Conservatives Block Homosexual Marriage Law in Washington State

And this has radical leftists shitting bricks.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Washington state same-sex marriage opponents file to block new law."

SEATTLE -- Washington state’s same-sex marriage law was blocked from taking effect Wednesday when opponents submitted more than 230,000 signatures calling for a referendum on the measure — opening yet another contentious battleground for one of the nation’s most divisive issues.

State officials are expected to determine this week whether the measure qualifies for the fall ballot. Opponents of the law, passed on a bipartisan vote by the state Legislature in February, said they believe Washington voters will defeat the measure, joining every other state that has put the issue to a public vote.

“Thirty-two states have voted on this issue. No states have voted to redefine marriage. People think this country is divided down the middle on this issue, and that’s simply not true,” Christopher Plante, spokesman for Preserve Marriage Washington, said in an interview.

“The fact of the matter is, if you look at what Americans have done, from the deepest blue states like Maine, California and Wisconsin to the Bible Belt, when they’ve had a chance to define marriage as one-man, one woman, that’s what they’ve done,” he said.

More at the link, where you can see the freaked-out comments from the gay rights extremists.

Preserve Marriage has the background on the law should it go into effect, "The Threat to Marriage":

Marriage Would Be Redefined For Everyone

Contrary to what some people think, same-sex 'marriage' would not exist in the law alongside traditional marriage; as if it were a different expression of the same marriage institution they have always known. Marriage will be redefined for everyone. Our historic understanding of marriage as the union of one man and one woman would be replaced by a new paradigm for marriage as the union of two people, regardless of gender.

Genderless Marriage the Only Legally Recognized Definition

This new, redefined version of marriage as a genderless institution would be the only legally recognized definition of marriage in Washington. Such a radical change in the definition of marriage will produce a host of societal conflicts that government - exercising its enormous enforcement powers - will have to resolve. Citizens, small businesses and religious organizations whose own beliefs, traditions, morals or ethnic upbringing are at odds with the new definition of marriage will find themselves subjected to legal consequences if they do not act according to the new legal orthodoxy.

Not a 'Live and Let Live' Issue

Legal experts on both sides of the marriage debate agree that the issue has profound impacts on society. Scholars from some of the nation's most respected law schools have written that the issue implicates a host of issues, ranging from religious liberty, to individual expression of faith, to education and the professions.

For example, these legal scholars predict 'a sea of change in American law,' and foretell an 'immense' volume of litigation against individuals, small businesses and religious organizations.

Racists and Bigots?

Those who do not agree with this new definition of marriage as a genderless institution existing for the benefit of adults will be treated under the law just like racists and bigots, and will be punished for their beliefs. This is already occurring elsewhere:

Religious groups who have refused to make their facilities available for same-sex couples have lost their state tax exemption.
Religious groups like Catholic Charities in Boston and Washington DC have had to choose between fulfilling their social mission based on their religious beliefs, or acquiescing to this new definition of marriage. They have, for example, been forced to close their charitable adoption agencies.

Nonprofit groups are faced with abandoning their historic mission principles in order to maintain governmental contracts (for things like low-income housing, health clinics, etc.)

Whenever schools educate children about marriage, which happens throughout the curriculum, they will have no choice but to teach this new genderless institution. In Massachusetts, kids as young as second grade were taught about gay marriage in class. The courts ruled that parents had no right to prior notice, or to opt their children out of such instruction.

Wedding professionals have been fined for refusing to participate in a same-sex ceremony. Christian innkeepers in Vermont and Illinois are being sued over their refusal to make their facilities available for same-sex weddings despite offers to refer the couples to other providers and in spite of the deeply-held religious views of the inn-keepers.

Doctors, lawyers, accountants and other licensed professionals risk their state licensure if they act on their belief that a same-sex couple cannot really be married. A counselor, for example, could not refuse 'marriage therapy' to a same-sex couple because she doesn't believe in gay marriage. She'd put her licensure at risk.

Those people - a strong majority of Washington voters - who believe marriage is between one man and one woman, would be the legal equivalent of bigots for acting on their heartfelt beliefs. Refusal to accommodate and recognize same-sex 'marriages' would be the equivalent of racial discrimination. Not only will the law penalize traditional marriage supporters, but the power of government will work in concert to promote this belief throughout the culture.

The Needs of Children Take Second Place to the Desires of Adults

Perhaps most importantly, SB 6239 shifting the focus of our marriage laws away from the interests of children and society as a whole, and onto the desires of the adults involved in a same-sex relationship will result in the most profound long-term consequences. Such a paradigm shift says to children that mothers and fathers don't matter (especially fathers) - any two 'parents' will do. It proclaims the false notion that a man can be a mother and a woman can be a father - that men and women are exactly the same in rearing children. And it undermines the marriage culture by making marriage a meaningless political gesture, rather than a child-affirming social construct.

The Deconstruction of Marriage

An example of how SB 6239 contributes to the deconstruction of marriage is its provision decreeing that 'husbands' can be women and 'wives' can be men. Any person with an ounce of common sense knows this is not true!

When marriage ceases to have its historic meaning and understanding, over time fewer and fewer people will marry. We will have an inevitable increase in children born out of wedlock, an increase in fatherlessness, a resulting increase in female and child poverty, and a higher incidence of all the documented social ills associated with children being raised in a home without their married parents.

Ultimately, we as a society all suffer when we fail to nourish a true, thriving marriage culture founded on the truth experienced by virtually every civilization in every nation since the dawn of time - marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

And notice how the New York Times frames the issue: "Opponents of Gay Marriage Face Tougher Test in Washington State."

RELATED: At Rolling Stone, "The Fight for Marriage Equality Moves to State Ballots."

That's good!

PREVIOUSLY: "Coming to America: The Crackdown Against Considered and Empathetic Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage."

Long Overdue Minka Kelly Rule 5

It's been awhile, but longtime readers may remember Minka Kelly.

See: "Minka Kelly — Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive 2010."

And now here's the latest on this fine lady at London's Daily Mail, "How low can she go? Minka Kelly switches from Angel to vixen in daring purple gown."

CNN's Don Lemon Interviews Erick Erickson on 'SWAT-ting' of Conservatives

I promised an update earlier, so here you go:

EXTRA: I think this is related to Ace's magnum post yesterday on Kimberlin, but not sure. Either way, this is interesting, "Comments Are Disabled Until Further Notice":

I apologize to most commenters.

Jimmah, however, has decided to set blog policy for me, and several others have decided to challenge me on the point as well.

I will have to end commenting until I can figure out how to ban them.

This is precisely how I wanted to spend my Friday night.

I know that everyone else -- everyone else -- was of course pleasant and wonderful as usual.

But there are some who just enjoy sabotage and fragging.

I don't know how to fix it at the moment, so I'm going to possibly simply destroy the blog by letting it go dark.

But I don't know what else to do.

You expect to be knifed in the front by your enemies. It's too much to be knifed in the back as well.

Again, I realize most people understand without being told.

My mistake here is thinking some people will understand if told -- no, the sort of person that doesn't know until told also won't know after he's told....

You can be stubborn about a lot of things, but when you get stubborn over another man's right to make his livelhood as he believes right, and to protect himself and his family as best he knows how, you've gotten stubborn about the wrong thing, and the last thing.

Well, that sure sounds familiar.

Some people are so persistently evil it really does mess up how you live you life. I'd say it's incredible, but after a while it's not.

Nude Protesters Flood the Streets in Montreal!

It's no joke.

See Worldwide Hippies, "Naked protesters flood Quebec streets before start of Montreal F1 Grand Prix."

Also at the National Post, "Naked protesters flood Quebec streets before start of Montreal F1 Grand Prix," and "Quebec tuition protesters clash with Grand Prix partiers in Montreal."

And of course, the obligatory left-wing death threats, at Telegraph UK, "Jacques Villeneuve receives death threats after criticising protesting students ahead of Montreal Grand Prix."

Residents in West Bend, Wisconsin, Fear for Safety After Recall Election

Gee, I wonder who could be sending out these letters of intimidation?

At WISN-TV Milwaukee, "Nasty letter circulates after recall election."

