New York Times Reader Kills Dozens in Norway

A classic piece from Ann Coulter, at FrontPage Magazine.

And speaking of New York Times, see Timothy Egan's desperation, "A Madman and His Manifesto."

RELATED: Anders Breivik is explained — indeed, he's all boxed up and ready to go — at Los Angeles Times, "Norway attacks: The Breivik-McVeigh connection," by Andrew Gumbel.

The Budget Crisis and American Power

From George Melloan, at Wall Street Journal:

Ronald Reagan famously said that no nation has ever been attacked because it was too strong, but that maxim is often forgotten. This seems to be the case now, as both the White House and some residual isolationists on the right propose measures to withdraw the U.S. from its global security commitments.

Barack Obama's performance as commander in chief leaves much to be desired. A skillful tactician doesn't aid a tenacious enemy (the Taliban) by announcing a timetable for quitting the field. He doesn't enter a war (Libya) and then withdraw as if he were sitting down after throwing out the first baseball. He doesn't damage his credibility by issuing unpersuasive threats (Iran). He doesn't diss a long-time strategic ally (Israel). He doesn't make concessions to "reset" relations with Russia and get nothing in return. And so forth.

America's foreign policy hawks are rightly critical of such conduct. Fearful that the president's uncertain trumpet will embolden enemies and distance friends, they deplore the planned troop drawdown in Afghanistan and other measures to reduce the U.S. military's forward presence. They argue correctly that the U.S. has been the primary architect of a global order that has fostered free commerce and political and social advances of great benefit to the U.S. and the world at large.

But there is one big problem: The U.S. is busted. That's not primarily because of its foreign policy engagements, which have been a good investment. It is mainly because America's political leaders have overburdened the productive sector with social obligations that cannot be fulfilled.

Sadly, when budgets are stretched, U.S. politicians usually don't menace entitlements, which buy votes. Instead they look to cut military and foreign policy expenditures. The consequences are often dire.

RTWT.

Glenn Greenwald: 'An un-American response to the Oslo attack'

I can't stand him personally, but he deserves props for his consistent anti-Americanism, which has continued right on into the Obama administration.

Greenwald's latest on Norway, at Salon.

Boehner's Moment of Truth

From Kimberley Strassel, at WSJ:

It isn't easy to turn Washington around on a dime. If nothing else, give Republican House Speaker John Boehner marks for trying.

It wasn't a week ago that Mr. Boehner was plodding through White House deliberations, grasping for GOP support, facing the growing likelihood his party would be saddled with either a flawed debt bargain or blame for causing a default. By last night, Mr. Boehner was on the precipice of passing the only workable debt plan in town and shifting responsibility for further debt fallout across the aisle. Whatever the final result, Mr. Boehner's week-long struggle to pull his party behind him is worthy of some study ...

Continue reading.

Angels' Ervin Santana Pitches No-Hitter Against Cleveland

I wish I woulda caught that game. Santana's long been one of my favorite Angels starters. His Wikipedia entry notes:

In the pivotal Game 5 of the American League Division Series of the playoffs against the New York Yankees, Angels ace Bartolo Colón went out with a shoulder injury in the second inning. Santana filled in as the long reliever, and pitched 5-1/3 innings to earn his first playoff win in his first appearance.

Here's some video of the final out, at Fox News, "Angels' Santana no-hits the Indians." And this one from Associate Press:

And at Los Angeles Times, "Angels' Ervin Santana throws a no-hitter against Cleveland Indians," and "Ervin Santana's no-hitter should spark well-deserved interest in the Angels":

Baseball season challenges our attention span. It can be a 162-game drone. In Los Angeles, multiply that by two.

Before Wednesday, the Dodgers were a well-documented disaster, the stories more about loans and bankruptcy than wins and losses.

As for the Angels, most of the time they were more confusing than compelling.

You'd get solid pitching and little hitting, day after day. Texas went on a hot streak and the Angels seemed unable to close the gap. It was a team of Jered Weaver and Dan Haren, and had their last names rhymed properly it would have been the 2011 version of Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.

Then came Wednesday's bolt of lightning.

Ervin Santana threw a no-hitter at the Cleveland Indians. Not Weaver. Not Haren. Ervin Santana. It was done before lots of us on the West Coast had figured out what to order for lunch. The noon start in the East gave Santana and the Angels an entire day to dominate the sports headlines.

