Michael Moore Defends Julian Assange on 'Countdown With Keith Olbermann'

Moore starts blabbering about halfway through the clip, and at 14:00 minutes he claims that the rape allegations against Assange are "a bunch of hooey." See the reports at Mediaite, "Michael Moore’s Comments on Julian Assange Rape Allegations Spark Outrage," and "Limbaugh: Liberals Would “Help A Thousand Rapists” To Free “One America-Hater”."

All in the name of anti-Americanism.

Abe Greenwald put it perfectly yesterday at Commentary:

Why are those Americans who are most distrustful of the U.S. government, and so eager to undermine it, the same ones who are most desperate to give it control over their own lives? Michael Moore has made a big P.R. show of his pledge to pay Julian Assange’s bail. “WikiLeaks, God bless them, will save lives as a result of their actions,” he writes, and puts the U.S. government on notice: “You simply can’t be trusted.” Moore offers advice to those of us who see something wrong with Assange. “[A]ll I ask is that you not be naive about how the government works when it decides to go after its prey.” Right. Instead, you should be naïve about how government works when it decides to take control of your health care, regulate your business, and spend your earnings. Moore, you may have forgotten, calls for the U.S. government to provide “free, universal health care for life” for “every resident of the United States” and demands that “pharmaceutical companies … be strictly regulated like a public utility.” That’s the old anti–Big Brother spirit.

When men like Michael Moore are not calling for the government to be undermined and defied, they’re petitioning for it to chauffeur them to the movies, cook their meals, and tuck them into bed. One news cycle finds HBO’s Bill Maher telling America not to allow the government to inject “a disease into your arm” in the form of a vaccine and that “I don’t trust the government, especially with my health.” The next, he’s calling for “Medicare for all” and lamenting the absence of a fully government-run health-care system that would operate like the U.S. postal service.

More at the link.

Mark Zuckerberg is Time's Person of the Year 2010 — Progressives Slam Choice of 'Billionaire Jew'

No doubt progressives wanted Julian Assange, and I almost thought Time was gonna do it — especially after reading last week's drooling cover story, "WikiLeaks' War on Secrecy: Truth's Consequences." Not only that, Assange was the top choice among readers: "Julian Assange: Readers' Choice for TIME's Person of the Year 2010."

See, "TIME's 2010 Person of the Year: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg."

And see Richard Stengel's essay, "Why We Chose Him." Leftists aren't pleased.

All Voices makes a veiled comparison to Adolf Hitler. Social Beat doesn't even try to disguise it. The author posts a picture of Joseph Stalin too, but then mounts a preemptive defense against attacks on the Hitler comparison:

Before you go off in the comments about how it’s offensive to compare Zuckerberg, who’s Jewish, to Hitler, first of all, know that you are a supremely tiresome person. Second of all, I’ll point out that I’m Jewish, too, if you care. Third, Time magazine’s editors made the comparison, not me, by choosing him as Person of the Year. You can write to them at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York.

And there's more, "Nice Jewish Billionaire Boy Chosen Over Assange."

There'll be more, so send those links and I'll update.

More at Techmeme.

Added: Linked at The Other McCain, "Progressives Disparage Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg as ‘Billionaire Jew’?" Also at Memeorandum.

And another disgraceful slam: "Hitler, Stalin, Zuckerberg: Time's persons of the year: Yet Assange won the popular vote."

Plus, Et tu, Elisabeth? --- "Elizabeth Hasselbeck Disses Mark Zuckerberg: Only Influential “On Gnat-Moving Scale”."

Greek Protests Turn Violent

More anarcho-asshats. And anarcho-communist asshats.

At NYT, "Anti-Austerity Protest in Greece Turns Violent":

ATHENS — Thousands of Greeks took to the streets of the capital on Wednesday for a protest against a fresh wave of austerity measures which was marred by violence as a general strike brought international travel and public services to a standstill.

The walkout — Greece’s seventh general strike this year — grounded flights, kept ferries in ports, halted train services and shut down government offices and schools while leaving hospitals to operate on emergency staffing and causing a news blackout as journalists joined the action. Public transport was operating for most of the day to enable Athenians to attend demonstrations in the city center.

Around 20,000 people answered the call of unions representing civil servants, private sector workers and the Communist Party for three separate demonstrations. The rallies were mostly peaceful until the early afternoon, when self-styled anarchists broke off from the crowd and attacked the police with firebombs and chunks of stone torn up from sidewalks.

Public Flogging in Sudan

Religion of peace.

It's heartbreaking. Notice at 1:30 seconds. The woman raises her head in pain, and while brief, it's clearly a pleading scream for deliverance from this evil. Via Doug Ross and Right Scoop:

Added: From London's Daily Mail, "Screaming woman publicly flogged by laughing policemen in shocking video from Sudan." And at New York Times, "Flogging Video Sparks Protest in Sudan."

Governor-elect Nikki Haley on Hannity

She hasn't been in the limelight so much. Good to see her. I'm envious for the people of South Carolina, considering California's election of Jerry Brown to a third term. And pay attention at the clip to how Governor-elect Haley speaks to federalism and states' prerogatives on health, taxes, and social policy. A woman of the people. Nice.

Will Liberals Progressives Challenge Obama Amid the Snows of New Hampshire?

I still seriously doubt Obama will face a credible challenge for the 2012 nomination, but I love the analogy to Lyndon Johnson in 1968. From Walter Shapiro, at Politics Daily:

... what today's Democratic restiveness reminds me of is the summer of 1967 when liberal organizer (and later Long Island congressman) Allard Lowenstein tried to find someone – anyone – to challenge Lyndon Johnson for the nomination. Lowenstein and his youthful allies importuned all the leading antiwar senators (Robert Kennedy, George McGovern and Frank Church) before to everyone's amazement the mercurial and elusive Eugene McCarthy volunteered for this quixotic crusade.