Smell of Death Lingers After Syrian Massacre

Here's the horrible headline at Syria's Day Press News: "UN Observers: Smell of Death Lingers & Grisly Sight at Syrian Village."

And see Telegraph UK, "Video purports to show Syria massacre aftermath":

UN and amateur footage shows bloody sheets, human and animal remains, and a distraught woman in the deserted village of Mazraat al-Qubeir where 78 people were reportedly massacred.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Syria conflict spirals closer to all-out war":

BEIRUT — Bullet-pocked homes and bloodstained walls. Shell casings littering the ground in a ghost town still smoldering from the onslaught.

A United Nations observer team on Friday finally reached the site of Syria's latest apparent massacre, a now-abandoned farming village where opposition activists accuse pro-government forces of killing dozens of civilians this week in an artillery bombardment and grisly door-to-door executions.

"Young children, infants, my brother, his wife and seven children … all dead," said a grieving man in a video distributed by the U.N. "I will show you the blood. They burned his house."

The U.N.-led effort to negotiate an end to the fighting in Syria is a shambles, leaving a seemingly irreconcilable stalemate. In the absence of any meaningful moves toward peace, the conflict is evolving into the gruesome sectarian conflict that many have long feared.

President Bashar Assad cannot agree to the plan's core requirements — that he withdraw forces from populated areas and allow people to protest freely — without almost certainly losing his grip on power. He has made some concessions to the international community while trying to impose order by force of arms, with increasingly bloody results.

The emboldened opposition, backed by Washington and many Arab nations, has no intention of entering into a dialogue with Assad. Some elements of the fractured rebel militia movement have already declared that the peace plan, being pressed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is dead.

"Where is Annan?" has become a familiar refrain on opposition videos of government assaults on rebel-held towns and villages.

Each side in the conflict is bolstered by its international backers. The United States and its allies insist Assad must go. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Stockholm this week that Assad's departure was not a precondition for talks, "but it should be an outcome."

But Russia, feeling burned by the Western-led bombing campaign last year that helped rebels oust longtime Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, refuses to accept what it sees as an effort to force "regime change" on Syria, its longtime ally and key trading partner.

Efforts to alter Russia's stance have proved futile. Meanwhile, the Obama administration and its allies show little appetite for military intervention in Syria...

Naturally.

It's just a reminder of how politically expedient was U.S. intervention in Libya.

PREVIOUSLY: "Time for U.S. Military Action in Syria."

Coming to America: The Crackdown Against Considered and Empathetic Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage

Michael Coren is discussing gay marriage in Canada, but he might was well be describing the U.S.

See: "Canadian Crackdown":

A considered and empathetic opposition to same-sex marriage has nothing to do with phobia or hatred, but that doesn’t stop Christians, conservatives, and anybody else who doesn’t take the fashionable line from being condemned as Neanderthals and bigots. This is a lesson that Canadians have learned from painful experience.

Same-sex marriage became law in Canada in the summer of 2005, making the country the fourth nation to pass such legislation, and the first in the English-speaking world. In the few debates leading up to the decision, it became almost impossible to argue in defense of marriage as a child-centered institution, in defense of the procreative norm of marriage, in defense of the superiority of two-gender parenthood, without being thrown into the waste bin as a hater. What we’ve also discovered in Canada is that it can get even worse than mere abuse, and that once gay marriage becomes law, critics are often silenced by the force of the law.

Although precise figures about gay marriages in Canada are elusive, there are thought to be fewer than 30,000, after an initial surge of around 10,000 as soon as the law was passed. But if large numbers of gay people failed to take advantage of the law, the law certainly took advantage of its critics. Again, definitive figures are almost impossible to state, but it’s estimated that, in less than five years, there have been between 200 and 300 proceedings — in courts, human-rights commissions, and employment boards — against critics and opponents of same-sex marriage. And this estimate doesn’t take into account the casual dismissals that surely have occurred.

In 2011, for example, a well-known television anchor on a major sports show was fired just hours after he tweeted his support for “the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage.” He had merely been defending a hockey player’s agent who was receiving numerous death threats and other abuse for refusing to support a pro-gay-marriage campaign. The case is still under appeal, in human-rights commissions and, potentially, the courts.

The Roman Catholic bishop of Calgary, Alberta, Fred Henry, was threatened with litigation and charged with a human-rights violation after he wrote a letter to local churches outlining standard Catholic teaching on marriage. He is hardly a reactionary — he used to be known as “Red Fred” because of his support for the labor movement — but the archdiocese eventually had to settle with the complainants to avoid an embarrassing and expensive trial.

In the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, another case illustrates the intolerance that has become so regular since 2005. A number of marriage commissioners (state bureaucrats who administer civil ceremonies) were contacted by a gay man eager to marry his partner under the new legislation. Some officials he telephoned were away from town or already engaged, and the first one to take his call happened to be an evangelical Christian, who explained that he had religious objections to carrying out the ceremony but would find someone who would. He did so, gave the name to the man wanting to get married, and assumed that this would be the end of the story.

But no. Even though the gay couple had had their marriage, they decided to make an official complaint and demand that the commissioner be reprimanded and punished. The provincial government argued that, as a servant of the state, he had a duty to conduct state policy, but that any civilized public entity could accept that such a fundamentally radical change in marriage policy was likely to cause division, and that as long as alternative and reasonable arrangements could be made and nobody was inconvenienced, they would not discipline their employee for declining to marry same-sex couples. Anybody hired after 2004 would have to agree to conduct such marriages, they continued, but to insist on universal approval so soon after the change would lead to a large number of dismissals, often of people who had given decades of public service. This seemed an intelligent and balanced compromise. Yet the provincial courts disagreed, and commissioners with theological objections are now facing the loss of their jobs, with the situation replicated in other provinces and also at the federal level.

BONUS: Here's Pat Buchanan talking to Megyn Kelly a couple of weeks ago. Buchanan delivered the famous "culture war" speech to the 1992 RNC Convention. I don't agree with Buchanan on foreign policy and Israel, but few people have a better handle on the radical politics of gay marriage in the U.S.

'The Other McCain' Gets 10 Million Hits!

Robert Stacy McCain has a special event today: "TEN MILLION HITS! and Presenting … Our Top 20 Most Commented Posts."

And now more than ever, here's pulling for 10 million more.

(Check the archives, to catch my drift: "The Kimberlin Files.")

UPDATE: The Daley Gator comments, "Ten Million hits? Now The Other McCain is just showing off."

The Daley Gator is pushing 2 million hits. Here at AmPower, I'm pushing 4 million. Should reach that milestone sometime around late-September or October. If not, that means I'm slackin'!

MORE: From Evil Blogger Lady, "Congratulations to The Other McCain on its 10 millionth hit!"

Ernie Brown Jr. — a.k.a. 'Turtleman'

I mentioned that we'd been watching Animal Planet a couple of weeks back.

Well as "Monster Week" was winding down, my wife started watching "Call of the Wildman," and you gotta admit that this guy "Turtleman" is something else. He was interviewed on Fox & Friends this morning:

Scenes From Netroots Nation: Daily Kos 'A-Team' Relaxes Before Posting High-Impact Campaign Exposé at the Front Page

And these people mock conservatives as geeks?

My god!

See: "Netroots Nation 2012: Cheers & Jeers Dinner."

You can't make this stuff up --- and I didn't even RTWT!

I mean seriously, these idiots are making fun of Dana Loesch for her shoes?!!

ZOMG! Check the links and scroll down for all the gutbusting lulz!

Erick Erickson 'SWAT-ting' Case Featured at CNN

CNN had a couple of segments up yesterday. I'll post Don Lemon's interview with Erick Erickson later. This one's more of a straight news report:

Also, there's word out that at least 70 Members of Congress will call on Attorney General Holder to probe SWAT-ting attacks on conservatives.

