'I will walk on f***ing broken glass to get to the polls tomorrow'

At Doug Ross, "Last Call for Liberty."

Warm Southern California Weather

I left my college at about 3:00pm, and it felt like a warm summer day!

Check the image from the live doppler's at KABC-TV Los Angeles. And here's the view out in front of the LBCC athletics facility. What a beautiful day.

RELATED: My college was featured at Los Angeles Times last week, "In Long Beach, a Promise to Help Struggling Students."

Dear PBS: Please Buzz Off

The solicitation from PBS came this morning. I didn't even open it, but it turns out the People's Broadcasting flacks contacted Michelle as well, to which she delivers the epic smackdown, "PBS to conservative blogger: Help us. Conservative blogger to PBS: Buzz off":

The following e-mail arrived in my mailbox this morning from taxpayer-supported PBS — home of Obama sycophant and drool bucket-carrier David Brooks and Palin-basher/Obama cheerleader Gwen Ifill.

Yep, the government media that has spent the last two years promoting the progressive agenda and sought a $550 million taxpayer bailout to push social justice activism now wants conservative bloggers to help publicize their election night coverage.

Michelle,

I wanted to send out a note to invite you to participate – even embed – the PBS NewsHour’s online-only live show tomorrow night (starting at 10 p.m. EST) ....

Dear PBS: Please buzz off.

We don’t need no stinkin’ state-sponsored media — and we certainly don’t need any Left and Left-er “legendary political columnists” telling us about the grass-roots electoral revolution they’ve ignored, derided, and demonized for the past two years.

Recent: Free the Taxpayers: Defund State-Sponsored Media.

Hat Tip: William Jacobson.

Revival of Volatility Signals Historic Era in U.S. Politics

At WSJ:

KOKOMO, Ind. — Voters this week look set to do something not seen since the early 1950s: Oust a substantial number of sitting House lawmakers for the third election in a row.

The apparent Republican resurgence suggests the country is caught in a cycle of political volatility witnessed only four times in the past century, almost all during war or economic unease.

This fall's election has generated dozens of House races, from the suburbs of Denver and Chicago, across the South, and up the Ohio River Valley into New England, where voters who rejected Republicans in the past two elections are threatening to throw their support back to the GOP. In many cases, they're returning to the same candidates they rejected earlier.

The phenomenon is on full view in Indiana, where Democrats are fighting to keep three House seats they won in 2006. Voters in all three districts have a history, going back more than a century in some cases, of rejecting incumbents in moments of strain.

"We know what we don't want better than we know what we want," said Steve Ellison, a commercial real-estate broker who hosted a campaign event in his Mishawaka home for Republican challenger Jackie Walorski, who is trying to unseat two-term Democrat Joe Donnelly in the state's Second District. "I suppose that helps explain the schizophrenia."

If Republicans win big on Tuesday, as polls suggest, it is far from clear how firm a foothold they will have. Voters hold unfavorable views of both parties. Republican leaders acknowledge they could easily be tossed in 2012, just as they were in 2006.

The country has seen similar gyrations before ...

More at the link.

I'll have more on this later, but there's been lots of polling data indicating voter preferences for smaller government --- and depending how robust are those findings, tomorrow's election results might herald a tendency toward limiting the growth of government, if not demands for smaller government per se. Democrats will resist that meme, since they're out to expand the state and monopolize power over the individual. Yet, while electoral volatility has long been a key aspect of the post-1960s dealignment era, the tea parties have revealed some of the deeper wellpsrings of limited government in American politics.

In any case, check the related thoughts at Q & O, "Win isn’t GOP mandate, just another chance."

Cartoon via Theo Spark.

Democrats for Dope

I've been keeping my eyes peeled, and this morning I finally found a chance to join William Jacobson's bumper sticker brigade.

This one's not too fancy, but I love it. Democrats for Dope:

And "Yes We Can!" And how's that working out for ya? Might need to smoke a couple o' fat ones tomorrow. Republicans are going to crush these brain-addled druggie-socialists, and none too soon either.