It was the kind of thing that can jump-start a team, and this is the kind of team that has needed a jolt for several months.

The Rebellious Image of the X-Games

Well, they're not as rebellious today as in 1993, when the games were launched.

See Los Angeles Times, "X Games' wider world keeps growing":

The X Games have hosted competitions in 14 countries in recent years, but a stronger international footprint — with four new global events planned outside the U.S. — would allow them to tap into new and potentially deeper revenue streams.

An unseen factor in the X Games' ability to grow, though, is the independence of their athletes.

"They're not organized, unionized, there's no collective bargaining," Fort said.

Dave Mirra, a BMX and rally car driver who holds the record for most X Games medals (24), hopes they receive benefits and a pension one day. "It will be cool to see how organized we are in 20 years," Mirra said.

It's unknown where action sports may be by then, but it's difficult to envision them letting go of their identity.

"It's inherently rebellious, in a sense," said iconic Brazilian skateboarder Bob Burnquist. "I'm 34, I'm a professional skateboarder, I have all the success in the world, but I skate in pools and I run from police. That's what I do."

There may be a rebel culture to it, but Curren Caples, a 15-year-old skateboarder from Ventura who competed in X Games 16, said he has noticed that has changed somewhat.

Caples said that when he started skating many kids frowned on events, saying competing meant "selling out."

Now, he said, "There are kids who are skating just to get sponsors."

When I was skating back in the 1970s and 1980s, kids could only dream of such things as the X-Games, or the global popularity of skateboarding.

More later. I'll be heading over with Staples Center on Saturday with my boys.

Private Naser Jason Abdo, AWOL Muslim Soldier, Arrested with Explosive Bomb-Making Materials in Killeen, Texas, Home of Fort Hood

A huge report at Atlas Shrugs, "FORT HOOD JIHAD II: MUSLIM SERVICEMEN ARRESTED IN ALLEGED ATTACK ON FORT HOOD, CAPTURED WITH POSSESSION OF LARGE QUANTITIES OF AMMUNITION, WEAPONS AND THE EXPLOSIVE MAKINGS OF A BOMB."

Additional video at CNN, "Official: Soldier said he wanted to attack Fort Hood troops."

And at New York Times, "Soldier Held Amid Claim of Terror Plot at Fort Hood":

An Army private who had been absent without leave since earlier this month was arrested this week near Fort Hood with a gun and suspicious materials, in what local law enforcement officials described on Thursday as a “terror plot” to kill other soldiers.

The police in Killeen, Tex., arrested the soldier, Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo, in a motel room near the southern edge of the base on Wednesday, one day after a clerk at a local gun store alerted the police about a suspicious purchase, the police said.

According to a law enforcement official, among the items found in Private Abdo’s room at the time of his arrest were a military uniform with Fort Hood patches, a pistol, shotgun shells and an article on “how to make a bomb in your kitchen” from the English-language Qaeda magazine Inspire. He also had more than one wall clock, a cellphone, duct tape and a shopping list for what appeared to be explosive components, the official said.

The police said that they had interviewed Private Abdo in the city jail and that his statement “leads us to believe that military personnel were targeted,” said Dennis M. Baldwin, the Killeen chief of police. He said Private Abdo did not appear to be part of any larger plot. “As far as we know, he did act alone,” Chief Baldwin said.

It was unclear what connection Private Abdo had to Fort Hood. He had been absent without leave from his own base, Fort Campbell in Kentucky, since early this month.

And check the roundup at Memeorandum.

Heading for a 'Haircut'

At WSJ, "U.S. Default or Downgrade Could Cost Repo Borrowers; Debt-Ceiling Anxiety":

The debt stalemate in Washington is creating stress in a little-known but vital corner of the bond market, increasing the risk that banks, hedge funds and other investors will have to pay billions of dollars in additional costs if the U.S. defaults or is downgraded.

Rates are rising for repurchase agreements, or repos—a roughly $4 trillion market that greases the wheels of the U.S. financial system—as officials in Washington feud over how to bring down the nation's debt. And Wall Street is now calculating the damage that could ensue if the nation was forced to default on its debt early next month or, more likely, loses its triple-A credit rating.

While many believe a downgrade would have relatively muted effects on the repo market, some worry that the costs to borrow there would rise.

