Roundup on the GOP Debate in Des Moines

I think Newt Gingrich forcefully consolidated his newfound frontrunner status last night. He's especially vulnerable on his marital history, and that portion of the debate was dicey. But Gingrich handled his response well, and was fairly contrite. For me it's not whether someone divorces but whether they were unfaithful. I don't bother to keep up with the stories of Newt's family life, but he's a bit less straight and narrow on those issues than I'd expect in the presidency. But such is life.

I'll have more on this later.

Check Robert Stacy McCain, "ABC Iowa Debate Reaction Roundup UPDATE: Jennifer Rubin, WTF?"

And at Los Angeles Times, "Gingrich is favorite target at latest GOP debate"; New York Times, "Race Reshaped, Rivals Target Gingrich in G.O.P. Debate"; and Washington Post, "Gingrich comes under attack in GOP debate."

Professor Paul Derengowski Resigns from Tarrant County College After Muslim Students Launch 'Terroristic Act of Jihad'

Wow, this is one heck of a story.

At Fox News Dallas-Fort Worth, "Professor Calls Student Complaints “Terroristic Act of Jihad”."

And see The Blaze, "TX PROF. RESIGNS, THEN ASKS FOR JOB BACK, AFTER MUSLIM STUDENTS COMPLAIN HE CALLED ISLAM A ‘CULT’."

And see the professor's essay here: "Tell them the truth." And Derengowski emailed Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch, "Muslim students threaten, force resignation of prof who quoted from Islamic texts":

My name is Paul Derengowski, and I was hired by Tarrant County College in 2008 to teach Great World Religions, Bible History I & II, and Introduction to Philosophy.

On November 8, 2011, I gave the second of a two-part lecture on Islam, as I've been doing Spring, Fall, and sometimes twice in the Summer, dealing with Islamic history and doctrine, and more particularly Muhammad's move to Medina. A question had been raised by two Muslim students in the previous the lecture concerning the sources I used to discuss the raid at Nakhlah. At the start of the second lecture I provided my sources (The Life of Muhammad by Haykal and the Qur'an), which included reading Sura 2:216-217. That is when all hell broke loose.

Both Muslim students, for an hour, berated me, my sources, and my credentials. When other students in the class attempted to ask questions or make comments, then the Muslim students would interrupt them as well. Finally, toward the end of the class period, a student made a comment on how "scary" the person of Muhammad seemed to be. That's when the male Muslim blurted out "you ought to be scared," and then bolted for the door in a fit of outrage. I subsequently filed a campus police report on him out of concern for the safety of students and myself. The female followed suit as well, claiming later in a libelous email she passed around unbeknownst to me—that is, until one of the students forwarded the diatribe to me later—that she was not going to sit there and listen to me slander her religion, even though all I did was quote from Islamic sources.

It was the libelous email that really started the wheels in motion leading up to my resignation. The female Muslim student not only stealthily sent around the email to all the rest of the students in the class to (1) defame me behind my back, but also to (2) try and gather support for her reckless behavior.

Continue reading.

No doubt Walter James "Occupy" Casper III would be down with that "female Muslim student." The dude called for an investigation of Pamela Geller and berates conservative counter-jihad bloggers as racist. For pro-terror progressives like Racist Repsac3, the professor had it coming and he obviously deserved to be out on his ass, pounding the pavement for a job. See: "W. James Casper's Demonic Band of Progressive Totalitarians."

Scott Brown Faces Tough Challenge From Elizabeth Warren

At Wall Street Journal, "Scott Brown's Strategy":

This week Senate Republicans blocked President Obama's nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Only two Republicans broke ranks -- Olympia Snowe of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts -- and both senators are up for re-election next year.

Ms. Snowe should win handily if she isn't toppled by a primary challenger. Mr. Brown's re-election prospects, by contrast, are shakier. Two new polls show the GOP freshman trailing Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor who helped establish the CFPB and is expected to be the Democratic nominee. The University of Massachusetts-Amherst gives Ms. Warren a four-point lead and a University of Massachusetts-Lowell/Boston Herald poll has her up by seven points. Three months ago, most polls showed Mr. Brown slightly ahead. The senator's approval rating has also fallen by eight points to 45%, though his favorables are still in positive territory and exceed Ms. Warren's.

While the poll results may be disconcerting for Mr. Brown and Senate Republicans, they're not unexpected. Ms. Warren's campaign has spent $1.5 million on an ad that portrays her as a defender of the middle class. And the League of Conservation Voters has dumped $2 million on spots that tar Mr. Brown as a Washington insider. The real surprise is that Mr. Brown still leads Ms. Warren, 53-37, with independents. Because Republicans constitute less than 15% of the Massachusetts electorate, Mr. Brown will probably have to win more than two-thirds of the independent vote and probably pick up some Democrats as well.

Continue reading.

VIDEO HAT TIP: Los Angeles Times, "Elizabeth Warren blasts 'ridiculous' charge in ad by Karl Rove group."

Weekly Republican Address: House Speaker John Boehner on Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act

From the GOP Conference:

Veena Malik Claims She Was Wearing Hotpants in Controversial FHM Nude Cover

Okay, bringing you the important news in comparative politics and international relations!

I saw this story previously at Foreign Policy, "Nude Veena Malik cover stuns Pakistani Twitterverse," and "The India subtext in the Veena Malik nude cover controversy."

Hey, even foreign policy specialists need some Rule 5 diversions.

But see London's Daily Mail, "'The stress added ten years to my age': FHM India's 'naked' covergirl claims she was threatened after claiming shoot was doctored."

Newt's Backtracking on Palestinians as 'Invented People'?

Newt Gingrich is absolutely correct. The "Palestians" are Arabs who lived on territory of the former Ottoman Empire, an area technically known as the Southern Levant. And the word "Palestinian" is derived from the "Philistines," the people who occupied the area during the Roman Empire.

And now this? At New York Times, "Damage Control From Gingrich on Palestinians."

You know, Gingrich isn't my man, but the backlash is completely typical of the Israel annihilation industry. See Wall Street Journal, "Gingrich’s Palestinian Comments Draw Flak":

According to the AP, Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said that Mr. Gingrich had “lost touch with reality” and that his comments were “a cheap way to win (the) pro-Israel vote.”

A pair of Mr. Romney’s surrogates said Mr. Gingrich’s comments were evidence that the former House speaker is a loose cannon who struggles to stay on message.

“I’m not sure that statement gets us any closer to accomplishing an agenda,” former Ambassador Mary Kramer, a Romney supporter, said Friday on a conference call with reporters. “That’s one of the things that makes me a little nervous about Speaker Gingrich.”

Mr. Romney has adopted a choreographed approach to campaigning. “Gov. Romney is much more disciplined in his approach and much more thoughtful about the things he says,” said Renee Schulte, an Iowa State Representative and one of the Romney campaign’s Iowa co-chairs. “This comment is just another example of the difference between the two.”

The Romney people are extremely annoying. And I'm with Pamela on this whole affair:

Finally, the biggest lie of the late twentieth century has been called just that, a lie. And while I have many issues with New Gingrich (Bachmann or Santorum would be infinitely better), Gingrich must be heralded for speaking the truth about Yaser Arafat's enduring annihilationist narrative, the "Palestinian".