RELATED: At the Field Poll, "VOTER OPPOSITION TO PROP. 19 (MARIJUANA) HAS GROWN. STRONG OPPOSITION TO PROP. 23 (SUSPENDING AB32). CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR PROP. 25 (MAJORITY VOTE FOR STATE BUDGETS)."

Plus, "Southern Californians Are Sinking California's Marijuana Legalization Effort."

Sarah Palin Would 'Make the Sacrifices' and Run for President

At Los Angeles Times:

The former governor of Alaska predicts Tuesday's vote will serve as a rebuke to President Obama as well as the GOP establishment ...

Check the link.

She's going to run. She's done almost everything right since she stepped down as Alaska governor. And this has the establishment freaked out, as the lead story tonight at Politico indicates, "Next for GOP Leaders: Stopping Palin." Also at Memeorandum.

I tweeted my thoughts earlier, but Conservatives4Palin have a great response:

Rather than being fearful for the effects of the Obama agenda, the GOP Establishment appears to have a greater fear of Palin nomination and the "wrath" of "enthralled" Palin supporters. The GOP Establishment deems that nominating Governor Palin in 2012 would spell disaster. However, for whom would a Palin nomination be a disaster? The GOP Establishment? One of the GOP boys: Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Gingrich, Thune, Barbour, Daniels? President Obama? The 2010 primaries have already given the Establishment reason to be "fearful" of "conservative grass-roots activists". Such grassroots, conservative campaigns and candidates gave people like Rand Paul, Joe Miller, and Christine O'Donnell their respective nominations.

With Victory, Republicans Would Face Uncertainty

From John Harwood, at New York Times:

If voters engineer the Congressional makeover that strategists in both parties now expect, the implications for governance over the next two years, and for America’s political future, remain a mystery. Ascendant Republicans will have to juggle the Tea Party’s determination to block President Obama’s agenda with centrist voters’ desire for the two parties to work together on jump-starting the economy.

“The looming victories for Republican candidates next Tuesday is not a validation of the Republican Party at all,” former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said in an interview. Instead, he argued, they would reflect “a repudiation of the massive overreach” by Mr. Obama and Democrats and “disgust with the political class” for its failure to cooperate and deliver results.

“It could create a middle ground,” Mr. Bush concluded. “Or it could create a dismemberment of our political parties.”

In this fractious environment, the Senate race in Florida may represent the best-case situation for Republicans. After insurgent conservative Marco Rubio overtook Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination and built a general election lead, top Democrats were reduced to trying vainly to persuade their own nominee, Representative Kendrick B. Meek, to abandon the race to help Mr. Crist’s independent candidacy stop Mr. Rubio.

The equally chaotic Alaska Senate race could become the worst case. After Joe Miller, a Tea Party favorite backed by former Gov. Sarah Palin, defeated the incumbent, Lisa Murkowski, for the Republican Senate nomination, party leaders swung behind Mr. Miller and threatened to strip Ms. Murkowski of her position as the ranking member of the Senate energy committee after she announced that she was still running.

Now that missteps by Mr. Miller have left him plummeting in the polls, some Republican strategists are openly rooting for Ms. Murkowski’s unorthodox write-in campaign as their best hope for preventing an upset by the Democrat Scott McAdams.

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, reflecting the fervor of his party’s base, recently declared that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

But former Governor Bush said Republicans must make clear that their top priority is increasing employment and economic growth. In particular, he advised Republicans to seek common ground with Mr. Obama and Democrats on trade and energy policy.

See more at the link.

Jeb Bush is mostly right, although governing instability next year is not going to destroy the parties. Folks should read Scott Rasmussen's essay, "A Vote Against Dems, Not for the GOP," especially the bottom line: "Elected politicians ... should leave their ideological baggage behind because voters don't want to be governed from the left, the right, or even the center. They want someone in Washington who understands that the American people want to govern themselves.

Ezra Levant Tribute Dinner, Canadian Centre for Policy Studies

Featuring Mark Steyn, pictured at left, with the lovely Kathy Shaidle and Ezra Levant.

