Anders Behring Breivik Gets Maximum Sentence in Norway Mass Murder Trial

At the New York Times, "Norway Killer Is Ruled Sane and Given 21 Years in Prison."

Only 21 years. And no death penalty in Norway?

That dude deserves it. Look at him smirking at the clip.

New Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS Poll

It's pretty much in line with other current polling. See, "In Poll, Obama Is Given Trust Over Medicare."

At the clip, CBS News political analyst Leigh Ann Caldwell breaks it down:

The raw data is here.

And here's the new Fox News poll, from Dana Blanton, "Fox News poll: Race for the White House tightens." Mitt Romney leads Barack Obama 45-44 percent among likely voters, the first time this season that Fox has polled likely/registered voters. The findings are the first Fox poll to also assess the selection of Paul Ryan as running mate.

See also the Los Angeles Times, which has Obama up by 3 nationally, "Obama has slight lead over Romney in new nationwide poll."

And yet more at USA Today, "Poll: As conventions open, a more negative view of politics":

* The enthusiasm gap that boosted Obama in 2008 has turned around this year. Now 53% of Republicans and those who lean Republican say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting this year, compared with 46% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

* Obama gets more blame for negative attacks than he did in 2008. Then, 30% accused him of attacking his Republican opponent unfairly; now 44% do. In contrast, 40% say Romney is attacking Obama unfairly, compared with 48% who said that of McCain four years ago.

Two Women Electrocuted While Trying to Help at Crash Scene in Los Angeles

This is an unbelievably sad story, at the Los Angeles Times, "Two women fatally electrocuted trying to help at crash scene":

Irma Zamora's husband urged her not to get out of the car as they approached the scene of a spectacular traffic crash in Los Angeles' Valley Village neighborhood. But as he pulled over to call 911, she rushed out anyway, eager to help.

A sport utility vehicle had just careened through the intersection of Magnolia Boulevard and Ben Avenue, shearing off a concrete light standard and knocking over a fire hydrant before coming to rest on a front lawn. Water spewed skyward from the broken hydrant and quickly pooled in the intersection.

Zamora ran toward the wrecked SUV and stepped into an electrified pool of water. She was immediately –- and fatally — electrocuted, struck by what firefighters estimate was 48,000 volts of electricity.

A second woman died while trying to help Ms. Zamora. There's also a video report at NBC Los Angeles, "Councilman: Valley Village Electrocution Was Moment of 'Tragedy, Heroism'."

Anderson Cooper Destroys Debbie Wasserman Schultz on DNC's Despicable Lies Attacking Mitt Romney on Abortion

She's morally-repugnant, personally and politically. Between her and Stephanie Cutter, it's been lies and libel 24/7, all with the backing Baracky.

They just lie, and lie again. Cooper calls her out brutally. Notice Wasserman Schultz saying, "It doesn't matter," when pushed on the accuracy of the DNC's email. These people will do anything, anything! They're totally discredited freak-ball liars.

Here's the email, published at BarackObama.com/truthteam:

In a recent statement that was both factually inaccurate and horribly offensive, Republican Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin said that victims of “legitimate rape” don’t get pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan tried to distance themselves from the remark—but the fact is they’re in lockstep with Akin on the major women’s health issues of our time. Just this morning, the Republican Party voted to include the “Human Life Amendment” in their platform, calling for a constitutional ban on abortions nationwide, even for rape victims. Several Romney supporters and advisers stood silently by while this vote took place, and the Los Angeles Times reports that the platform “was written at the direction of Romney’s campaign.”

More at that link.

And here's the Los Angeles Times piece in question, "Ron Paul delegates taking aim at Republican Party platform":

TAMPA, Fla. _ It didn't take long for strains within the Republican Party to surface Monday as national delegates got down to work on a final draft of the party platform, one week before the nominating convention opens.

Ron Paul delegates are making a diligent effort to wedge the defeated presidential candidate's libertarian ideas into the party document. Among them: curbing the power of the Federal Reserve, enhancing the constitutional rights of individuals and opposing the overseas role of U.S. military forces.

There is no doubt about who is in charge, of course. Delegates for presumptive nominee Mitt Romney are voting down substantive changes to the platform language that was written at the direction of Romney's campaign. The biggest question is whether the tone remains polite, as it was at the outset of two days of deliberations, or whether dissenters spoil the image of harmony that the Romney campaign is working hard to produce.

Wow.

The piece isn't even talking about abortion. And as everyone's been highlighting for days, the GOP's abortion plank has been in place for the past couple of election cycles. Indeed, folks have been making hay about how it's possible for a nominee to disagree with a substantive policy position approved by the delegates.

