Vicious Obama #Democrats and Risks of #Shutdown

The Dems want this shutdown and they'll spare no pain to enforce it.

Here's the lead story at Memeorandum right now, from WSJ, "White House's Hard Line on Shutdown, Debt Ceiling Has Risks Attached":

The two quotes from Washington today that all Americans should be aware of. pic.twitter.com/MAYDzNOR1Q

— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) October 4, 2013

President Barack Obama is sticking to his stance that he won't negotiate with Republicans over the government shutdown or the higher-stakes fight over the federal debt ceiling.

The question, for Republicans and White House allies alike: How long will that resolve last?

Mr. Obama spoke Thursday at a construction company just outside Washington and held fast to his view that Republicans must not attach conditions to bills that underpin the functioning of government.

"There is one way out," he said: Republicans must relent and reopen the government.

White House officials believe they have the upper hand, citing evidence that some Republicans are buckling under public pressure. Mr. Obama invited the four congressional leaders to the Oval Office Wednesday, and despite the show of engagement made no concessions, according to people familiar with the meeting.

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) left the White House and said Mr. Obama "reiterated one more time tonight that he will not negotiate."

Terry Holt, a longtime Republican strategist, said Mr. Obama's strategy rests on a cold-eyed calculation that Republicans are the ones with the most to lose. "As long as the president thinks his poll numbers are going to be good, I don't expect the government to reopen," he said.

Said a senior administration official: "We are winning...It doesn't really matter to us" how long the shutdown lasts "because what matters is the end result."

White House allies, however, say a long shutdown could make the White House's position less tenable. Mr. Obama is the most visible symbol of the U.S. government, they say, and will inevitably share in the blame as hardships mount and people weary of the infighting.

Already, the shutdown has produced images of inconvenience, lost pay, and disruptions in wedding and vacation plans. The Republican National Committee has offered to cover the cost of keeping open the World War II memorial for the next month after a group of veterans toured the site even though it was closed due to the shutdown.

"To the extent that any blame washes onto the Democrats and the president, it's going to be from the sense that this town is just completely dysfunctional and it's everybody's fault," said Matt Bennett, senior vice president of Third Way, a center-left think tank.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said: "Ultimately, politics in Washington is a reflection of the president's leadership. People expect their president to be the grown-up in the room, and he's not even in the room."

Mr. Obama said Thursday people should resist the impulse to blame both sides equally.

Also at Legal Insurrection, "Democrats trapped by their seething hatred of Tea Party."

Scores Die as Migrant Ship Capsizes Near Italy's Shore

At the New York Times, "Migrants Die as Burning Boat Capsizes Off Italy":

ROME — Having floated for at least two days in the choppy Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, a rickety trawler overstuffed with African migrants fleeing war and poverty was nearing a Sicilian island, not even a quarter-mile away. But it was still dark and no one had yet spotted them. So to signal their position, someone set a match to a blanket.

But rather than sending a signal, the fire brought tragedy when flames from the burning blanket ignited gasoline. Nearly 500 people are estimated to have been on board — including children — and the blaze created a panic that capsized the boat. So close to reaching land, the migrants were now tossed into the sea. Many could not swim.

The accident, which occurred before dawn on Thursday within easy eyesight of the island of Lampedusa, is one of the worst in recent memory in the Mediterranean: at least 111 people were reported dead, with up to 250 still missing. At least 150 others survived, and Italy’s Coast Guard was continuing to search for more survivors.

The grisly deaths again underscored the dangerous, desperate efforts by many migrants from Africa and the Middle East to reach Europe by sea, while also renewing criticism of European immigration policy. Immigration is a politically volatile issue in Europe, so much so that Greece recently completed a nearly eight-mile fence blocking its border with Turkey, an attempt to shut down a major land migration route.

But some experts say that making it harder to slip into Europe by land has only pushed many migrants to try the more perilous route by sea. With conflicts raging in the Middle East and Africa, the number of asylum seekers and migrants arriving by boat in Spain and Italy has spiked this year. According to statistics released by Save the Children, 21,780 migrants reached Italy during the first nine months of this year, including 4,000 children.

Lampedusa, an Italian island barely 70 miles from northern Africa, has become a gateway to Europe for migrants. In some seasons, boats filled with migrants and asylum seekers arrive almost daily.

Pope Francis, who visited the island in July to draw attention to the plight of migrants, expressed sadness and outrage over Thursday’s fatal accident.

“The word disgrace comes to me,” the pope said during an audience, calling for prayers on behalf of the dead and their families. “Let us unite our efforts so that similar tragedies do not happen again. Only a decided collaboration among all can help to stop them.”

For Italy, the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean has become an enormous operational and humanitarian challenge. Italian Coast Guard boats are sent almost daily on dangerous rescue missions. Migrants assume huge risks to reach Europe and pay thousands of dollars to smugglers and middlemen, often in Turkey, Egypt and Libya. The smugglers load people onto a large boat for a trip into Italian waters. There, the migrants are usually transferred to smaller boats, some barely seaworthy, and left to float in the current. Then the smugglers flee back to Africa.

It was unclear if the migrants in Thursday’s accident were delivered by smugglers and then transferred to a smaller boat, or if they made the entire journey from Libya in the same trawler. It did seem clear, though, that they were completely unprepared.

Plus, "Italy Suspends Search for Shipwreck Victims."

Woman Killed in Capitol Hill Chase Was Fixated on President Obama

Well, support for Obama is a mental health issue, but this certainly is extreme.

At LAT, "Woman shot in D.C. chase had fixation on President Obama":

WASHINGTON -- The woman shot to death after a police chase from the White House to Capitol Hill had been suffering from mental health issues, according to federal law enforcement officials, including postpartum depression after her daughter was born and a troubling fixation on President Obama.

Miriam Carey’s declining mental stability, the sources said, developed into a belief that the president was “controlling" her life, which may explain why she appeared Thursday afternoon next to the White House and then led Secret Service agents and Washington police on a two-mile, three-minute chase down Pennsylvania Avenue. Along the way, two officers were injured.

"She thought that the president had her apartment under surveillance," Rep.  Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told the Los Angeles Times. "That must have prompted her trip to Washington and her attempt to visit the White House."

Carey’s sister, Amy, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday, "We will never know what Miriam was thinking in those last hours before she died. We can only speculate."

She said her sister experienced postpartum depression "with psychosis … which came along with treatment and medication and counseling…. She had her challenges as a new parent. I am a parent. I have two children. … There was nothing out of the ordinary.  She didn’t appear to be unstable."

But Amy Carey also asked, "Was there some other way that she could have been helped so it didn’t end tragically?”

McCaul said, however, that the police "didn’t really have much of a choice, given the way she was driving."

"At the time, they don’t know who she is, what her motivation is," he said. "When I talk to the FBI or Secret Service, they’re just amazed that she could drive at 80 mph down Pennsylvania Avenue and not hit a car…. When you’re traveling like that, and you’re erratic … there’s plenty of pedestrians that could be killed.

"Plus, the threat to the White House raises the stakes. And then this car was seen around the Capitol grounds. That raises the stakes even higher."

Also at Expose Liberals, "Miriam Carey Facebook page and profile."

And from yesterday at Twitchy, "Reports: All shots fired by police; Pathetic lefties continue to blame NRA and Tea Party."

Plus, "But of course! Actress Nancy Lee Grahn uses Capitol shooting to smear House GOP," and "Vile haters wish Ted Cruz and Tea Partiers were shot during the Capitol Hill lockdown."