More pictures at Blazing Cat Fur, and see Five Feet of Fury, "Last night's gala tribute to Ezra Levant in Ottawa, with keynote speaker Mark Steyn":

Canadian Centre for Policy Studies website is here.

127 Hours

It's an intense story. I remember first reading about it 2003. Mountain climber Aaron Ralston was pinned by the arm in a freak hiking accident in Utah. He ended up severing his arm and survived. The movie version is pretty intense, apparently. Folks have been passing out during screenings:

Two at the Telluride Film Festival, three at the Toronto International Film Festival and one at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

If that were a list of trophies for the new movie "127 Hours," which opens Friday, the filmmakers would be overjoyed. In fact, it's a partial tally of people who have collapsed during early screenings of the movie about a real-life hiker who amputated his forearm after a falling boulder pinned his hand in a remote canyon.

"I started to feel like I was going to throw up," said Courtney Phelps, who was watching "127 Hours" at a recent Producers Guild of America screening in Hollywood and grew ill just as the amputation scene ended. "So I went to the bathroom, and then I started feeling dizzy and my heart started racing."

Phelps fainted on the restroom floor, and was treated by paramedics who had been called when another moviegoer suffered an apparent seizure. "I have never had, even remotely, an experience like this," she said. "I'm a television producer. I know this stuff is not real."

Evidently, that doesn't matter.

Filmmakers always hope their work will affect audiences in powerful ways. But the strong physical and emotional responses generated by "127 Hours" have not only surprised director Danny Boyle and his creative team — they've also presented a delicate marketing challenge for Fox Searchlight, which co-financed and is distributing the $20-million movie.

"I would prefer that people not pass out — it's not a plus," said Stephen Gilula, the studio's co-president. "We don't see a particular publicity value in it."

Still, Gilula said the swoons — besides the incidents in Telluride, Toronto and Mill Valley, there have been at least eight more at other preview screenings — prove the film's artistic power. "It's the most empathetic experience I've ever seen," he said. The movie, rated R for "language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images," opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles, with more cities set to be added in the coming weeks.

More at the link.

I think I may catch this one in theaters.

They Hate Our Guts

And they're drunk on power, argues P.J O'Rourke, at Weekly Standard:

Perhaps you’re having a tiny last minute qualm about voting Republican. Take heart. And take the House and the Senate. Yes, there are a few flakes of dander in the fair tresses of the GOP’s crowning glory—an isolated isolationist or two, a hint of gold buggery, and Christine O’Donnell announcing that she’s not a witch. (I ask you, has Hillary Clinton ever cleared this up?) Fret not over Republican peccadilloes such as the Tea Party finding the single, solitary person in Nevada who couldn’t poll ten to one against Harry Reid. Better to have a few cockeyed mutts running the dog pound than Michael Vick.

I take it back. Using the metaphor of Michael Vick for the Democratic party leadership implies they are people with a capacity for moral redemption who want to call good plays on the legislative gridiron. They aren’t. They don’t. The reason is simple. They hate our guts.

They don’t just hate our Republican, conservative, libertarian, strict constructionist, family values guts. They hate everybody’s guts. And they hate everybody who has any. Democrats hate men, women, blacks, whites, Hispanics, gays, straights, the rich, the poor, and the middle class.

Democrats hate Democrats most of all. Witness the policies that Democrats have inflicted on their core constituencies, resulting in vile schools, lawless slums, economic stagnation, and social immobility. Democrats will do anything to make sure that Democratic voters stay helpless and hopeless enough to vote for Democrats.

Whence all this hate? Is it the usual story of love gone wrong? Do Democrats have a mad infatuation with the political system, an unhealthy obsession with an idealized body politic? Do they dream of capturing and ravishing representational democracy? Are they crazed stalkers of our constitutional republic?

