The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The War in Gaza

Posted on | July 18, 2014 | 9 Comments

The latest “Mideast Peace Plan” in action:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military Friday to prepare for a “significant expansion” of its ground operation against Gaza militants.
Netanyahu said the military’s primary goal would be to destroy underground tunnels used by Hamas to attack the Jewish State. The announcement came hours after Israeli ground troops and tanks struck more than 100 terror targets in Israel’s first major ground offensive in Gaza in just over five years.
The offensive follows an Egyptian effort earlier this week to halt hostilities. Israel accepted the terms, but Hamas refused, demanding that Israel and Egypt first give guarantees to ease the blockade on Gaza.
“Since there is no way to deal with the tunnels only from the air, our soldiers are doing it now from the ground,” Netanyahu said at the opening of an emergency cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, the Jerusalem Post reported. “We decided to launch the action after we tried all the other ways, and with an understanding that without this operation the price we will have to pay later would be much higher.”
Tanks, infantry and engineering forces were operating inside the coastal strip. In a statement, the military said it targeted rocket launchers, tunnels and more than 100 other targets. Throughout the night, the thud of tank shells echoed across Gaza, often just a few seconds apart. Several explosions from Israeli missile strikes shook high-rise buildings in central Gaza City. Pillars of smoke could be seen from the Israeli side of the border.

Charles Krauthammer offers moral clarity:

Israel accepts an Egyptian-proposed Gaza cease-fire; Hamas keeps firing. Hamas deliberately aims rockets at civilians; Israel painstakingly tries to avoid them, actually telephoning civilians in the area and dropping warning charges, so-called roof knocking.
“Here’s the difference between us,” explains the Israeli prime minister. “We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.”
Rarely does international politics present a moment of such moral clarity. Yet we routinely hear this Israel-Gaza fighting described as a morally equivalent “cycle of violence.” This is absurd. What possible interest can Israel have in cross-border fighting? Everyone knows Hamas set off this mini-war. And everyone knows the proudly self-declared raison d’etre of Hamas: the eradication of Israel and its Jews.

When Hamas says “peace,” they mean, “kill the Jews.”

Expecting Israel to negotiate with Hamas is like asking a man to negotiate with a shark over how much of his leg the shark can eat.

 

Category: Israel

LIVE AT FIVE: 07.18.14

Posted on | July 18, 2014 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
IDF Hits Over 100 Terror Targets During Gaza Incursion

Sgt. Eitan Barak, 20; first soldier killed in Gaza

Hamas claims credit for death, but friendly fire more likely
Israel Seeks To Box Qatar Out Of Cease-Fire Negotiations
Gaza Incursion Focusing On Tunnels
Gaza Death Toll Reaches 260


Malaysian Airlines Jet’s Flight Recorder Found As Anger At Russia Mounts
Ukrainian security service releases intercepts of rebel, Russian, and Cossack commanders discussing shoot-down; smoking gun implicating rebels?
International probe demanded

Microsoft To Cut 18,000 Jobs
Bulk of cuts to come from newly acquired Nokia phone unit



POLITICS
Obama: Congress Needs To Do More For Infrastructure

Whining about lack of long-term spending plan

Announces new initiative to encourage private-sector investment

DOJ Taking Closer Look At Just How Lerner E-Mails Were Lost

Judge Okays Gay Marriage In Florida – But Just In The Keys


California’s Foie Gras Ban Waddles To The Supreme Court

Manning To Begin Gender Treatment; Still No Cure For VA Corruption, Delays



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Crude Rises On Gaza Invasion, Airliner Shootdown: WTI $103.72, Brent $108.54
FedEx Indicted For Transporting Drugs For Illegal Online Pharmacies
Profit Surges At Morgan Stanley
Red China To Boost Investment In Brazil
IBM Software Sales Weaker Than Expected In Q2
States Sue Five-Hour Energy Over Ad Claims
Facebook Looking At Onscreen “Buy” Button
Microsoft Shutting Down XBox Entertainment Studios; HALO Unaffected
Facebook Fields App Exclusively For Celebrities
Russian Hackers Planted “Digital Bomb” In NASDAQ
Wave Of “Mega” DDoS Attacks Reaches Record Level In 2014



SPORTS
Saban: I Had No Conversations With Texas And Wasn’t Offered Anything

Careful to deny $100 MILLION DOLLAR rumor

Didn’t say whether his agent discussed the position…


Bill Russell Faints During Tahoe Speech

Goodell Speaks Vaguely About NFL’s Return To LA


Clippers Re-Sign Glen Davis

CBS Goes Wobbly On Calling Redskins Redskins

NBA Submits Proposal To Reform Draft Lottery

Pelicans Re-Sign Darius Miller

Erik Jones Holds Off Ryan Blaney For Iowa Truck Victory

Nationals Among Second-half Favorites



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Kelly Ripa: Botox Has Changed My Life

But, unlike a certain former Speaker, apparently not her brain

“People are very ritualistic about their beauty routine. I am not.”