The parallels are not exact – history never repeats itself as either farce or tragedy. There is no galvanizing single issue like the Vietnam War. Despite his legislative victories and 1964 landslide, Lyndon Johnson remained an accidental president to many Democrats, the ungainly heir to that which rightly belonged to John Kennedy. Barack Obama, in contrast, electrified Democrats (even many Hillary Clinton supporters) as he romped home with nearly 70 million votes.

But what does feel similar is the combination of growing buyer's remorse among liberals and the fatalistic certainty that Obama will be re-nominated without serious challenge. In their epic political narrative, "American Melodrama: The Presidential Campaign of 1968," three British journalists (Lewis Chester, Godfrey Hodgson and Bruce Page) write, "There were a few who had realized that the emperor had no clothes . . . Such sentiments, however, swam vainly against the tide of 'expert' opinion."

Barring an economic collapse that makes the September 2008 financial meltdown look like the Good Old Days, Obama cannot be deprived of the nomination. The arithmetic simply does not work for any challenger – including (as unlikely as it seems) Hillary Clinton. The combination of the institutional power of a sitting president, the president's overwhelming support among African-American voters and Democratic memories of the tragic consequences of bitter divisiveness (1968, 1972 and 1980) make a replay of the 50-state struggle of 2008 seem ludicrous. The 2012 Democratic nomination belongs to Barack Obama -- assuming he wants it.

But the same thing was true in 1968: Lyndon Johnson would have been – almost unquestionably – the Democratic nominee had he taken the fight all the way to the Chicago Convention ...

RTWT, at the link.

Gunman Opens Fire on Florida School Board Meeting Before Killing Himself

This is horrible, and especially personal in some sense, as I'm sometimes in nearly identical situations at work (formal meetings, public events, etc.).

See, "Florida Gunman Blames 'Wealthy' in Facebook Message." And, "Video Captures Man Confronting School Board Before Shooting":

With news cameras rolling, a 56-year-old gunman entered a school board meeting in Florida on Tuesday and took several members of the board hostage, then fatally shot himself during a shootout with a security guard.

The episode was captured on video and broadcast on WMBB.com News 13 in Panama City, which ran several clips of the incident, including one in which the gunman fires a shot at a board member.

One extended clip shows the man, identified as Clay A. Duke, calmly walk up to a podium at the front of the room with a pistol after painting a mysterious red encircled “V” on the wall.

RELATED: "Dead Gunman Inspired By V For Vendetta."

Daley Gator's Must Read Blogs

See, "Doug’s list of must read blogs!"

And a little news to go with that: It turns out that Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds are getting divorced. There's hope in Rule 5 land:

Monday Drive Time

I got in the car in time for Bowie. Yesterday's drive-time at The Sound L.A.:

9:01 - Walk This Way by Aerosmith

9:05 - Bennie And The Jets by Elton John

9:10 - Peace Of Mind by Boston

9:15 - Feeling Stronger Everyday by Chicago

9:20 - Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol

9:30 - Riders On The Storm by Doors

9:37 - Young Americans by David Bowie

9:42 - Wrapped Around Your Finger by Police

9:47 - Lucky Man by Emerson Lake And Palmer

9:52 - Burning Love by Elvis Presley

Metal Mulisha May Sue Murrieta Valley Schools Over Ban on Clothing Line

My youngest has been wearing a Metal Mulisha t-shirt to school, and skateboarding last week. I guess he's a growing little Nazi stormtrooper, or something.

At LAT:

An Irvine-based company is threatening to sue a Riverside County school district over its ban on a clothing line inspired by a local stunt dirt bike team and adorned with logos resembling Nazi insignia.

The Metal Mulisha Riders from Temecula — known for their irreverent attitudes, gravity-defying stunts and tattoos — have many fans among motocross-loving teenagers. But critics say the clothes they wear include Nazi-style helmets and a lightning bolt "S" similar to those worn by Nazi military forces.

Many school districts forbid gang or hate-related paraphernalia and symbols in their dress-code policies. In the Inland Empire, several schools — including the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, which serves Temecula — have barred high school students from wearing clothes branded with the Mulisha logo.

"It's not a district-wide ban," said district spokeswoman Karen Parris. "It was implemented at the high schools four years ago, a joint decision made by our high school principals."

But after receiving letters warning of a possible lawsuit from MM Compound Inc., the licensee of the Metal Mulisha brand, Murrieta school officials are reconsidering the dress-code policy and seeking a compromise, Parris said.

In the letter to Supt. Stan Scheer in September, the company accuses the district of trademark dilution and violating MM Compound's constitutional rights to free speech and expression, in addition to violating students' 1st Amendment and due process rights.

"We are a lifestyle clothing company, that's what Metal Mulisha is," said Bill Gage, vice president of marketing and sales. "I think the brand itself is edgy, rebellious and appeals to a younger demographic."

He said the clothing never had any political, religious or ideological bent. In the letter, Metal Mulisha Riders are described as "devout Christians" who set a "good example for those around them." The intent, the group has said, was never to spread racism or Nazism.

Actually, joking aside, the helmet at the logo is an exact replica of Nazi Germany's Stahlhelm, the generic steel helmet used by German troops during World War II. I noticed this years ago, when my oldest son started wearing boys sportswear. I didn't think too much about it, although Metal Mulisha wasn't my first pick, compared to something like O'Neal or Quicksilver. But again, to suggest that a bunch of extreme sports athletes in SoCal are pushing for a gangland race war is stretching it --- really stretching it. I'm with Metal Mulisha on this one.

