Ray Mercer.

The 6-foot-2 boxer won his first 28 professional fights, including a victory over former champion Pinklon Thomas, and played Tommy Gunn opposite Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky V."

Illegal Marijuana Growers May Have Sparked Yosemite's Rim Fire

I've been meaning to post on this, for example, from the Los Angeles Times, "Yosemite fire grows to 348 square miles, 4th-largest in state history."

But see iOWNTHEWORLD, "Massive Yosemite blaze may have been sparked by illegal marijuana growers":

The massive forest fire that has scorched 348 square miles in and around Yosemite National Park may have been sparked by illegal marijuana growers, according to one fire official in Tuolumne County.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Todd McNeal, chief of the Twain Harte Fire Department, told a community meeting that it was “highly suspect that there might have been some sort of illicit grove, a marijuana-grow-type thing.”

McNeal, who has 23 years of experience with Forest Service, the National Park Service and other agencies, said at the Aug. 23 meeting that investigators know the fire is human caused since there was no lightening in the area.

Well, that's really "lighting one up."

Obama Recklessly Gambles with American Credibility

He's reckless alright. And cowardly

From the editors at the Wall Street Journal, "Leading From Behind Congress":

President Obama's Syrian melodrama went from bad to worse on Saturday with his surprise decision to seek Congressional approval for what he promises will be merely a limited cruise-missile bombing. Mr. Obama will now have someone else to blame if Congress blocks his mission, but in the bargain he has put at risk his credibility and America's standing in the world with more than 40 months left in office.

This will go down as one of the stranger gambles, if not abdications, in Commander in Chief history. For days his aides had been saying the President has the Constitutional power to act alone in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons, and that he planned to do so. On Friday, he rolled out Secretary of State John Kerry to issue a moral and strategic call to arms and declare that a response was urgent.

But on Friday night, according to leaks from this leakiest of Administrations, the President changed his mind. A military strike was not so urgent that it couldn't wait for Congress to finish its August recess and vote the week of its return on September 9. If the point of the bombing is primarily to "send a message," as the President says, well, then, apparently Congress must co-sign the letter and send it via snail mail.

It's hard not to see this as primarily a bid for political cover, a view reinforced when the President's political consigliere David Axelrod taunted on Twitter that "Congress is now the dog that caught the car." Mr. Obama can read the polls, which show that most of the public opposes intervention in Syria. Around the world he has so far mobilized mainly a coalition of the unwilling, with even the British Parliament refusing to follow his lead. By comparison, George W. Bush on Iraq looks like Metternich.

But what does anyone expect given Mr. Obama's foreign-policy leadership? Since he began running for President, Mr. Obama has told Americans that he wants to retreat from the Middle East, that the U.S. has little strategic interest there, that any differences with our enemies can be settled with his personal diplomacy, that our priority must be "nation-building at home," and that "the tide of war is receding." For two-and-a-half years, he has also said the U.S. has no stake in Syria.

A great piece that should be on everyone's reading list.

Read it all at the link.

'The aim of the kafkatrap is to produce a kind of free-floating guilt in the subject, a conviction of sinfulness that can be manipulated by the operator to make the subject say and do things that are convenient to the operator's personal, political, or religious goals...'

Be sure to read this post from William Jacobson, "Kafkatrapping."

And here's a confession: I've never read Franz Kafka.

But follow that llink. You'll immediately understand "Kafkatrapping" in all of its regressive glory.

Kate Moss for Versace

Here's the huge billboard outside the Versace store at the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace, seen last night when I had to run over to the Apple store to pick a new charger for my son's laptop.

And see London's Daily Mail from June, "Maybe blondes DON'T have more fun? Kate Moss turns brunette as she poses in sexy skintight latex for new Versace campaign."

Patriots Release Tim Tebow

I first saw the news on Twitter.

But here's WaPo, "A door closes: Tebow cut by Patriots but remains in ‘relentless pursuit’ of his NFL dream":

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — A Heisman Trophy, a riveting playoff game, an international following.

Tim Tebow won all that in his football career.

On Saturday, he lost his third NFL job in 18 months. It might be hard to find another.

The quarterback with two big problems — throwing the ball and reading defenses — was cut by the New England Patriots less than 12 weeks after they signed him and just five days before the season.

But, as Tebow sees it, this long journey is not over.

“I will remain in relentless pursuit of continuing my lifelong dream of being an NFL quarterback,” he tweeted.

