More on Amazon Affiliates

I know I've posted on this, but I'm still bothered by the Democrat budget in California, which imposes taxes on online sales from the state, also known as the "Amazon tax," since one of the biggest companies affected is Amazon.com. One of the things I miss about being an affiliate, is that whenever I mentioned a book --- which is pretty often --- I would link to Amazon's associate's link and I could earn a referral commission. That's not an option any more. So now it seems weird linking books knowing that a referral fee could be earned --- and an earning opportunity lost. Anyway, Robert Stacy McCain wrote about his referral success. Every now and then a reader will buy an expensive product through a referral link and that sends a large commission to the blogger. Some time back a reader bought an $800 bunk bed through my links, and I received a hefty commission for the purchase. That was nice. And Robert writes on those as well:

Somebody got a sweet deal — only $499! — on that piece of high-end home video equipment via one of the Amazon links here, which earned me a sweet $20 commission through the Amazon Associates program.

And Robert shares this video of Jeff Bezos:

Meanwhile, I rarely link him but I'll break my rule to send readers to Little Green Footballs for some lulz. Charles Johnson is perterbed by Amazon's decision to pull out of the state, but not so much that Democrat tax hikes are destroying free enterprise in California.

Typical. Charles Johnson's a bleeding-heart progressive with psychological problems. No surprise he'd back big government over business.

Anyway, Common Sense Political Thought has an entry, "Amazon.com going Galt Updated, Saturday morning."

And at Los Angeles Times, "Amazon, California play waiting game in sales tax fight":

Amazon.com Inc. is sticking by its vow not to collect California sales tax on Internet purchases — and state officials must decide what to do about it.

But the showdown over the new tax collection law that took effect Friday could be months away. Companies don't send the taxes to the state until the end of each quarter, which means the California Board of Equalization won't know officially about Amazon's refusal to collect them until Oct. 1.

The tax-collecting agency said Amazon accounts for about half the Internet sales in California from large out-of-state firms that, prior to the new law, did not have to collect sales tax for the state. It said the new law would capture about $317 million a year in sales taxes that previously went uncollected.

Amazon, based in Seattle, has said repeatedly that it would not collect the California sales tax, calling it an unconstitutional infringement on interstate commerce.

Such defiance sets up a major legal battle by this fall, though Amazon could first challenge the law in court, as it has in New York. It has lost a trial court ruling there and has an appeal pending.

Amazon is "going to fight in every state where it can fight," said Tracey G. Sellers, managing director of the Tampa, Fla., office of tax firm True Partners Consulting. "It's going to be years before this whole issue is settled" in the courts.

Amazon declined to say whether it would sue to overturn the new California statute, though state officials expect a lawsuit.

More at that link above, but California officials are looking to novel ways at making this unconstitutional law work:

The new law also gives the Board of Equalization the authority to develop new theories that would establish a nexus or legal connection, making Amazon liable for collecting California sales taxes.

"This swings the gate wide open to establish nexus as we see fit," said Betty Yee, a board member who spearheaded the agency's support for the law. But she acknowledged that any other theories the board devises would probably be tested in court.

As wee see fit? Gotcha.

Rare Pre-Halloween Storm Blankets East Coast With Snow

A report at Fox News, "Early Storm Pelts East Coast With Wet, Heavy Snow." And at New York Times, "Nearly Two Million Lose Power as Snow Coats Region."

And Dana Pico has pictures, at Common Sense Political Thought, "Afternoon Snow Pictures":

The War on High Earners

Things are getting very interesting!

Dr. Hussein Birdbrain has provided the link to Daniel Gross' piece over at Slate, "War on the Rich?" The basic meme here is that there's in fact no such thing as a war on wealth - it's a GOP sham.

To make that case, of course, leftists have to demonize conservative and "John Galters" as "stupid," or worse. Check out Jesse Taylor, for example:

I one day hope to earn enough money to consider acting like an irrational asshole and having it become national news ...

Steve Benen has a wrapup of why this is economically stupid, but what I wanted to talk about is this bizarre idea that going John Galt is in any way intelligent or feasible. John Galt is an expression of narcissistic self-destruction, the central character in a novel that expresses undeveloped adolescent frustration with being so fucking great that the world can’t even handle your greatness. Going John Galt requires you to be simultaneously so successful that it matters whether or not you do it, and so dumb that you’d consider making yourself worse off than you’d ever be under the terrible plan you’re avoiding. You imagine these lawyers, dentists and others, incapable of doing basic math yet possessed of sets of specialized skills, shuddering in the face of adversity as simple as having to mail in a rebate form while simultaneously rubbing their fingers over their tax returns, their top 2% Adjusted Gross Income proof positive that they’re smarter and of more use to society than the mechanic they screamed at because sparkplugs are fucking made up bullshit and everyone knows it.