Lying Democrat Liar Chad Henderson Not 'Enrolled' in #ObamaCare

Ezra Klein and company have been once again outed as ridiculous clowns with their latest #ObamaCare cheerleading. It turns out Wonkblog-ger Sarah Kliff spent the day yesterday touting a guy named Chad Henderson as perhaps the only person to actually get through the online #ObamaCare exchanges to buy health insurance.

I found one!! Meet Chad Henderson, who has in fact bought health insurance on the federal marketplace. http://t.co/HOoxbcOsAL
— Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) October 3, 2013

Seriously. It's like her first orgasm.

This idiot Henderson's become a celebrity overnight, although as always with the leftist-Democrat-state media, it's all a lie.

First of all, the idiot's an OFA activist and local Democrat Party club leader. See Ed Morrissey, "What a coincidence: Single ObamaCare success story is … OFA volunteer."

And now today it turns out that the dude's dad was interviewed saying that Chad in fact hadn't enrolled in a healthcare program yesterday. It was all a scam.

See Twitchy, "MSM enablers promote lying liar’s Obamacare fable, fail to issue corrections."

Ms. Kliff has updated:

And so the saga continues: Spoke with Chad Henderson again, confirms he hasn't bought coverage, argues he didn't lie. http://t.co/dylVMmhXl1
— Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) October 4, 2013

Check Memeorandum for more.

And note that Henderson did in fact lie:

enrolled in #Obamacare just now! Looking forward to having affordable healthcare for the first time! @newschannelnine @WRCB @TimesFreePress

— Chad Henderson (@ChadHenderson) October 1, 2013

Heidi Klum Blast From the Past

She's a frisky lady.

Blast from the past: Remember this shoot 4 @VictoriasSecret w the amazing Dominique Issermann! pic.twitter.com/eQaMn6GpXC

— Heidi Klum (@heidiklum) October 4, 2013

Clayton Kershaw Strikes Out 12 in NLDS Opener in Atlanta

I watched baseball last night, and then hit the sack early.

The Dodgers cruised to an easy win over the Braves, surprisingly easy. I hope they do it again today.

At LAT, "Dodgers' ace trumps Braves in postseason opener, 6-1":

Feat of Clay: Kershaw guides @Dodgers to commanding Game 1 win in Atlanta. http://t.co/zQvWcfYEgo #NLDS pic.twitter.com/wHJUUoS1p5

— MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2013

ATLANTA — If Clayton Kershaw continues to pitch the way he did Thursday night, the long-term contract to which the Dodgers intend to sign him this winter could cost them even more than they expect.

That's fine with minority owner Magic Johnson, who was at Turner Field to watch Kershaw overcome early control problems to lead the Dodgers to a 6-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of their best-of-five National League division series.

"We already know we have to give him a lot of money," Johnson said. "What's a few more zeros?"

Backed by five runs in the first four innings, Kershaw earned his first career playoff victory by limiting the Braves to a run and three hits over seven innings.

His 12 strikeouts were the most by a Dodgers pitcher in a postseason game since Sandy Koufax struck out 15 New York Yankees in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series.

The most incredible aspect of the performance was that Kershaw couldn't throw the ball where he wanted.

"It was more fastball command than anything," Kershaw said.

He threw 19 pitches in the first inning, which included a 10-pitch at-bat by Justin Upton. He threw 77 pitches through four innings and 91 through five. He walked three batters.

"That was our game plan," Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Make him pitch a little bit. When you look up and you see 77 pitches in the fourth inning, you feel like you have a chance. But he is what he is. He turned it up the next three or four innings and we didn't really get good swings at him."

Once Kershaw gained a feel for his curveball in the fifth inning, the Braves were finished.

Kershaw struck out nine of the last 11 batters he faced, including six in a row in one stretch.

"As soon as we got on the same page and figured out the off-speed pitch, that was the ticket," catcher A.J. Ellis said. "Those fifth, sixth and seventh innings, he rolled through and got all those strikeouts. That was amazing."

Also at AJC, "Kershaw strikes out 12 as Braves, Medlen lose Game 1."

Tom Clancy, 1947-2013

He was just 66 years old.

At the New York Times, "Tom Clancy, Best-Selling Master of Military Thrillers, Dies at 66":

Mr. Clancy’s debut book, “The Hunt for Red October,” was frequently cited as one of the greatest genre novels ever written. With the book’s publication in 1984, Mr. Clancy introduced a new kind of potboiler: an espionage thriller dense with technical details about weaponry, submarines and intelligence agencies.

It found an eager readership. More than 100 million copies of his novels are in print, and a remarkable 17 have reached No. 1 on the New York Times’s best-seller list, including “Threat Vector,” released last December. Prolific until his death, Mr. Clancy had been awaiting publication of his next book, “Command Authority,” set for Dec. 3.

The impact of his books has been felt far beyond the publishing world. Some were adapted by Hollywood and became blockbusters starring Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck as Mr. Clancy’s hero protagonist, Jack Ryan. Mr. Clancy arranged for his thrillers to be turned into video games that were so realistic, the military licensed them for training. And on television, fast-paced espionage using high-tech tools in the Clancy mold found a place in popular shows like “24” and “Homeland.”

I read a few of Clancy's works, but nothing compared to "The Hunt for Red October."

First saw the news of his death yesterday on Twitter. I was a little shocked.

Britney Spears' 'Work Bitch' Video

I'm always down for some Britney.

At London's Daily Mail, "Hit me baby one more time! Britney Spears dons leather underwear as she wields a whip in racy bondage-inspired new video for Work B****."

Obama: Petty, Petulant, and Puerile

From Nile Gardiner, at Telegraph UK, "US government shutdown: Barack Obama looks like a bitter, petty and partisan president":

Cursing political opponents will do Obama no good and smacks of arrogance and desperation from a White House that has lost its grip on reality. The legacy of President Obama will be the relentless rise of big government and a large expansion of government dependency, the strangling of economic freedom, a huge increase in the national debt, and the implementation of hated health care reforms that carry with them a $1.85 trillion price tag. The Obama presidency will also be remembered for its bitter partisanship, and its relentless vilification of political opponents, emanating from an administration that would rather engage with a terrorist sponsoring regime in the Middle East than talk to elected US lawmakers three miles down the road.

RTWT.

S.E. Cupp Loves Her Some Ted Cruz

A hero of the Senate.

Alyssa Miller

For Esquire.

Glitchy #Democrats

Democrat scumbag losers destroying the country.



PREVIOUSLY: "'Glitches' Mar #ObamaCare Rollout."

State Governments Reduced to Lying About #ObamaCare Rollout

Maeve Reston tweets, "MAJOR!"

MAJOR: 5 million hits at Calif's Obamacare exchange? Nope. CA officials are RETRACTING that. Real number: 645,000 http://t.co/fYiiO5tslX
— Maeve Reston (@MaeveReston) October 3, 2013

And more great news for the idiot Dems at London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE: Less than 1 per cent of Web visitors are signing up for Obamacare on some state health exchange websites."

Charges Dropped Against One Suspect in New York Biker Road Rage Beating

At the New York Post, "DA: Bike assault thug ‘won’t be charged at this time’."

Background here, "Bikers terrorize a family in a high-speed chase on the West Side Highway."

More at Metro, "Police make headway in bike gang assault investigation." And, "Lawrence biker paralyzed in New York road rage incident."

And video at ABC News, "Bikers Attack Driver After Accident: Caught on Tape."

#HeartlessHarry

At Free Beacon, "Reid: ‘Why Would We Want to’ Help One Kid With Cancer?":

DANA BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?