RELATED: I had a lengthy Twitter exchange yesterday with Martin Longman, publisher of Booman Tribune. Longman (Booman) holds a really bad grudge over the Graeme Frost CHIPs controversy from 2007, which  partially explains why he went after Michelle Malkin in particularat his post mocking Friday's day of silence for conservatives. I kept pushing Longman (Booman) to update his post to apologize for not taking progressive attacks on conservative bloggers seriously. His response was to spam me with links and quotes about how HORRIBLE the right treated the Frost family, which was back when the Dems controlled the House. Poor guy. Here's his post: "National Day of Blogger Silence Joke."

Plus, I want to link Mandy Nagy's post one more time, it's so good, "National Day of Blogger Silence."

Dear Brett Kimberlin,

I learned about you in 2010, and I wrote this article about you on October 11, 2010.

Flashback: Progressives Embrace Convicted Terrorist

You wanted me to shut up then, and you threatened to sue me.

Liberty Chick Threatened With Lawsuit

I did not go quiet.  And when you hit the radar again, as did you and your friends’ tactics, I didn’t shut up then, either.

As Hacked ChamberLeaks Emails Break, Left Scrambles to Hide Ties to Domestic Terrorist

Since then, you’ve done everything you could to try and shut me up, including falsely accusing me of crimes and inserting me into lawsuits.  And threatening even more lawsuits, based on more false accusations.  Your associates have bragged for a year that their relentless harassment of me, my family and those friends close to me has been all for your benefit. They have hounded people that I work with, trying to get me fired. They have defamed me repeatedly with false accusations of everything from drug use to murder.  They know every detail of my private life and they share it with the world.  They have terrorized me and others and tried to make us fear for our lives.  They, and you, have terrorized us long enough.

Convicted Bomber Brett Kimberlin, Neal Rauhauser, Ron Brynaert, and Their Campaign of Political Terrorism

Today, I go silent.  But that does not mean that I do not act. I take action.  And you should, too...

And conservatives were so hard on Graeme Frost!

Check Mandy's post for all the links.

Thank You Hater!

Dedicated to Über-Hater Walter James Casper III, who continues his leftist campaign of hate-trolling (and concern-trolling!) wherever conservatives might be gathering.

Via Ladd Ehlinger Jr.:

April Rose Maximum Exposure

Like I said, she's a lovely woman:

'Landslide'

The featured song yesteday, at Midnight Blue:

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers Featured on CNN

She's a great lady:

RELATED: At Politico, "Romney taps McMorris Rodgers as top House surrogate."

Kimberlin-Tied 'Breitbart Unmasked' Targets Jeff Dunetz at 'Yid With Lid'

Jeff Dunetz reports, "Kimberlin's Cronies Go After The Lid" (via Memeorandum):

As I mentioned earlier this week today has been declared a national day of blogger silence/action to protect blogger freedom of speech. Since Ace suggested we use today to urge congress protect free speech the day has taken on more significance to me personally, yesterday

I was added to the attack list as the site BrietbartUnmasked which is run by Brett Kimberlin or his cronies started posting horrible internet slanders about me. Stacy McCain calls ”Breitbart Unmasked” Not Brett Kimberlinbecause of the claim that Kimberlin is not behind the site. If the proprietor of the site isn't Kimberlin or one of his cronies than it must be some sort of psychic because the nameless blogger running Brietbart unmasked posted details of the Kimberlin/Mrs. McCain incident , which "The Other McCain" has never discussed in public or published.

It started Monday evening when Brooks Bayne was being attacked by always-crazy Debbie Schlussel as an anti-Semite. As regular readers of this site know it really bothers me when people are falsely accused of Jew hatred so I began to defend him. This launched a barrage of hatred from Schulssel and her followers.

Rather than debate the reasons why we disagreed about Brooksbayne, they started tweeting links to Internet slanders, originally made about me over seven years ago. These lies included charges about me being a sexual predator, using hookers, etc.

Continue reading.

I've known Jeff for some time, first online, when he was still going by "Sammy Benoit," and then later in person at CPAC 2011. Jeff has discussed his past on the blog, so whatever allegations the Kimberlin people have, they aren't new. They're simply smearing Jeff for standing up against a gang of criminal harassers.

See also Liberty Chick's "synopsis" of the Kimberlin-linked campaign to destroy her.

BONUS: A great post from Zilla of the Resistance, "Silent Like a Carpet Bombing."

Elizabeth Warren Staffer Attacks Conservative Blogger Anne Sorock!

I would say "I can't believe it," except I totally can!

An aide to Elizabeth Warren swatted Anne Sorock's camera out of the way --- that is a physical attack on a citizen legally in her rights to video a congressional candidate in public.

This video is gold! No wonder the Daily Kos thugs are out to destroy Anne!

See Legal Insurrection, "Elizabeth Warren dodges questions at Netroots Nation – security guards block me":

As I was leaving the conference, I saw Warren once more as she entered a nearby hotel. I asked her if she’s a “role model to women of color?” Her staffer obstructed my camera and Warren ignored my question once again.

She physically obstructed the camera, with a swatting motion. That is serious!

PREVIOUSLY: "Daily Kos Targets Conservative Blogger Anne Sorock."

From @AceofSpadesHQ: It's Time for Congress to Stop Brett Kimberlin's Reign of Terror

I was looking for this early this morning, saw nothing, and kept checking back.

And now it's up.

From Ace of Spades HQ, an untitled essay, and call to action, on Brett Kimberlin's campaign of domestic terrorism.

It's ongoing and he has to be stopped.

I'll have more later. There's a lot of news on the story.

Obama Retracts Claim That the 'Private Sector's Doing Fine'

This is funny.

At the New York Times, "Obama Backs Away From ‘Fine’ Comment."

And the RNC is rapidly responding in supreme rapid response fashion:

More at the Lonely Conservative, with the link to the president's video comments: "Obama to Congress “Do As I Say!” and “The Private Sector is Doing Fine!”" (Via Memeorandum.)

Daily Kos Targets Conservative Blogger Anne Sorock

I commented at Anne Sorock's post yesterday, at Legal Insurrection: "Netroots Indian speakers defend Elizabeth Warren even if not really Cherokee."

There's video at the link.

Anne reported how the Daily Kos netroots nuts came after her like a swift plague. And now blog publisher William Jacobson updates, "Breitbart lives in the heads of Netroots Nation protectors of Elizabeth Warren":

Read the comments to the Kos article — it’s pretty much what you would expect and then some.  There were demands to ruin Anne’s career, calls to confront her if she reappeared at Netroots Nation, information about her including links to her non-profit research entity, and threats to use “black bloc” tactics on her.

But it didn’t stop there, another author at Kos posted another entry posting more information about Anne, and suggesting that she is racist.  Is also included this request for Kos readers to try to manipulate Google search algorithms:

May I ask that each individual who feels compelled to respond to this diary to be sure and spell out Anne Sorock’s name when referring to her inane behavior. This will allow the diary to better “brand” her ridiculous actions when individuals use the net to try to find out what sort of individual she truly is. Thank you.

As if that were not enough, yet a third Kos author posted about Anne:

The technique comes to attention as breitbarting moves beyond Breitbart’s own “Big” websites and O’Keefe’s antics, this time at the Netroot Nation conference in Providence, RI. Someone named Anne Sorock attended a panel with the express purpose of embarrassing Native American panelists with a question concerning Elizabeth Warren’s ancestry. She was exposed in the midst of her attempt, but posted her story anyway. As usual with breitbarters, she manipulated the event she wrote about both in words and in selective editing.

Why are the Kos folks so upset?  All Anne did was ask a question which they should be asking, why won’t Elizabeth Warren apologize for falsely claiming to be Cherokee?

These are typically Alynsky tactics — try to isolate the person and personalize the attacks.  Rather than address the progressive failure to confront Warren, they try to change the topic and make it all about Anne.

According to each of the Kos authors and many of the commenters,  what Anne did constituted “Breitbarting.”  Indeed, if you read the posts and comments, they are obessessed with “Breitbarting”...

Continue reading.

Amazing.

And I'll add that it takes a lot of guts to go behind enemy lines like that for some first hand reporting. Kudos to Anne Sorock!

ADDED: At Big Government, "Netroots Call Cherokee Advocate Sorock, Not Exploiter Warren, Racist."