What's interesting about this is not just Mr. Taylor's profane excoriation of market conservatives who might not want the state taking MORE of their money (on principle that they would rather reduce their own productivity than feed the freedom-crushing the beast of the state), but also that as evidenced by his link to Wikipedia, I'm betting Mr. Taylor's never read the book.

Of course, Matthew Yglesias hasn't read it, but that didn't stop him from attacking the "nightmare scenarios" of the revolt of the "titans of high finance."

The non-book reading collectivists are like that though: Kick, cuss, and then confiscate, and then let the commissariats sort out the rest

Man it's going to be a long four years...

Hat Tip: Common Sense Political Thought.

Protesters Seize Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley (VIDEO) -- Plus, Police Close Roads to UC Santa Cruz as Campus Comes Under Seige!

From Oakland's KTVU TV, "Protesters Take Over Wheeler Hall On UC Berkeley Campus":

A group of approximately 40 students protesting the fee hikes approved by University of California Regents Thursday have reportedly taken over Wheeler Hall on the UC Berkeley campus Friday morning.

KTVU has received reports that a group of students are currently occupying the building. UC campus police have cordoned off the building with police tape as eight or nine additional squad cars arrived to address the situation.

Students could be seen hanging out of windows on upper floors at Wheeler Hall. There are reports that police have already used pepper spray in one confrontation with the students. Officers appear to be preparing to make arrests in an effort to regain control of the building.

The students are taking a stand against the fee hike approved by Regents Thursday that will push the cost of undergraduate education to more than $10,000 a year.

Click here for KTVU video report.

Plus, at San Jose Mercury News, "Police Close Roads Due to Protesting UC Santa Cruz Students."

RELATED: " ‘Mobilizing Conference’ for Public Schools Revives ’60s-Era Campus Radicalism."

**********
UPDATE: From Common Sense Political Thought, "Oh, the poor dears! Their tuition is too high, so they want poorer people to have to dig a little deeper to pay for their own privileged educations."

And here's more video, via the San Francisco Chronicle and Memeorandum:

Full Metal Saturday: Kristin Cavallari

Well folks, it's been a busy week blogging the culture wars, but I'm taking time out here for a little double-duty on babe-blogging. Readers might have missed my regular midweek "Rule 5 Rescue," so I'm going double-barrel with some hot Kristin Cavallari action! Ms. Cavallari's a local Laguna Beach hottie who was the leading personality during Season 2 of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County:

Readers will recall that Full Metal Saturday owes its origins to Robert Stacy McCain's pathbreaking post, "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year." I call Robert "The Hustler," not only for his recognition as one of the hardest working bloggers in the blogosphere, but for the growing influence of his program of shameless blog whoring! Today's case in point is Michael van der Galien of PoliGazette, who's introducing a new feature at his site called "Link Mess." But I should note that Steven Givler, who was featured here last week, is also a reader of The Other McCain. Now, note something else: When my friend Carol at No Sheeples Here! expressed some reservations about "Rule 5" blogging, Robert put up an interesting post on the subject, where he noted:

Conservatives must rid themselves of the Dean Vernon Wormer mindset ("No more fun of any kind!") and instead try to put the "party" back into the Republican Party. Stop trying to be the uptight, respectable Omegas. Let's bring a hell-raising, fun-loving Delta House mentality to the task at hand ...

Well, I'll tell ya: It looks like a number of conservative bloggers have taken the hint, especially the ladies! Fausta Wertz puts out some classic Rule 5 blogging this week with a couple of entries, "Captain Underpants" (featuring a "hirsute" Tom Selleck) and "About those hairless chests ..." Fausta links to Neo-Neocon, who not only offers a lengthy analysis of "men waxing their chests," but the post sports a shot of some pretty hunky beefcake! Plus, Monique Stuart's playing both sides of the fence with some hot Katy Perry Rule 5 action! Now that's what I'm talking about! And don't miss Pundette & Pundette, who's got her weekend link-fest up today, with some hot buns in there to boot! If I'm omitting any entries from the ladies, just send me an e-mail and I'll add your post to this entry. And with that, on to the guys! I've got to get a couple of my blog buddies fired up for some Rule 5 revelry! Dana at Common Sense Political Thought might post an update his hot Helen Mirren entry, and Stogie at Saberpoint might well be afflicted by the Dean Vernor Wormer mindset! Let's also put some pressure on my friends Dave in Boca and William Jacobson. Come on guys, break loose with some babe blogging! And check out Lance Burri to see how it's done, "Of Rule #5, YouTube, and commercials indeterminate, persuasive, and unpleasant." Dude, it's getting hot in here! And don't even get me going about John Althouse Cohen! But wait! This just in: "The Hustler's" got breaking news on Lindsay Lohan: "EX-DISNEY STARLET LINDSAY LOHAN REPORTEDLY DUMPED BY LESBIAN GF SAMANTHA RONSON . . ." Okay, switching gears a bit, don't forget that a number of our good friends have no time for breast blogging. They're busy doing even more important work: Tea Party blogging! Moe Lane's got a great post on the 12 whole anti-capitalist protesters - that's right just 12 - who turned out for the left's epic-fail copycat protest in Washington, D.C., one of the "New Way Forward" demonstrations that are modeled after the conservative movement's emerging "Second American Revolution." Conservatives are getting fired up on this, of course. Check out Point of a Gun, with some coverage of Maryland's Tea Party protests. Little Miss Attila is gearing up for her events, but check out Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit with all kinds of links to Tea Party action nationwide. As always, if I've missed anyone just send me a quick note and I'll add your post here in an update. Otherwise, keep up the Rule 5 hotness!