HARRY REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless –

BASH: I’m just asking a question.

And from the GOP conference, #HeartlessHarry.

Shadow Speaker Jim DeMint

An excellent behind-the-scenes look at the grassroots influence on the GOP congressional agenda.

At Business Week, "Jim DeMint, Congressional Republicans' Shadow Speaker":

When most Americans look at Washington, they see a broken Congress, riven by partisanship and lurching from crisis to crisis. While the hostility between Republicans and Democrats is indeed severe, it isn’t the real reason the engine of government keeps seizing up. What’s causing the malfunction is a battle within the GOP over how to return the party to its former glory after two consecutive losses to Obama and setbacks in the House and Senate. It’s a fight that pits uncompromising, Heritage-style conservatives against more cautious Republican elders. What makes it so contentious is that both sides have radically different—and mutually exclusive—ideas about how to move forward.

This struggle heats up each time a major budget deadline approaches, and two huge ones loom in the days ahead: There’s the Sept. 30 government funding deadline and then, sometime in late October, the Department of the Treasury will reach the limit of its borrowing capacity and default unless Congress raises the debt ceiling. In crises precipitated by similar deadlines, Republican leaders have always managed to keep their party together—or at least keep it from coming apart.

That will be much harder this time. While Boehner and the GOP leadership want mainly to navigate safe passage through the budget deadlines, DeMint and his cohort see the deadlines as crucial tests of party resolve and a key to the Republican resurgence they envision. DeMint views the impulse to avoid confrontation as the root of Republican woes: Only by engineering grand clashes and then standing resolutely on the side of small government can Republicans win this existential struggle.

“If I were speaker, I’d tell the president, ‘Mr. President, we funded the government, but we’re not going to fund your bill,’ ” says DeMint, who likes to make his point by acting out imagined confrontations. “ ‘We are not going to give in—one month, two months, three months. We are never going to give in. It’s just that important.’ And if the president wants to put the country through that to save a law that isn’t ready to go, well, then that’s a battle we have to have.”

When DeMint quit the Senate mid-term, it came as something of a shock in Washington, because a high-profile senator is presumed to have more power than a think tank president. There was plenty of snickering that he was cashing in: Heritage paid his predecessor more than $1 million last year. (The group won’t comment on DeMint’s salary.)

DeMint says he was just fed up. When he was first elected to Congress in 1998, insurrection wasn’t his goal. “I came to Washington as a businessman,” he says, “served six years in the House as a team player. Didn’t cause trouble. I was a policy nerd, introduced Social Security reform, tax reforms, all kinds of health-care reforms.” In 2005 he moved up to the Senate, where he began to lose patience with what he viewed as his party’s lack of commitment to first principles. “We had a lot of people who were great pretenders, talked real big about being conservatives,” he says. “But behind closed doors, they were driving the ball in the opposite direction.”

Continue reading.

Barry-cades Hurting Democrats

William Jacobson's covering the WWII memorial shutdown, "WWII and Lincoln Memorial Barricade Showdowns – Live Updates."

@SenatorReid Wrong, jerkoff. It's yours and Obama's. Own it, you evil little man
— JWF (@JammieWF) October 2, 2013

Even Clinton didn't cut off veterans care and barricade unstaffed memorials in the hopes of creating pain. Democrats are curbstomping vets.

— Rep. Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) October 2, 2013

More, "Obama Orders WWII Memorial Blocked."

Obama Orders WWII Memorial Blocked

He's ruthless.

At Twitchy, "Barry-cades confirmed: Park Service says Obama admin ordered closure of World War II Memorial."

Republicans More Insulated Against Backlash

From Ronald Brownstein, at National Journal:

Resolving the serial showdowns over the federal budget and debt ceiling may be more difficult now than during the last shutdown under Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich because so many more House Republicans today represent safely GOP districts, a National Journal analysis has found.

This suggests that even if a public backlash develops against a shutdown or potential government default, Republican members may be far more insulated against those gales than their counterparts were during the two shutdowns in the winter of 1995 and 1996. Today's GOP legislators, for the same reason, also may be less sensitive to shifts in public attitudes that could threaten their party's national image or standing in more closely contested parts of the country.

Comparing today's 232-seat Republican majority with the 236 seats Republicans ultimately held after special elections and party switches from 1995-96 underscores the extent to which GOP legislators have succeeded in fortifying themselves into homogeneously conservative districts. On every measure, Republicans today represent constituencies that lean more lopsidedly toward their party.

On average, Clinton in 1992 won 46.6 percent of the two-party presidential vote in the districts held by congressional Republicans during the 104th Congress from 1995-96. (That two-party calculation excludes the share carried by Ross Perot in his independent bid that year.) President Obama last year carried only an average of 40.4 percent of the two-party presidential vote in the districts held by the current Republican majority.

Back in 1995, 79 House Republicans represented districts that backed Clinton in the previous presidential election; just 17 House Republicans now represent districts that Obama won. Fewer Republicans now hold districts that fall into an even broader definition of competitiveness:  In 1992, Republican President George H.W. Bush won 55 percent or less of the two-party presidential vote in 141 of the 236 House Republican districts. Now, only 71 House Republicans, roughly half as many, represent districts where 2012 nominee Mitt Romney won only 55 percent or less.

All of this means that the personal electoral incentives for most House Republicans would encourage more—not less—confrontation as the standoffs proceed, notes Gary C. Jacobson, an expert on Congress at the University of California (San Diego). "The electoral threat of them angering anybody outside of their base is pretty low," he says.

Republicans should stay firm, although I'm inclined to agree with Laura Ingraham.

Countdown to Cave-In

It's only a matter of time 'till Republicans cave, argues Laura Ingraham, on yesterday morning's Fox & Friends:

'Glitches' Mar #ObamaCare Rollout

At Time, "Obamacare Exchanges Riddled With Glitches."

And at Politico, "President Obama: Expect months of 'glitches'."



IMAGE CREDIT: CLASH DAILY, "PRESIDENT GLITCH: Obama Says “Expect months of ‘glitches’ with Obamacare”."

The President's Shutdown

From Fred Barnes, at WSJ:

President Obama is sitting out one of the most important policy struggles since he entered the White House. With the government shutdown, it has reached the crisis stage. His statement about the shutdown on Tuesday from the White House Rose Garden was more a case of kibitzing than leading. He still refuses to take charge. He won't negotiate with Republicans, though the fate of ObamaCare, funding of the government and the future of the economic recovery are at stake. He insists on staying on the sidelines—well, almost.

Mr. Obama has rejected conciliation and compromise with Republicans. Instead, he attacks them in sharp, partisan language in speech after speech. His approach—dealing with a deadlock by not dealing with it—is unprecedented. He has gone where no president has gone before.

Can anyone imagine an American president—from Lyndon Johnson to Ronald Reagan, from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton—doing this? Of course not. They didn't see presidential leadership as optional. For them and nearly every other president, it was mandatory. It was part of the job, the biggest part.

LBJ kept in touch daily with Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader in the Senate, and never missed an opportunity to engage him in reaching agreement on civil rights, taxes, school construction and other contentious issues. Mr. Obama didn't meet one-on-one with Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, until 18 months into his presidency and doesn't call on him now to collaborate.

Presidents have two roles. In the current impasse, Mr. Obama emphasizes his partisan role as leader of the Democratic Party. It's a legitimate role. But as president, he's the only national leader elected by the entire nation. He alone represents all the people. And this second, nonpartisan role takes precedence in times of trouble, division or dangerous stalemate. A president is expected to take command. Mr. Obama hasn't done that.