And of course, I'm not with Doug Mataconis, who's a leading paleocon member of the Israel annihilation industry: "Newt Gingrich Calls Palestinians an “Invented People”."

There is no "two-state solution" to the Middle East "crisis," because the so-called "Palestinians" don't want one. See Melanie Phillips:

For peace to be achieved, the belligerent has to stop making war. The Arabs have made war on the Jews in their ancient homeland since Israel became a state and indeed for three decades before that. For a solution to be arrived at, it’s necessary correctly to state the problem. The problem is not the absence of a state of Palestine. The problem is that the Arabs want to get rid of Israel.

You got that, Doug?

More at Memeorandum.

Newt Gingrich Stirs Up Old Memories: Former Speaker's Success Draws Mixed Reactions from Ex-Colleagues

From Los Angeles Times, "Gingrich the candidate? GOP lawmakers grapple with the idea":

As the prospect of Newt Gingrich landing the Republican nomination for president started feeling intensely real last week, the former House speaker placed a call to a man in a position to cause major damage.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina once led a band of GOP rebels who tried to oust Gingrich, and hadn't spoken to him about those days of internecine warfare in the 14 years since.

The two men talked for more than an hour, Graham said, and the senator came away hopeful that the man who once "drove us all crazy" had changed. "The question has to be, 'Is the Newt today different than the Newt then?' " Graham said this week. "Seems to me that he is, but time will tell."

Others who had a close-up view of Gingrich's leadership remain skeptical.

"Some people are willing to reconsider him. I'm not," said Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), one of the remaining members of the Class of '94, whose arrival in the House made Gingrich the first Republican speaker in 40 years. "His leadership skills back in the '90s were not consistent with what I would want to see in the president of the United States."

As Gingrich continues to surge in polls, Republicans on Capitol Hill are grappling with their attitude toward their former leader. Few in Washington have more baggage than Gingrich, and most in Washington know what's in it. The question of whether Gingrich can convince his party that he's evolved may determine whether his support grows or falls back.

More at the link.

Wisconsin Union Thugs Launch Campaign of Harassment and Intimidation Against Pro-Walker Teacher Kristi Lacroix

The attack goons of the Wisconsin Education Association Council are attempting to destroy high school teacher Kristi Lacroix, who appeared in this pro-Scott Walker advertisement last month:

Greta Van Susteren interviewed Governor Walker on the developments, "Wis. Woman Allegedly Harassed for Criticizing 'Sour Grapes' Recall Movement on Gov. Walker":

VAN SUSTEREN: Now Kristi LaCroix said there is even an online campaign to get her fired. Law enforcement says there's been dangerous behavior from both sides of the recall effort. Governor Scott Walker joins us. Good evening, sir.

WIS. GOV. SCOTT WALKER: Good evening, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Governor, do you have anything or would anyone within your close circle have anything to do with this ad or did the teacher come up with the ad herself?

WALKER: Actually it's our campaign that did the ad, but this teacher literally sat down in front of a camera like I am right now and just talked. She had no script. She just talked what was on her heart. We have another teacher starting with a similar ad today and we will have workers in the private sector and parents and grandparents.

But this woman just said what was on her mind. It's amazing to see how outrageous it is. That's what happens when you see so much influence coming in from outside of Wisconsin. That's not the way we do it in Wisconsin. We don't attack people because it's a difference of opinion. People came out to my home and attacked -- not attacked but harassed not only my family but my neighbors. They have been point to go people on Facebook and pointing to folks on my kids' Facebook site and they have said outrageous things about my family again today.

Again, it's one thing to inform a debate or another to distract or distort it. And nobody, whether they are for or against me, including those who oppose our recall, nobody should be doing things that cross the line like that.

VAN SUSTEREN: Explain something to me. When you ran for office you had a certain platform. When you got into office did you carry out that platform so that it was no particular surprise to the voters, or did you change and thus all of a sudden everyone gotten enraged and said Walker went much farther than he of told us? Or explain how that worked.

WALKER: No. And in fact, I talked very explicitly about the fact that I was going to balance the budget, one of the largest deficits we had of had, a $3.6 billion, and do it without raising taxes, do it without cutting core services. In fact a billion dollars more was added to the budget for Medicaid for needy families and children and seniors, and put resources more effectively like in the classroom to help the kids. We did all those things. Unlike states that raised taxes, laid off employees and did other things that damaged their states, we avoided that because we put reforms in that empowered our state and our local government to balance our budgets.

These are not normal people --- they're progressives, and they don't accept legitimate difference. They seek to demonize and destroy, nothing less --- and I can attest to that first hand.

More at Big Government, "Union Radicals Harass Teacher Who Dared to Support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker."

RELATED: "Carl Salonen Libelous Workplace Allegations of Child Pornography and Sexual Harassment at Long Beach City College," and "Roundup on Progressive Campaign of Workplace Intimidation and Harassment."

Plus, "W. James Casper's Demonic Band of Progressive Totalitarians."

Newt Gingrich Hasn't Mastered Campaign Fundamentals

From Charlie Cook, at National Journal, "Not Sold on Newt":

The national and state polls are pretty clear: Newt Gingrich has moved into the top position for the Republican presidential nomination. Other candidates have surged in the past several months, first Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, then Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and, more recently, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain. But over the past week or so, even some Republican operatives who do not support Gingrich are starting to take seriously the possibility that his lead will last. Holding a 15-point advantage in the new Gallup national tracking poll, as well as leads in multiple polls in Iowa, South Carolina, and other key states, Gingrich has clearly become a force.

Even after stipulating that the former House speaker is a very smart guy with more ideas than any three politicians you will ever find, I’m still having trouble wrapping my brain around the possibility that he will be the GOP nominee. To accept that scenario, you have to buy the idea that the laws of political gravity have been suspended this year, that things that normally matter a lot aren’t going to matter this year—or, to borrow a title from a popular book, This Time Is Different.

We are asked to believe that having campaign money isn’t important. That campaign organization and infrastructure don’t matter, even in a fight for delegates spread across 50 states. That it’s OK for the entire campaign brain trust of the apparent front-runner to reside under one head of hair and between one set of ears. That it’s feasible for one person to not only devise but also implement a national strategy and tactical plans for every state.

Then we are asked to believe that Republicans, specifically conservatives, are going to ignore some of the more problematic aspects of Gingrich’s background and policy positions. I personally like and respect Gingrich a great deal, and he has always been nice to me and generous with his time, so I won’t rehash all of his potential problems among conservatives. Let’s just take one—sitting on a love seat with the reviled Nancy Pelosi talking about climate change, in a 2008 ad that he was asked to do by former Vice President Al Gore, another Democrat not held in exceedingly high regard among Republicans. How is that appearance going to look when an opponent cuts it up and puts it into an ad aired on Fox? A large closet, if not a whole warehouse, of opposition research on Gingrich is being readied and is just now starting to be unloaded. This material is arguably much richer than anything ever assembled against any other candidate. After all, Gingrich has been in the political arena for a very long time and has had far more than his share of detractors willing to share their grievances...

Oh boy, that does present some problems, doesn't it. I think that Ron Paul ad from last week is just the tip of the iceberg. But continue reading here.

'Sherlock Holmes' Premieres in Los Angeles

A slideshow at Los Angeles Times, "'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' premiere."