Tea Parties Spark Conservative Insurgency Online

Via Glenn Reynolds, check out this Fox News report, "Move Over, MoveOn: Tea Parties Spark Conservative Insurgency Online":

Conservatives may be catching up with their liberal counterparts in building a Web-driven, grassroots campaign to push their agenda.

The online insurgency-in-the-making revolves around the so-called tea parties, the anti-tax protests popping up around the country that they expect to culminate Wednesday -- tax day -- with hundreds of rallies nationwide.

The movement, which expanded over the last two months via the Web, is now relying heavily on independent media Web sites to track and cover the campaign.

The digital evolution of conservative activists comes too late to help John McCain, whose new media arm was left in the dust by President Obama's campaign. But organizers are holding out hope that this movement has juice.

"It's thoroughly viral," said Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit.com blogger who hosts an online news show for the Web site Pajamas TV.

Pajamas TV is on the frontlines of new media coverage for the tea parties. The Web site already has covered some protests and is pledging to recruit an army of citizen journalists, working without pay, to cover the hundreds of protests on April 15.

Roger L. Simon, co-founder of the blog network Pajamas Media, which includes Pajamas TV, said the site went after tea party coverage because the mainstream media didn't.

He said Pajamas TV has more than 200 people registered to report on Wednesday's tea parties. He said they'll send in text reports, as well as videos and photos, to drive what he expects to be about 12 straight hours of online coverage.

"They'll be across the country essentially," he said, calling the operation a "big experiment."

"What will the quality of these reports be? Variable of course," Simon said. "But that's the nature of the beast."

The Web site currently features extensive footage of Tea Party protests, including interviews with activists and roundtable discussions.

From here, Simon wants to use the network of volunteer reporters for future assignments. Reynolds, who is also a law professor at the University of Tennessee, said he'll cover the protest in Knoxville and then return to co-anchor an online broadcast from his home.

There's more at the link.

See also:

* Common Sense Political Thought, "Mob Populism."

* Moe Lane, "I’d just like to note for the record ..."

* Nice Deb, "The Confused Critics of the Tax Day Tea Parties."

* Robert Stacy McCain, "Sully and the Tea Party Truthers."

* Paco Enterprises, "Protest is not a Leftwing Monopoly."

* Valley of the Shadow, "The Story of Icarus and the Democrats."

Switching to WordPress?

Dana at Common Sense Political Thought often nudges me to switch to WordPress. I'm not so much against it as I'm not that unsatisfied with Blogger. Sure, folks say migrating over to WordPress is superior, and most of the biggest blogs on the web use it (Dana Loesch, Hot Air, Instapundit at Pajamas, Jules Crittenden, Michelle Malkin, and RightWingNews, for some random examples). But I recall Ann Althouse writing about Blogger migration issues sometime back. She said she had no intention of leaving Blogger, mainly because of free hosting (and general dependability). It's not that she was being cheap or anything. It was that she had lots of stuff online. I recall she mentioned her podcasts at the time. They were just sitting there, not being used, and she was paying for it. With Blogger, as long as the company's in business your blog is parked, for free. I like that. (This is my second blog, and my first one's still over there, ready to raid as a resource from time to time.) My issue now is photo-hosting. It's the only thing I pay for, at Photobucket. I works pretty good, although Stogie got pissed with 'em for false promotional claims (they have this screwy "bandwidth" limit every month, and in fact that's why I went pro at the time). If I switch from Photobucket, my older pics now at American Power will deactivate. Still, it's something I'm thinking about. How's Flickr working out for folks?