I'll Have Another Won't Run Belmont Stakes

I was looking forward to this, the possible first Triple Crown winner since 1978.

See Sports Illustrated, "I'll Have Another's scratch at Belmont another big blow to racing."

Bloggers Mobilize to Protect Freedom of Speech

On Monday, Ace of Spades HQ announced that his blog would be going dark today to mobilize conservatives in a National Day of Blogger Silence. We're still waiting for his entry over there today, but a number of others have already posted. See Michelle Malkin especially, "Going dark to urge congressional action: Who will protect the freedom to blog?" An excerpt:

Sen. Chambliss and Rep. Marchant called specific attention to one terrifying tactic against these bloggers: SWAT-ting. These hoaxes occur “when a perpetrator contacts local police to report a violent incident at a target’s home.” Callers disguise their true identities and locations in order to provoke a potentially deadly SWAT/police response descending upon the targets’ homes.

As online conservatives and now ABC News have reported, recent SWAT-ting victims include New Jersey-based Mike Stack, a blogger and Twitter user targeted last summer after helping to expose disgraced former N.Y. Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner’s shady social media activities; California blogger Patrick Frey, a deputy district attorney at Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office who recently posted a bone-chilling account and audio of his summer 2011 SWATting at his blog, Patterico.com; and CNN Contributor and RedState.com managing editor Erick Erickson, whose Georgia home was targeted by a faker claiming an “accidental shooting” there late last month.

A common thread among these and other online targets: They have published web links, commentary, or investigative pieces related to Brett Kimberlin, the infamous “Speedway Bomber.” In 1978, Kimberlin was sentenced to more than 50 years in federal prison for drug dealing, impersonating a federal officer, and a week-long bombing spree in Speedway, Indiana. The violent crimes left one victim so severely injured he committed suicide. A civil court awarded the widow of the victim, Carl Long, $1.6 million. Kimberlin was released from jail in 2001, but has yet to pay up.

Check the post from Michelle's list of contact information.

There's a Memeorandum thread here, and check Robert Stacy McCain: "NATIONAL DAY OF BLOGGER SILENCE."

I visited the office of U.S. Representative John Campbell last Friday and will be following up today. See: "Is Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin Abusing Tax-Exempt Status? Calling for Congressional Hearings on Continuation of Section 501(c)(3) Benefits." Readers from the 48th congressional district can call Cambell's office at this number: (949) 756-2244.

At the video above, Senator Saxby Chambliss speaks with Fox News anchor Brett Baier, and Chambliss' letter to Attorney General Holder is here: "Chambliss Demands Inquiry Into Attacks Against Conservative Commentators."

And Representative Kenny Marchant of Texas also spoke out: "Marchant Stands for Free Speech and with Conservative Bloggers Under Attack."

See John Hawkins for more information: "A Rundown of Alleged Blogger Harassment By Brett Kimberlin, Neal Rauhauser, Ron Brynaert, & Nadia Naffe." And at Bearing Drift, "National Day of Bloggers Silence."

And note something here: People keep saying that this isn't partisan, that everyone's free speech rights are involved. Sure, to a point. But I'll believe it's not partisan when the big left wing blogs step up to the plate. We've had at most a couple of progressives call out their brethren, but that's it. This is a progressive attack on conservatives. So for now I'll call it out for what it is. Frankly, progressives are more likely to mock conservatives than stand up in solidarity with them. As I noted yesterday, the left's whole program is to silence speech. Giving progressives the benefit of the doubt on this only works to silence conservatives.

I'll be updating, so check back.

Homosexuals Target Rockin' Conservative Dana Loesch After She Stands Up for 14-Year-Old Caiden Cowger

I just posted on the youngster last night: "Fourteen-Year-Old Caiden Cowger: Homosexuality is 'Perverted'."

It turns out that Big Journalism Editor Dana Loesch defended Cowger on Twitter yesterday, and the homosexual radicals came after her with a vengeance. See, "The Advocate ‘Advocates’ the Bullying of Children Online."

Here's the Advocate's post: "CNN Contributor Defends Radio Host Who Said Obama Turns Kids Gay."

Here's the search tab for Dana on Twitter. The left has gone positively batsh*t crazy over this. The progs were spewing all kinds of vile and violent tweets at Dana, here, here, and here, for example. And Dana handled it like a champ. And check out some of the additional lies she's standing up against out there, at the so-called New Civil Rights Movement, "Tweet of the Day: Breitbart Editor Stands Up For 14-Year Old Who Says ‘Obama Is Making Kids Gay’":

To be clear, there is a difference between civic participation and hate speech. And to be clear, people of all ages are welcome in our national conversation, but hate speech, even under the mistaken shroud of “religious liberty” is not only wrong — it is contributing to an environment that is killing teens — especially LGBTQ teens.

Wrong.

There's no such thing as "hate speech." It's an invention of the left to attack conservatives. And as Dana's experience illustrates --- and Caiden's too --- the genuine hate comes from the left and is directed at those who dare to proclaim their traditional beliefs in public. (And the study cited at that link purportedly showing how teens are getting killed is a utterly preposterous and unrepresentative survey on LGBT youths sponsored by the extremist Human Rights Campaign --- the dishonest creeps.)

OBLIGATORY #FAIL: Charles "Jazzy McBikeshorts" Johnson can't contain himself. He jumps at the chance to attack Dana as a bigot: "CNN’s Dana Loesch Says Ending Friendships With People Because They’re Gay Is Just Part of Being a Conservative Teen."

What an utter douchebag. Jeez, dude, get a life.

The Growing Partisan Divide in American Politics

I mentioned Alan Abramowitz's The Polarized Public a few weeks back.

I'm reminded of Abramowitz as we keep seeing more commentators blaming Republicans for increased levels of polarization --- which is often labeled "hostage taking" in practical politics --- while in fact both parties in government have seen increased levels of high partisanship and cohesion. I'm sure I'll be talking a lot about this as the election season heats up. I've been watching MSNBC quite a bit of late and it's amazing the kind of intellectual cocoon the talking heads over there envelop themselves within. It's striking.

In any case, Pew Research had a new study out last week that affirms the growing patterns of polarization: "Partisan Polarization Surges in Bush, Obama Years - Trends in American Values: 1987-2012."

And PBS NewsHour has an interview with Andrew Kohut, the President of the Pew Center, "With Political Polarization at All-Time High, Americans Say 'Listen to Me'."

'Lilibet'

Simon Schama's cover story at Newsweek is worth a read, "The Greatest Day of Her Life":

Treetops Hotel was perched in the game park of Sagana, where a hunting lodge had been given by the “Kenyan people” to Elizabeth and her husband, Philip, as a wedding present five years before. They had stopped in what was still an African colony on their way to Australia to show the flag for Britain and its monarchy, now that Elizabeth’s chronically ill father, King George VI, was unable to take trips around what was left of the empire.

A violent, bloody Kikuyu insurrection was about to break out in Kenya, but the good looks and easy grace of the princess and her tall, impossibly handsome husband disarmed everyone who saw them in action. Then came the news that her father had died of a coronary thrombosis. There are no reports of how the young woman, instantly become Queen Elizabeth II, took the news. But the duke’s equerry, Michael Parker, who had conveyed it, noticed that Philip looked as if “half the world had dropped on his shoulders.” Elizabeth, on the other hand, switched immediately to duty.

Elizabeth was 26: the age of a graduate student, but she had graduated from the select academy of national-symbols-in-waiting. “Lilibet” was 10 before the possibility she might one day be queen arose, for it was assumed her uncle David, not her father, would succeed when the much-loved, gruff George V died in 1936. But what followed was an abdication rather than a coronation, as Edward VIII opted to marry the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson rather than remain on the throne. From the day in 1937 when Elizabeth’s pallid, decent, stammering father had the crown set on his head in Westminster Abbey, she must have sensed both the weight and the perils of the destiny that awaited her.

During the war it was Winston Churchill and not George VI who had personified British bulldog indomitability. But Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret became symbols of the royals’ refusal to play it safe from some distant imperial exile, for they remained in Britain through the Blitz. “They will not leave without me,” said their mother, “and I will not leave without the king, and he will never leave.” Buckingham Palace took a bomb in the courtyard, and the girls’ lodging at Windsor Castle was actually right on the line of Luftwaffe bombing from London to Bristol.