Rick Santorum Interview with Sean Hannity

Robert Stacy McCain, who's come out big-time for Santorum, has the video: "Santorum on Hannity."

And Zilla's on the Santorum bandwagon: "Anti-Jihad Blogger Announces Official Endorsement for President of the United States of America."

BONUS: At Des Moines Register, "Iowa Secretary of State endorses Santorum in GOP presidential race."

Candidates Prepare for Epic Debate in Des Moines, Iowa

This one's definitely going to be a don't-miss event.

At ABC News, "Mitt Romney Hints at Gingrich Face-Off."

Also, at Des Moines Register, "Romney says leadership makes him clear selection." Plus, "Romney pushes back on questioner’s Muslim description."

Opportunistic Obama, Zigzags for Reelection

He'll play the Occupy Wall Street card but chickens out like a coward on the morning after pill. The craven commie commander-in-chief. It's not like conservatives didn't predict it in 2008.

At New York Times, "Reality and Re-election Sharpen Obama’s Zigzags."

And from Rush Limbaugh, "President Obama's Osawatomie Speech was a Marxist Attack on America."

Plus, from Serr8d's Cutting Edge, "More on Barack Obama's Osawatomie Campaign Speech."

PREVIOUSLY: "Charles Krauthammer: Obama's Class Resentment."

Maxim's 2011 Hometown Hotties: Jordan from Arizona

Well, this is pretty amazing.

PREVIOUSLY: "Maxim's 2011 Hometown Hotties: Windy City's Jelena."

Gunman Fires on Motorists at Hollywood Intersection: Eyewitness Tries to Talk to Shooter

The gunman was shot and killed by police.

At Los Angeles Times, "Gunman fires on motorists, others at Hollywood intersection." And KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Eyewitness tapes interaction with Hollywood gunman."

And the dude was a jihadi? See Astute Blogger, "Hollywood Shooter Repeatedly Shouted 'Allahu Akbar' During Rampage?" And at Pamela's, "HOLLYWOOD JIHAD: SHOOTOUT, GUNMAN CALMLY TARGETED DRIVERS AND PEOPLE WHILE SHOUTING ALLAHU AKBAR!"

New York Times Reporter Nicholas Kristof Tear Gassed in Bahrain

At Washington Post, "Nick Kristof tear gassed, held by police in Bahrain (tweets)."

Kristof tweets here::

I was just pulled into police car here in Sitra, #Bahrain, but not sure if I'm being detained or protected.

Later tweets indicate that his cameraman was hit by rubber bullets, so I imagine being detained might also have afforded protection.

Bill O'Reilly Talking Points: Close Encounter with Occupy Protester

O'Reilly told some progressive asshat to bugger off, defended himself with his umbrella, and called the cops when the occupy goon wouldn't stand down.

And the radical gay extremists aren't pleased: "Bill O'Reilly: Cell Phone Armed Occupy Wall Street Anarchist Attacked Me."

Prime Minister David Cameron Stands Up for British Sovereignty

At Telegraph UK, "EU treaty: David Cameron stands as the lone man of Europe":

David Cameron took a decisive step to distance Britain from the European Union on Friday as he became the first prime minister to veto a new EU treaty.

Mr Cameron provoked widespread anger among European leaders by refusing to back a deal to rescue the eurozone, delighting Tories and raising questions about Britain’s future in the EU.

After Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, led objections to his “unacceptable” demands for legal protections for the City of London, the Prime Minister refused to give Britain’s backing for a new treaty to create a “fiscal union” among eurozone members.

At the end of an acrimonious summit in Brussels, all 26 other EU members signalled they could now support the new treaty, leaving Britain in a minority of one.

Conservative MPs welcomed Britain’s move back towards the traditional Tory stance of “splendid isolation” in Europe — a term for the foreign policy of the late 19th century.

Also at Telegraph, "Eurozone banking system on the edge of collapse."

Looks like a smart call by Cameron.

Charles Krauthammer: Obama's Class Resentment

Another great essay, "Obama’s campaign for class resentment."

In the first month of his presidency, Barack Obama averred that if in three years he hadn’t alleviated the nation’s economic pain, he’d be a “one-term proposition.”

When three-quarters of Americans think the country is on the “wrong track” and even Bill Clinton calls the economy “lousy,” how then to run for a second term? Traveling Tuesday to Osawatomie, Kan., site of a famous 1910 Teddy Roosevelt speech, Obama laid out the case.

It seems that he and his policies have nothing to do with the current state of things. Sure, presidents are ordinarily held accountable for economic growth, unemployment, national indebtedness (see Obama, above). But not this time. Responsibility, you see, lies with the rich.

Or, as the philosophers of Zuccotti Park call them, the 1 percent. For Obama, these rich are the ones holding back the 99 percent. The “breathtaking greed of a few” is crushing the middle class. If only the rich paid their “fair share,” the middle class would have a chance. Otherwise, government won’t have enough funds to “invest” in education and innovation, the golden path to the sunny uplands of economic growth and opportunity.

Continue reading.

Romney Goes Up With Merciless New Web Ad: 'With Friends Like Newt'

At The Hill, "Romney attack hits Gingrich from right," and Wall Street Journal, "Romney Goes After Gingrich With New Web Video."

And see the reporting at The Other McCain, "BREAKING: Team Romney Snubs Conservative Media in Anti-Newt Call."

Rand Paul: Newt Gingrich Nomination Will Destroy the Tea Party

Rand Paul has an op-ed at the Des Moines Register (via Memeorandum).

And at the clip, he dubiously gives Mitt Romney the soft ball criticism, but the attack on Newt Gingrich is devastating. The key discussion starts just before 2:30 minutes. I will never forget Newt "Dede Scozzafava" Gingrich throwing the tea party under the bus in favor of "An ACORN-Friendly, Big Labor-Backing, Tax-and-Spend Radical in GOP Clothing."

See also Peggy Noonan, "Gingrich Is Inspiring — and Disturbing" (via Memeorandum).

New York University to Offer Classes on Occupy Wall Street

Pamela has the report: "NEW YORK UNIVERSITY (NYU) TO ADD COURSE ON #OWS NEXT SEMESTER."

The world is upside-down. Anarchists, communists, drug-addicts, murderers and rapists. And our institutions of higher learning think this is great material for academic coursework at an elite East Coast university. This is depraved. See Scared Monkeys, for example: "OWS Protesters at Zuccotti Park Put Up Women-only Tent to Stop the Sexual Assaults."

Oh, and don't forget. These people are basically Nazi progressives as well: "Documenting Anti-Semitism at Adbusters, Leading Backer of 'Occupy Wall Street'."

MORE HERE: "Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution."

Christiane Amanpour Out as Anchor of ABC's 'This Week'

I wasn't thrilled with Amanpour's debut at "This Week," so I'm hardly bothered by the news out this morning. At New York Post, "Christiane Amanpour to Leave 'This Week'; George Stephanopoulos May 'Pull Double Duty' and Host 'Good Morning America' and 'This Week'."

I admired Amanpour as a war correspondent, however. At the clip she interviews Angelina Jolie, whose new movie is "In the Land of Blood and Honey."

Newt Gingrich Often Strayed from Conservative Beliefs

At Los Angeles Times, "Gingrich's record belies his conservative image":

For months, many Republicans have cast about for an alternative to Mitt Romney, decrying him as insufficiently conservative. Now they appear to have settled on a new front-runner — Newt Gingrich — who is no more conservative than Romney.