Obama Reverses Course on Offshore Drilling

The administration's drilling moratorium is killing job growth. But the mandarins at NYT are down with that: "They Haven’t Learned."

Ah, those were the days, last March:

And from PhysOrg.com, "The recently announced seven-year moratorium on offshore drilling is yet another example of the short-sightedness of the US Department of the Interior, says John W. Kindt, a professor of business and legal policy at Illinois and expert on marine pollution":

The Obama administration's decision to maintain a ban on oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts is a mistake, according to a University of Illinois expert who wrote a six-volume book series on marine pollution.

"It's a ridiculous decision on the part of the Interior Department," said John W. Kindt, a professor of business and legal policy at Illinois. "The previous 180-day moratorium really hurt a lot of businesses. Well, a seven-year ban is going to sting even more."

Kindt says giving the oil companies a public spanking through a seven-year ban isn't going to solve our energy problems, and that unreasonably prohibiting offshore drilling will not only exacerbate the region's economic woes, it also will strengthen U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

"Our motto should be 'Drill, Baby, Drill' but 'Safely, Baby, Safely,'" he said. "We have two wars in the Middle East, and while we do need alternate sources of energy, in the interim we still need to safely develop our off-shore resources. That means we need to open up both the East Coast and California for drilling, although California is not going to like that. But we've got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time."

According to Kindt, the author of "Marine Pollution and the Law of the Sea," a six-volume series that examines protecting the world's oceans while encouraging development of essential resources, the real villain in the new contretemps is not BP (formerly British Petroleum), but the Department of the Interior, with the recently announced seven-year moratorium serving as yet another example of what he says is the department's shortsightedness and incompetence.

"The real issue is the Interior Department, which is the most scandal-ridden agency in American history," he said. "Along with an inability to regulate, the entire department is rife with conflicts of interest, which came to light during the BP fiasco when Interior Secretary (Ken) Salazar was making statements to the effect of, 'We've got our heel on the throat of BP.' Statements like that were just a way to divert attention away from their own inadequacy."

Another reason to get Sarah Palin in there.

See also Intellectual Conservative, "Nice Oil Business You Got There..."

RELATED: At Wizbang, "Nation's poor feeling the sting of Obama's war against fossil fuels."

Gen. James Amos Comes Out Against DADT Repeal

The main story at Fox News, "Marine Corps Chief: 'Distraction' of Gays Serving Openly Could Cost Marines Limbs." (And Memeorandum.)

Gay activists are up in arms.

While Allahpundit suggest that Gen. Amos has "no theory" as to what battlefield distractions are "capable of getting someone killed." But as a top-ranking commander with decades of military experience, I'd suggest there's an implicit theory underlying his opposition to repeal. Perhaps Mackubin Thomas Owens may be of assistance:

Winning the nation's wars is the military's functional imperative. Indeed, it is the only reason for a liberal society to maintain a military organization. War is terror. War is confusion. War is characterized by chance, uncertainty and friction. The military's ethos constitutes an evolutionary response to these factors—an attempt to minimize their impact.

Accordingly, the military stresses such martial virtues as courage, both physical and moral, a sense of honor and duty, discipline, a professional code of conduct, and loyalty. It places a premium on such factors as unit cohesion and morale. The glue of the military ethos is what the Greeks called philia—friendship, comradeship or brotherly love. Philia, the bond among disparate individuals who have nothing in common but facing death and misery together, is the source of the unit cohesion that most research has shown to be critical to battlefield success.

Philia depends on fairness and the absence of favoritism. Favoritism and double standards are deadly to philia and its associated phenomena—cohesion, morale and discipline—are absolutely critical to the success of a military organization.

The presence of open homosexuals in the close confines of ships or military units opens the possibility that eros—which unlike philia is sexual, and therefore individual and exclusive—will be unleashed into the environment. Eros manifests itself as sexual competition, protectiveness and favoritism, all of which undermine the nonsexual bonding essential to unit cohesion, good order, discipline and morale.

As Sen. James Webb (D., Va.), who was awarded the Navy Cross for valor as a Marine officer in Vietnam, wrote in the Weekly Standard in 1997, "There is no greater or more natural bias than that of an individual toward a beloved. And few emotions are more powerful, or more distracting, than those surrounding the pursuit of, competition for, or the breaking off of amorous relationships."

I'd add that while compelling academic research casts doubt on the policy, theories of essential military function and cohesion will continue to influence both the direction and prospects for policy change.

Holbrooke Death Leaves Washington, and Democrats, Scrambling

Fouad Ajami offers some reflections on the late ambassador, "Richard Holbrooke: Kennedy Democrat":

Holbrooke apprenticed, and quarreled, with the giants. He kept the company of such great American statesmen and presidential advisers as Averell Harriman, Clark Clifford and Cyrus Vance. He was introduced to diplomacy when he was an impressionable boy by Dean Rusk, who would serve John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as secretary of state.

He came into his own amid the stirrings of the New Frontier, when American power sat astride the world. In the preface of his Bosnian chronicles, he would recall that time: "Today, public service has lost much of the aura it had when John F. Kennedy asked what we could do for our country. To hear that phrase before it became a cliché was electrifying, and it led many in my generation to enter public service. For me, it was the Foreign Service which I joined right after graduating from college. Less than a year later I found myself in Saigon."