The extent to which he has abdicated this role shows up in his speeches. On the eve of the shutdown, he warned that a government closure "will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away." Defunding or delaying his health-care program—the goal of Republicans—would have even worse consequences, he suggested. "Tens of thousands of Americans die every single year because they don't have access to affordable health care," Mr. Obama said.

In an appearance in the White House pressroom, he said that "military personnel—including those risking their lives overseas for us right now—will not get paid on time" should Republicans force a shutdown. At an appearance in Largo, Md., the president accused Republicans of "threatening steps that would actually badly hurt our economy . . . Even if you believe that ObamaCare somehow was going to hurt the economy, it won't hurt the economy as bad as a government shutdown."

Yet as he was predicting widespread suffering, Mr. Obama steadfastly refused to negotiate with Republicans. He told House Speaker John Boehner in a phone call that he wouldn't be talking to him anymore. With the shutdown hours away, he called Mr. Boehner again. He still didn't negotiate and said he wouldn't on the debt limit either.

Mr. Obama has made Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid his surrogate in the conflict with Republicans. Mr. Reid has also declined to negotiate. In fact, Politico reported that when the president considered meeting with Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell, along with the two Democratic congressional leaders, Mr. Reid said he wouldn't attend and urged Mr. Obama to abandon the idea. The president did just that....

Continue reading.

Complete abdication --- of basic decency, much less presidential leadership.

Barack Hussein Obama: Worst. President. Ever.

Veterans Visit World War II Memorial Despite Shutdown

At WaPo, "Visiting veterans storm closed war memorials."

And at Twitchy, "World War II veterans knock down police barriers to attend memorial on the National Mall; Update: Did a congressman lead the vets through the barricade?; Update: Congressman says Obama administration knew about veterans’ request and rejected it."



More, at Legal Insurrection, "Obama and Dems declare political war on Veterans."

And from AoSHQ, "Obama Adminstration Specifically Denied Exception to Permit Veterans to Attend WWII Memorial."

Just 17 Percent Say #ObamaCare Will Help Them Personally

According to a new poll, "CNN Poll: Will Obamacare help you?"

Naturally CNN tries to spin the positives in this survey, but the fact remains that only 37 percent of respondents say ObamaCare will help them, and 52 percent say that "the health insurance system created by Obamacare is a disaster waiting to happen..."

Yep, it's a majority clusterf-k alright.



IMAGE CREDIT: Heritage.

Climate of Uncertainty

A fabulous editorial just eviscerating the IPCC, at the Wall Street Journal.

Just read it all at the link.

Fast Approaching the Stage of Rule by Brute Force

Via Zion's Trumpet, "Brute. Force. Rule. O’Hellno. Now. From D.C."

And see Ayn Rand, "The Nature of Government":

The proper functions of a government fall into three broad categories, all of them involving the issues of physical force and the protection of men’s rights: the police, to protect men from criminals—the armed services, to protect men from foreign invaders—the law courts, to settle disputes among men according to objective laws.

These three categories involve many corollary and derivative issues—and their implementation in practice, in the form of specific legislation, is enormously complex. It belongs to the field of a special science: the philosophy of law. Many errors and many disagreements are possible in the field of implementation, but what is essential here is the principle to be implemented: the principle that the purpose of law and of government is the protection of individual rights.

Today, this principle is forgotten, ignored and evaded. The result is the present state of the world, with mankind’s retrogression to the lawlessness of absolutist tyranny, to the primitive savagery of rule by brute force.

Unmanned U.S. Commercial Cargo Ship Flies to International Space Station

At Reuters, "Commercial cargo ship reaches International Space Station."

And CSM, "Are we entering the age of private spaceflight?":

Two private American companies – SpaceX and Orbital Sciences – are now responsible for restocking the International Space Station.

Candice Swanepoel Close Up

From Victoria's Secret.



And a little late with this announcement, but it's good, "2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show to Air on December 10!"

It's a major cultural event these days. I'll have lots more...

The Pro-Democracy Case for Shutdowns

From James Poulos, at Forbes, "More Shutdowns, Please":

Elected representatives from both parties ought to break the shackles of fear-soaked propriety more often. So what if, most of the time, their push to defund will be dead on arrival? Establishment types will realize that shutdowns aren’t the horrorshows they dread. And Members of Congress will begin to understand that slavish devotion to party and budget orthodoxy serves neither their conscience nor their constituents.

The best way to shake up our calcified government and two-party system is for individual Members to band together ad hoc — or alone, if need be — to try applying the power of the purse to legislation they truly, madly, and deeply cannot abide.

And yes: if our reps can’t tell the difference between budgetary resistance born of expediency and scheming instead of a sense of prudence and principle, there’s a strong pro-democracy case for throwing them out of office at the first available chance.

RTWT.

Wave of Car Bombings Across Iraq

Terrorists are emboldened by this administration's cowardly retreat from global leadership and resolve.

At CSM, "Bombings across Iraq now touch on formerly safe havens":

A rash of car bombs killed dozens across Baghdad on Monday, the latest in a series of deadly bombings that have racked Iraq over the past several days. The violence has brought the country's civilian death toll to its worst level since 2008.

Al Jazeera reports that nine car bombs killed at least 24 people and wounded scores more, largely in the Iraqi capital's Shiite neighborhoods.

The bombs hit eight different areas on Monday, the deadliest blast tore through a small vegetable market and its car park, killing seven people including two soldiers and wounding sixteen others, a police officer said.

That was followed by four parked car bombs, which went off in quick succession in the neighbourhoods of New Baghdad, Habibiya, Sabaa al-Bour and Kazimiyah - all striking outdoor markets or car parks.

Media reports put the casualty figures at a minimum of 24 dead and 75 wounded to at least 40 killed and more than 170 injured.

Monday's bombings follow several attacks over the weekend in Baghdad. On Sunday, a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the city of Musayyib, about 50 miles south of Baghdad, left 47 dead. And the Kurdish city of Erbil, which had largely been devoid of the violence affecting the rest of the country, saw a series of bombings on Sunday that killed six security officers, according to Kurd news outlet Rudaw.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Baghdad, BBC News reports that "Sunni Muslim insurgents have been blamed for much of the most recent violence."

More at WaPo, "Wave of bombings mainly in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad kills at least 55."

Harry Reid Rejects 11th Hour Compromise With Republicans – #BlameHarryReid

At the Hill, "Reid rejects House GOP offer to appoint funding conferees":

Senate Democratic leaders shortly before midnight rejected a House Republican request to appoint conferees to negotiate a short-term government-funding bill.

The move makes it all but certain there will be a government shutdown after midnight.

And the GOP press conference earlier:



Also, at Legal Insurrection, "The culmination of Democratic dysfunction – #BlameHarryReid."

Added: The latest at the New York Times, "Senate Rejects House Demands to Curb Health Care Law."

British 'White Widow' Drenched Her Face in Blood to Elude Security in #Westgate Massacre

Witnesses reported seeing a "white woman" firing on shoppers during the attack.

And considering this woman's background as a terror widow and jihad mastermind, smearing herself in blood may have been planned all along.

At the Belfast Telegraph, "White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite 'smeared face in blood to flee Nairobi terror mall'":

Samantha Lewthwaite, the Northern Ireland-born woman dubbed the 'White Widow', slipped out of the Kenyan shopping mall after smearing blood over her face, security sources in the country have said.

They also revealed how Lewthwaite, who was born in Co Down, rented a unit at the Westgate Shopping mall months ago in preparation for last week's terror killing spree.