Both men have parted company with the party's most active voters on many of the same issues. Both backed requiring individuals to purchase healthcare insurance. Both supported the Wall Street bailout known as TARP and government subsidies for ethanol production.

Both agreed that human activity is contributing to climate change (though each has backtracked in recent months). In the past, both supported trading systems designed to cap carbon emissions. Gingrich has favored research using stem cells from fertility clinics, putting him to the left of Romney on that issue.

This year, Gingrich undercut his own candidacy by criticizing a House GOP plan to restructure Medicare as "right-wing social engineering" — though he pushed for a similar plan when he was House speaker in the mid-1990s. But unlike Romney, who supports moving to Medicare vouchers, Gingrich now favors letting seniors remain in the current system, a stance that puts him more in line with Democrats.

For some GOP voters it may come down to image: Gingrich, who boasts that he is more conservative than Romney, forged his by leading a partisan revolt in 1994 that brought Republicans to power in the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. And some Republicans have chosen to forgive his ideological straying because they appreciate his lacerating tone, far more brittle than Romney's.

Like other longtime politicians, Gingrich, 68, has evolved considerably over the years, shifting rightward with his party. He started out as a liberal Republican, working for Nelson Rockefeller's 1968 presidential campaign against Richard Nixon (there were few Republicans of any stripe in the South at the time, and Gingrich, who had recently moved to Louisiana, filled a void in the Rockefeller campaign there). His shift has caused some awkwardness: Just this week, Gingrich said in a CNN interview that he regretted his 1979 vote to create the federal Department of Education, a target for elimination by many conservatives....

His rivals for the GOP nomination argue that Gingrich's record doesn't match his conservative image. Rep. Ron Paul, after cataloging what he deemed to be repeated betrayals by Gingrich and Romney, said that there's "not a dime's worth of difference" between the two men. Rep. Michele Bachmann calls them "the great pretenders."

The trailing candidates are likely to amplify their critiques in a televised debate Saturday night, when Gingrich will for the first time defend his position as the clear GOP front-runner.

Stand Up to Alarmism Over Global Warming

At Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

And from Doug Powers, at Michelle's, "Barbara Boxer: Climate Deniers Endangering Humankind."

Occupy Agenda Requires Regressive Tax System

At Investor's Business Daily, "Tax Hikes On Top Earners Won't Pay For Safety Net":

As Occupy Wall Street turns its focus to D.C. this week, its long-term agenda seems to be higher taxes for the top 1% and firmer government support for everyone else.

If so, then what the protesters want — even if they aren't saying it and almost certainly don't even realize it — is higher taxes for the 99%.

America's progressive income tax system is not particularly well-suited to financing an expansive safety net. And that would remain true even if the income tax becomes a whole lot more progressive with Senate Democrats' plan to slap a surtax on income more than $1 million.

Just look at what you can — or can't — pay for with this so-called millionaire's tax and a reversal of the Bush top-earner tax cuts.

Continue reading.

Obama's Stimulus Boondoggle

An excellent video from Reason.tv (via Instapundit):

Rick Perry's 'Brokeback' Jacket

I posted the new Rick Perry "Strong" ad earlier --- it's the one where Perry defends his Christianity and hammers the gay rights extremists.

Well, there's a backlash, and it's trending at Memeorandum.

The gay lobby is hitting back. I think they got him pretty good on that "Brokeback" jacket thing, although this video below is pretty over the top. "Vagina penetrators"? As if there's something wrong with that compared to radical rim-station bung-hole bungee jumping:

Sarah Palin on Obama and the GOP Candidates

At Fox News, "Palin Warns GOP Candidates: Quit Attacking Each Other and Focus on Obama."

Check the whole video at the link. Palin adds:

I would advise our candidates to remember to focus on the problems that Barack Obama has caused this country. Quit nitpicking at each other. Some of these candidates, Sean, are playing right into the left's playbook. They are doing that opposition research and broadcasting it for the left. Instead, let us concentrate on the problems under Obama and how we can fix them.

Chinese Double-Standards and the U.N. Conference on Climate Change, Durban 2011

This was a New York Times the other day, "Outrage Grows Over Air Pollution and China’s Response."

BEIJING — The statement posted online along with a photograph of central Beijing muffled in a miasma of brown haze did not mince words: “The end of the world is imminent.”

The ceaseless churning of factories and automobile engines in and around Beijing has led to this: hundreds of flights canceled since Sunday because of smog, stores sold out of face masks, and many Chinese complaining on the Internet that officials are failing to level with them about air quality or make any improvements to the environment.

Chronic pollution in Beijing, temporarily scrubbed clean for the 2008 Summer Olympics, has made people angry for a long time, but the disruptions it causes to daily life are now raising questions about the economic cost, and the government’s ability to ensure the safety of the population.

“As a Chinese citizen, we have been kept in the dark on this issue for too long,” said Yu Ping, the father of a 7-year-old boy, who has started a public campaign to demand that officials report more accurately about Beijing’s air quality. “The government is just so bureaucratic that they don’t seem to care whether we common people live or die. And it’s up to us, the common people, to prod them and to put pressure on them so that they can reflect on their actions and realize that they really just have to do something.”

When the frustration of parents boils over, Communist Party leaders start worrying about their legitimacy in the eyes of the people. That was the case in 2008 when parents vented anger over deadly school collapses in the Sichuan earthquake and over adulterated milk.

The motionless cloud of pollution that has smothered the capital and its surroundings in recent days has frayed tempers. Long stretches of highway have been shut down because of low visibility, hobbling transportation of people and goods. Workers at Capital International Airport have faced crowds of irate travelers whose flights have been grounded. From Sunday to 11 a.m. Tuesday, more than 700 outbound and inbound flights were canceled, one airport official said. A tour guide, Wang Lanhuizi, 23, clutched dozens of passports from a stranded group. “I’m really worried, but there’s nothing we can do,” she said.

An announcement at the airport made no mention of pollution, attributing the cancellations and delays to “the weather condition.” That has long been the government line: the haze is fog, not fumes. But increasingly, Chinese know better. People like Mr. Yu, a newspaper editor, are lobbying officials to stop whitewashing their air quality reports.

And here's this from yesterday's Times, "At Climate Talks, a Familiar Standoff Between U.S. and China":

DURBAN, South Africa — China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has once again emerged as the biggest puzzle at international climate change talks, sending ambiguous signals about the role it intends to play in future negotiations. This week, the nation’s top climate envoy said that China would be open to signing a formal treaty limiting emissions after 2020 — but laid down conditions for doing so that are unlikely ever to be met.

China’s lead negotiator at the United Nations climate change talks here, Xie Zhenhua, said that China was prepared to enter into a legally binding agreement after current voluntary programs expire at the end of the decade, seemingly a major step. China has always contended that because of its rapid economic growth and the persistent poverty of millions of its citizens, it cannot be bound by the same emissions standards as advanced industrialized nations.

Mr. Xie outlined five conditions under which China would consider joining such a treaty as a full partner, the major one being that China and other rapidly growing economies must be treated differently from the so-called rich countries. But that has been a deal-breaker for the United States for years and is the central reason that the Senate refused to even consider ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 agreement whose goal, still unmet, is to limit global greenhouse gas emissions...