Coach Bill Belichick gave the player whose profile was higher than his production what may have been his last chance when he signed him June 11, the day the Patriots’ three-day minicamp began. And Tebow is grateful.

He thanked Belichick, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and owner Robert Kraft, who said last Tuesday he was “rooting” for Tebow but would let Belichick make the decision.

In his tweet, Tebow thanked the “entire Patriots organization for giving me the opportunity to be a part of such a classy organization.”

The Patriots cut 12 other players and put safety Adrian Wilson on injured reserve. That left them with 51 players, two below the regular-season limit they had to reach by 6 p.m. EDT.

Belichick didn’t comment on Tebow’s release.

But NFL.com analyst and former NFL executive Gil Brandt wasn’t surprised.

“He has had a great career and I think it’s probably time for him to admit that he just wasn’t right up to NFL standards,” Brandt said. “I’m sure that whatever he does in life he’ll be a huge success.

No word there on whether being an outspoken evangelical hurt his chances.

But RTWT.

The Origins of 'London Calling'

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Sound of Going to Pieces."

Mick Jones: The initial inspiration for the song "London Calling" wasn't British politics. It was our fear of drowning. In 1979 we saw a headline on the front of the London Evening Standard warning that the North Sea might rise and push up the Thames, flooding the city. We flipped. To us, the headline was just another example of how everything was coming undone.

A fabulous interview.

More at the link.

Riot Grrrl Back From the Brink

At the New York Times, "Kathleen Hanna Returns With the Julie Ruin":

Donating her file cabinet, full of old journals, letters and zines to New York University’s Fales Library archive was a bittersweet move for Kathleen Hanna. A singer and founder of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill and the feminist electro-pop act Le Tigre, Ms. Hanna had been a den mother to contemporary-girl culture for a generation, but she was still only a midcareer artist, too young to grapple with archiving her work. The donation helped legitimize the riot grrrl movement.

But Ms. Hanna, 44, had more personal reasons for securing her legacy: She wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be around.

Timing has played a big part in Ms. Hanna’s creative life since she emerged from the DIY scene in Olympia, Wash., in the early 1990s. The brief but influential riot grrrl movement seemed to arrive at just the right moment, during debates about workplace harassment and young women’s sexuality, fresh issues that still resonate today. But over the last few years, even with a ‘90s revival in full swing and her view in high demand, Ms. Hanna had all but disappeared from public life.

The reason for her absence, as she is just beginning to reveal, was illness, depression and artistic flux. “I’m still not sure, day to day, if I’m going to wake up and be really sick,” she said.

Late in 2010, after six years of a mysterious and debilitating illness that often left her too weak to move or speak, she was finally diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease. She underwent two years of intensive therapy. Now on the mend, Ms. Hanna is returning in a big way.

She resurrected a 1997 solo project, Julie Ruin, as a band, the Julie Ruin; its debut album, “Run Fast,” is to be released Tuesday on TJR Records, a label formed by Ms. Hanna and her band mates. For the first time, the group is touring nationally, beginning with a sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday. And a documentary about her, “The Punk Singer,” which has been making the festival rounds since it had its premiere to warm reviews at South by Southwest this spring, is due to be in theaters in November.

Seeing these projects come to fruition at once is stressful but empowering, Ms. Hanna said. “I am like somebody who maxed out their credit cards because they thought they were going to die,” she said, “and I lived.”

Walking through Chelsea recently, she could fret fretted about a girly bit of overshare. Whether some overwrought teenage poetry was on view, in her bubble-letter handwriting, at the Fales’s Riot Girl Collection, where Ms. Hanna donated her work in 2010. That material and others were anthologized in “The Riot Grrrl Collection,” an anthology published this summer. Ms. Hanna further tells her story — including sexual abuse and naming Nirvana’s hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” — in the documentary, directed by Sini Anderson. Footage of her bopping onstage in her trademark high ponytail masked her illness; she announced a retirement of sorts from Le Tigre in 2005.

The Julie Ruin was reborn during her illness, as a way for Ms. Hanna to connect to her artistic identity. “I was like: ‘Is this who I am now, this sick person? This isn’t me,’ “ she said in an interview in a cafe not far from her Flatiron apartment, one of two homes she shares with her husband Adam Horovitz, a k a Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys. He encouraged her to sing as much as she could. “When I would practice and I would feel O.K., I saw me again,” she said.