She hung up newspapers around the shop unit to conceal what was going on inside, pretending to be stocking up on goods.

Staff have told police in Nairobi they helped a woman fitting the description of Samantha Lewthwaite lift boxes into the shop unit.

Witness accounts reveal a woman closely resembling the 29-year-old mother of three was seen being led away among panicked survivors, her face and upper clothes splashed with blood.

Interpol has issued a "red flag" international arrest warrant for Lewthwaite, based on intelligence that she led the attack and escaped.

Shocking stories about the brutalities inflicted by the terror gang are beginning to emerge. Children were among those deliberately killed and there are reports that an infant was decapitated and the head thrown at Kenyan soldiers during the four-day siege.

It is now believed Lewthwaite was the leader of the 13 to 17 terrorists who carried out the attack, but slipped away while the others were cornered by Kenyan soldiers.

The reports strongly contradict some of the impressions given last week that Lewthwaite was merely a book-keeper or finance raiser for the al-Qaeda-affiliated Somali group, Al Shabaab.

Kenyan police have been searching for Lewthwaite since it emerged she took up residence there in 2011 after spending three years living under false identities in South Africa. They believe she had already established links with the Somali terror group Al Shabaab and married one of its senior figures. Her second husband was shot dead in a police raid in Mombasa last October, according to sources.

The Kenyan police believe Lewthwaite, who was born in Banbridge, but was brought up in Buckinghamshire where she converted to Islam in her teens, was the prime mover behind the Westgate Shopping Mall attack, a key target for the Islamist terrorists because it is Israeli-owned.

The police named Lewthwaite as an Al-Shabaab member last June after arresting another British-born member of the group, Germaine Grant. They believe Grant was the terror group's financier working under Lewthwaite. The police believe Lewthwaite was behind an attempt to spring Grant from prison in Mombasa where he is currently on trial for terrorist offences.

The Kenyan police believe Lewthwaite may have married another Londoner, Habib Ghani, who also joined the terror group in Somalia.

Ghani and an another US-born member of the group, Omar Hammami, were both shot dead during internal feuding at the start of the month.

In June this year Lewthwaite was named by Kenyan police in connection with a grenade and gun attack on the Jericho Beer Garden in Mombas, while customers were watching a Euro 2012 quarter-final match, killing three and injuring 30.

More at that top link.

Hat Tip: Blazing Cat Fur.

Shutdown Looms as Lawmakers Dig In

President Obumbler parrots DNC talking points to attack "ransom note" politics (at 9:30 minutes). He sounds like a bleedin' idiot.

At WSJ, "Congress Struggles to Avoid Shutdown as Conservatives Target Health Law: Obama Decries 'Ransom'; House Advances Last-Ditch Proposal":

WASHINGTON—Congress struggled to resolve bitter divisions over spending and the health-care law late Monday as the U.S. government teetered on the brink of the first partial government shutdown in 17 years.

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) on Monday afternoon advanced a last-ditch proposal—the third of its kind in less than a week—to curb the 2010 health-care law as a condition of funding the government.

Mr. Boehner's move resulted from pressure applied by his party's most-combative conservatives and made it harder than ever to see how Congress could come to agreement on a plan to fund federal agencies before a deadline of midnight Monday. Senate Democrats have rejected every effort by the House GOP to link new funding for federal agencies with efforts to limit the health law.

A House proposal headed for a vote Monday night would delay for one year the Affordable Care Act requirement that most individuals carry health insurance or pay a penalty. It also would limit government subsidies for lawmakers' own health-care premiums and those of their staffs.

President Barack Obama urged Republicans to back away from their plan, asking them to meet with him at another time to negotiate budget differences. "We should avoid this constant brinkmanship,'' Mr. Obama said at the White House.

Mr. Obama said it was a basic function of Congress to fund the government each year. "You don't extract a ransom for doing your job,'' he said.

A White House official said that Mr. Obama placed separate calls Monday evening to Mr. Boehner, as well as to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The showdown has laid bare the elements of the political system that have done much to alienate voters, highlighting the continual air of crisis that has come to surround the most routine tasks of governing. The convoluted jockeying on Capitol Hill has been over a seemingly simple budget measure—a short extension of money for agencies at their current funding levels.

Republican lawmakers decided to pursue their new funding proposal in a 90-minute meeting of the House GOP on Monday afternoon. Afterward, Mr. Boehner began moving toward a vote Monday night, just a few hours before the government was to run out of money at 12:01 a.m. EDT, the start of the new fiscal year.

But many GOP lawmakers emerged from the meeting saying it was unclear that the measure would pass the House. Some Republicans said it didn't do enough to curb the health law; others were concerned about the provision limiting government contributions to health-care costs for lawmakers, aides and some White House officials.

Some also had reservations about the strategy of risking a government shutdown to demand changes in the health-care law that Mr. Obama and fellow Democrats were sure to reject.

More at that top link, and at Memeorandum.

#Feminism and the Dilemma of Pubic Hair Humiliation

Robert Stacy McCain blogged about this recently, "The Vagina as Commodity: What Does the Pubic Depilation Phenomenon Mean?"

But now here's this, from Dina Rickman, at Telegraph UK, "Like it or not, we need to break the pubic hair taboo" (via Instapundit):

The personal is political. And there are few things more personal than your pubic hair. Whether you shave, trim, wax (ouch), epilate (while breathing deeply and after two glasses of wine) or go au naturel, it's a decision. And for young women like me in our twenties, it is one which provokes gut-wrenching anxiety, writes Dina Rickman.

It’s no wonder - we’re living in an era when leaving your pubic hair untamed is so unusual that ‘hairy’ has become a form of niche pornography. One male friend of mine recently boasted that he had never seen a woman with a full bush. Another, 24-year-old Adam, finds pubes so alien that he was unable to perform sexually the last time he was confronted with a hairy woman. “We just ended up cuddling,” he explains.

For him, part of the problem is porn. Adam believes it has “heightened expectations” of how a woman should look. “One of my friends once said 'I 100 per cent need to sleep with a girl before I go out with her. What if she's got a hairy bush?’ It's incredibly off putting. It doesn't take much effort to tame it. I manage to, so I don't think it's a lot to ask."

Sophie Bennett, campaigns officer at the women’s rights group, Object, also believes pornography has changed the landscape - and not for the better. “Because young men often learn about sex and women’s bodies in this way, many feel uncomfortable with women’s bodies as they naturally are”, she says. The result? Low self-esteem, anxiety, and confusion.

Sporting a full bush is considered so subversive that few raised an eyebrow last year when Cameron Diaz told the BBC's Graham Norton Show how she and two accomplices had pinned an anonymous friend to the ground and removed her pubic hair.

But there are the refuseniks, like Rachel, 26. It took her 12 years, two vajazzles and more waxes than it’s polite to mention before she decided she’d had enough. For her, it was about avoiding the hassle of hair removal as well as feminism. “Now, my pubes stick out of the sides of my swimming costume in the leisure centre, but I'd rather look like that than anything else.” As for how men react? “I think most guys are so delighted that they're about to get laid they wouldn't notice if you had a full-on Zach Galifianakis-style beard down there. But there are some men who are probably a little bit more picky and prefer the bald look.”...

Oh brother.

More at the link.

But then again, don't miss Robert's commentary. It's hard out there for a refusenik.

Boehner Attacks Senate 'Arrogance' as Deadline Approaches — #MakeDCListen

At WSJ:

WASHINGTON–House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) issued a statement blasting Democrats for not reconvening the Senate sooner, in the latest round of recriminations over a rapidly approaching government shutdown.