The Democrats are lying. They're distorting the issue, attempting to smear the Romney campaign as abortion extremists. All this demonstrates once again how bankrupt these people are. That's not to say they'll dial it back. The attacks, at minimum, work to keep discussion of the economy off the table. The GOP's biggest challenge next week is to force the national debate back to economic issues. This prospects scares the living shit out of the Democrats, which explains why they'll stop at nothing to sabotage the Republicans, using dirtbag methods so repugnant they're literally unprecedented in American politics.

BONUS: Lighten things up a bit with AP's hilarious post, at Hot Air, "Anderson Cooper grills Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: Why are you lying about Romney’s position on abortion?"

Armed Forces Salute

Via Theo Spark:

Shooting Suspect James Holmes Failed Oral Examination, Made Threats, Prosecution Reveals

This is what I expected.

Suspect James Holmes failed his oral exams in the Ph.D. neuroscience program and was advised by his department to find a new line of work. He was getting booted from the program pretty much as I laid out in my essay, "Suspect James Holmes' Rapid Descent":

The department will usually not advance to candidacy those who've been struggling.

I posted more on that, along with the video from the university's press conference, here: "Suspect James Holmes No Easy Fit for Mass Murderer Profile."

The Los Angeles Times has the latest, "Colorado theater shooting: New details emerge on James E. Holmes":

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – The first glimpse of a once-promising career beginning to unravel emerged Thursday during a hearing in the case against James E. Holmes, accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 in a packed movie theater last month.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Karen Pearson revealed that 24-year-old Holmes, once a doctoral student in an elite neuroscience program at the University of Colorado Denver, had failed oral exams on June 7, made unspecified threats serious enough for campus police to be notified, and had his access to university buildings on the Anschutz Medical Campus revoked. He withdrew from the university June 10....

“What is going on in the defendant’s life is extremely relevant to the case,” Pearson argued as she sought to review all of Holmes’ academic records – including grades, course schedules and admission application -- as well as emails to professors during the time he attended.

She speculated about how disappointed Holmes must have been about his deteriorating university career and said faculty had asked him to leave the program.

The prosecution had subpoenaed the university records, which were turned over to the judge last week. They remain sealed, and the defense wants to keep it that way.

Defense attorney Daniel King rejected Pearson’s rationale and the validity of the scenario she sketched out on Thursday, strongly opposing the release of information about his client’s time at the university. He said that it was irrelevant to the case and that the prosecution was on a “fishing expedition that needs to be stopped.”

Claire McCaskill Pulls Out Ten Point Lead in New Rasmussen Poll #MOSen

I'm not sure "pulls out" is the appropriate political terminology here, considering, but hey, it's big news.

Legal Insurrection reports, "McCaskill up 10 pts in non-troll poll."

And at Ace of Spades HQ, "BREAKING: McCaskill up 10 pts over Akin in Missouri Poll."

And also at AoSHQ, "Akin Camp: You Should Ask Claire McCaskill to Drop Out":

That'll work.

Another winner from the House of Ideas.

He's joking, of course.

Here's the statement from the Akin campaign: "Akin Campaign Response to Rasmussen Poll" (at Memeorandum).

Salma Hayek in Germany's Vogue

Beautiful photos here, "TOP LOOKS VON SALMA HAYEK."

And I don't read German, so I would have missed this, at the Hollywood Reporter, "Salma Hayek Clarifies Remarks About Mexico That Were 'Lost in Translation'":

The "Savages" star was saddened that her thoughts about her native country were misinterpreted.

Salma Hayek wants the world to know she is proud of her Mexican roots.

The Savages star, 45, has issued a statement in response to a new interview in German Vogue magazine in which she is quoted as saying that she hardly has "any memories of what it is to be Mexican. My life is completely different now."

The comments ruffled some feathers, particularly in Mexico, where Hayek is adored as a national treasure.

Also at E! Online, "Salma Hayek's Controversial Comment Regarding Her Mexican Roots Spurs Backlash."

Pat Caddell Slams Barack Obama: 'Most Negative Personal Campaigner in the Oval Office Ever...'

I was watching Hannity last night, and this exchange was freakin' amazing, via RCP, "Caddell: Obama "Most Negative Personal Campaigner In The Oval Office Ever":

"Let me tell you what's really bad, Sean. The president is running the real risk, every time you keep lowering the standard, breaking tradition -- this is Chicago politics. We don't care, we are going to disrupt your convention. For all the times we have had conventions, we have honored the idea in politics, you have yours, we have ours; then we engage a campaign. They're taking down all of this, just like the president's campaign; he has been the most negative personal campaigner in the oval office -- ever, ever," former Democratic pollster Pat Caddell said on FOX News' Hannity" tonight.

"You know what?" Caddell asked. "Winning matters more and that's what he is risking."

Watch it at the link.