But no word about China's epic pollution-fueled hypocrisy from communist Amy Goodman, at The Guardian, "Derailing Durban's climate change conference."

Professor Aisha Karim Leads 'Communist Manifesto' Workshop at Occupy Chicago

From Lee Stranahan, at Big Government, "Chicago Professor’s Communist #Occupy Speech Reveals Selfish Union Agenda."

Mitt Romney Super PAC Off to Bumpy Start With Iowa Ad Campaign

Talking Points Memo (among others) posted on the ad, but the YouTube's been pulled, "Restore Our Future Hits Gingrich Hard In New Ad." And there's no sign of it at the Restore Our Future YouTube page. But William Jacobson has it. The ad mentions "NewtFacts.com," where we find a password protected (dead) link, the idiots:

More at Des Moines Register, "Pro-Mitt Romney group makes “massive” ad buy in Iowa."

Lindsay Lohan Playboy Cover Leaked

At Los Angeles Times, "Lindsay Lohan Playboy cover: A desperate bid for relevance?"

Actually, seems like the natural order of things these days. The leaked cover is here: "LINDSAY LOHAN'S PLAYBOY COVER REVEALED!"

UPDATE: At Coed Magazine, "Lindsay Lohan Playboy Pics Leaked Online."

Red Hot Chili Peppers Inducted Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

At Los Angeles Times, "Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers among Rock Hall inductees."

The unfortunate thing is how many great artists aren't in the Hall of Fame. See "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees: Where's Rush, KISS?"

John Lennon's Death 31 Years Ago Today

At Vancouver Sun, "John Lennon’s spirit still soars, Yoko Ono declares." And Telegraph UK, "Yoko Ono pays tribute to John Lennon on the 31st annivesary of his death."

And notes Sherri Donovan at The Sound L.A.:

John Lennon was killed 31 years ago today and, shortly afterwards, Roxy Music added his song "Jealous Guy" to their set while on tour in Germany, as a tribute. They recorded and released it a few months later... just a beautiful remembrance of John.

Lockdown Lifted at Virginia Tech After Two Shot to Death

I saw a headline earlier at one website or another, and I thought I'd landed at an archived page. But indeed there was another deadly shooting at Virginia Tech.

See Los Angeles Times, "Virginia Tech shooting: 1 of 2 dead might be gunman." And New York Times, "Violence Revisits Virginia Tech; Two Are Killed in Shooting."

Angels Sign Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson

Now that's what I'm talking about!

At Los Angeles Times, "Angels take it from the top with Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson":

They snag the most feared slugger and ex-Texas ace in what may be biggest one-day free-agent splash in MLB history. Team officials say it shows owner Arte Moreno's desire to win; teammates are giddy.

The Angels made perhaps the biggest one-day free-agent splash in baseball history and transformed themselves into legitimate World Series contenders Thursday, spending about $331 million to acquire the game's most feared slugger and one of its top pitchers.

Within a span of two frenzied early morning hours at the winter meetings, the Angels reached agreements in principle with first baseman Albert Pujols on a 10-year, $254-million deal and left-hander C.J. Wilson on a five-year, $77.5-million deal.

Bridesmaids in recent free-agent pursuits — the Angels failed in bids to sign Mark Teixeira, Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre the last two winters — the Angels nabbed the two stars with a massive investment that was $144 million more than the $183 million Arte Moreno paid to buy the team in 2003.

"I can't say in my wildest dreams I thought I'd be sitting here today," Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto, less than two months into the job, said at a news conference to announce the moves. "It's a tribute to the aggressive nature and quality of our ownership.

That's my team. I'm looking forward to next season. But the Angels are known for making the big off-season deals, especially for sluggers --- Mo Vaughn comes to mind --- so let's hope Pujols helps the Angels win a championship before he becomes an albatross.

Rick Perry to Make Last-Ditch Effort in Iowa

See ABC News, "Rick Perry to Roll Through 42 Cities in Iowa on December Bus Tour" (via Memeorandum).

And by the looks of Perry's new ads, he's going after the evangelical vote in a big way.

Unfortunately, this isn't going over too well among the radical gay rights lobby. See Towleroad, "Rick Perry Defends Ad, Doubles Down on Attacks Against Gays: VIDEO."

New Romney Ad Gets Personal on Faith and Family Values

The ad's seen as jab against Newt Gingrich and a turn towards a more aggressive campaign stance.

At New York Times, "New Romney Ad Turns Up Heat on Gingrich":

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s campaign on Wednesday opened a new, more aggressive phase to capture the Republican nomination by moving to draw sharp distinctions with Newt Gingrich in the final weeks before voting begins.

A new television advertisement that will begin running in Iowa this week focuses a gauzy spotlight on Mr. Romney’s family and could easily be viewed as a jab at Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, over his three marriages and his conversion to Roman Catholicism. The campaign has reserved airtime for new ads in New Hampshire as polls show Mr. Gingrich gaining there. And Mr. Romney has begun openly questioning Mr. Gingrich’s long ties to the Washington establishment.

More at the link.

Added: More from the Washington Post, "Romney launches coordinated assault on Gingrich."

The Case for Michele Bachmann

From Daren Jonescu, at Canada Free Press:

"Michele Bachmann is the clearest conservative voice in the primaries. She is the most legitimate representative of the Tea Party in this process."

Hey, I can dig it.

And yes, it is pretty freakin' sick for a lesbian parent to send her 8 year-old boy up to Congresswomen Bachmann to say "my mommy doesn't need any fixin'." But the gay rights extremists see this as a great chance to get some hate in against the EVIL!!! conservatives: "Watch: Michele Bachmann On Glenn Beck Calls 8 Year Old Boy's Act 'Shameless'."

Gingrich Leads Republican Rivals in Iowa

At New York Times, "In Iowa, Gingrich Is Gaining Favor, New Poll Shows" (via Memeorandum):

DES MOINES — Newt Gingrich enters the final four weeks of campaigning before the Iowa caucuses with Republican voters in the state viewing him as more prepared to be president than Mitt Romney, more attuned to their concerns and just as capable of defeating President Obama, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Mr. Gingrich is rated more favorably than any of the other six remaining candidates in the race among voters who say they are likely to attend the Republican caucuses in Iowa. He would be supported enthusiastically as his party’s presidential nominee by more voters than any of his rivals, the poll found, and is leading in the head-to-head competition as the campaign here builds.

But two-thirds of likely voters remain open to changing their minds, the poll found, with even more saying they are willing to embrace a candidate who is less conservative than they are in order to win the White House. And a large majority of voters say economic concerns are more important than social issues or immigration, suggesting that Mr. Romney has ample opportunity to make his case to voters.

A presidential race that has seen candidates abruptly rise and sharply fall is still remarkably unsettled here in Iowa, where the Republican nominating contest opens on Jan. 3. The outcome of the caucuses is likely to trim the field of candidates and help shape the contours of the primary race as it moves to New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond.

As the campaign intensifies through television advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts, the contest is hardly a Gingrich-Romney duel. Representative Ron Paul of Texas is essentially tied with Mr. Romney for second place, creating a combustible atmosphere as he and other rivals urgently work to slow the rapid ascent of Mr. Gingrich.