If the Senate reconvenes as planned Monday afternoon, Democrats will be engaging in an act of “breathtaking arrogance,” Mr. Boehner said in a written statement early Sunday afternoon.

Keep reading.

Also, "Shutdown Nears After House Vote."

Norah O'Donnell Interview with Bill O'Reilly

At CBS News, "Bill O'Reilly talks about 'Killing Jesus' on '60 Minutes'."

Ima try and watch it. We're on Pacific time, so it's still not for a few hours.

Jason Morgan, Ph.D. Student at University of Wisconsin, Rejects Diversity Indoctrination After Being Attacked as 'Racist'

Actually, he's rejecting further diversity indoctrination. All grad students are subjected to diversity training as part of the student-teacher orientation.

At the College Fix, "AFTER TOLD HE’S RACIST, UW-M STUDENT REJECTS FURTHER DIVERSITY ‘TRAINING’."

Morgan has responded with a letter to Professor Stephen Kantrowitz (I think), which is published at the piece:

Dear Graduate Director Prof. Kantrowitz,

Please forgive this sudden e-mail. I am writing to you today about the “diversity” training that new teaching assistants (TAs) are required to undergo. In keeping with the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, I am also blind-copying on this e-mail several journalistic outlets and state government officials, because the taxpayers who support this university deserve to know how their money is being spent.

Continue reading.

Hat Tip: Althouse.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



More at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Night Funnies." And from Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Also at Theo Spark's.

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Got Your Back, Ted."

At the New York Times, Perilous Task of Innovation in a Digital Age

From Public Editor Margaret Sullivan, at the New York Times:

CRUISES. Conferences. New forms of advertising. Fancy multimedia storytelling.

The Gray Lady, as The New York Times has long been known, isn’t as sedate as she used to be. The company is innovating like a house afire. Or let’s turn the metaphor around: With the house of print burning down, The Times is quickly building something new, hoping to have a permanent place to live in the digital age.

The innovation is necessary. After all, print advertising — the lifeblood of The Times — has long been in decline. Last year, in a major milestone, consumer revenue (mostly from print and digital subscriptions) surpassed advertising revenue, both digital and print. In the old days, print advertising alone brought in about 80 percent of all Times revenue.

The old business model is fading, and the new one hasn’t quite arrived. The Times is journalistically strong and is profitable, but its future is far from certain. As necessary as innovation is, it comes with risks — ethical risks, journalistic risks and, if those should be compromised, business risks.

Here is a look at what is happening, and some of the implications.

Continue reading.

I have no interest in going on an "Old Gray Lady Cruise" with Charles Blow or Thomas Friedman --- no matter how vehemently Ms. Sullivan pitches these as "ethically sound."

Other than that, all this "innovation" is about finding new advertising revenue (IMHO). I don't know, but I'd bet the Times might want to think about tightening up its paywall. This is the one newspaper I'd subscribe to if I couldn't navigate past the subscription barrier. But since the newspaper allows reading to access the site through Google and social media (like Twitter), I simply cut and paste articles into the Safari browser until articles load. I will continue to do that as long as it's an option. The Wall Street Journal also allows Google access to article behind the paywall. The tradeoff for publishers is to allow readers to access the papers through search and social sharing. But no doubt tighter paywalls would force people to pay to click. Other papers, like the Independent and Telegraph in the U.K., limit page views and then lock you out after you've maxed out. But I won't pay for those newspapers. On the other hand, the Los Angeles Times also slams the door once you've reached your monthly limit. Google is no help, but I'm a print subscriber so I'm able to read unlimited articles.

If a newspaper is good people will pay to read it. And as the markets continue to consolidate there will be a winnowing of the main sources of news that people will pay to read. This is the demographic that the New York Times needs to attract --- those who will pay. So, start by thinking about who's paying for the product. Increase those revenues along with advertising and I expect the model will be sustainable over the long term.

Lucy Pinder for Sunday #Rule5

Here's your Sunday roundup.

Some video, "Lucy Pinder, Nuts Mag, 6 Aug. 2013," and "Lucy Pinder, Nuts Mag, (part 2) 6 Aug. 2013."

And she's on Twitter here.



And around the horn with Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a wonderful jungle that will be wiped from the face of the map because someone used hair spray, you might just be a Warmist."

Also at Proof Positive, "Friday Night Babe: Kirsten Haglund!" And see "Best of the Web Linkaround."

At Daley Gator, "Rule 5 Link Fest."

Plus, at Bob Belvedere's, "Rule 5 Saturday: Satinee Capona."

More from Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, "Friday Pinup."

Dana Pico has "Blondes with Bullets."

And check 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Hot Pick of the Late Night," and "Girls with Guns."

At Knuckledraggin', "Your Good Morning Girl," and "Camel Toe!!!"

A View From the Beach, "Rule 5 Saturday - Let's Have Another Brazilian, Fernanda Tavares."

At Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Nichole Boerner."

More from Cousin Odie, "Alligator Shoes ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

Also from Double Trouble Two, "Sexy Reds .... ;-)." And from Angry Mike's 'Hood, "The Young And Hot...…………"

Still more from EBL, "Oktoberfest München 2013."

Check out Good Stuff's as well, "HOT! GOODSTUFF'S BLOGGING MAGAZINE (116th Issue)."

And from Subject to Change, "Guns/Girls."

Postal Dogs has, "Joanna Krupa isn't fooling me." And Soylent has, "Auburn Awesome: Shaun Tia."

At Drunken Stepfather, "STEPGIRLS PLAYING IN BEDS OF THE DAY."

Yet more from Blackmailers Don't Shoot, "This Stupid Week, No Rest for the Wicked Edition."

Check Wine, Women, and Politics as well, "Sunday Babes."

Laughing Conservative has "Adrianne Pulacki."

At Animal Magnetism, "Rule Five Bikini Friday News."

And finally, at the Last Tradition, "Rule 5 Sunday – Elizabeth Taylor."

THANKS TO THE OTHER MCCAIN FOR THE INSPIRATION!

Blue Cross Dumps Mad Jewess Woman

Nationwide, no doubt 100s of thousands are receiving these cancellation notices.

See, "The Mad Jewess Has Been Discontinued From Her Insurance/Heath Care. Thanks Obama."

And from earlier this week, "The #ObamaCare Death Toll Rises."

#USC Fires Lane Kiffin

It was only a matter of time, as I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.

At LAT, "USC fires Lane Kiffin as football coach":

Beauty. “@InsideUSC: I'm told Lane Kiffin told the bus to wait but then #USC administrators told it to go back to campus without him”

— Lane Kiffin's FIRED (@FIRELaneKiffin) September 29, 2013

Fired in the parking lot. Almost poetic if you ask me. #USC means business. #ByeByeKiffin

— Lane Kiffin's FIRED (@FIRELaneKiffin) September 29, 2013

Lane Kiffin, who has coached USC’s football team since 2010, has been relieved of his duties, Athletic Director Pat Haden announced early Sunday.

Kiffin was fired hours after the Trojans lost to Arizona State, 62-41, at Tempe, Ariz. The loss dropped the Trojans’ record to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-12 Conference.

Kiffin, who succeeded Pete Carroll as coach, had been under fire since the end of last season, when the Trojans fell from being ranked No. 1 to finishing with a 7-6 record. USC has lost seven of its last 11 games dating to last season.

Kiffin, 38, compiled a 28-15 record at USC. His best season came in 2011, when the Trojans finished 10-2.