American patriotism and American liberalism were still tethered together as Holbrooke made his way. There may have been hubris in that outlook. Our country would be bloodied in distant places, it would learn that the world wouldn't always bend to our will. But the lodestar remained that essential belief that American power could be a force for the good in the world beyond our shores.

I guess they don't make 'em like that anymore, Democrats that is.

Also at NYT, "Strong American Voice in Diplomacy and Crisis." And also, "Post-Holbrooke Question: ‘What Now?’"

'My Fellow Citizens, I Utterly Reject That View'

The full video is at The Miller Center for Public Affairs. See also Right Wing News.

I'm reminded of President Reagan after seeing this post at Instapundit. Americans are yearning for something deep again, not just economic growth, jobs and renewed economic prosperity, but something more fundamental: core values and a sense of destiny. We don't have Reagan anymore. But in U.S. politics today, more than anyone else, it is Sarah Palin who embodies that unabashed sense of mission, that clear righteousness in nation. The national attraction to Sarah Palin hearkens back to Reagan, and it is, as Nancy Gibbs notes at Time, a call to restoration: "Back to the Future: Sarah Palin's Restoration":

Too much of that Hopey Changey Thing yields a desire for restoration, to move forward by turning back. What's striking about the current revival is that it's led by our most emphatically modern master of the cross-platform political-celebrity mashup, Sarah Palin, as she calls for "not transformation but restoration with a 'Great Awakening' that we already feel emerging across America."

I like it. And I hope history confims the analogy. I look forward to the chance to hear Sarah Palin deliver a convention address as did Ronald Reagan in 1980:

More than anything else, I want my candidacy to unify our country; to renew the American spirit and sense of purpose. I want to carry our message to every American, regardless of party affiliation, who is a member of this community of shared values.

Never before in our history have Americans been called upon to face three grave threats to our very existence, any one of which could destroy us. We face a disintegrating economy, a weakened defense and an energy policy based on the sharing of scarcity.

The major issue of this campaign is the direct political, personal and moral responsibility of Democratic Party leadership --i n the White House and in Congress -- for this unprecedented calamity which has befallen us. They tell us they have done the most that humanly could be done. They say that the United States has had its day in the sun; that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems; that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities.

My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view. The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can have no business leading the nation.

I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose. We have come together here because the American people deserve better from those to whom they entrust our nation's highest offices, and we stand united in our resolve to do something about it.

The full speech at the link.

Protesters Trash Italy After Berlusconi Survives Confidence Vote

Anarcho-asshats everywhere.

See Business Week,"Protests erupt as Italian PM Berlusconi wins vote," and London's Daily Mail, "Riot breaks out on streets of Rome as scandal-hit Silvio Berlusconi survives as Italian premier by just THREE votes." Additional video at NYT, "Video of Unrest on Rome’s Streets After Berlusconi Wins Vote."

Who's Bashing Whom? UCLA's Kent Wong Attacks 'Racist' Opposition to DREAM Act With Racist Attacks on 'Old White Men'

This is perfect.

Which clip will the MFM show? The one on top, where Professor Kent Wong, Director of UCLA's Center for Labor Research and Education, lauds immigrant students for working hard toward their dream of education and opportunity in America, or the one at bottom, where he excoriates the racist "old white men" in the U.S. Senate, to wild cheers from the crowd. And note at the second clip all this talk about "displacing millions of Americans ... in their jobs, seats in college, and elections." That's a classic summary statement on the neo-communist left's reconquista revolutionary agenda:

"We will win the dream act soon -- very soon," he exclaimed. "When that day comes, we will celebrate with millions and millions of people of people across this country who are standing with you tonight. Who stand for justice, who stand for democracy and equal opportunities for all."

"When that day happens, the young people of the DREAM Act movement, will go on to accomplish and do great things with your lives," he said. "You will go on to become lawyers, teachers, doctors and members of the US congress to replace those old white men... You are the hope and future of this country. You are hope and future of your generation."

If Dream Act Amnesty passes, millions of Americans will be DISPLACED and REPLACED in their jobs, seats in college, and elections.

RELATED: At Michelle's, "Operation Buck Up: Stop the DREAM Act illegal alien student bailout."

Added: Michelle's got more, "Video: UCLA open-borders prof/SEIU lawyer urges “DREAM”-ers to replace those “old white guys”."

Good Without God? Atheist Advertisement Raises Controversy in Fort Worth

The story's at NYT, "Atheist Ads on Buses Rattle Fort Worth." (At Memeorandum.)

Obviously people can be "good without God." But without God, there's little restraint on those who have to choose between good and evil. And there's great likelihood that those without God would choose the latter.

But don't take my word for it. Check the comments at Joe.My.God., a blog moniker that's not a little blasphemous, when you think about it.

Progressivism is Cruelty

From John Hawkins, "There’s Nothing Compassionate About Liberalism Progressivism."

Sing it brother:

Rape Charges Against Julian Assange

"Sex by Surprise." Never heard of it until last week, but the issue is roiling the feminist-left. See Naomi Wolf, "J'Accuse: Sweden, Britain, and Interpol Insult Rape Victims Worldwide," and also Jessica Valenti, "What the Assange Case Says About Rape in America."

And with all the Elizabeth Edwards attacks, I missed this other debate: "“You Buy the Ticket, You Take the Ride”: Not the Conservative View of Date Rape." That's Rob at NewsReal, who takes issue with Robert Stacy McCain's essay, "Unintentional Hilarity: Feminists Ask If Julian Assange Committed ‘Rape-Rape’."

Both debates reveal that perhaps "epistemic closure" isn't all it's cracked up to be.