After the war Britain shrunk into austerity, and so did George VI, looking ever more gaunt. In November 1947, with the worst winter in living memory already gripping Britain, her wedding to Philip in Westminster Abbey was a desperately needed festive moment for a country where meat, confectionery, and most forms of glee were still strictly rationed. Already she understood public tact, saving clothes-ration cards for the bridal outfit, which, since 2,000 pearls were sewn in, must have been a truckload of coupons. The day after the ceremony, the princess laid her bouquet of orchids and myrtle (a sprig from Queen Victoria’s tree) on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the nave of the Abbey. The country was full of bitterly grieving families, so the gesture was money in the bank for the future of the British crown...

Continue reading.

Violence Erupts in Downtown Milwaukee as AFSCME-Sponsored Occupy Protest Turns Chaotic

Via Michelle Malkin, "Video: Post-election union protest in Milwaukee turns violent."

RELATED: At Marathon Pundit, "(Video) AFSCME boss gives race-baiting speech at Occupy Milwaukee rally" (via Memeorandum).

The Left's 'Smoldering Wreckage' Leads to Smothering Agenda

I simply can't absorb all the information on the left's historic drubbing on Tuesday. I'm most fascinated by the progressive response to the conservative victory in Wisconsin. This really has forced a total appraisal of progressivism's raison d'être.

I suppose I'll just keep blogging the meltdown as it unfolds, but again, the epic angst is utterly phenomenal.

Take some time with Matt Stoller's piece, for example, "Wisconsin Recap: Thanks to Obama, American Left Lies in Smoldering Wreckage." Stoller is a long-time far-left blogger/activist who is steeped in progressive credibility. I used to read his old blog Open Left once in a while, before he turned from blogger to congressional staffer and Democrat political consultant.

Here's the introduction to his "Smoldering Wreckage" piece, via Memeorandum:

On Tuesday, Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker humiliated his Democratic opponent, Tom Barrett, by easily turning back a popular recall attempt sponsored by unions and liberal activists.  The numbers in the election, which were supposed to be close, were ugly, in favor of the Republican.  But this wasn’t just any Republican, Scott Walker is THE Republican, the politician who made his governorship a referendum on a hard right agenda, in a blue state.  Walker waged a direct and very public attack on the major constituencies of the Democratic Party, rolling back rights for women, the working class, and the young with measures such as ending collective bargaining for state employees, privatizing state assets, and repealing Wisconson’s equal pay provisions for women. His agenda provoked a fierce reaction – – Wisconsin citizens occupied the Statehouse for months -  and then a recall.

Yesterday, Walker’s agenda was ratified by the voters of Wisconsin, the state where public sector unions were born.  It’s hard to overstate how bad this is – Wisconsin is now on the road to becoming a right-to-work state, in what is likely to become a right-to-work country.  Right-to-work laws are provisions that allow individual employees to withdraw from unions, and they make it much harder for unions to organize.

And the deeper you look into the race, the worse it looks.   By calling for a recall instead of a general strike after Walker stripped collective bargaining rights and cut benefits for workers, labor and Democratic leadership in the state diverted and then subverted populist energy, channeling it into an electoral process (at least one union, one very active in the occupation of the Capitol, stood apart from the electoral stupidity).  Then, Barrett, an anti-labor centrist, won the Democratic primary by crushing his labor-backed opponent, Kathleen Falk.  Finally, Barrett himself was destroyed by Scott Walker, who outspent Barrett 7-1 with corporate money.  In other words, first, liberals lost a policy battle, then they failed to strike, then they lost a primary election, then they lost a general election to the most high-profile effective reactionary policy-maker in the country.  The conservative beat the moderate who beat the liberal.  And had Barrett won, he wouldn’t even have rolled back Walker’s agenda.  Somehow, in a no-win electoral situation, Democrats and labor managed to lose as badly as they possibly could.

What happened?

Continue reading at the link.

And bear in mind, Stoller's is a criticism from the left. If you read the whole thing you'll see that it's not just Obama, but the entire left-"liberal" institutional apparatus. And while Stoller genuinely believes he's offering up an alternative, his piece is really nothing more than a desperate call to double-down on failure (the giveaway is the attack on corporate "neoliberalism" and the rousing huzzahs to Greece's socialists now raging desperately against the EU).

But Stoller is not alone.

Focusing more narrowly on unions, Richard Yeselson raises points parallel to Stoller, at the New Republic, "Not With a Bang, But a Whimper: The Long, Slow Death Spiral of America’s Labor Movement." And see also Doug Henwood, "Walker’s victory, un-sugar-coated."

But pay special attention to the concluding passage from Ezra Klein at the Washington Post, "Wisconsin recall shows labor isn't coming back. So what's next?":

Republicans have had great success arguing that organized labor has too much political power. So much success, in fact, that it seems clear that labor will soon have too little. But last night showed that Democrats aren't going to get very far simply disputing Republican claims on this point. Rather, they should argue that all interest groups have too much political power, and unite behind legislation that would weaken them.

You have to ponder the implications of that for a second, for Klein's bottom line is simply astounding. It's an admission that the left is losing the political battle in the marketplace of ideas, and its only hope of revival lies down the road of ever increasing authoritarianism. Seriously. Klein offers the Fair Elections Now Act and the DISCLOSE Act as the magic bullets to the progressive resurrection. But make no mistake. Such proposed legislation is just the tip of the iceberg for the left's ultimate goal, which is repeal of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Seems unfathomable, I know. But Klein himself argues that legislation is needed to weaken all interest groups. Not just conservative and business groups, but all interest groups. Of course anyone with even a glancing familiarity with constitutional theory knows that interest groups are to liberty as air is to fire. You can't have democracy in America without interest groups. And that's not all. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the chief congressional advocate for the DISCLOSE Act, is on record as advocating a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, and by implication the right of individuals and groups to spend as a matter of First Amendment rights. On MSNBC last night, Rachel Maddow broadcast portions of her Wednesday interview with Minority Leader Pelosi. The whole segment is entitiled, "Is there a Democratic 'Plan B' to defeat dark money?" But the key passages come after the 10 minute mark. Pelosi again announced the goal of a constitutional amendment to limit speech:

It's essential to note that the left's "dark money" meme is ridiculously false. There was no "10-to-1" Republican spending advantage in Wisconsin, as Ben Sharpiro reports: "Spending Gap? Media Ignores $21. Million Unions Spent in WI." And as always, the left is never actually concerned about its assploding political hypocrisy. See Jammie Wearing Fools, "Democrats Lament Too Much Money in Politics as Obama Heads to California for Five More Fundraisers."

So there you have it.

Progressives were crushed decisively on Tuesday, and up from the "smoldering wreckage" is an emboldened agenda to clamp down on conservative speech. This "smothering agenda" has been building for some time. But all the talk about big "dark money" will work as an even greater smokescreen as progressive seek to disguise their historical failures. So keep your eyes peeled. Free speech issues are looking to be up front among the key ideological battles of 2012. It's going to be a nasty fight.

RELATED: From Phil Kerpen, "ALEC Bullying Shows What DISCLOSE Act Is About."

ABC News Reports on Brett Kimberlin Criminal Intimidation Network!

It's happening. A little at a time, but conservatives are generating a spotlight on the left's criminal intimidation and harassment network.

Here's the report from Arlette Saenz at ABC News, "Senator Asks DOJ to Investigate SWAT-ting Attacks on Conservative Bloggers":

A number of conservative bloggers allege they have been targeted through the use of harassment tactics such as SWAT-ting (fooling 911 operators into sending emergency teams to their homes), in retaliation for posts they have written, and now Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., has stepped into the matter. He has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to investigate the SWAT-ting cases to see if federal laws have been violated.

“I am writing with concern regarding recent reports that several members of the community of online political commentators have been targeted with harassing and frightening actions. Any potentially criminal action that incites fear, seeks to silence a dissenting opinion, and collaterally wastes the resources of law enforcement should be given close scrutiny at all levels,” Chambliss wrote in the letter.