Caddell is a Democrat pollster and former key advisor to President Jimmy Carter. He spoke at the David Horowitz West Coast Retreat in 2001. He's got an uncanny take on politics, extremely perceptive and completely confident of his opinions. While he's been attacked as a Democrat turncoat, his inside credentials add some powerful gravitas to the attack on Team Obama's unprecedented politics of destruction.

More at The Hill, "Team Obama breaks precedent to try to spoil Romney’s convention in Tampa." (At Memeorandum.) And see Mark Hemingway, at the Weekly Standard, "Obama's Risky Convention Gambit."

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikipedia.

Ta-Nehisi Coates Screams RAAAAACISM to Silence the Opposition!

You gotta love Ta-Nehisi. He sho' loves him some race card politics.

See "Fear of a Black President" (via Memeorandum):

The irony of President Barack Obama is best captured in his comments on the death of Trayvon Martin, and the ensuing fray. Obama has pitched his presidency as a monument to moderation. He peppers his speeches with nods to ideas originally held by conservatives. He routinely cites Ronald Reagan. He effusively praises the enduring wisdom of the American people, and believes that the height of insight lies in the town square. Despite his sloganeering for change and progress, Obama is a conservative revolutionary, and nowhere is his conservative character revealed more than in the very sphere where he holds singular gravity—race.

Keep reading --- and remember, when your entire existence revolves around race and racism, any disagreement --- and hesitation to speak out on tough issues --- can be blamed on white supremacy, the enduring legacy of slavery, or whatever other RAAAAACISM! slogan-of-the-day of the shuck-and-jive grievance hustlers.

More at The Other McCain, "President of a Black Fear":Show of hands:

Nearly four years into the Age of Obama, is there anybody — anybody – interested in reading a 9,582-word “What It Means” essay about the racial significance of Obama’s presidency?

Would you be more interested if I told you that Ta-Nehisi Coates uses the Trayvon Martin shooting as the contextual prism through which he seeks this wisdom? Would your interest be whetted if I told you that Coates name-checks a list of right-wing villains — Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, etc. — en route to a rather nebulous conclusion about the persistence of white racism as the dominant and defining reality of America’s past, present and future?

Admit it, honky: You don’t want to read it.

Keep reading.

IMAGE CREDIT: The People's Cube.

VIDEO: Senator Infanticide Said He Was 'Pro-Choice' on Third-Trimester Abortions in 2003

What a find!

At the Weekly Standard, "Video: Obama Says He's 'Pro-Choice' on Third-Trimester Abortions."

Well, it's good timing, that's for sure. See, "Democrat National Convention Shaping Up as Unprecedented Celebration of Infanticide."

FLASHBACK: "The Secret Life of Senator Infanticide."

Anaheim's Canyon High School 'Seniores' and 'Señoritas' Events Cancelled After Complaints Alleging Racism

What's really interesting is that the school's been having these events for years. Check the photos at the report. Some just awful denigrating stereotypes. And Canyon High used to be a really elite school in the area. It's Anaheim Hills, where the big money neighborhoods are.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Anaheim high school cancels events found to be demeaning":

"Seniores" and "Señoritas" events held at an Anaheim high school — in which students dressed as gang members and a pregnant woman pushing a baby stroller — have been canceled after officials concluded the activities were demeaning toward Latinos and their culture.

The events, which have been held for at least three years at Canyon High School, took place during senior activity week in June and were approved by campus administrators, according to school district officials.

RTWT.

'A Lost Part of History' — Man Discovers Forgotten Martin Luther King Audiotape in Attic

What a wonderful thing.

At USA Today, "Unreleased Martin Luther King audiotape found in attic."

I am convinced that when the history books are written in future years, historians will have to record this movement as one of the greatest epics of our heritage. It represents struggle on the highest level of dignity and discipline.

And the progressives today are so undignified and undisciplined ... I don't think MLK would recognize what's happened to the so-called forces of "tolerance."

Brain-Dead 'Liberal Feminists' Attack 'Chicks on the Wrong'

This is hilarious, at Chicks on the Right, "“Liberal Feminists” Are Hilarious and Mockworthy."

$timulus $hocker

Here's Michelle on Hannity's last night, discussing the Obama administration's mind-bogging MSNBC stimulus corruption:

And from earlier, "'The President's Utility' — Chicago Energy Behemoth Exelon Corporation Scored $200 Million in Stimulus Funds, and Holder's Justice Dept. Approved Exelon's $7.9 Billion Utility Merger With Constellation Energy of Maryland."

Paul Ryan, Fundraising Powerhouse

I didn't know this about Ryan, and it says more about scaling the heights inside the Congress than anything else. Although the major corporate backing for the GOP ticket is a huge plus.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Paul Ryan runs well-oiled fundraising machine":

WASHINGTON — Rep. Paul D. Ryan has cultivated his "affable wonk" persona into an effective moneymaker, winning over CEOs and K Street lobbyists to build a fundraising machine that has boosted his standing on Capitol Hill and helped make him one of the GOP's most influential figures.