There's a cool chart at the link.

Meanwhile, The Other McCain has this big report: "UPDATE: Boehner Yanks Debt-Ceiling Bill at Last Minute! Vote Postponed UPDATE: Sarah Palin Sends Cryptic Message to Republican Freshmen UPDATE: 24 Republican ‘No’ Votes?"

Also, at Politico, "Debt deal compromise suggested by Democrats." (Via Memeorandum.)

A Gaping Hole in Global Warming Alarmism?

I saw this earlier, at Lonely Conservative, "Sorry, Global Warmers: New NASA Study Shows Heat Not Trapped in Earth’s Atmosphere as Claimed."

But see also Astute Bloggers, "Ten year NASA study: There is no global warming!," and Pajamas Media, "Uh-Oh: NASA Satellite Data Blows Big Hole in Global Warming Models." (Via Memeorandum.)

And at IBD, "Junk Science Unravels":

Climate Change: The scientist who claimed that global warming threatens polar bears is under investigation. There's a hole in Earth's greenhouse. A cooler era lies ahead. That hiss is the hot air coming out of alarmists' balloon.

The global warming fraud is coming apart faster than the alarmists can repackage and rebrand their fairy tale. Their elaborately constructed yarn can't hold together much longer. There are just too many loose ends ...

More at the link.

Barbara Efraim with House Speaker John Boehner

Barbara Efraim, formerly of Long Beach City College, is doing an internship with the National Women's Committee of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington. She keeps me updated by Facebook. Here she's meeting with Speaker Boehner, who's in the news more than ever. A little blurry with the mobile phone, but cool:

Boehner Still Rounding Up Support Ahead of Debt Vote

Well, budget follies continue today, heading toward the deadline, and (some say) the financial apocalypse.

At New York Times, "Boehner Seems Confident of Passing House Debt Vote."

WASHINGTON — The House and Senate headed for a pivotal showdown on Thursday evening over how to cut spending and increase the debt limit before the federal government loses its ability to borrow.

House Republican leaders convened a closed-door party meeting Thursday and appeared confident of winning over holdouts to pass their plan, which would make $900 million in cuts, raise the debt ceiling for a few months, and come back for more of the same later. But Senate Democratic leaders said that if that happened they would waste no time rejecting the legislation.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Senate Democrats would move immediately Thursday night to set aside the House proposal if it wins passage and then take steps to force a vote on Mr. Reid’s own proposal to raise the debt limit through 2012 in exchange for more than $2 trillion in cuts.

“No Democrat will vote for a short-term Band-Aid that would put our economy at risk and put the nation back in this untenable situation a few short months from now,” Mr. Reid said.

Lots at Memeorandum on this. And also at Los Angeles Times, "Boehner risking much by going to brink over debt."

The Facts of Life for Progressives

I gotta start bugging Andrew Klavan — they're progressives!

Video c/o Theo Spark:

Laura Ingraham Show — Hey Speaker John Boehner, Did You Really Tell House GOP to Get 'Your Ass in Line?'

House Speaker John Boehner joins Laura Ingraham on the air:

And at Wall Street Journal, "Debt-Crisis Vote Goes Down to Wire in House":

The House was headed for a cliffhanger vote Thursday on a revised debt plan from Republican Speaker John Boehner that could go a long way in determining if the government's borrowing limit is raised in time to avoid a possible default next week.

Mr. Boehner scrambled Wednesday to stem defections by conservatives, telling fellow Republicans, "I need an army behind me." But he could delay the vote if he concludes his plan won't pass the House.

If it does pass, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) prepared to put it to a vote in the Senate, hoping to defeat it. He then could try to push through his own debt plan, or make changes to Mr. Boehner's plan to make it more palatable to Democrats.

Meanwhile, senior Democratic aides said Mr. Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) are exploring ways to bridge the gaps between the House and Senate bills and craft an alternative that can pass both chambers by Aug. 2. A spokesman for Mr. McConnell said the Senate Republican leader isn't working on any bill other than one by Mr. Boehner.

Even as both sides press ahead with their plans, back-channel conversations between Messrs. Reid and McConnell focus on the biggest divide between the parties: whether to raise the debt ceiling in one phase or two, the Democratic aides said, reflecting a recognition that neither of the bills put forward by Mr. Boehner and Mr. Reid is likely to pass both chambers unchanged.