RELATED: "The Unknown Blogger Who Changed WikiLeaks Coverage." It's Aaron Bady, whose full picture is not shown. It's hard out there on the net. (Via Mememorandum.) Plus, "Julian Assange's looking for love? Alleged dating profile unearthed of Wikileaks founder." And if bail is denied: "'Prepare for all-out cyber war': Government sites braced for attack by pro-WikiLeaks 'hacktivists'."

New 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Trailer

LAT's not too thrilled.

But see, "Johnny Depp Back as Capt. Jack Sparrow; New Pirates Trailer!"

And if you see the full hard-copy at the doctor's office or grocery store, it's worth a few minutes of your time. At Vanity Fair, a snippet: "Johnny Depp Talks to Patti Smith About Working with Angelina Jolie, Jack Sparrow, and His Own Musical Aspirations."

YouTube Users to 'Flag' Recruitment Videos Produced by Islamic Extremists

Yeah, that'll work.

At LAT, "YouTube is letting users decide on terrorism-related videos."

And we wouldn't want to infringe on anyone's free speech rights, or at least that's what law professor Jeffrey Rosen says at the piece.

Meanwhile, at Jawa Report, "Un:dhimmi's Google/YouTube Hall of Shame Part 2: Indonesian Beotch Hearts Terrorist Jihad Jane."

YouTube Year in Review 2010

Via Althouse:

Jesus Was a Wine-Guzzling Vagrant and Socialist?

No wonder parents are mad, conservative parents that is. Progressive parents --- and their lefist allies in the school unions --- are the ones cramming this stuff down our throats:

Are Boing Boing Trolls Flaming Adam Lambert Fans?

Who knows?

But this chick's angry tweets share some similarities with the Boing Boing demons. The screencapped tweet is dated December 12th at "ravenclawwit," although I'm not seeing the full tweet come up here at the link. No matter. The link goes to the Elizabeth Edwards nihilism post, which sent the left into paroxysms of rage.

Stockholm Suicide Bomber Explosion Captured on Security Video

Plus more details at Jawa Report:

My Students Read Boing Boing!

Well, at least one of 'em does — and to think, she never told me!

And check that thread. They love me, they really love me!

Because, you know, I'm not into that progressive indoctrination thingy. I just teach it down the middle.

And you gotta love Boing Boing. They try hard, but I don't think they're quite as demonic as the Sadly No! crusties.

WikiLeaks Blows Lid Off Sinn Féin's Dubious Past

I must admit there's been a few upsides to WikiLeaks, with one of these is that even terrorists have had their dealings cracked open. At the Irish Independent, "Wikileaks: Gerry Adams denies IRA and bank robbery claims."

Gerry Adams has denied claims on WikiLeaks that he was an IRA leader and had advance knowledge of the infamous Northern Bank raid.

According to the latest US diplomatic cable leaks, the Irish government had "rock solid evidence" on the allegations.

But Mr Adams said the claims were not new, that he had denied them at the time, and blamed Irish political rivalries with his Sinn Fein party for the allegations.

Mr Adams and Martin McGuinness were aware that the £26.5m (€31.5m) robbery at the Northern Bank in Belfast in 2004, which was blamed on the IRA, was going to be carried out, officials in Dublin told the US ambassador James Kenny.

But Mr Adams said the claims were made publicly by the then Taoiseach, and Fianna Fail, leader Bertie Ahern, and were denied by republicans at the time.

"I repudiated it then, as did Martin. It isn't true," said Mr Adams.

"I then spoke to the Taoiseach privately about this matter.

"It was my conviction at the time, because there was very intense, as there is now, electoral rivalry between Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail.

"I saw this and still see this as part of Fianna Fail's attack on or fight back against Sinn Fein at that time."

And there's more at Sydney Morning Herald, "IRA used Celtic Tiger to buy respectability, cables say."

LONDON: The IRA used the Celtic Tiger economic boom in Ireland to diversify into ''sophisticated business enterprises'' by buying up properties in London, Dublin and Spanish resorts, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

A senior Irish police officer told the US embassy in Dublin that the IRA used the booming Irish economy to move on from racketeering, turning to ''apparently respectable businessmen'' to raise funds.

The IRA's changing business practices are revealed in a cable by Jonathan Benton, the then deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Dublin, which reported on meetings with senior Irish officials and police officers.

Advertisement: Story continues below Mr Benton wrote that a senior garda, or police officer, whose identity is protected by The Guardian, said IRA money was constantly moving, flowing from diversified sources into wide-ranging investments.

The cable said the new funds were being used to support Sinn Fein. ''Irish officials, more generally, remain concerned that IRA funds acquired through sophisticated investments are seeping into resources available for Sinn Fein's political activities in the Republic of Ireland.''

Also at The Guardian, "WikiLeaks cables: IRA used Irish boom to turn 'respectable'." And, "US embassy cables: Gerry Adams plays a 'double game' on criminality – future Irish PM."

Plus, an analysis at Irish Times, "WikiLeaks Blows Dust Layer Off Dubious Past of SF."

RELATED: From Simon Jenkins in 2005, "Poor Jerry Adams ... It is now convenient for everyone to regard the IRA as 'criminals' not terrorists."

The Political Economy of Profanity?

Moe Lane links out of sentimentality. I like it for the topical news interest, for example, "It’s time for Ireland to play hardball with EU and IMF."

Pork Eating Crusaders

And German pork-eaters, at that.

Otherwise, here at home, we'd be having yet another wave of progressive head explosions.

Via Theo Spark:

Facebook Wrestles With Free Speech and Civility

You think?

The story's at New York Times.