“Regardless of any potential political differences that may exist, threats and intimidation have no place in our national political discourse. Those who choose to enter into that political discourse should not have to worry about potential threats to their or their family’s safety,” Chambliss continued.  “While I am certain that local law enforcement is reviewing each of these instances, I am asking you to please look into each of these cases as well to determine if any federal laws may have been violated. Future targets of SWAT-ting, whether engaged in political speech or not, may not be so fortunate as to escape physical harm.”

ABC News spoke with two prominent conservative bloggers who were victims of SWAT-ting, a hoax tactic used by some hackers to infiltrate a victim’s phone system, often through voice over IP (VOIP) technology to make calls appear as if they are coming from a residence. The perpetrators call police to report a violent crime at that home to which the police respond, sometimes with SWAT teams.

RTWT.

ABC News contacted Kimberlin! (He denied everything, of course.)

And The Other McCain is quoted at the article:

Robert Stacy McCain, a contributor to the American Spectator and founder of The Other McCain Blog, wrote about Kimberlin, and shortly after, his wife’s place of employment received a phone call from Kimberlin accusing McCain of harassment. Based on Kimberlin’s ability to find his wife’s employer, McCain became concerned Kimberlin also knew the location of his home, so the McCain family relocated to an undisclosed location.

“If I was going to continue doing this story, I couldn’t do it from my home,” McCain told ABC News. ”This kind of intimidation — it’s a threat to protected first amendment expression.”

“It’s being treated as these are just bloggers playing around on Twitter, but this is serious business.  It’s much more serious I think than most people now realize,” McCain said.

See also the Lonely Conservative, "ABC News Reports Sen. Saxby Chambliss Requested DOJ Investigation of Blogger Swattings."

And at Goldfish and Clowns, "An Update On He Who Must Not Be Named." See also Joy McCann at Conservative Commune, "THE FIGHT AGAINST THE SPEECH-SUPPRESSORS."

More later...

PREVIOUSLY: "Conservative Bloggers Keep the Pressure On — Senator Saxby Chambliss Seeks 'SWAT-ting' Inquiry at Department of Justice!"

So That's Why Forbes' Erik Kain Quit Politics and Started Geek Blogging...

That is, besides already being a buttfreak pissant geek.

See William Jacobson, "Worst and Best Wisconsin Recall Predictions":

Worst Prediction

Erik D. Kain channeling David Frum in Forbes Magazine, March 10, 2011, Is Wisconsin the Real Republican Waterloo? (italics in original):

After the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, conservative writer David Frum called the passage of the bill the GOP’s “Waterloo” in reference to Napoleon Bonaparte’s crushing defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington. This earned him the ire of his fellow conservatives and pushed him further outside the conservative movement.

But David was wrong. If anything, the healthcare reform victory was the GOP’s Siege of Acre. Wisconsin is shaping up to be the real Waterloo….

And now conservatives have chosen public-sector workers and teachers as their hill to die on….

Republicans have a long history of union-busting and anti-labor rhetoric, but taking on teachers and cops is a big mistake. This blatant effort to weaken the Democratic party will have precisely the opposite effect….

This is the Democrats chance to recapture that narrative, to turn the discussion back to the dignity of the middle class, to the importance of policies that do not simply push power and capital ever upward. This is the Republican’s Waterloo….

This is the moment that Waterloo has begun, and the Republican party has sealed their own fate. Nothing they could have done could have roused the Democratic base the way this vote in Wisconsin has. I think they’ve bitten off much more than they can chew. This is the beginning of the end. Nor did Republicans need to take such drastic steps. They had the momentum and could have run on their budget concerns into 2012. They didn’t need to take on labor, but they did, and whatever minor victory Scott Walker has made now will be overshadowed by later defeats.

Also – perhaps Pearl Harbor is a better analogy.

Best Prediction ...

It'd be hard, but I doubt Kain could ever screw up remotely that bad as a geek blogger.

Sheesh. What a loser.

As for winners, well, you'll have to check the post for the best prediction.

HINT: The winner's an Associate Clinical Professor at some Ivy League school, and not in a political science department. (Political scientists dream of making predictions that accurate!)

FLASHBACK: "E.D. Kain Denies 'Disciplinary Action' as Motive for Workplace Intimidation!"

Donald Trump Threatens to Sue Miss Pennsylvania for Dissing Miss USA Pageant as 'Rigged'

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "Donald Trump, former Miss Pa. in a beauty of a disagreement."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Donald Trump to sue 'bitter' Miss Pennsylvania over her claims Miss USA 2012 was rigged."

The big deal is that Miss Monnin is Christian and she's apparently not happy that transgendered contestants will be allowed to participate in upcoming pageants. Either way, that's kinda strong arm if Trump's really going to sue. Sheesh.

Fourteen-Year-Old Caiden Cowger: Homosexuality is 'Perverted'

We're seeing more and more young people standing up and calling it like it is.

At TMZ, "14-YEAR-OLD TALK SHOW HOST: Gays Choose Perversion No Matter What Gaga Says." (Via Memeorandum.)

Well, Obama's the first gay president, so what can you do?

RELATED: "Barebackers for Barack, UPDATED! — Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Cover Story at Newsweek, 'The First Gay President'."

A Post-Wisconsin Victory Lap

Via AoSHQ:

'Your Mama Don't Dance...'

I should play some music!

Enjoy Loggins and Messina.

This top clip's from just a few years ago:

Time for U.S. Military Action in Syria

It seems like nothing has changed in Syria, and indeed, there were reports of new atrocities out on Wednesday.

See  Jerusalem Post, "At least 78 killed in Syria's Hama province." And at Telegraph UK, "Government forces accused of fresh Syrian massacre":

Reports of a bloody mass killing of in the Syrian province of Hama emerged on Wednesday, with dozens dead, including several women and children.

Pro-government militiamen attacked collections of buildings in the farming district of Mazraat al-Qabeer and killed civilians in their homes, activists said.

The killings came less than two weeks after a massacre in the town of Houla, in which security forces and pro-Assad militia men known as “Shabiha” killed 108 people, nearly half of them children.

Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad faced mounting pressure at home and abroad as rebels attacked his chief strongholds and Washington threatened his regime with UN sanctions.

Both massacres have happened in the presence of United Nations observers, a 300-strong force sent into Syria to observe a ceasefire deal brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan. The truce was hardly observed by the government or the rebels, who last week said they would no longer honour the ceasefire because of recent killings.

“Today the regime troops started to shell the village. Under this cover the shabiha [government militia] entered the village while people were hiding in their homes. They killed everyone they found in the houses or streets by knives,” said Mohammed Abu Bilal, who claimed to have spoken to a survivor.

This has gone on long enough. The U.S. should act, unilaterally if necessary, and Max Boot makes the case. See, "Toppling Syria's Assad":

After the Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda, the world said: Never again. And there have been interventions to stop the killing — in Bosnia, Kosovo and Libya. But these have been the exception, not the norm. Even now, as horrifying violence unfolds in Syria, the U.S. and its allies find reasons to limit their response to economic sanctions accompanied by strongly worded, but ineffectual, statements of condemnation.

This, despite the fact that the stakes in Syria are higher, from a strategic standpoint, than in Libya. By the time NATO acted against Moammar Kadafi, he was an isolated despot who had given up sponsoring terrorism and building weapons of mass destruction. Not so with Bashar Assad: His regime sponsors Hezbollah and Hamas. It has a large stockpile of chemical weapons and would be on its way to developing nuclear weapons had not Israel bombed its nuclear reactor in 2007. And it has close links to the Iranian regime, which is the No. 1 enemy of the U.S. and its allies in the region.

Moreover, the longer Assad stays in power without being able to stop the uprising against his government — which is now more than a year old — the greater the odds that regional powers will be drawn into the fray and that extremist groups such as Al Qaeda, already responsible for several grisly bombings in Syria, will be able to establish safe havens on Syrian soil.