No. It’s worse than that. Democrats aren’t just dateless dweebs clambering upon the Statue of Liberty carrying a wilted bouquet and trying to cop a feel. Theirs is a different kind of love story. Power, not politics, is what the Democrats love. Politics is merely a way to power’s heart. When politics is the technique of seduction, good looks are unnecessary, good morals are unneeded, and good sense is a positive liability. Thus Democrats are the perfect Lotharios. And politics comes with that reliable boost for pathetic egos, a weapon: legal monopoly on force. If persuasion fails to win the day, coercion is always an option.

Armed with the panoply of lawmaking, these moonstruck fools for power go about in a jealous rage. They fear power’s charms may be lavished elsewhere, even for a moment.

More at the link.

RELATED: Moe Lane, "Your feel-good election post of the weekend."

Image Credit: No Sheeples Here!

GOP Likely to Capture Control of House

From the last pre-election survey from Pew Research, "Record Republican Engagement Drives High Turnout Forecast." The GOP leads among likely voters 48 to 42 percent on the generic ballot, but I love the discussion of Republican enthusiasm:

Many of the patterns apparent throughout the 2010 campaign remain clearly evident in its final days. First, the Republicans enjoy a substantial engagement advantage. The GOP's overall lead is only evident when the sample is narrowed to likely voters. Among all registered voters, preferences are about evenly divided -- 44% Democrat, 43% Republican.

This represents one of the largest gaps in preferences between all voters and likely voters ever recorded in Pew Research Center surveys. As was the case earlier in the campaign, this is more a consequence of unusually high engagement among Republicans than disengagement among Democrats. Since September, a growing number of Democrats say they have given a lot of thought to the election, but they still lag Republicans by a wide margin. The current levels of Democratic engagement are fairly typical for a midterm election, though they are somewhat below what they were in 2006, when the party regained control of Congress.

Second, the engagement gap notwithstanding, the Republicans owe much of their lead to strong backing from independents and other non-partisan voters. As in previous polls, likely independent voters favor GOP candidates by a wide margin -- currently, 45% to 32%. Shortly before the 2006 election, independents backed Democratic candidates by a 42%-to-35% margin.

Third, compared with 2006, the GOP has made gains among many segments of the electorate, but especially men, voters ages 65 and older, and whites. The Democrats hold substantial leads only among African Americans, younger voters, those with low family incomes, union households and the religiously unaffiliated....

In the final weeks of the campaign, there are no signs that the large engagement gap favoring the Republican Party has narrowed. Republican voters continue to be far more likely than Democrats to say they have given a lot of thought to this year's election (70% vs. 55%); more Republicans than Democrats say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting in this year's congressional election (61% vs. 41%); and Republicans are eight points more likely to say they are following campaign news "very closely" (39% vs. 31%).

These measures suggest that overall turnout is likely to be as high this year as in the 2006 midterm elections....

On many measures, the Republican engagement in 2010 is surpassing long-term records. Fully 70% of Republicans have given a lot of thought to this election, the highest figure recorded among either Republicans or Democrats over the past five midterm election cycles. And the differential between Republicans and Democrats is larger than ever previously recorded.

Because of this large engagement gap, the likely electorate is skewed toward voting blocs that favor the GOP. While 16% of all registered voters are younger than age 30, this age group makes up only 8% of likely voters due to their lower levels of interest and commitment to voting. Similarly, lower income Americans, who tend to favor the Democrats, make up a smaller share of the likely electorate due to their lower engagement levels.

The full report is at the link. But reading this discussion, especially the data on likely turnout among young and lower-income voters, suggests that all this recent talk of a last minute Democrat surge has been heavily exaggerated. Again, I'm reminded of Democrat strategist James Carville's extreme resignation at the party's expected losses, and his hunch that sometimes the tide is so large that all the corrupt detritus of the majority gets swept out.

CNN released a new survey today as well, "CNN Poll: Large Advantage for GOP as Election Nears." Republicans enjoy a 10-point lead among likely voters in the generic ballot, 52 to 42 percent. The CNN survey did not gauge voter enthusiasm, yet reports out tonight indicate sparse crowds for some of the days big-ticket political rallies. See, "Thin Crowd for Cleveland Campaign Rally," and "Thousands of empty seats for last Dem voter rally by Obama, Biden" (via Memeorandum).