She conceived the group as what she called her “dream band,” with players from different walks of her life: on bass, her Bikini Kill band mate Kathi Wilcox; on guitar, Sara Landeau, an instructor at the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, where Ms. Hanna occasionally teaches; on drums, her friend Carmine Covelli; and Kenny Mellman, Herb of the cabaret act Kiki & Herb, as a keyboardist and songwriter. They rehearsed casually around town and at Ms. Hanna’s New Jersey home — “I can’t call it jamming, because I hate that; I don’t jam,” she said — without considering where it would lead.

According to Ms. Wilcox, “When she approached me to join the band, she was sort of like, ‘We may never tour, we may never make a record, but we’re just doing this now for fun, because I need to.’ “

More at that top link.

David Frost Has Died

For a minute I was thinking, "And what am I supposed to remember about him?"

And then it came to me, the Frost/Nixon interview.

See the New York Times, "David Frost, Known for Nixon Interview, Dies at 74."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "David Frost: A self-producing, self-perpetuating brand of his own."

Tonya Harris, 34, Placed on Administrative Leave After Having Sex With 17-Year-Old 'Boy'

Hmm.

I guess this one's close to the line of impropriety (or propriety). I mean, really, the "boy" was 17. Maybe if they'd taken it to the bedroom it wouldn't have been as big a deal.

At London's Daily Mail, "Lunch lady, 34, 'had sex with 17-year-old school boy as others watched at alcohol-fueled house party'."



She was the "lunch lady" too. I'm sure folks can come up with a couple of good one-liners for that.

But see R.S. McCain for the other side of this issue, "Washington Post Publishes Jailbait Apologist (Ain’t I Done Told You So?)."

And seriously, this is so wrong even Scott Lameiux agrees, at Lawyers, Gays and Mofos, "#WaPoPitch: G. Todd Baugh Was Right!"

(And speaking of mofos, I been trolling Lameiux like a bat outta hell, the freakin' butt-pain regressive.)

Added: More from the Colorado Springs Gazette, "Affidavit: D-49 food service worker hosted alcohol-fueled parties for students."

'Severe Internet Addiction'

Well, speaking of addictions, I've gotta throw Mandy Nagy some linkage, at Legal Insurrection, "Severe Internet Addiction” – Is there any other type?"

RTWT.

Ima embed this video, with Mandy's comments:

If this video below is indicative of anything you’ve ever experienced (I know I’ve been there), maybe forcing ourselves to think about how much time we spend with the internet and our gadgets really isn’t such a bad idea.

FBI Ramps Up Surveillance of Syrians Inside U.S.

Well, you'd think we'd be having protests against the administration's "racial profiling" all over the country. Or, well, wrong administration. My bad.

At NYT, "F.B.I. Sharpens Scrutiny of Syrians in U.S.":

The F.B.I. has increased its surveillance of Syrians inside the United States in response to concerns that a military strike against the government of President Bashar al-Assad could lead to terrorist attacks here or against American allies and interests abroad, according to current and former senior United States officials.

The government has also taken the unusual step of warning federal agencies and private companies that American military action in Syria could spur cyberattacks, the officials said. There were no such alerts before previous military operations, like the one against Libya in 2011.

The authorities are particularly concerned because Iran — one of Mr. Assad’s closest allies — has said there will be reprisals against Israel if the United States attacks Syria. The Iranians have also shown a willingness to sponsor terrorist attacks on American targets, according to the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing operation.

“They’re not starting from scratch — the field offices know what they have in terms of sources and investigations, but this is a directive for them to redouble their efforts and check their traps,” one senior American official said.

Senior national security officials at F.B.I. headquarters in Washington have told the bureau’s field offices in recent days to follow up with sources who have ties to Syrians in an attempt to find talk or evidence of a retaliatory strike, the officials said. And Syrians implicated in continuing investigations will be put under even closer scrutiny, the officials said.

The Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. have also sent out a classified bulletin alerting federal, state and local law enforcement officials of potential threats created by the Syria conflict, the officials said. A senior F.B.I. official declined to comment.

More at that top link.

Charles Krauthammer: Obama Made U.S. Look Like it 'Chickened Out' of Military Strike on Syria

There's no other conclusion.

As I noted earlier today, there's no coherent reason why Obama needs to go to Congress for legislative authorization. The president could act under his powers as Commander-in-Chief, give notice to Congress under the War Powers Act, and that would have been it. Should the mission require a long-term presence, he then could have gone before the nation to make the case, and then have asked for a congressional resolution.