There are risks in a post-Assad Syria, to be sure, but toppling him as swiftly as possible — something sanctions have shown no sign of achieving — holds out the promise of meeting significant strategic as well as humanitarian objectives.

Those in favor of a go-slow approach will admit much of this but then argue that there are no good options for intervention. It is true that action to topple a regime always carries risks. It is never an operation to be undertaken lightly, as we learned in Afghanistan and Iraq. But no one is proposing sending U.S. ground troops into Syria; the riskiest option of all isn't on the table, nor should it be.

Even less risky options, such as airstrikes, would be harder in Syria than in Libya because the Syrian opposition is less unified than in Libya, and it does not control any cities or discrete territory. Thus it would be harder to strike regime assets without injuring civilians.

But is this an argument for simply sitting by and letting the killing continue? That isn't a "good option" either...

Read it all at the link.

Boot has a plan.

The President Tweeted 'Present'

A great read, from James Taranto, at the Wall Street Journal, "We Are the 119% - MSNBC: My Schadenfreude Now Blankets Cable":

Last night we got home from a dinner and discovered something wonderful when we switched on the television. There's an entire cable network called MSNBC devoted to the entertainment of conservatives. Apparently all they have on this station is disconsolate lefties 24/7. We assume it's part of the Fox empire. Roger Ailes is a genius, isn't he?

A guy named Lawrence O'Donnell hosts a show called "The Last Word," a misleading name, since here we are getting in a latter word. Even so, the show is awesome. O'Donnell cracked us up when he opened yesterday's show: "Tonight, the really big winner in Wisconsin's recall election is--President Obama." Later he had one of his fellow hosts, Rachel Maddow, on as a guest, and she agreed: "It's going to be hard to see this as a bad night for Obama," she declared, citing the president's "11-point margin of theoretical victory . . . over Mitt Romney." (Charlie Spiering has a video montage.)

Theoretically, Obama was on the side of the government employee unions that were behind the unsuccessful attempt to oust Gov. Scott Walker, who last year signed legislation abolishing most of their corrupt "collective bargaining" arrangements. "Understand this," the future president declared in 2007: "If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I'll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner."

In practice, Obama tweeted "present": "It's Election Day in Wisconsin tomorrow, and I'm standing by Tom Barrett. He'd make an outstanding governor." But he was only theoretically present. Not only was he standing, not walking; he was standing someplace far from Wisconsin. In fact, for all we know he was sitting at the time. We can't be sure he was even wearing shoes.

Even the sad clowns of MSNBC couldn't deny the election was a big loss for the man who was standing nowhere near Obama. Milwaukee's Mayor Tom Barrett received just 46% of the vote to Walker's 53%, slightly widening Walker's margin of victory over Barrett in 2010, the year that Middle America gave Republicans their biggest landslide perhaps in living memory.

This despite what the Boston Globe's Derrick Z. Jackson calls "huge turnout in Wisconsin's liberal strongholds," especially Milwaukee and Dane counties. The latter includes Madison, the ultralefty capital, where turnout was as high as 119% by some accounts...

More at that top link.

I was watching, for a little while at least. See: "Public Unions Dealt Costly Blow in Wisconsin."

Wisconsin Voters Beat Back a Campaign of Union Revenge

At the Wall Street Journal, "A Victory for Self-Government":

The resounding failure by unions and Democrats to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Tuesday is a significant moment for democratic self-government. It shows that an aroused electorate can defeat a furious and well-fed special interest that wants a permanent, monopoly claim on taxpayer wallets.

The crisis unfolding in Europe is less about the euro than it is about whether the union-dominated entitlement state can reform so it can pay its bills. In Wisconsin as in Greece and France, unions and the political left were trying to demonstrate that power and privileges once granted are eternal. They wanted to run Mr. Walker out of Madison as an object lesson that trying to limit collective bargaining and mandatory dues collection for government unions will end your political career.

One of the stranger analyses of the Wisconsin brawl has been that it could have been avoided if only Mr. Walker had sought "consensus." We're all in this together, yada, yada. Tell that to Governor John Kasich, who passed similar reforms in Ohio to much less fanfare, only to see unions use a referendum last year to repeal his collective-bargaining changes. Public unions are never going to cede their dominance over taxpayers without a fight.

And it's worth recalling how brutally they fought. They occupied the state capital for weeks. They harassed GOP lawmakers and their families, tried to recall state Senators and defeat a conservative Supreme Court judge, while Democratic lawmakers abdicated their legislative duty by fleeing the state. They lost in the end because Mr. Walker and Republicans rode out the storm, passed their reforms, and are now able to show Wisconsin voters the beneficial results.

The longer-term impact of Mr. Walker's vindication will depend on the lesson other political leaders take from it...

Continue reading.

And ICYMI, see Althouse from yesterday morning, "'The Whupping in Wisconsin: Seven Key Conclusions'."

P.S. The video's from WISN Milwaukee, and it's a great recap of the whole last 18 months.

D-Day 68th Anniversary

At the Washington Post, "On 68th D-Day anniversary, WWII veterans visit memorial that honors them."

And Doug Powers reports, at Michelle's, "D-Day: 68 years ago today."

Conservative Bloggers Keep the Pressure On — Senator Saxby Chambliss Seeks 'SWAT-ting' Inquiry at Department of Justice!

We're getting results with the push-back against the left's criminal harassment and intimidation network!

First, Robert Stacy McCain continues to pump out Pulitzer-worthy reports on the Kimberlin-Rauhauser thug syndicate. See, "‘A Faint Whiff of Vigilante Hysteria’: Weinergate’s Kimberlin Connection," "Fear and Loathing on Capitol Hill: The GOP Caucus Is Decadent and Depraved," and "Did Brett Kimberlin Stalk BlogCon?"

Second, Robert also has the report on Aaron Worthing's appeal. See, "Walker Files Appeal in Kimberlin Case;Ali Akbar Says: ‘We’re Not Stopping’." And see also Michelle Malkin, "Won’t back down: Amidst threats, National Bloggers Club announces Aaron Walker appeal; blogs to crank up pressure on Congress":

When I asked Ali Akbar of the National Bloggers Club for help with a website/infrastructure to support the blogger targets of convicted bomber/online terrorist Brett Kimberlin two weeks ago, he didn’t hesitate or waver. He stepped up to the plate because he believes in free speech and new media. I knew and respected him from his past work on grass-roots conservative campaigns and online projects. I was honored to join the NBC board of directors when he asked me late last year. There is no vast, deeply-funded conspiracy behind how it all came together — as some deranged progressive operatives (who habitually indulge in such rancid psychological projection) are claiming. I simply asked for help with organizing/fundraising tasks that were way beyond my paygrade. Ali volunteered to help and hasn’t stopped. The blogosphere owes him bottomless thanks.

Continue reading.

Plus, see the big report at Camp of the Saints, "The #BrettKimberlin Report D+12 Part II: Flak And Return Fire."

And note that UCLA's Eugene Volokh has stepped up for some pro bono assistance to Aaron Worthing, "Consulting on the Aaron Walker / Brett Kimberlin Case."

Third, GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss has energized the right with a request to the Attorney General's offce. See, "Chambliss Demands Inquiry Into Attacks Against Conservative Commentators" (via Memeorandum).

Michelle has more, "GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss to DOJ: What are you doing about SWATtings?" And following the links takes us to the write-up at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, "Saxby Chambliss calls for probe into ‘SWAT-ting’ of conservative pundits." Plus, Kerry Picket has this at the Washington Times, "Chambliss demands DOJ inquiry into 'SWAT-ting' incidents against bloggers."

Also blogging, Jawa Report, Riehl World View, and Urban Grounds.

Fourth, Robert Knight has a blockbuster piece up at Townhall, "The Left's Assault on Free Speech and Conscience." Knight offers an outstanding review of events, but his larger discussion of the issue is worth quoting at length:

SWATing is just one of the nastier tricks played by the intolerant Left, which increasingly employs smears and intimidation.

In early May, The Chronicle of Higher Education fired author and blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley for opining that some black studies dissertation topics were “a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap.” Thousands of liberal academics signed a petition demanding her firing, which the Chronicle dutifully did after holding out for a few days.