The NCAA hit USC with some of the most severe penalties in college football history months after Kiffin was hired. The penalties were related to former Trojans running back Reggie Bush and included a two-year bowl ban and the loss of 30 scholarships over three years.

Haden recently appealed to the NCAA to restore some of the scholarships. The request was denied.

In a four-paragraph news release announcing the move, USC said Haden would hold a news conference Sunday afternoon. It was not known what time.

More at that top link.

And see, "It's a horror show in Devils' lair as USC falls to Arizona St., 62-41."

Also at Daley Gator, "USC fires noted douche bag."

How Blackberry Failed to Adapt

At Toronto's Globe and Mail, "Inside the fall of BlackBerry: How the smartphone inventor failed to adapt":

Late last year, Research In Motion Ltd. chief executive officer Thorsten Heins sat down with the board of directors at the company’s Waterloo, Ont., headquarters to review plans for the launch of a new phone designed to turn around the company’s fortunes.

His weapon was the BlackBerry Z10, a slim device with the kind of glass touchscreen that had made Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. the dominant names in the global smartphone market.

But one of RIM’s directors was frustrated by what he saw, and spoke out, according to one person who was in the room. There is a cultural problem at RIM, he told the group, and the Z10 was a glaring manifestation of it.

The speaker was none other than Michael Lazaridis, the genius behind the BlackBerry, the company’s co-founder and its former co-CEO. Minutes earlier, he said, he had spoken with Mr. Heins’s newest executive recruits, chief marketing officer Frank Boulben and chief operating officer Kristian Tear.

Mr. Boulben and Mr. Tear had dismissively told Mr. Lazaridis that the market for keyboard-equipped mobile phones – RIM’s signature offering – was dead.

In the board meeting, Mr. Lazaridis pointed to a BlackBerry with a keyboard. “I get this,” he said. “It’s clearly differentiated.” Then he pointed to a touchscreen phone. “I don’t get this.”

To turn away from a product that had always done well with corporate customers, and focus on selling yet another all-touch smartphone in a market crowded with them, was a huge mistake, Mr. Lazaridis warned his fellow directors. Some of them agreed.

The boardroom confrontation was a telling moment in the downfall of Research In Motion.

Once the giant of the smartphone business, RIM, which was renamed BlackBerry Ltd. in the summer, is now on its knees. The company reported a $965-million (U.S.) fiscal second-quarter loss Friday, primarily because of a massive writedown of Z10 phones that sit, unsold and unwanted, about eight months after they first hit the market. The company is cutting 4,500 jobs, 40 per cent of its work force, in a desperate bid to bring costs in line with plummeting revenue.

Investors, who have lived through the destruction of more than $75-billion of the company’s market value over the past five years, are still wondering how BlackBerry managed to blow its runaway lead and became a bit player in the smartphone market it invented.

An investigation by The Globe and Mail, which included interviews with two dozen past and present company insiders, exposes a series of deep rifts at the executive and boardroom levels.

Those divisions hurt the company’s ability to develop products just as it faced its greatest challenge from more nimble and creative rivals – and contributed to the downfall of Canada’s biggest technology company...

Lazaridis' cultural disconnect seems simply unreal.

More at the link.

RELATED: At the New York Times, "Quick, Hide the BlackBerry, It's Too Uncool," and "BlackBerry's Future in Doubt, Keyboard Lovers Bemoan Their Own."

'(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66...'

So my mom's visiting and she's wearing a "Route 66" shirt: "Get your kicks..."

And I'm tryin' to find a Chuck Berry live clip, but it's a dearth.

In any case, here's some Nat King Cole, who was the first to record the Bobby Troup song, in a fine video clip. This takes you way back:



A Chuck Berry recording is here.

And some Rolling Stones here.

More blogging later...

House #GOP Seeks Health-Law Delay as Shutdown Looms

Shut it down, I say.

Screw the Democrats. They'd rather negotiate with Iranian terror-sponsors than our own democratically-elected Members of the House of Representatives.

The Wall Street Journal reports, "House GOP Seeks Health-Law Delay: Condition For Funding Brings Federal Government to Brink of Shutdown Tuesday."

And at Lonely Con, "Harry Reid Says Senate Will Reject New House Bill Funding Government":

House Republicans are (surprisingly) not backing down on the Obamacare/continuing resolution fight. Unfortunately, neither is Harry Reid. The House has a new bill funding government and delaying the implementation of Obamacare for one year. They also have a bill that will fund the military in the event of a shut down. Reid says the Senate will reject the bill.

Yes, because "tea party anarchists."

Screw 'em. Prepare for the shutdown.

Hey, BuzzFeed Gets Its India Reynolds Fix On!

Well, the uber viral website catching up to American Power on India Reynolds blogging.

Quick Saturday #Rule5

Linking a few fellow babe bloggers.

At Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Tatiana Jaye," and Blackmailers Don't Shoot, "Pretty Girls on a Thursday, Snow Bunnies Edition."



More at 90 Miles from Tyranny, "Girls With Guns."

And at Knuckledraggin', "Your Good Morning Girl."

More at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is a horrible waste of chocolate, the same chocolate that will be destroyed by someone turning trees into cabinets, you might just be a Warmist."

Plus lots more babe blogging at the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Monday."

I'll have more later...

"Only those who share the partisan Democrat views of James Fallows, in other words, are avoiding the 'failure of journalism.' Fallows would have us believe that 'what is going on' is not a routine exercise in budget brinksmanship — something to which we have become accustomed as a ritual of divided government — but rather an 'internal crisis' exclusive to the Republican Party..."

From Robert Stacy McCain, "James Fallows, Eminent Fool, and the Surprising Vindication of John C. Calhoun":

The current phony crisis, in which Sen. Harry Reid has declared that the House must approve the Senate’s spending bill or else the government will shut down, has inspired The Atlantic‘s James Fallows to an extravagant exercise in rhetorical excess:

In case the point is not clear yet: there is no post-Civil War precedent for what the House GOP is doing now. It is radical, and dangerous for the economy and our process of government, and its departure from past political disagreements can’t be buffed away or ignored. If someone can think of a precedent after the era of John C. Calhoun . . . let me know.

This is as absurd and inappropriate as it is ignorant. To find a recent precedent, we need only go back to the 1990s, when the budget impasse between the new Republican majority in Congress and President Clinton led to a (partial) government shutdown. Or, really, we might consider the extraordinary process by which Reid and Nancy Pelosi shoved ObamaCare through the legislative grinder — “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it,” as Pelosi infamously said — as more truly “radical, and dangerous for the economy and our process of government” than anything Republicans in Congress are doing now.

Having deliberately ignored the made-for-TV dramatics, I am not the least alarmed by this phony crisis, which is neither particularly new nor remotely frightening. Democrats and their comrades in the media (Fallows was a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter) are dishonestly characterizing opposition to ObamaCare as “extremist,” per se.

This is the exact opposite of truth: It is ObamaCare itself that is truly “extremist,” a measure that could only be rammed through Congress with late-night arm-twisting sessions. Were the 34 House Democrats who voted against ObamaCare in March 2010 “extremists”? Or were the millions of voters who elected a Republican House majority in the 2010 mid-term landslide “extremists”?

James Fallows is a partisan Democrat who evidently does not even read conservatives, and who declares illegitimate any reporting that takes seriously the claims of the president’s Republican opponents...

Fallows is a bald-faced liar (and a Democrat-partisan hack, but I repeat myself).

Continue reading.

IMAGE CREDIT: "Do Not Challenge the Emperor," via Erick Brockway on Twitter.

Rick Perry at CPAC St. Louis 2013

Via Nice Deb, "Video: Rick Perry Rocks the House at #CPACSTL."