Anyway, though, Smitty at The Other McCain was talking trash on how hot the WordPress makeover at Robert's blog has been, and he notes:

On a technical note, the power of WordPress to support these FMJRAs is astounding .... Two points: we should have gone to the WordPress platform sooner, and people still in the Blogger ghetto should consider switching to a WordPress site, if only for the joy of better trackback/pingback coverage. My, don’t we sound just a tad bit uppity now that we’ve got our own domain and stuff?

"FMJRA" is "Full-Metal Jacket Reach-Around" for those not familiar with "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year." But I think Smitty spoke a little too early (and I'm just ribbing him a bit), even though he was mostly kidding around. I was checking over there last night for some on-the-ground reporting from Massachusetts, where Robert's working the Scott Brown freelance beat, and I got this error message:

It says "If you can see this page, the people who manage this server have installed ..."

In other words, our server's crashed right now. Check back later. I haven't talked to Robert since he was covering the BCS championship, but this isn't the first time their blog's gone down. So, while it's hot and all that -- WordPress is working better as a technical platform -- it's kind of a bummer for regular readers and fellow bloggers when one can't get on the site. (That's a hosting issue, not WordPress per se, but still ...) That's of course hardly ever a problem on Blogger, although it's happened a couple of times. Since they redid the Blogger template a couple of years back, the program has been super dependable. I can only remember one or two times when I couldn't get on my dashboard, and the whole service has gone out maybe once. That, along with the pricing, is attractive for folks, and of course Blogger is EASY!! I'm still figuring out how to do stuff. So, yeah, one of these days I too will migrate to WordPress. I'd enjoy something with a way more professional look, especially if my blogging keeps going well and getting popular (as it has this last year or so). In the meanwhile, I'm cool on Blogger. But if anyone's got some ideas for photo-hosting I'm all ears!

Salahis Speak Out on 'Today Show', Play Victim Card: 'Our Lives Have Been Destroyed'; Matt Lauer Gives Party Crashers Free Pass on Islamist Ties!

Gateway Pundit has the headline, "The Radical Salahis Stick With Their Story – Say They Were Invited to White House."

But check the video:

The key moment is at about 1:30 minutes. Matt Lauer asks the couple if they've been "mischaracterized" by the media. Tareq and Michaele plead they've been devastated: "Our lives have been destroyed." The couple is totally evasive throughout the entire interview, and Lauer -- who asks some pointed questions -- lets these fame-seekers off the hook. He asks only one follow up question, saying he wants to be "more specific," but is stonewalled again by the Salahis. They plead the the truth will come out in the Secret Service investigation, but the couple's radical ties to ATFP never come up. Lauer drops the ball and skips any mention of the White House's epic security breach, and especially the key role that Desiree Rogers -- the Obamas' hand-groomed Social Secretary and flak-catcher -- had in creating the scandal.

Give Lauer credit for exposing the Salahis' fraud in the early part of the interview, where they refuse to respond to questions about their Pentagon e-mails. Otherwise, way too sweet of an appearance. These people are not victims. They're glamor-seekers, and stuff's hitting the fan now. As Michelle Malkin indicated today, there's lots more here than meets the eye. See, ""Crashergate, Desiree Rogers, and the Chicago Way: Land of no consequences; Update: House Panel to Hold Hearing."

More at Hot Air, "Video: Crashers Deny Crashing White House party." Also, the Los Angeles Times, "State Dinner Crashers Exchanged E-Mails with Pentagon Official." (via Memeorandum).

ADDED: Linked at Common Sense Political Thought, "Oh, the Poor Dears! See also, Camp of the Saints, "A FISHY MAIN COURSE."

Crowley is 'Sole Class Act' at White House Beer Summit

Via Fausta and Nice Deb, check out Thomas Lifson, "Obama's Revealing Body Language":

This picture truly is worth at least a thousand words.

I am stunned that the official White House Blog published this picture and that it is in the public domain. The body language is most revealing.

Sergeant Crowley, the sole class act in this trio, helps the handicapped Professor Gates down the stairs, while Barack Obama, heedless of the infirmities of his friend and fellow victim of self-defined racial profiling, strides ahead on his own. So who is compassionate? And who is so self-involved and arrogant that he is oblivious?

In my own dealings with the wealthy and powerful, I have always found that the way to quickly capture the moral essence of a person is to watch how they treat those who are less powerful. Do they understand that the others are also human beings with feelings? Especially when they think nobody is looking.

More at the link.

See also, Ron Radosh, "Lessons of the Teaching Moment." And Memeorandum.

Added: See the great post from Dana at Common Sense Political Thought, "The Beer Summit."

Sarah Palin: Going Rogue Cover Shot, Book Description Now Available

TrogloPundit's been having fun with the Sarah Palin photo I posted the other day at my Going Rogue announcement. So perhaps now's a good time to say a few words about Ms. Palin ...