Leftists Deny KTVA Conspiracy to Smear Joe Miller

The most interesting thing about the denial is that, you know, "it's just another Breitbart operation ... nothing to take seriously." Of course, in each of the previous scandals Breitbart's evidence has been clear and incriminating. What's also been clear is that the Democrat-Media-Industrial-Complex pushes back so hard --- with willing accomplices elsewhere in the left's institutional state structures --- that the meme of fakery and fraud is successfully planted, allowing those pimps, bigots, and corruptocrats to get off the hook, ultimately, with minimal consequences. Yet in this case, once again, there's no doubt the evidence is overwhelming:

Gateway Pundit has the Anchorage station's denial, "Alaska KTVA: We Stand By Our “Corrupt Bastards” Who Conspired Against Joe Miller":

And more here, "Sarah Palin: We Have Tape of Those “Corrupt Bastards” In Media Conspiring Against Joe Miller."

RELATED: At Althouse, "Brian Beutler takes a cheap shot at Sarah Palin: 'Sarah Palin Calls Joe Miller A Lost Cause, Quotes Scopes Monkey Trial Attorney'."

And from Dan Riehl, "KTVA-CBS 11 Compounds Scandal After Caught Targeting Miller's Senate Campaign."

Halloween Hotties 2010

Last year's Halloween hotness post got a decent amount of attention, so here's a little roundup of related costume hotness:

Okay, in the festive spirit is Robert Stacy McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday Halloween Extra." A weekend preview is seen at Zion's Trumpet, "Rule 5 For Friday."

And Washington Rebel goes political with some orange Halloween hotness. As well, Bob Belvedere has a fabulous entry: "TCOTS Halloween Rule 5 2010!" Plus, see Stormbringer's "Wednesday Wench," and Classical Liberal, "Alessandra Ambrosio."

More from Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup – Happy Halloween!," Maggie's Farm, "Halloween Morning Links," and Proof Positive and The Real United States.

Here's this previously from Maxim, "Halloween Hotties, Vol. 1 Photos," and "Halloween Hotties, Vol. 2."

And more recently, at Radar Online, "PHOTOS: Bikini Wars! Sexy Stars Who Heat Up The Beach In Halloween Colors."

Plus, "PHOTOS: The Sexiest Celebrity Halloween Costumes Ever!"

NUCLEAR NSFW BONUS: "Playboy's Sexy Halloween Costumes." (You've been warned!)

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DROP A LINK IN THE COMMENTS TO HAVE YOUR HOT HALLOWEEN POST ADDED!!

Rally for Reefer

James B. Webb hasn't been commenting over here lately. I thought he'd fried his brain on coke so hard in Las Vegas that he just couldn't get it up mentally. But apparently the problem's not just the cocaine, but the messed-up Obama opium buzz itself. Old JBW's got the downer-shakes from the bad-shit Obama junk freak-out. That pinch musta been cut with some rat poison, or something. Cuz man, that buzz for "The One" is gone, really gone: "Brain Fatigue And Rage Deficiency."

JBW commented earlier, but he's still on a downer jive, and his mind ain't up to the quick commentary. The dude needs an intellectual fix, and fast. For example, at "Zach Galifianakis Gets Stoned On 'Real Time with Bill Maher'," notice the incoherence:

My favorite thing about you Don, is your totally legitimate tea party roots: your belief that adult Americans should be free to do whatever they wish, regardless of the harm to themselves, as long as it doesn't harm anyone else.

Keep practicing what you preach and shine on, you crazy diamond!

This is interesting, and kinda sad too. The THC's left JBW, that old frisky sparring partner, intellectually impotent --- and I hope that's all!!

I've been to dozens of tea party events, and I've yet to see anyone campaigning for marijuana legalization. It's just not on the agenda. Sure, tea partiers have their libertarian contingents. But the stoners must be hanging out in the parking lot getting loaded. They haven't been protesting to "legalize it."