In April, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which represents conservative state legislators, was attacked by former White House “green jobs czar” Van Jones and his Color of Change movement. ALEC had posted on its website model voter photo ID legislation, which Jones’ group describes as an attempt to “disenfranchise over 5 million people in the upcoming elections.” ALEC soon caved and removed the post after losing corporate sponsors including Coca-Cola, Mars, Wendy’s and Kraft.

A union front group, Change to Win, then began bullying health insurer Wellpoint over, among other things, its support of ALEC.

The Center for Political Accountability, run by Democratic operative Bruce Freed, is promoting “transparency” so that businesses contributing to conservative causes can be hounded and boycotted, as Target was over its support for a Republican gubernatorial candidate who favored traditional marriage. This is the corporate version of the smear campaign against people who donated to California’s Proposition 8 marriage amendment in 2008. Leftwing activists posted a Google map with donors’ names and addresses, inviting harassment. Vandalism, firings and some terror incidents conducted against the Mormon Church followed.

Jackboot leftist tactics have reached even the therapist’s couch.

In California, the legislature is weighing a bill (SB 1172) making it a crime for concerned parents to take a confused child under 18 to a therapist to reinforce the child’s gender identity. There is also a nationwide movement to criminalize pro-straight counseling. Dr. Robert Spitzer, an architect of the 1993 removal of homosexuality as a disorder in the psychiatric diagnostic manual, did his own study of ex-gays in 2003, in which he concluded that some people could change their orientation. A former hero of the Left, he was terrorized, ostracized and hounded until he did a partial mea culpa a few weeks ago.

“He had been attacked so violently on account of his study that he had nearly broken down emotionally. …” writes Dr. Gerard van den Aardweg, author of many books on homosexuality. “I understood hell had broken loose against him. I thought: and this is ‘free’ America, where a good-intentioned, humane psychiatrist is stoned for having the courage to publish a careful study with a very careful conclusion that merely calls into question the gay dogma of irreversibly programmed homosexuality?”

In March, the Obama Administration threatened to bankrupt Catholic hospitals if they wouldn’t violate their beliefs regarding contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization. To some people’s surprise, the Catholic hierarchy hit back with multiple lawsuits, a spectacular story ignored by the “mainstream” media.

Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern is going for the gold medal of leftwing censorship. He is sponsoring the Orwellian-named “People’s Rights Amendment,” which would undo the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and strip “all corporate entities—for profit and non-profit alike” of freedom of speech. The First Amendment? As co-sponsor and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would say, “Are you serious?”

As the political Left faces a bruising comeuppance in November, leftist bullies are going for outright control of what’s said, written and done.

The full article is here. Be sure to share it.

Finally, Ace of Spades has a blackout event planned for Friday: "National Day of Blogger Silence -- This Friday."

I will post links of Congressmen's and Senator's email addresses and offices and phone numbers, and urge every concerned American citizen to let them know, in no uncertain terms, that a crime in progress against the First Amendment (and people's safety) is occurring, and we humbly request they take this seriously.

They are literally going to get someone killed. That is their endgame here.

Will the media and Congress pretend "we didn't know" when this happens?

ABCNews knows.

The Weekly Standard knows.

The Daily Caller knows.

And many, but not yet all, Congressmen and Senators know.

I encourage all bloggers and twitterers to essentially strike that day, or write nothing except your desire that you expect your Congressmen to take threats to your First Amendment rights seriously.

I will be following up with my congressman on Friday. See previously, "Is Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin Abusing Tax-Exempt Status? Calling for Congressional Hearings on Continuation of Section 501(c)(3) Benefits."

Bloggers are encouraged to research the committee jurisdictions of their Members of Congress. Look to those areas over which representatives have authority and can initiate government action against illegal progressive intimidation and harassment.

And most of all, don't stop. Keep the pressure on --- it's working!

IMAGE CREDIT: Right Klik.

Fullerton Voters Recall Three Council Members After Beating Death of Homeless Man Kelly Thomas

This is a big story, making the front-page banner headline at this morning's Orange County Register, "Fullerton recalls 3 councilmen":

FULLERTON – A recall campaign aimed at ousting three councilmen in the wake of the Kelly Thomas death cruised to success Tuesday night.

All three council members easily lost their seats, according to unofficial results.

The push to remove Don Bankhead, F. Richard Jones and Pat McKinley was prompted by the death of the homeless man after a confrontation with police officers in July. The death left two officers facing charges and put the Police Department and the city's leadership under great scrutiny.

Three challengers who each won handily will take their seats, possibly at the July 17 council meeting.

Travis Kiger, an information-technology specialist who says he favors small government, captured 55.5 percent of the vote to easily finish above four others in the race to replace Jones. Attorney Doug Chaffee, one of four targeting McKinley, had 42.3 percent of the vote. Greg Sebourn, among four targeting Bankhead, had 40.5 percent.

Provisional ballots must be counted, and the results officially recognized, but the numbers are not expected to budge much.

Before the numbers were final, Sebourn said that if the three council members lost their posts, “I'd expect big changes in Fullerton.”

 He said one of the first actions he plans to take is to demand a top-down audit of all city departments.

“I'm grateful to the voters for giving me their vote of confidence,” Sebourn said.

The recall campaign was bankrolled by local activist Tony Bushala, who runs the blog Friends for Fullerton's Future.

I've written previously on Fullerton. See, "Fullerton Cops to Stand Trial in Kelly Thomas Beating Death."

RELATED: From Reason, "How the Kelly Thomas Killing Sparked a Citizen Revolt."

Added: CNN's Casey Wian reported that the council members-elect may look into abolishing the police department and contract local security out to the county sheriff. I'll update with that once CNN posts the video. Here's Wian's tweet:

Fullerton City Council recall effort succeeds in a landslide. Now, will Police Dept. survive beating death of Kelly Thomas?

More later...

VIDEO: Democrat Tom Barrett Slapped in the Face After Conceding Wisconsin Recall Election

Man, it's hard out there for a prog!

See Kerry Picket, at The Washington Times, "PICKET: Report - Woman slaps Mayor Barrett for conceding too early" (via Memeorandum).

And check Stable Hand, at My Pet Jawa: "This is what progressive civility looks like."

California Voters Reject $1 Tax Hike on Cigarettes — Proposition 29 Goes Down, 50.8 to 49.2 Percent

Only 25 percent of precincts were tallied when I posted last night, and apparently those didn't include some from the more anti-tax regions in the state.

The tide shifted the other way in what was definitely a squeaker.

See the Orange County Register, "Prop. 29 tobacco tax loses; Prop. 28 term limits passing."

A ballot measureto raise cigarette taxes by $1 narrowly lost with 50.8% of voters statewide voting no with all precincts reporting Wednesday. A second measure to change Legislative term limits won handily with 61.4% approval.

Proposition 28 will amend term limits by cutting the total number of years politicians spend in Sacramento while increasing the amount of time they may serve in either the state Assembly or state Senate.

Proposition 29 would increase the state tax on cigarettes by $1 to raise money for cancer research and anti-smoking programs. That race was flooded with millions of dollars from tobacco companies hoping to defeat the measure while avoiding the topic of smoking.

Proposition 28 was proposed by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and found support among Republicans and Democrats. It sought to bring more continuity to Sacramento by amending legislative term limits, which currently allow lawmakers to serve six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate for a total of 14 years.

I voted no on Prop. 28 as well.

Legislative term limits have been a disaster for California, and I doubt the new initiative will make much of a difference. (The move to a possible 12 years in one chamber might be good, but I favor abolishing term limits for the legislature altogether --- this initiative won't reduce the role of special interest lobbying, which has always been one of the main arguments for the measures. And we'll still see legislators using their seats as stepping stones to higher office or fatter paychecks outside of government. But check back with me in 12 years and we'll return to the topic. I'll bet voter frustration will be just as high as today, especially if the Democrats remain in power, beholden to unions. That said, perhaps a change is coming, and it wouldn't be too soon. See Glenn Reynolds for more on that, "SAN DIEGO PASSES PENSION REFORM by a wide margin.")