It turn's out that Fire Andrea Mitchell tweeted the cover-photo for the book jacket of the autobiograpy, Going Rogue: An American Life. I've posted the picture at the sidebar. Click here to pre-order. See also, Conservatives for Sarah Palin, "The Cover to "Going Rogue: An American Life"; Updated: Harper Collins Book Description Added."

There's also an interesting story up at Politico, "Palin Co-Author: Evangelical, Partisan." It turns out that Palin's co-author is Lynn Vincent, who wrote Donkey Cons with Robert Stacy McCain:

There are at least three types of politicians' books. One is the overtly autobiographical, in which an aspiring candidate casts his or her life in heroic terms. Another is the careful, policy-heavy memoir. Some of those, like Obama's "The Audacity of Hope," feed public curiosity, but more often disappear without a ripple. (Remember John Kerry's "A Call to Service"? Didn't think so.) The more commercially promising sort is the third kind, the fire-breathing partisan tract.

Palin's choice of Vincent suggests that hers will be, emphatically, a partisan tract. And it is of a piece with a post-election posture in which the nation's most intensely popular, and most intensely unpopular, Republican has chosen to deepen her bond with her base at the cost of antipathy from the independent voters who decide presidential elections.

"Sarah Palin is not a Washington person - that's her whole schtick - so she's not going to get some inside the Beltway writer," said Sara Nelson, a longtime publishing industry watcher who is books editor of Oprah Winfrey's Magazine, "O."

"The success of this book will rise and fall on how much it appeals to the Christian right," Nelson said. She called Vincent "a smart choice," if a surprising one, given that Palin was represented in her dealings with publisher HarperCollins by the ultimate Beltway insider, lawyer Robert Barnett, who also handles Obama's book projects and those of dozens of other Washington eminences.

I'm betting interest is going to explode in upcoming weeks. I'm just LOVING that hyper-partisan angle. And Palin's going to start raking in so much PAC-cash it's ridiculous!

And, from Glenn Reynolds, "SARAH PALIN’S BOOK remains #1 on Amazon. Quite impressive, given the media hostility."

Anyway, Smitty at The Other McCain's got some additional samples from the Troglopundit experiment, "Sarah Palin AutoMotivator."

Plus, see my friend Dana over at "Common Sense Political Thought," and also, Ginny Ray at Obi’s Sister, The Blog Prof, and The Rhetorican.

Rule 5 Rescue: Katy Perry

Well, it's time for American Power's midweek Rule 5 Rescue. The series, if you recall, is inspired by Robert Stacy McCain's landmark post, "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year."

Katy Perry is this week's featured hottie for a couple of reasons: (1) My son likes her music, and we often watch VH1 videos together on the weekend. Katy Perry's actually bouncy, wholesome, and fun, much more so than the attractive but a bit raunchy Lady Gaga; and (2) John Hawkins had posted links to Katy Perry - IN A BIKINI - the other day at Conservative Grapevine, which pretty much clinched the deal.

And that reminds me of something while we're on the topic of blogging hotties.

Some folks might be thinking babe-blogging is "un-conservative." When Dana at Common Sense Political Thought put up a respectable post on Helen Mirren - IN A BIKINI - one of his commenters threw cold water on the essay at the thread: "Oh dear. I hope this won’t become a regular happening. Your quality writing is more than enough! While Mirren is mighty and marvelous, no more please." And this wasn't satirical ribbing.

But think about it? What better way to build a blog community and have a little fun? Only an uptight feminist would decry babe-blogging for the "objectification" and "exploitation" of women. But forget about that: Remember what Little Miss Attila says, "There is a marked tendency for heterosexual men to be interested in women." Plus, conservative woman are masters at the genre, for example, in Monique Stewart's post on health care affordability topped off with a HOT PHOTO OF A BURSTING PAMELA ANDERSON!

Really, I think most folks on the right would rather read bloggers who regularly link to the nightly bedtime totties at Theo Spark's than wind up like Ross Douthat, who while in college, rebuffed the dorm-room sexual importunings of a Reese Witherspoon-lookalike who was "drunkenly masticating" his "neck and cheeks."

As the old Schlitz beer advertisment used to say,''You only go around once in life, so you have to grab for all the gusto you can get!"

Besides, if you're jonesing for content in a down cycle of interesting news content, you can always say, "When in doubt . . . blog about Britney. Or Scarlett Johansson. Or Natalie Portman. Or Anne Hathaway. Or Lindsay Lohan."

**********

Previously: "Rule 5 Rescue: Paulina Porizkova."

Obama: Community Colleges Can Boost Economy

From CNN, "Obama: Community Colleges Can Help Boost Ailing Economy":

Community colleges are only two-year institutions, but the Obama administration says they could play a key role in helping boost the ailing economy for years to come.