Why Academics Hate Diana West

I'm getting a kick out of this.

Vladimir Bukovsky and Pavel Stroilov have a long essay on Diana West's American Betrayal at Big Government, "WHY ACADEMICS HATE DIANA WEST."

Recall that when I met Diana at the book signing in Los Angeles, I mentioned to her that I'd be especially interested to see the response to her research from professional historians. I suggested that her thesis was "bold" and that academic historians would react strongly. Little did I know how strongly, especially in the case of nutjob Ron Radosh. Diana got a kick out of recalling our exchange this morning on Twitter.

If you haven't read it, visit Amazon to pick up your copy, American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character.

Hot Shots Calendar Film Shoot

The lovely Hot Shots ladies.

Bruce Schneier on NSA and Snowden Documents

See, "NSA Spying Is Making Us Less Safe" (via Instapundit).

More at Schneier blog, "Senator Feinstein Admits the NSA Taps the Internet Backbone."

(I'm sure readers will recall my personal position on all of this. I think Snowden's a traitor, although that doesn't mean I'm unconcerned with the never ending growth of the Orwellian state. Security vs. liberty. There's a right balance. Getting there requires citizen participation, not treason, to beat back government secrecy.)

N.S.A. Examines Social Networks of U.S. Citizens

Big Brother keeps getting bigger.

At NYT, "N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens":

WASHINGTON — Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials.

The spy agency began allowing the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs in November 2010 to examine Americans’ networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after N.S.A. officials lifted restrictions on the practice, according to documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.

The policy shift was intended to help the agency “discover and track” connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the United States, according to an N.S.A. memorandum from January 2011. The agency was authorized to conduct “large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness” of every e-mail address, phone number or other identifier, the document said. Because of concerns about infringing on the privacy of American citizens, the computer analysis of such data had previously been permitted only for foreigners.

The agency can augment the communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the documents. They do not indicate any restrictions on the use of such “enrichment” data, and several former senior Obama administration officials said the agency drew on it for both Americans and foreigners.

N.S.A. officials declined to say how many Americans have been caught up in the effort, including people involved in no wrongdoing. The documents do not describe what has resulted from the scrutiny, which links phone numbers and e-mails in a “contact chain” tied directly or indirectly to a person or organization overseas that is of foreign intelligence interest.

The new disclosures add to the growing body of knowledge in recent months about the N.S.A.’s access to and use of private information concerning Americans, prompting lawmakers in Washington to call for reining in the agency and President Obama to order an examination of its surveillance policies. Almost everything about the agency’s operations is hidden, and the decision to revise the limits concerning Americans was made in secret, without review by the nation’s intelligence court or any public debate. As far back as 2006, a Justice Department memo warned of the potential for the “misuse” of such information without adequate safeguards.

Continue reading.

Victoria Arlen Not Paralyzed Enough

At the New York Times, "Swimmer Is Fighting a Ruling: She Is Not Disabled Enough":

EXETER, N.H. — Racked by sudden spasms in her shoulders, back and hands — the things she most relies upon to offset her paralyzed legs — the American swimmer Victoria Arlen failed to qualify for the final in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Paralympics last summer. But she persevered in the freestyle, going on to become one of the competition’s breakout stars. When Arlen returned home to New Hampshire with four medals and a world record, Exeter threw her a parade.

But Arlen’s glittering Paralympic career is now in jeopardy. This summer, she became enmeshed in a dispute with the International Paralympic Committee over an issue fundamental to her identity and to the complicated, often ambiguous science behind Paralympic competition: whether she is disabled enough even to qualify as a competitor.

Days before she was due to swim in the world championships in Montreal in August, she was ruled ineligible because, the committee declared, she had “failed to provide conclusive evidence of a permanent eligible impairment.”

Arlen, 19, spent three years in a vegetative state because of an autoimmune disorder and woke in 2010 with paralyzed legs and other symptoms of the neurological condition transverse myelitis. She said she was being punished because of her doctor’s belief that there was a chance that her condition might improve.

“Being penalized for maybe having a glimmer of hope of one day being able to walk again is beyond sad,” Arlen said in an interview at home. In a follow-up e-mail, she said: “To have trained so hard this past year and come so far only to be humiliated and targeted by the I.P.C. for reasons unknown baffles me.”

For its part, the committee says it had no choice. “According to the rules, athletes have to provide evidence of permanent impairment to compete in the Paralympics, and we do not have satisfactory confirmation of that,” said Peter Van de Vliet, the committee’s medical and scientific director.

A Difficult Task

Classifying disabled athletes — sorting them into classes according to the type and severity of their disabilities — is immensely complex, often subjective and among the toughest tasks the Paralympic committee faces. Some cases, likes those involving congenital limb deformity, are straightforward. But others, like neurological illnesses with fluctuating multiple symptoms like the one afflicting Arlen, are not.

“If you’re classifying an amputee, either they’ve got a leg or they haven’t, and in 12 months, they still won’t have a leg,” Van de Vliet said. “But when you get to these types of wheelchair athletes, it gets tricky.”

Officials are not suggesting that Arlen is lying, but the Paralympics is becoming increasingly competitive, and there are many cases of athletes exaggerating or faking disabilities. The committee is still haunted by the saga of Monique van der Vorst of the Netherlands, who won two silver medals in handcycling at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics. She was paralyzed when she competed, apparently having muscular dystrophy. But two years later, after 13 years in a wheelchair, she walked again. She was given a new diagnosis: conversion disorder, a psychiatric condition in which patients suffer inexplicable neurological symptoms.

The committee allowed van der Vorst to keep her medals, ruling that she had not deliberately misled them. But later it emerged that perhaps she had. Reports surfaced in which even van der Vorst said there had been times when she could stand and walk while competing as a Paralympian.

“What would be the reaction of competitors who had raced Victoria if, in a few years, she was able to walk?” Van de Vliet said.

The committee often reclassifies athletes and places them into different competition classes, depending on the severity of their impairments. It has declared athletes ineligible before, including some who have simply misinterpreted the rules. Recently, Van de Vliet said, a Jamaican competitor showed up at a competition with a note from his optician saying “this man has a visual impairment, but when he wears his glasses, everything’s fine.”

The committee sent him home. Van de Vliet said, “It was a particularly sad case.”

Arlen’s situation is different, in part because she is such a high-profile athlete. After the International Paralympic Committee ruled her ineligible, her case became a cause célèbre, with sympathetic reports on “Good Morning America” and other outlets. New Hampshire’s governor and two senators publicly criticized the committee’s ruling.

Photogenic, poised, articulate, bitterly disappointed, a television natural (she also models and works as a motivational speaker), Arlen makes a formidable opponent for the Paralympic committee. It is impossible to hear her story — about being a star child athlete who suddenly grew weaker and weaker and sicker and sicker until she became incapacitated; about her years in a vegetative state and her family’s search for medical answers; about how she woke and had to relearn to talk, read and eat; about how she resolved to be a Paralympic swimmer; about her triumph last summer — without feeling sympathetic.

“She was brought into the Paralympic movement by people who knew about it and told her she could be good at it, and she trained and did everything she was asked to do,” Arlen’s coach, John Ogden, said in an interview. “She has been emotionally scarred and traumatized by this. I am so disappointed in the Paralympic movement right now, I can’t even tell you.”

But it is hard to ignore the committee’s arguments that the matter is far from simple.

A bureaucratic clusterf-k.

Let the lady compete, for crying out loud. She aint' fakin'.

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