The voters who will render the first judgment on the Republican field have been carefully following the race — 7 in 10 say they have watched recent televised debates — and appear unified around the pursuit of beating Mr. Obama. Of the nearly 4 in 10 likely caucusgoers who say they get most of their information from Fox News, Mr. Gingrich is the overwhelming choice.

You know, we're still just shy of a month out from the Iowa caucuses, and it's not too late for Gingrich to peak. It's been a roller coaster for GOP candidates all year, so maybe it's Newt's turn. We'll see, either way. For now, though, he's in the driver's seat. See WSJ, "Gingrich Clocks Huge Gains in All Early Voting States" (via Memeorandum). And at Time Magazine, "CNN/TIME/ORC Poll: Gingrich Posts Massive Gains in Key Early States."

Obama Administration Blocks FDA on 'Morning After' Pill

At New York Times, "Plan to Widen Availability of Morning-After Pill Is Rejected."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. The administration's out of step on these issues and is freakin' over election year repercussions. See the editors at the Los Angeles Times (via Jill Stanek).

And from pro-abort extremist Amanda Marcotte, "Who to blame for the Plan B debacle?"

Model Lauren Scruggs Recovering After Horrific Plane Propeller Accident

There's video here, at ABC News: "Fashion Editor Walks Into Propeller, Survives," and "Lauren Scruggs, Who Walked Into Plane Propeller, Speaks For First Time Since Accident."

And at London's Daily Mail, "'I love you': Fashion editor, 23, utters first words and comes to terms with her horrific injuries after walking into a spinning plane propeller as family pray for her recovery," and New York Daily News, "Model maimed by plane prop takes first steps Wednesday."

Angels Aggressively Pursue Albert Pujols

Well, let's hope they're successful.

At Los Angeles Times:

The Angels, perhaps sensing they are about to lose free-agent pitcher C.J. Wilson to the Miami Marlins, jumped head-first into the bidding for slugger Albert Pujols on Wednesday night, according to two people who are familiar with negotiations but not authorized to speak about them publicly.

It appeared Pujols would be headed back to the St. Louis Cardinals after the Marlins reportedly pulled their offer, believed to be for 10 years and more than $200 million, off the table earlier Wednesday. The Cardinals are believed to have offered Pujols a nine- or 10-year deal for at least $200 million.

The Chicago Cubs are believed to be the only other team in negotiations with Dan Lozano, Pujols' agent, but it was unclear Wednesday night how aggressively they were pursuing Pujols.

And at USA Today, "Angels offer Albert Pujols 10 years, at least $210 million."

Britain's National Institute of Health to Ration Viagra

This is no joke.

Viagra is available privately, but the NHS is dogging those least able to pay for it out of pocket, the same people who are supposed to be better off with nationalization. Socialism sucks that way.

At Telegraph UK, "Viagra rationing to limit patients' sex lives":

With the Christmas holidays approaching fast, hard-working middle-aged couples could be forgiven for viewing the season of mistletoe and wine as a chance to spend a few cherished moments between the sheets.

But their amorous plans may be scuppered after penny-pinching NHS managers introduced new viagra prescription guidelines which could limit thousands of couples to having sex once a fortnight.

New policy documents advise GPs in parts of the country that patients in need of Viagra or similar drugs should be limited to two pills per month, down from the normal prescription of four.

Although the policy was described as a "recommendation" by NHS authorities, local medical committees told the GPs' magazine Pulse it was being handed down to family doctors as an "edict".

Erectile dysfunction medication is already stringently limited on the NHS and can only be prescribed to patients with certain conditions such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and prostate cancer.

According to the NHS some 2.2 million prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs were issued last year, with 14.5 million tablets issued at a cost of about £78 million.

NHS guidance acknowledges that there "appears to be no clinical reason to restrict the number of tablets" but it adds that, according to research, the average person has sex four times a month.
It says: "The average frequency of sexual intercourse in the 40 to 60 age range is once a week."
The new policy is aimed at economising on non-essential treatments, recommending that the minimum effective dose be prescribed "two times per month using the drug with the lowest acquisition cost."

The guidance applies to sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra) and tadalafil (Cialis).

And this is the clincher:

Richard Hoey, editor of Pulse, said: "Ask most doctors and they will say that being able to live a satisfactory sex life is a key part of health and wellbeing, but the NHS has never recognised that in its policy on treatment for erectile dysfunction.

"Limiting patients to drugs like Viagra just twice a month is to treat sex like an unnecessary luxury, and completely fails to recognise the degree of anguish it can cause some men with erectile dysfunction."

Well, yeah.

Freakin' big government health bureaucrats. What losers.

Retired Master Chief Yeoman Jim Taylor Honors Pearl Harbor Survivors

Well, with the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association announcing it will disband after December 31st, this year's anniversary seemed to have some final sense to it, like a part of our history receding a tiny bit from our reach.

PREVIOUSLY: "Fewer Veterans to Remember Pearl Harbor Day," and "70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7th, 1941."

Growing Campus Anti-Semitism

From the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

At the clip, that's Lydia Mazuryk at UCLA, the lead organizer of Bruin Republicans. Lydia's close friends with Barbara Efraim, my former student at Long Beach City College. They published a letter to the Daily Bruin last month, "Letter to the editor: Horowitz ad wrongfully attacked."

Fifth Circuit Upholds Convictions of Hamas Front Group Holy Land Foundation

At the Investigative Project on Terrorism, "Fifth Circuit Appeals Court Upholds HLF Convictions." And at Commentary, "Court Decision Reaffirms Convictions of Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S. Branch":

The Dallas Morning News reports the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld the 2009 convictions of five persons who helped the Holy Land Foundation raise money in this country for the Hamas terrorist group. Andrew McCarthy gives a good summary of the decision at National Review. But, as he demonstrates, the significance of this case goes beyond the question of how Islamists sought to use American Muslims as a cash cow for Hamas. The details of the case, reiterated by the unanimous opinion of the three-member panel of federal judges, provide a history not just of American jihadists but their connections with the Muslim Brotherhood; yes, the same group that just won the Egyptian parliamentary elections.

Continue reading.

NewsBusted: 'The Justice Department sent a letter to Congress explaining why it was dishonest about the Fast and Furious operation'

Via Theo Spark:

The Newtitlement State

At Wall Street Journal, "On Medicare, Mitt Romney has the bolder, better reform":

The contradictions of Mr. Gingrich's entitlement plan reveal part of his political character, which is that his policies often don't match the high-decibel, sometimes grandiose nature of his rhetoric. This can make it easier for his opponents to stigmatize his policies as more radical than they really are because Mr. Gingrich tells everyone they're radical. He might achieve more if he spoke more softly and carried a bigger stick.

RTWT at the link.

Fewer Veterans to Remember Pearl Harbor Day

I never believed in all that "greatest generation" crap, but the WWII generation is our link to that history --- when the United States emerged as undisputed leader of the free world. As time goes by the war is relegated further to the past, and fewer folks will have direct memories to hand down to their loved ones. We'll have new traditions and new heroes, but some events are unique in their implications for American life and our political culture. Pearl Harbor is one of those events.

At New York Times, "Pearl Harbor Still a Day for the Ages, but a Memory Almost Gone":

HONOLULU — For more than half a century, members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association gathered here every Dec. 7 to commemorate the attack by the Japanese that drew the United States into World War II. Others stayed closer to home for more intimate regional chapter ceremonies, sharing memories of a day they still remember in searing detail.