To underscore that contention Tuesday, the president unveiled the American Graduation Initiative, a 10-year, $12 billion plan to invest in community colleges.

During his announcement at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, Obama noted that the economic recession and a changing U.S. economy have reduced the number of automotive industry jobs, a mainstay in Michigan.

The "hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won't be coming back. They are casualties of a changing economy," Obama said, adding that "even before this recession hit, we were faced with an economy that was simply not creating or sustaining enough new, well-paying jobs."

Also, see Dana Pico's related essay at Common Sense Political Thought, "Donald Douglas and the Community College System (with links to my recent essays on blogging and teaching at the two-year college level).

Korean Air Rule 5 – Special Linkmaster Smith Farewell Edition!

Linkmaster Smith – a.k.a Smitty at The Other McCain and the conserva-sphere's babe-blog aggregator par excellence – will soon deploy to Afghanistan. Word has it that a new hipster, Wombat Socho, will be taking over the honors. Apparently the Wombat's still getting up to speed on the ways of the RSS feed, although Ruby Slippers indicates temporary workarounds are available for non-Wordpress bloggers – so as not to miss out on the festivities. (And no doubt Opus_6 will be pleased!)

And number of the Linkmaster's friends paid tribute:

• Common Sense Political Thought
• Cubachi
• DaTechguy
• Fishersville Mike
• Hillbilly Politics
• SI VIS PACEM
• Obi`s Sister
• Little Miss Attila
• The Lonely Conservative
• Mind Numbed Robot
• No Runny Eggs
• No Sheeples Here
• Point of a Gun
• Piece of Work in Progress
• Proof Positive
• The Prudence Paine Papers
• Red State Eclectic
• Right Wing News
• Stark Raving Love
• Suzy Rice
• SWACgirl
• That Mr. Guy
• theblogprof
• The Camp of the Saints
• Troglopundit really brought the love.
• The Conservative Pup
• Dustbury
• The Frugal Cafe
• Left Coast Rebel
• Parc Bench
• Red State
• The Minority Report
• Pirates Cove
• Uncoverage
• WyBlog

And other well-known regulars include the veteran William at Pirate's Cove, as well as Bob Belvedere and Irish Cicero, plus The Real United States.

Theo's been on fire lately, so don't miss that. And bonus blogging from Jimmy Bise, "Clearing the Browser Tabs – A Sunny Sunday Edition."

**********

And be sure to visit some of the other friends of American Power:

* Another Black Conservative.

* Astute Bloggers (Honorary).

* Blazing Cat Fur.

* The Blog Prof.

* Bob Belvedere.

* Classical Liberal.

* Daley Gator.

* Kathy Shaidle.

* Left Coast Rebel.

* Maggie's Notebook.

* Mind Numbed Robot.

* Not a Sheep.

* Pirate's Cove.

* POWIP.

* The Other McCain.

* Reaganite Republican (Honorary).

* Right Klik (Honorary).

* Saberpoint (Honorary).

* Serr8d (Honorary).

* Snooper's Report (Honorary).

* Stormbringer.

* Theo Spark.

* Washington Rebel.

* WyBlog.

* YankeePhil.

* Zion's Trumpet.

BONUS: Don't forget Instapundit.

And drop your link in the comments to be added to the weekly bikini roundups!

Rule 5 Rescue: Helen Mirren

Well, I wasn't planning a "Rule 5 Rescue" entry this week, but I'm pleased to see Dana Pico's put up a fabulous picture of Helen Mirren as his introductory contribution to the genre (see, "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year").

I've enjoyed Helen Mirren's movies a for a long time. I took my mom to see Calendar Girls when it was in theaters in 2004, and I saw The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover back in 1989 or so, and that was an interesting but unusual movie.

I'll tell you though, seeing Helen Mirren in a bikini has engendered a newfound appreciation of Ms. Mirren's skills.

Don't miss Dana Pico's blog, Common Sense Political Thought, for some hard-hitting conservative commentary (and now apparently some hot chicks!).

Obama Stiffs Gay Rights Groups - Again!

That seems to be the meme, according to John Aravosis at AmericaBlog, "Where's the Beef?":

What did President Obama say new tonight? Absolutely nothing. What did the Human Rights Campaign get in exchange for once again giving our president cover for all of his broken promises to our community? Absolutely nothing.