Turns out that Mark Zuckerberg and Co. are developing a "hate and harassment team" ...

...charged with taking down content that is illegal or violates Facebook’s terms of service. That puts them on the front line of the debate over free speech on the Internet.

Right.

Free speech on the Internet?

What a quaint notion. Progressives can't have that, as my comment threads indicate, repeatedly.

See, "Homocide," and "Why Progressives Read Boing Boing." And follow the links there to Boing Boing's demonic Cthulhu sex-toys and sundry other objects of nihilistic abandon.

U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson Strikes Down ObamaCare

Actually, just a part of ObamaCare.

R.S. McCain has the story, and also lots of stuff at Memeorandum. I'm reading through the debate, but Josh Marshall's shock is ticklish:

A year ago, no one took seriously the idea that a federal health care mandate was unconstitutional. And the idea that buying health care coverage does not amount to "economic activity" seems preposterous on its face. But the decision that just came down from the federal judgment in Virginia -- that the federal health care mandate is unconstitutional -- is an example that decades of Republicans packing the federal judiciary with activist judges has finally paid off.

Well, it's still a pretty close balance at The Supremes, so let's hold off a bit on all of this while the appeals process works itself out. That could take a while, but the political wheels continue to turn. (And no doubt Jimmy Carter is smiling somewhere.)

Added: Check Doug Ross on Josh Marshall, "Idiot Blogger: No One Took ObamaCare Constitutionality Question Seriously, Except for 20 State Attorneys General and Hundreds of Scholars."

Do They Owe Us a Living?

From one of the progressive Boing Boing trolls:

Cthulhu dildos will contribute to the downfall of our great civilization, whereas giving huge tax breaks to the rich and simultaneously cutting public services for the poor will save us all.

Which reminds me of the anarcho anti-Christ punk band, Crass:

PREVIOUSLY: "Homocide" and "Why Progressives Read Boing Boing."

Homocide

Over a couple of dozen comments in the queue went I logged on this morning, with most of those from the Boing Boing trolls. I thought, "Hmm ...I wonder how many of these folks want to kill me"? Hence, "Homicide" from 999. Meanwhile, for your reading pleasure (or not), the debate on "consensual" incest continues. See "The 'Ick Factor'," with links to Da Tech Guy and Volokh Conspiracy.

Sarah Palin in Haiti

Via Right Scoop:

Also, "Media Creates New Palin Scandal! Sarah Accused of Bringing Hairdresser on Haiti Trip" (via Memeorandum).

The New Revolutionaries

Below: Jesse Jackson at a Coalition of Resistance event in October. Screencap from Wobbly Turkey's photo-stream on . Jackson's not a "new revolutionary," although it's interesting how's he's marching in solidarity with the next generation of communists. See Iain Macwhirter's essay at the Sunday Herald:

It all started with a carnival atmosphere, as tens of thousands of students and sixth formers took to the streets to protest about the state of higher education and inequality in society.

Students carried placards with witty and sometimes obscure slogans such as “Be realistic, ask the impossible” and “Under the paving stones, the beach”. But it turned violent as groups of anarchists seized buildings and confronted the police. Pretty soon, there was an atmosphere of revolution.

No, that wasn’t a report from last week’s student demonstrations in London. It was from Paris, May 1968, when students seized the city in the spirit of the Paris Commune. The 1968 students fought running battles with the police, threw cobble stones, wrecked cars. Their actions struck a chord with the trades unions, and within days 10 million French workers went out on strike. “Les evenements” nearly toppled the French government and Charles De Gaulle, the president, put the military on alert for a violent revolution then scurried off to Germany. His government was forced to concede an early general election.

The current student intifada in Britain against tuition fees may not be quite in the same revolutionary league; there’s no sign yet of any general strike following the Battle of Westminster. But it is important nevertheless, if only because of the timing. As in 1968, 2010 has been a year of protest throughout Europe. We saw general strikes in Spain and France, riots in Greece, mass demonstrations in Ireland as EU governments sought to deal with the financial crisis by driving down living standards and cutting public services. Students have invariably been in the thick of the action. There has been an increase also in less orthodox, internet- based protest, such as the hackers of “Anonymous” who have attacked firms like Amazon and Paypal in defence of the WikiLeaks leader, Julian Assange. Protest has gone digital.

More at the link.

I fail to see the romanticism in all of this.

RELATED: "Progressives Cheer Mark Madoff Suicide as 'Revolutionary Justice'."

Millionaire in New York? You're Not Rich

But don't tell that to the arsonist up the coast a bit, "Message from Cape Cod Arsonist – F the Rich," and "Arsonist Strikes on Cape Cod, Leaves Calling Card: 'F--k the Rich'."

From LAT:

Reporting from New York - It's just not the same on this island as anywhere else.

In Manhattan, a monthly parking space goes for $550. A magician for a children's party asks $650 an hour. (A rookie will take $400.) The nanny gets $600 a week. Breakfast for four at a corner diner is $40; a dog walker is $10,000 a year; a plumber who makes emergency calls won't lift the toilet lid for less than $250.

Occasional spa treatments?

"Did you have to ask?" said Ricky Metz, a Manhattan hairdresser who boasted about the combined $310,000 she and her husband earn a year but became embarrassed trying to explain how it is spent. "I know, I know I shouldn't whine, but in New York unless you're a millionaire you don't feel rich. We feel middle-class."

Really, they're not. They're among the 2.5% of Americans — couples who annually earn more than $250,000 and individuals who earn $200,000-plus — whom the Obama administration and the Democrats have considered wealthy enough to pay higher taxes starting next month.