In 2002, the Wisconsin congressman established a so-called leadership PAC, a fund that allows him to raise money to give to other lawmakers, but the fund did little until 2006, when he began his rapid rise in the House Republican hierarchy. That year, Ryan's PAC distributed $322,000 to Republicans, a 607% increase in giving from the cycle before, according to the nonpartisan campaign finance group Center for Responsive Politics.

After the 2006 election, Ryan, who is now the GOP vice presidential candidate, became the top Republican on the House Budget Committee.

"Part of what you do when you're a member of Congress who has ambitions and wants to become committee chair is you start raising money and you start giving money to your colleagues," said Steve Northrup, a Republican healthcare lobbyist who has hosted several Ryan fundraisers.

"You can't divorce that from his personality and his smarts," Northrup added.

The high-profile post and the exposure it has brought has helped Ryan raise even more, which, in turn, has allowed him to cement ties to his congressional allies. In this election cycle, he has brought in $8.5 million to his campaign account and political action committee combined. Of that, Ryan still has more than $6 million in the bank, a notably high reserve compared with his congressional colleagues.

The PAC so far has given more than $539,000 to Republican candidates and lawmakers, a figure that ranks among the top 10 leadership PACs in contributions to federal candidates, alongside prolific congressional fundraisers Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

"Even the most idealistic members of Congress realize that the way to power is to raise money and to spread it around to your colleagues," said David Donnelly, executive director of Public Campaign Action Fund, a campaign finance reform group. Ryan "certainly learned that early on."

Ryan has become one of the most requested fundraising surrogates for House Republicans. And he has invested in a multimillion-dollar direct mail campaign that has bolstered his name recognition and given his finance network a national scope.

RTWT.

VIDEO CREDIT: The Other McCain, "Paul Ryan in Roanoke, Virginia: ‘This is President Obama’s Imaginary Recovery’."

Business as Usual: Obama Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter Lies and Prevaricates Her Way to Election Day

The video is gold, and Lonely Conservative has the lies.

See: "Wow! That Stephanie Cutter Sure is a Liar!"

Democrat National Convention Shaping Up as Unprecedented Celebration of Infanticide

From Paul Bedard, at the Washington Examiner, "Dem Convention becomes anti-Akin affair" (via Instapundit):

With an eye on Rep. Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comments and the GOP's mad dash away from the sinking Missouri Senate candidate, the Democrats are turning their upcoming presidential convention into a pro-choice assault on the Republicans with the help of major abortion supporters.

Just as the Akin crisis was reaching a crescendo, the Democrats on Wednesday announced that three starlets of the pro-choice movement will be featured at the convention, an event that will now drive the liberal charge that the Republicans are anti-women.

Democrats said that they will feature Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parent Action Fund, Nancy Keenan, president of the NARAL Pro-Choice America and Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University student whose plea for federal birth control funding drew the ire--and a subsequent apology--from Rush Limbaugh.

What's more, the Democrats are expanding their list of women ready to assail the GOP on women's issue, adding Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski and actress Eva Longoria to the list that already includes Sen. John Kerry and Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren.

Democrats led by party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz believe that the Akin controversy--and his refusal to leave the Missouri Senate race--has revived their chances of winning a majority of women in the presidential race, key to re-electing President Obama. On Wednesday, for example, the party turned their homepage over to the affair with the headline: "The GOP is dangerously wrong for women." And with a devilish move, they included pictures of Mitt Romney, running mate Paul Ryan and Akin.

"Romney, Ryan, Akin and the GOP want to take women back to the dark ages," the Democrats add.

Wow!

That's apocalyptic. Let's capitalize that: "THE DARK AGES!"

The infant-killers ought to get major distraction mileage out of that. Whoo!

Bring it on, I say. Let's get the Democrat abortion extremism out in to the open.

FLASHBACK: "The Secret Life of Senator Infanticide."

More at Lonely Conservative, "Democrats Finally Come Up With Convention Theme – It’s An Abortion Festival!" (via Memeorandum).

Tropical Storm Isaac Heads Toward Florida Ahead of GOP Convention

That'd be a freak of nature --- or an act of God --- if the storm hit Tampa just in time for the convention. A cancellation is possible, astonishingly.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Republican Convention Threatened by Storm."

'Progressive labor is a revolutionary communist organization. Its objective is to make revolution in the United States, overthrow the capitalist system and build communism...'

Well, yeah.

At Left of the Mark, "Mike Golash: 'Goal is to Overthrow Capitalist System and Build Communism'" (via Linkiest).