Obama's not stupid, of course. Note this week's survey at Pew Research, "Most Still Oppose Gay Marriage, but Support for Civil Unions Continues to Rise." That's right. A majority still opposes same-sex marriage, but an even larger majority wants gay couples to have legal rights: In other words, don't change the traditional meaning of marriage to satisfy something that it was never intended to be. That is, two men or two women can never fulfill the biological, social, and institutional function of the union of man and woman, whether consecrated under secular or spiritual authority. And thus, President Obama's playing it straight, no pun intended:

Obama is justified in moving somewhat slowly on his campaign pledges to the gay community. As anxious as we are to see gay rights recognized throughout this country, it also is important for the administration to set priorities and make progress in a politically strategic way. It was inevitable, given the unrealistic postelection expectations of immediate and all-encompassing change, that Obama would disappoint some of his constituencies in the first year or two. Right now, the president is rightly focused on healthcare and the economy.

I'll have more on this tomorrow, with my coverage of the communist-inspired National Equality March tomorrow.

Meanwhile, check "Obama Pledges Again to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' but Offers No Timetable" (via Memeorandum).

Oh, I almost forgot. See also, "HONESTLY, IS JOHN ARAVOSIS A PIECE OF EXCREMENT OR WHAT?"

ADDED: Common Sense Political Thought, "Now I can see why President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize: Promises and platitudes are far more important than action

The CIA and Targeted Killing

From Kenneth Anderson at Volokh Conspiracy. Anderson is responding to The New York Times, "CIA Had Plan to Assassinate Qaeda Leaders" (where he is quoted):

...as to the international law issues involved in targeting Al Qaeda leaders, I will simply refer you over to a new paper, soon to appear as a book chapter in a volume edited by Benjamin Wittes on reforming counterterrorism policy, on targeted killing. That paper has a particular point, however. It says that of course the US targeted killings of Al Qaeda terrorists is a legal act of self defense under international law. (You can get a free pdf download, here, at SSRN, "Targeted Killing in US Counterterrorism and Law.")

The longer term question to which the paper mostly addresses itself is whether, in the face of withering international legal criticism, from UN special rapporteurs, human rights groups, academics, etc. - what we might call the international "soft law" crowd - the US, and specifically the Obama administration, will insist on the traditional doctrines of self defense, including against terrorists who find safe haven in states that are unwilling or unable to deal with them. The problem specifically for the Obama administration is that on the one hand it has - correctly in my view, for strategic, legal, and humanitarian reasons - embraced targeted killings via Predator strikes.

On the other hand, a lot of the administration's international legal apparatus is highly sympathetic to the "soft law" position, and in other circumstances would like to embrace positions that, however noble in the abstract, would effectively rule out targeted killing as the US pursues them. And particularly rule them out in future situations in which Al Qaeda is not involved, in which there is no AUMF, no Security Council resolutions, etc., to point to. It is important for the administration to keep in mind that the US will eventually face different terrorist enemies - there is, so to speak, life - and death - after Al Qaeda.

The paper is concerned with defending the US legal space for targeted killing undertaken as self defense, but not within the context of an armed conflict as defined under international humanitarian law. If that seems like a mouthful, I'll just refer you to the paper.

More at Memeorandum. Especially, Uncle Jimbo, "On the Legality of Targeting al Qaeda Leaders."And just in, from Newsweek, "The CIA's Kill Teams Were Modeled on Israel's Hit Squads."

Related: Common Sense Political Thought, "Assassinating Enemies and Loose Lips."

Video Credit: "Probe of Cheney's Covert CIA Plan Urged."

Dana Pico Launches First Street Journal

Here's the inaugural post, "Welcome to THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL!":

In an effort to avoid the problems which plagued my previous site, I am instituting a new Comments and Conduct policy, which will have its own separate page, always available in the menu bar. While I always support the free expression of ideas, constant name-calling and personal attacks will receive the same treatment they’d get were someone to submit such as a Letter to the Editor in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL or The New York Times. Repeat violators will simply have all of their comments deleted.

Congratulations to Dana! And here's to another 7 years of successful blogging!

PREVIOUSLY: "Dana Pico Closes Common Sense Political Thought."

Anti-Rule 5 Blogging

Well, "Rule 5" blogging has been picking up some steam around the blogosophere (including Fausta Wertz!). But there's a counter-trend afoot in "anti-Rule 5 blogging."

Private Pigg's got the goods:

There is not, and never will be, any pictures of Rosie O’Donnell nude (or in anything revealing, for that matter) on this blog.

Hat Tip: Common Sense Political Thought.

Janeane Garofalo on Conservatives

I just visited John Hitchcock's post at Common Sense Political Thought, "Liberals Are Racists." Our good friend dove into the fever swamps of the left and came up a bit mucked. I know how it works, as I've crossed over to the nihilist zone many times.

In any case, it seems the creepiness never ends when it comes to leftists "psychoanalyizing" conservatives, as we have here with this video of Janeane Garofalo, on Keith Olbermann's show, talking about Rush Limbaugh and the GOP:

Others Blogging:

Rhymes With Right, "The Arrogance of the White Liberal."

Democrat = Socialist, "Our Country is Founded on a Sham ..."