"You need to get agreement, and there are talks going on to try to get that agreement," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.).

The Journal's piece is gated, so if it's not coming up, see if you can RTWT at the Google click through.

Maxim Office Assistant

That's not any office workplace I can ever remember, via Maxim:

Anderson Cooper's CNN Hit Piece Smears Geller/Spencer Counter Jihad

I've written about this at length, so folks know where I stand. And it's obviously not in my power to shift media opinion, or in the power of a handful of fighters for truth. Folks have to keep on plugging away and making a difference where they can. As always, I know inside that good prevails over evil, but it can take time. Pamela reports on this Anderson Cooper segment that's just utterly pathetic. She urges readers to contact CNN, and I might add, if they're going after Pamela and Robert Spencer, why is Charles Johnson getting a pass? Scroll forward to about 3:30 minutes:

And at Pamela's, "MEDIA FREAKSHOW: CNN SMEARS, DEFAMES HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, CHRISTIANS AND PATRIOTS FOR NORWAY SHOOTING."

Tea Party Targets Boehner

At Fox News, "Tea Party Activists Revolt Against Boehner Amid Debt Crisis."

And see Judson Phillips, at Washington Post, "Why the Tea Party is unyielding on the debt ceiling."

BONUS: Michelle Malkin, "Rancor on the Right: Of elephants and asses."

Norway Killings Shift Immigrant Debate in Europe

At New York Times, "Shift in Europe Seen in Debate on Immigrants":

BERLIN — Less than a week after the mass killings in Norway, evidence of a shift in the debate over Islam and the radical right in Europe already appeared to be taking hold on a traumatized Continent.

As the police in Norway and abroad continued to search for potential accomplices, expressions of outrage over the deaths crossed the political spectrum. Members of far-right parties in Sweden and Italy were condemned from within their own ranks for blaming multiculturalism for the attack. A member of France’s far-right National Front was suspended for praising the attacker.

Lurking in the background is the calculation on all sides that such tragedies can drive shifts in public opinion. Nonviolent political parties can hardly be blamed for the violent actions of a terrorist or a homicidal person. But politicians have begun to question inflammatory speech in the debate over immigrants, which has helped fuel the rise of right-leaning politicians across Europe in recent years.

More at the link above.

I'm kinda shocked to see right parties endorsing the killings, or at least defending Breivik. What he did is indefensible. More at the Right Perspective, "European Far Right Cautiously Stands With Brievik."

And at Telegraph UK, "National Front member suspended for defending Anders Behring Breivik."

VIDEO: Shaun White Snowboard Gold Medal 2010 Winter Olympics

And an interview at New York Times, "30 SECONDS: With Shaun White":

Q. Did you ever think as a child that boarding would allow you to earn millions of dollars in corporate deals and sponsorships?

A. I knew there was a certain level that I could get to within the sporting world. But as I continued with my career, not only did I grow, but the sport grew. All of a sudden, all of these doors opened to me. It’s been amazing. I guess I was born at the right time.

Q. You enjoy playing guitar. Who are your favorite guitarists?

A. Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Angus Young.

Q. Are you a better snowboarder or skateboarder?

A. Probably snowboarding, just because the tricks come easier. It’s easier for me to learn a new trick snowboarding because skateboarding is so technical. You’re not strapped into the board and any slight movement of your foot, your board goes flying away and the run is over.

Q. Tell us something no one knows about you.

A. I don’t really like the cold. I have asthma. When I go up into those mountains, I can’t breathe, man. I’m like, “It’s freezing up here.”

RELATED: "The Shaun White Interview," at TransWorld Snowboarding, October 2003.

Social Media Consumer Report

If I was on the job market I wouldn't do what I do online. And I know certain progressive academic bloggers who ought to be more careful, and they know it, although I can't name names at the moment.

See: "I Flunked My Social Media Background Check. Will You?" (via Kathy Shaidle).

FLASHBACK: "Academic Tenure and the 'Damascus Conversion to Unpopular Views'."

Progressive Sensitivity

From John Hawkins, "Liberalism In 120 Seconds: Nobody Needs Sensitivity Training More Than Liberals."

I keep telling him that it's "progressives" and not "liberals," although I haven't whaled on him like Zilla of the Resistance.