But no more. The 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack will be the last one marked by the survivors’ association. With a concession to the reality of time — of age, of deteriorating health and death — the association will disband on Dec. 31.

“We had no choice,” said William H. Eckel, 89, who was once the director of the Fourth Division of the survivors’ association, interviewed by telephone from Texas. “Wives and family members have been trying to keep it operating, but they just can’t do it. People are winding up in nursing homes and intensive care places.”

Harry R. Kerr, the director of the Southeast chapter, said there weren’t enough survivors left to keep the organization running. “We just ran out of gas, that’s what it amounted to,” he said from his home in Atlanta, after deciding not to come this year. “We felt we ran a good course for 70 years. Fought a good fight. We have no place to recruit people anymore: Dec. 7 only happened on one day in 1941.”

Continue reading.

Afghanistan Suicide Bombings Kill Dozens in Kabul

This reminds me of Iraq in 2006.

At Telegraph UK, "Fears Afghanistan is on verge of new sectarian war as 59 people killed in twin bomb attacks."

And at Wall Street Journal, "Attacks Point to New Afghan Conflict: Bombings of Shiite Worshippers in Two Cities Kill More Than 60 and Introduce Sectarian Strife Absent for a Decade."

Tuesday's massacre of Shiites brought to Afghanistan the sort of attack that has been perpetrated at Shiite mosques and religious processions in Iraq by al Qaeda and in Pakistan by the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The Kabul bombing was especially shocking, even in a country experiencing an ever-growing number of gruesome attacks.

John Podhoretz's Devastating Takedown of Newt Gingrich

There's a growing number of articles by conservatives critical of Newt Gingrich (see, for example, Ramesh Ponnuru, "Heartbreak Awaits Republicans Who Love Gingrich").

But this one from Podhoretz at New York Post is just crushing, "Newt’s second act: He’ll make great target for O." Read it all at the link.

Documenting Anti-Semitism at Adbusters, Leading Backer of 'Occupy Wall Street'

From Michael Moynihan, at Tablet, "Busted" (via Memeorandum).

Shoot, finding anti-Semitism at Adbusters is like taking candy from a baby. Checking Moynihan's references gives you an idea, for example, 9/11 truther Kathleen Christison "Elliott Abrams, Dual Loyalist and Neocon Extraordinaire." And she's a fan of rabid anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon. See Kathleen Christison, "Gilad Atzmon on Jewish Identity Politics: Calling Out the Tribalists," at the hardline communist website Counterpunch and cross-posted to Aztmon's blog.

And again, the fact that Occupy Wall Street gets the epic whitewash from MSM outlets is pretty astonishing. But it's an upside-down world, so you gotta keep fighting these criminal asshats. See my earlier essay, "Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution."

World Premiere: 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'

Another film that looks interesting, although Steven Spielberg is a tough act to follow.

At New York Times, "Behind the Camera, but Still the Star."

Obama Pushes Radical Gay Rights Agenda Internationally

Moonbattery has the bullseye headline: "Obama Using Foreign Aid to Advance Homosexual Depravity Throughout the World."

But see New York Times, "US to Use Foreign Aid to Promote Gay Rights Abroad."

And then check CNN, "Candidates quick to pan Obama foreign aid decision," and Reuters, "Conservatives bash Obama for gay rights stand." Also at ABC News, "Rick Perry Says Human Rights for Gays 'Not in America's Interests'."

And for the record, the United States can promote human rights without making a push for the radical homosexual agenda. People should be protected against threats to their dignity, period. The gay extremist agenda is a pet project of Western elites and won't do a damn for the billions of the world's poor living on less than $2 a day. What a disgrace.

70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7th, 1941

At USA Today, "Remembering Pearl Harbor, 70 years later." And the New York Times has a somber editorial, "Remembering Pearl Harbor."

Closer to home, at O.C. Register, "After 70 years, we honor Pearl Harbor heroes," and "Pearl Harbor casualties included O.C. men."

Bonus: A spectacular photo-essay at National Post, "Archival photos reveal horror of the Pearl Harbor on 70th anniversary of the attack."

Photos: Top, the attack on the USS Arizona. Bottom, the USS West Virginia burns (via Wikimedia Commons).

Pat Condell: 'The Gathering Storm'

A withering critique of the European Union, and remember that The Gathering Storm is the first volume in Winston Churchill's book, The Second World War:

'Listening to the Doors'

From Camille Paglia, at New York Times, a review of Greil Marcus', The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years:

Within an electrifying few years during the 1960s, rock ’n’ roll was transformed from a brash diversion of antsy teenagers into a serious genre that threatened to rival the traditional fine arts. Instrumental in this swift development was a Los Angeles band, the Doors, whose charismatic but tormented and self-­destructive lead singer, Jim Morrison, attained cultlike status after his mysterious death at age 27 in Paris in 1971, only four years after the release of their first album.

Whether rock ever completely fulfilled its early promise is arguable. What seems incontrovertible, however, is that rock’s fabulous commercial success could be ruin­ous to young bands, which were pushed by record companies into the artificial environment of punishing tours in cavernous arenas designed for sports. The gifted Doors were among the first victims of this still near-universal corporate strategy.

Continue reading.

HAT TIP: Kathy Shaidle.

Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution

The editors at the Los Angeles Times, bless their radical left-wing hearts, have sought to take the rough edges off the Occupy Movement with a manifesto that's digestible for the pro-American (yet economically dislocated) majority: "A manifesto for the Occupy movement." It's worth a read for the insight on what media socialists think they can take away from the violent agenda of Occupy. In a nutshell: Establish a moratorium on foreclosures (and place the blame for the housing crisis on bankers, not irresponsible borrowers and Democrat Party enablers); impose taxes on each and every single financial transaction on Wall Street; pass "tax reform" to hike tax rates to pre-George W. Bush levels (i.e., eliminate tax "loopholes" and "givaways" for the wealthy); repeal Citizens United so unions will continue to dominate political spending while lulling voters into believing in the efficacy of "campaign finance reform"; refuse to acknowledge that "free" college education is a long lost pie-in-the-sky dream and blame Republicans for tuition hikes at UC California; and legalize marijuana --- shoot, it's just crazy that dirtbag Occupiers should have to hide out a filthy crime-infested communes to get stoned.

The Times editors also screw up the origins of Occupy (it's not the Adbusters push for Wall Street's occupation last September). But no matter. I'm mostly amused at the left's aggressive attempts to mainstream Occupy. The occupiers are terrorists, frankly. The New York occupation began with day after day of anti-Israel extremism and fanatical anti-Semitic propaganda. In Seattle, Portland and Denver (just for starters) the full range of hardline communist revolutionaries marched day in and day out. And week after week we had reports of dead occupiers --- one murdered in Oakland --- of rape and sexual assaults, of rampant drug abuse and overdoses, of dirt and filth creating unsanitary conditions at the encampments, and basically the whole range of hate-America counter-cultural agitation. It's a shame that mainstream media outlets like the Times have latched on so aggressively. It's even more shameful since the editors are so completely ignorant of the true nature of the movement.