Last week President Obama reluctantly accepted a two-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels, including those at $250,000 and above, but the fragile compromise remains the subject of debate in Congress — and elsewhere.

Certainly, many citizens of this expensive city, run by a billionaire mayor, could make a case for taxpayers in the lower end of the higher-income bracket continuing to get tax relief.

Metz and others said they liked New York Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer's suggestion that only people who earn more than $1 million should have to ante up.

"Millionaires, now — they're the people who should pay more, not the likes of us raising a family in a crazy city where everything goes up but our incomes," Metz said. She is a hairdresser at a fancy salon who charges $150 a cut, and her husband is a lawyer at a beleaguered bank. Neither has had a raise in years.

Waiting at Grand Central Station to meet a friend for Christmas shopping, Metz, 45, detailed the family's growing expenses: taxes consume about half their income, leaving the rest to cover mortgage payments and fees for a two-bedroom East Side condominium and college savings for two sons, ages 11 and 13. The boys attend public schools, but sometimes have tutors and coaching.

"Did I mention the six grand for each kid to have braces?" she asked. "I can't even discuss this with my parents.... The 310K we live on in Manhattan is like the 70K they raised me and my brother on in Queens. Shouldn't each generation do better?"

She needn't ask. When it comes to evaluating where she stands in the pecking order among her deep-pocketed neighbors, Metz is probably as good a judge as academics or politicians.

"There is nothing in sociology or economics that defines what income you need to be rich," said Joel Slemrod, a University of Michigan economics professor and tax policy expert.

Survey data have helped economists understand popular views — and perceptions vary widely. Slemrod cited one survey showing that Americans, on average, believe an income of $122,000 is enough to be rich. "The higher your income," he said, "the more money you think you need to be rich."

$122,000?

I guess I'm rich?

And I don't doubt some crazed progressive wants to burn my house down.

Hip Hop Cupcakes

Are racist.

Surprised?

Hardly: "Duncan Hines Pulls Offensive 'Hip-Hop Cupcakes' Commercial."

The offensive commercial. The horrors:

Japan Shifts Military Posture to Defend Against Chinese Threat

I like it.

At New York Times, "Japan to Shift Its Military Toward Threats From China":

TOKYO — In what would be a sweeping overhaul of its cold war-era defense strategy, Japan is about to release new military guidelines that will reduce its heavy armored and artillery forces pointed northward toward Russia in favor of creating more mobile units that can respond to China’s growing presence near its southernmost islands, Japanese newspapers reported Sunday.

The realignment comes as the United States is making new calls for Japan to increase its military role in eastern Asia in response to recent provocations by North Korea as well as China’s more assertive stance in the region.

The new defense strategy, likely to be released later this week, will call for greater integration of Japan’s armed forces with the United States military, the reports said. The reports did not give a source, but the fact that major newspapers carried the same information suggested they were based on a background briefing by government officials.

The new guidelines also call for acquiring new submarines and fighter jets, the reports said, and creating ground units that can be moved quickly by air in order to defend the southern islands, including disputed islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by China and Taiwan. These disputed islands are known as the Senkakus in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese.

Details of the realignment, which had been delayed a year by the landmark change of government in September 2009, have been leaking out since large joint military drills earlier this month between Japan and the United States that included the American aircraft carrier George Washington.

More at the link.

This is especially interesting since I've been blogging East Asian security issues. Japan issued some of the most forceful statements on the recent North Korean artillery attacks, for example. And this discussion of Japan's emerging posture reminds us of realists argument on the constraining and shaping forces of international power dynamics. China's growth is clearly triggering some strategic thinking in Tokyo, and the growth of Beijing's power --- combined with the ambiguity surrounding the intentions of the Chinese leadership --- is pushing Japan even tighter into its alliance with United States. I've written more often on regime change North Korea, and not to mention some reflections on China's influence on the peninsula, but I just saw this recent piece from Elizabeth Economy, and it makes Japan's moves look quite natural considering: "The End of the 'Peaceful Rise'?"

Howie Klein and the Death of Mark Madoff

Following up my earlier post, The Rhetorican offers some thoughts, "Bring It, Comrade … And I Mean *You*":

I had the feeling Madoff’s death would be celebrated by Lefties somewhere on the internet just because he’s a Madoff, but there’s counterculture; and then there’s counterstupidity ...

I don’t mean that Howie Klein is a wealthy spoiled brat who doesn’t really stand for “revolution”. I’m sure the dude is serious about his progressiveness (but given that he was the president of one of Warner Bros. record labels for more than a decade, odds are he has a bit of the capitalist pig in him).

Mr. Klein, revolutionary justice is something you and your ilk must bring about on your own. No one will ever know what – exactly – prompted Mark Madoff to kill himself, but two things are certain: (1) he didn’t kill himself because you and the red horde surrounded his fancy New York co-op and left him no alternative but to hang himself; and (2) his death – as good as it must make you feel – hasn’t made for a more just society anywhere in this country.

Revolution is something you do, not something you wait for the establishment to do for you. So, by all means, Mr Klein: Bring it, comrade. Let’s dance.

RELATED: "Mark Madoff Suicide: Bullied to Death?" Well, it'd be progressive bullies if he was. These are very bad people.

Bush v. Gore

Ten years ago today.

Not too many legal bloggers back then, which is good with respect to Scotty Lame-ieux.

RELATED: George Will, "A Decade After Bush v. Gore."

Karen Alloy

Why you should be following her on Twitter, as I always say:

The Atlantic Turns a Profit, With an Eye on the Web

At NYT:

How did a 153-year-old magazine — one that first published the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and gave voice to the abolitionist and transcendentalist movements — reinvent itself for the 21st century?