Can't say that for the "Rally for Sanity" fanatics, however. And these folks musta been tokin' large while drawing up these signs. "Legalize Pot." "2 Protect Children" and "Restore Sanity"?

I don't think so. See, "Why Prop 19 Would Make Bad Matters Worse."

And also, at Fox News, "Stewart's Rally for 'Sanity' Draws Insane Crowd":

“Good luck trying to get through that crowd to the stage.”

Those were the first words I heard within 15 minutes of joining the large crowd that flocked to the National Mall Saturday for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear hosted by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

To say that you couldn’t see the stage, or even hear it, wouldn’t be an exaggeration— many had to climb a tree (literally) to even catch a glimpse of the one jumbo TV screen.

“We did the march-of-the-penguins walk in the crowd for about an hour,” Georgetown University student Anam Raheem told me. “But it was too crowded; we had to turn back.”

Thousands of rally goers brought signs and costumes in support of politically hot-button issues.

“I came to meet some people,” said Mark Feeney, a resident of Buffalo, New York who sported a green outfit with a sign that displayed the benefits of marijuana. “But we have to be smart, not stupid. If we legalize pot, we’ll create more revenue and jobs.”

Although Proposition 19, which would legalize recreational marijuana in California, was one of the more common issues seen on signs, other topics were equally supported, such as abortion, equality for gays, space travel, and most vehemently, backlash against the Tea Party movement.

“I came to have fun,” Pennsylvania resident Eric Hafner said, “But we need to also show people that extremism is really overblown.”

And hey, man, don't bogart that joint!

Halloween Cartoon Roundup

More cartoons at Theo Spark's.

Barack Obama's World Turned Upside Down as Democrats Face Electoral Disaster

I just love that title, from Toby Harden:

By abandoning his own rhetoric of bipartisanship, President Obama divided America and set the course for a heavy Democratic defeat in Tuesday's midterm elections.

'The Hand of Hope' — American Life League Pro-Life Pumpkin Contest Winner

Via Jill Stanek:

Zach Galifianakis Gets Stoned On 'Real Time with Bill Maher'

Hey, it's a stoner's gravy train when you're in the film business. Libertarian chic, and stupid as hell.

At the Toronto Sun, "Galifianakis Lights Up Joint on TV":

RELATED: "Why Prop 19 Would Make Bad Matters Worse."

Alana Blanchard Rule 5 Encore

Picking it up from last week's Alana Blanchard entry, be sure to check out Pirate's Cove for a Sunday roundup, as well as Linkmaster Smith.

Plus, check out Bob Belvedere and Irish Cicero, and American Perspective has some great blogging as well.

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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.

BONUS: Don't forget Instapundit.

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

Insane: New York Times Sells False Meme of 'Reasonable' Stewart-Colbert Rally

Folks at the fish wrap of record really do need to get out more. See, "At Rally, Thousands — Billions? — Respond" (at Memeorandum).

The unwavering message is that the Stewart "Rally for Sanity" was uniquely reasonable, " a political event like no other." I wasn't there. But I've live-blogged this event all day, and I've gotten lots of information from folks who were on the ground, and obviously NYT has airbrushed the rowdier elements out of their "Rally for Sanity" coverage.

Especially interesting is the Times' total disregard for the Cat Stevens controversy. And the Los Angeles Times is no better: "Thousands descend on National Mall for Stewart's and Colbert's 'Sanity' rally." I've noted this a couple of times already, but some big guns are picking up the story, and it's clear the Jon Stewart badly miscalculated by inviting Yusuf Islam to the event. See Ed Morrissey, for example, "Fatwa-endorsing singer featured at “Restoring Sanity” rally?"

It's all over the place. But it's a pre-election weekend, and we'll hear more chatter about the wonderful Stewart-Colbert "moderation" on the Sunday talk shows. Not discussed will be the super well-represented profanity, misogyny, vulgarity, and leftists wishing death to conservatives.

No, that wouldn't fit the narrative too well.