But listen to Krauthammer, who pulls no punches in slamming Obama for further weakening America in the eyes of the world.

At Scared Monkeys, "Charles Krauthammer Slams Obama … “It’s Amateur Hour” … “Obama Boxed Himself into a Corner …" (via Memeorandum).

#Vegas Beggar Dude Needs a Beer

My kinda panhandler, on the bridge between the MGM Grand and New York New York hotels, Las Vegas, Nevada.



I'm in Vegas for the holiday weekend with my wife and youngest boy. I've been posting photos and commentary to Twitter.

Overdue Rule 5

I should soon get back to posting my big Rule 5 roundups, but today I wanted to mostly throw some linkage to Dana Pico, who has been very generous in linking American Power.

So here we go, over at First Street Journal, "From Around the Blogroll."

Also, "With liberals, the first casualty is always the truth."

And see, "Rule 5 Blogging: From Portugal."

*************

Now, for some limited Rule 5 linkage:

See Subject to Change, "Rule 5 in the Kitchen."

And at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is an evil plastic bottle that’s evil not because they make a mess of the environment, but because of CO2, you might just be a Warmist."

And at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart (on Wednesday) - In my opinion the hottest model on the planet bar none..."

And from Proof Positive, "Friday Night Babe: Doutzen Kroes!"

Also at Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

And ICYMI, at the Other McCain, "Bitches Be Cray-Cray: A Heteropatriarchal Theory of Non-Transformative Justice."

PHOTO: Sabine Jemeljanova.

NOTICE: Ima try posting Rule 5 roundups more frequently, so if you're looking from some linkage drop your babes at the comments. Or send them to me by email. (This invitation does not apply to depraved troll rights harassers, who will be reported to the proper authorities for criminal stalking and intimidation.)

President Barack O-Bomba Goes to War

President O-Bomba: The biggest left-wing antiwar hypocrite, now the Commander-in-Chief who's war policy is completely incoherent.

At least this gives the ANSWER Stalinists a fresh issue for their never-ending campaign against racist American imperial aggression.

See, "Hands Off Syria - Take action against U.S. intervention!"

.@ExposeLiberals President Barack O-Bomba goes to war. #Democrat #Hypocrites #Syria @Instapundit @RSMcCain pic.twitter.com/ByKt7GzXwf
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 31, 2013

And more on antiwar public opinion at Guardian UK, "President Obama should listen to US and UK public: don't strike Syria."

Obama Wants Congressional Approval for Syria Strike

At the Hill, "Obama to seek congressional approval for Syrian military strike" (via Memeorandum).

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Obama Seeks Congressional Backing for Syria Strike":

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Saturday he is prepared to take military action if necessary against Syria for the alleged use of chemical weapons against its own people, but said he will seek authorization from Congress before moving forward.

"This menace must be confronted," Mr. Obama vowed in an address from the White House Rose Garden, arguing for using force to punish the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Not acting, he said, "risks making a mockery of the global prohibition on the use of chemical weapons."

"I'm ready to act in the face of this outrage. Today I am asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation," Mr. Obama said.

The president has faced criticism on the political left and right, with some lawmakers arguing against a military response and others demanding more information about any U.S. mission in advance of a presidential order. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), in particular, had pushed Mr. Obama to consult with Congress about his plans for military action.

Mr. Obama said he's talked with leaders in Congress and they've agreed to schedule a debate on using force as soon as they return from their August recess on Sept. 9, though lawmakers could be called back earlier.

The president said the effectiveness of any U.S. military strike, which he vowed would be limited, is "not time sensitive."

"It could be effective tomorrow, or next week or one month from now," Mr. Obama said. He said he is aware that the United Nations and some countries may not agree with his decision. He said he's prepared to go forward without their approval.

Not acting, he said, could lead to an escalation of chemical-weapons use and embolden countries that are seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Mr. Obama's comments follow a week of high tensions about whether the U.S. would strike Syria. And it comes after the administration made a public argument for a forceful American response and took the unusual step of making public evidence from the intelligence community that it had "high confidence" the Assad regime deployed chemical weapons against civilians on Aug. 21.

I don't know. The congressional politics of this won't be conducive to quick military action nor to our military objectives. But hey, there's little popular support, so O-Bomba has no choice.

More at the Los Angles Times, "Getting Congress to OK military action in Syria could be tough."