By pretending it was a Silicon Valley start-up that needed to kill itself to survive.

The Atlantic, the intellectual’s monthly that always seemed more comfortable as an academic exercise than a business, is on track to turn a tidy profit of $1.8 million this year. That would be the first time in at least a decade that it had not lost money.

Getting there took a cultural transfusion, a dose of counterintuition and a lot of digital advertising revenue.

“We imagined ourselves as a venture-capital-backed start-up in Silicon Valley whose mission was to attack and disrupt The Atlantic,” said Justin B. Smith, president of the Atlantic Media Company, who arrived at the magazine’s offices in the Watergate complex in 2007 with a mission to stanch the red ink. “In essence, we brainstormed the question, ‘What would we do if the goal was to aggressively cannibalize ourselves?’ ”

What that meant more than anything else was forcing one of the nation’s oldest magazines to stop thinking of itself as a printed product.

Separations between the digital and print staffs in both business and editorial operations came down. The Web site’s paywall was dismantled. A cadre of young writers began filling the newsroom’s cubicles. Advertising salespeople were told it did not matter what percentage of their sales were digital and what percentage print; they just needed to hit one sales target. A robust business around Atlantic-branded conferences took off.

The strategy is not a cure-all template for troubled media companies, of course. The Atlantic, a tiny enterprise compared with vast corporate magazine empires like Time Inc. and Condé Nast, has only about 100 business and editorial employees and a circulation of 470,000. A scale that small means that a few million dollars could push the company over the top — an amount that would barely register on the balance sheets of many other publishers.

Since 2005, revenue at The Atlantic has almost doubled, reaching $32.2 million this year, according to figures provided by the company. About half of that is advertising revenue. But digital advertising — projected to finish the year at $6.1 million — represents almost 40 percent of the company’s overall advertising take. In the magazine business, which has resisted betting its future on digital revenue, that is a rate virtually unheard of.

RTWT.

There's a discussion of publisher David Bradley, who bought the magazine in 1999 and immediately drove it into the ground. Banging his head against the wall, he conceded failure and adopted the changes cited above, along with new editorial leadership. What's fascinating is the decision to turn The Atlantic into a blogging headquarters and destination for online readership (looks like a model to me, although NYT discounts it). Andrew Sullivan accounts for 25 percent of The Atlantic's traffic, and both Matthew Yglesias and Ross Douthat did well there before moving on. Megan McArdle is an interesting voice, and perhaps Ta-Nehisi and Goldberg add some utility, although not for me. Longstanding Atlantic writer James Fallows also blogs there. But it's mostly Sullivan that's interesting to me. No need to provide much background. He went so far overboard that even folks at The Atlantic questioned his sanity. That said, I don't ever recall the top editors questioning Sullivan during his years-long descent into an obstetric gynecology-induced paranoid personality disorder. He hardly speaks for America, in any case.

That said, The Atlantic is a heavy-duty high-brow magazine, and while I don't blog it too often, I still respect it and enjoy reading it.

I can just do without all those lefty bloggers.

Added: R.S. McCain links: "Math Problem: If the Atlantic Monthly Makes a Profit of $1.8 Million a Year ..."

Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, Stockholm Suicide Bomber, Was Living in Britain

At London's Telegraph:

An Islamic suicide bomber who attacked Christmas shoppers in Sweden at the weekend is a British university graduate and was living in this country until two weeks ago.

Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly tried to set off a car bomb packed with gas canisters in a busy shopping street in Stockholm. The car caught fire and the bomber fled the scene before blowing himself up 300yd away 15 minutes later, injuring two bystanders.

It emerged last night that Abdulwahab, who was due to turn 29 yesterday, is a former physical therapy student at Bedfordshire University in Luton, and that his wife and three young children still live in the town.

MI5 is now investigating possible links with extremists in Luton, whether the bomber was radicalised at the university and claims that he was helped by an extremist group in Yemen, the base for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

And more from Atlas Shrugs, "Facebook Memorial Page for Sweden Jihad Bomber." And at Legal Insurrection, "All Swedes Are Malmö Jews Now":

Make no mistake about it, the Islamists do not operate in a vacuum; they operate with the connivance or at least tolerance of the anti-Israel left.

No doubt.

Silvana Escudero Goes Topless on Argentine 'Dancing With the Stars'

Now that's my kind of blogging!

Way to work the Googe-bombing, Reliapundit!

I think R.S. McCain's influence is being felt far and wide across the conservative 'sphere.

At Astute Bloggers, "POP CULTURE GONE WILD - Playboy model Silvana Escudero stripping off topless and simulated sex during the Argentinian edition of 'Dancing with the Stars' - NSFW":

POP CULTURE GONE WILD:

Watch the video: Sex scandal in 'Dancing with the Stars'

Playboy model Silvana Escudero stripping off topless and simulated sex during the Argentinian edition of 'Dancing with the Stars'

Check Astute Bloggers for the commentary.

She's a beauty.

But yes, it's a bit much. Seriously. The only thing missing is the penetration. But no doubt this stuff is totally cool with the progressive left. They're all about glorifying global culture over the U.S., and mainstreaming "consensual" adult incestuous relationships.

Metrodome Roof Collapse Video Goes Viral

At The Blaze, "Update: New Time-Lapse Video Shows Snow Collapse of Minneapolis Metrodome," and CNN, "Heavy snow wreaks havoc in Midwest; Metrodome roof collapses."

And even TMZ, "Metrodome Roof Collapses -- Crazy Video!!!"

Via Twitter.