A few weeks back the MacIver Institute referenced the Organization for a Free Society. The group's website is all about Occupy as revolution, and they have a statement that's representative of what the movement's really all about, "Manifesto":

We imagine an economy in which people are empowered to manage their own affairs, there are no classes, the means of production of social wealth are owned by everyone together, we function in solidaristic communities, and peoples’ needs and desires are accounted for. Ultimately, we envision an economy that allows people to fulfill their human potential, that allows us [to] live and work in dignity and respect, and empowers us to express our true, human creativity.

We consider the economy to be an essential part of the way society functions as a whole, and think it should be as democratic as any other realm of public life. We imagine a classless society, in which we own together those things that produce the means of our existence. We imagine an economy guided by values of solidarity, equity, self-management, and diversity – in which our priorities in production are not based on the decisions of a class of owners and coordinators, but a thoughtful process of assessing social needs (such as the environment), community needs (such as more work here or a new park there), individual needs, and what it takes – on the part of workers, communities, the environment, and all other agents – to produce those things. We imagine an economy that is efficient, where efficiency means producing and living well, but not at the expense of other values such as equity. We reject the market economy, which sees efficiency in terms of profit for a minority at the expense of the social good, and squanders the vast majority of human potential.

That's the complete and utter rejection of capitalism and merit-based competition as the organization of democratic society. And that's barely the tip of the iceberg:

We envision a world where individuals can define their genders and sexualities however they like, where gender is not fixed but a matter of choice, where people have the opportunity to be and grow into or out of whatever they want. We imagine a society where people are free to develop and define their sexual orientations without oppression, without constraint, without inhibition. We imagine a world where people are empowered and respected, and where the needs of people of different genders or sexualities are taken into account. We imagine a world where women and men treat one another with respect and equality, where gender oppression has been wiped out of existence, where there are a variety of different genders expressed and no one has to pick any at all, and where gender has nothing to do with power.

We imagine a world where people can choose to express their sexual desires freely, partnering in whatever ways make sense to them. We imagine a society that is educated, informed, supportive, open, honest, and critical enough for choice to be meaningful. We envision a society where sex is something to embrace rather than be ashamed of, to be open and honest about rather than to hide and repress. We imagine a society where our bodies and different forms of sensuousness are things to be explored and discovered, where we are liberated to truly feel and experience what is around us, where this is seen as a creative process. We envision a sexuality where consent and respect are valued above everything else, where sexual aggression and violence are not tolerated or permitted against anyone anywhere.

That is the complete rejection of values, decency, restraint and traditionalism. And that's the core of the Occupy Wall Street societal agenda. No gender recognition. Pairing sexually with whomever it feels right and good, damn world historical norms of propriety and protection of the most vulnerable. As we saw in New York, women were unsafe at the Zuccotti Park encampment. They had to self-segregate to protect themselves against being raped. But that's all part of the movement, and no doubt man-boy love and polygamy as well, and only God knows what else. This is of course the end stage of the progressive agenda. This is what creepy radical leftists like Walter James Casper III endorse when they pump out brainless tweets exhorting commies, druggies, and hippies to "Occupy wherever you are." It's criminal. It's nihilist. It's deathly. For example, see James Panero's essay at The New Criterion, "Commune Plus One." Panero situates the Occupy movement in the experience of the Paris Commune of 1871, the historical event most widely recognized by communists as the epitome of the revolutionary manifestation:

Whenever Lenin wanted to suggest the success of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, he compared it to the mythical seventy-two days of the Paris Commune of 1871. For Lenin, the seventy-third day of Bolshevism became “Commune plus one.” “All through his life,” writes Horne, “Lenin studied the Commune: worshipped its heroism, analyzed its successes, criticized its faults, and compared its failures with the failures of the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905.” At his death, Lenin’s body was wrapped in the red Communard flag.

In 1964, a Soviet Voskhod even rocketed to space carrying a shred of an original Communard banner. By restarting a clock that ran for a couple of months in a Paris spring, the Communists consigned tens of millions of people to death and ruined half the nations of Europe. They then saw fit to celebrate these achievements by sending the Paris Commune into space before, eventually, their own idealistic creation came crashing down to Earth.

Marx called the Commune the first “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Lenin’s Bolsheviks identified closely with the Commune and shared the same name. Yet the Communists were far from the last to be taken in by its myth.

There is an undeniable romance in doomed idealism, even if the ends are worse than the beginnings. The deadliest form of idealism invites its own ruin, either from outside or within, so that the purity of the ideal can be measured against the severity of its destruction—cataclysm as a defense against compromise. “The Commune ruled for a brief seventy days before expiring in a holocaust of fire and bloodshed far in excess of anything perpetrated during the Great Revolution of 1789,” writes Horne, “but it left behind an indelible mark that was to spread far beyond the boundaries of France.”

The legacy of the Commune was an idealistic promise that can never be fulfilled. To resurrect the Commune therefore means to restart the countdown to ruin. Herein lies the deadly mechanics of the Commune and the movements it inspires. Listen closely and most of the failed idealism of the last century has the tick of that Commune clock, from the terror of China to Cambodia to many smaller time bombs including, now, Occupy Wall Street.

Newt Gingrich: 'Rebuilding the America We Love'

Look, there's no doubt Gingrich loves America. It's just all those other liabilities folks are talking about, and which are keeping many on the right at arm's length.

RELATED: At New York Times, "Fund-Raising Gains New Urgency for Gingrich Camp," and "Gingrich Surges, but Romney Organization Is Stronger."

Plus, at Gallup, "Republicans See Gingrich, Romney as 'Acceptable' Nominees."

Tantalizing Barbara Palvin

She's a Victoria's Secret hottie.

At BroBible, "Barbara Palvin's Tantalizing Lingerie Photo Shoot Will Melt Your Mind."

Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse' Premiere

I'm really excited about this film. And it comes during Christmas break so I'll have some down time to enjoy it with my family.

At New York Post, "‘War Horse’ Weepers."

Fetal Heartbeat Bill Splits Pro-Life Forces

Actually, the Times makes sure to identify pro-life activists as "anti-abortion," which aligns with radical left death cult abortion lobby usage, "anti-choice." And I like the fetal-heartbeat bill more than the Mississippi initiative that failed last month. Something about the heartbeat that's irresistibly compelling.

See, "Ohio Bill Splits Anti-Abortion Forces on Legal Tactics":

A widening and emotional rift over legal tactics has split the anti-abortion movement, with its longtime leaders facing a Tea Party-like insurrection from many grass-roots activists who are impatient with the pace of change.

For decades, established anti-abortion leaders like National Right to Life and Catholic bishops have pushed for gradually chipping away at the edges of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, with state laws to impose limits on late-term abortions, to require women to view sonograms or to prohibit insurance coverage for the procedure.

But now many activists and evangelical Christian groups are pressing for an all-out legal assault on Roe. v. Wade in the hope — others call it a reckless dream — that the Supreme Court is ready to consider a radical change in the ruling.

The rift widened last month over a so-called personhood amendment in Mississippi that would have barred virtually all abortions by giving legal rights to embryos. It was voted down but is still being pursued in several states.

Now, in Ohio, a bill before the state legislature that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detectable, usually six to eight weeks into pregnancy, is the latest effort by activists to force a legal showdown. The so-called heartbeat bill is tearing apart the state’s powerful anti-abortion forces.

Continue reading.

RELATED: Jill Stanek likes Mitt over Newt, "Gingrich: Life does not begin at conception."