The Great Illuminator, "Please Janine Garofalo, Tell Me What You Think ... I am Dying To Know!"

Olbermann Watch, "Red Eye Reams Olbermann, Garafalo for Racist Comments!"

Obama Dishonors Commander-in-Chief Role

My good friend Dana at Common Sense Political Thought left this comment at the blog (regarding the refusal of President Obama to visit the families at Fort Hood):

I don't know that I'd criticize President Obama on this one: he does have a full schedule, and the President of the United States can't always just drop everything.

I respect Dana immensely, and I'm proud and thankful of his daughter for her service, but there's really little debate on this: American soldiers have been killed on home ground in a premediated, religiously-motivated terrorist attack. The president needs to be with the families of the dead and wounded, and he needs to come out more forcefully against what has happened. The shootings have been described as an act of war by retired military personnel. And actually, I probably wouldn't have posted on the disagreement, but it turns out that Comrade Repsac3 has been trolling the comments this weekend, and he's piggy-backing on Dana's comments to attempt a "consensus repudiation" of American Power.

So, with all due respect, let's go to Flopping Aces:

The priority for the Commander In Chief, IMHO, would be to bypass any planned speech and immediately fly to Austin, Texas, act like a Commander in Chief, go to the site of the shootings, meet with senior staff, assess the situation and events that led to the shootings, speak to the troops, particularly the injured, demonstrate concern and take action based on the findings of your assessment. Such actions should include addressing the families of the fallen and the injured. Assure the American people that their military bases and the security of the bases are not compromised and all possible measures will be taken to tighten what already has been established to safeguard the safety of soldier.

But see also, Charisse Van Horn, "President Obama Handles Fort Hood Shooting With Kid Gloves":

There are many differences between President Obama and former president George Bush but none may be as glaring as President Obama’s handling of the Fort Hood shooting. There is no doubt that former president George Bush would have taken to the airwaves and held a special news conference.

Though President Obama has made three attempts to speak against the violence that transpired on November 5, 2009, he has yet to do so. In each of his remarks, he discussed the facts, the need for patience, and the grief that victims’ families are undergoing. He has yet to condemn the shooting, nor illustrate ways to prevent this from happening in the future.

And, David Horowitz, "Obama’s Ft. Hood Reaction is Far Worse than the Left’s Smear of Bush’s 'Pet Goat' Moment":

Will President Barack Obama be able to avoid negative attention for his initial reaction to the Fort Hood Massacre? His first speech after the killing of at least 13 soldiers on a US military base showed a complete lack of any presidential leadership. It may (and should) go down in history as far worse than the “Pet Goat” incident.

On September 11, 2001 President George W. Bush heard a plane had hit the World Trade Center when he was about to hear elementary kids read a book to him at a school in Florida. Bush had a whisper in his ear from Andrew Card about the plane while he was in front of a group of small children. At that point the complete picture of a full scale terrorist attack was not known. Bush knew something was happening, but he did not know how bad, and he did not want to frighten the kids in front of him.

The book the children read to him was called “The Pet Goat” and that incident has been used to attack Bush by the Left ever since ....

After meeting with the children and getting more information, President Bush gave a short but powerful press conference to the country. It showed great leadership and clarity on what was going on. You can debate if he should have immediately ran out on the kids and then made his speech, but there is no debating the strength of his first public words on the incident.

As the world watched he started out his speech:

“Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.”

Plus, see AOSHQ, "The Narrative: Hasan Was Suffering From Mental Problems. Subtext: So Are All Soldiers And It's Bush's Fault":

Today President Shout-Out said we shouldn't jump to conclusions.

"We don't know all the answers yet. And I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts," Obama said in a Rose Garden statement otherwise devoted to the economy.

Funny but he was willing to reach conclusions within hours of the murder of abortionist George Tiller. Interestingly, it took Him 2 days to issue a statement when a Muslim terrorist killed a soldier at an Army recruitment office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Seems some incidents call for restraint and others call for immediate conclusions.

Also, compare and contrast the media reaction.

Immediately Tiller's murder an act of domestic terrorism (here, here and here for just a few examples. Warning: liberal sites).

Now however, we must not even consider the idea that Hasan is a Muslim terrorist. Wouldn't want to spread fear and hate.

Just to be clear, jumping to conclusions is not what anyone is advocating. My problem with Obama and his courtiers in the media is that there are certain classes and subject which may not be speculated about but there are clearly some times when it's ok.

The media is most definitely jumping to conclusions, one unconnected to anything we know about Hasan while at the same time ruling out any consideration of a subset of the things for which there is evidence or at least indications.

So, folks can see why I might not be fully in sync with my good friend Dana. (And Repsac3 can hump a stump for all I care.)