Vanessa Williams Talks About Being Molested At Age 10 By A Woman

Broadway Legend & TV Star Elaine Stritch Dies, 89



Scott Disick To The Hospital With Alcohol Poisoning

Tim McGraw Slaps Woman At Concert After She Slaps His Junk

“Star Wars Episode VII” Casts Christina Chong

Bond Boffin New Voice Of Paddington

Nobody Thought Jason Biggs’ Malaysian Airline Joke Was Funny

Britney Spears Makes Up For Stiffing Her Waitress

Pam Anderson Calls Off Divorce



FOREIGNERS
Putin Sanctions Pummel Markets As Recession Risk Grows
Jihadis Kill Eight Pakistani Paramilitaries In NWA
Syrian Kurds Impose Military Service Amid Civil War
Google Doodle Honors Nelson Mandela
Jihadis Kill 14 Tunisian Soldiers In Mountain Ambush
Former Panamanian Dictator Noriega Sues Over Depiction In “Call Of Duty” Videogame
Norks Threaten To Boycott Asian Games
Putin Denies Reports Of Russia Reopening Cuban Spy Base
Modi Keen For Better Defense Ties With Russia
Minorities In Iraq Follow Kurds’ Lead In Pushing For More Autonomy



BLOGS & STUFF
First Street Journal: Sometimes Governors Have To Recognize Their Responsibilities To Their Constituents
Doug Powers: Obama’s NYC Fundraisers To Proceed As Scheduled, World Breathes Sigh Of Relief
Twitchy: Britain’s Daniel Hannan – “How America’s Leaders Have Shrunk”
American Power: “Dumbass” Krystal Ball Pranked By Howard Stern Fan During Malaysian Crash Coverage
American Thinker: New Islamic Caliphate Declares Jihad…On Muslims
BLACKFIVE: Bergdahl Returns To Duty – What Next?
Conservatives4Palin: Immigration Isn’t A Slam-Dunk For Democrats Any More
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, July 17
Jammie Wearing Fools: 23 Americans Dead In Malaysian Airlines Shootdown, Obama Reacts Harshly By Ordering Pit Burger
Joe For America: Homeland Security – Armed And Watching You. All Around You.
JustOneMinute: “It Looks Like A Terrible Tragedy”
Protein Wisdom: End Game – The Left, Illegal Immigration, And The Ongoing Coup
Shot In The Dark: The Good Cop
STUMP: Public Pensions Watch – NJ Pensions’ Appeal Getting More Selective…
The Gateway Pundit: Hamas Busted Storing Missiles In A School
The Jawa Report: Kihnspiracy Theory Of The Day
The Lonely Conservative: Obama Saves His Outrage For Republicans
This Ain’t Hell: Worst Ex-Wife In History Gets 18 Years
Weasel Zippers: Delusional Loon Wasserman-Schultz Claims Dems Will Pick Up Seats Due To Obamacare’s Popularity
Megan McArdle: Part-Time Workers Deserve The Shift, Not The Shaft


Join Amazon Prime – The Wire The Complete Series – Available on Amazon Prime Instant Video

Category: Live at Five

Demons of Left-Wing Paranoia

Posted on | July 17, 2014 | 45 Comments

The top item at Memeorandum this morning was an MSNBC article attempting to inspire fear that last week’s Hobby Lobby court decision could End Democracy As We Know It, or something.

Small children and fools may be frightened by such stuff, but if you’re old enough to have followed politics for two or three decades, you recognize the routine operation of the Fear Machine that Democrats crank up every time they’re worried about losing an election.

The semi-annual Parade of Spooky Right-Wing Phantoms is interesting chiefly for the way the villainous reactionary danger changes from day to day and year to year. During the 1990s, the rotating cast of demonized scapegoats included:

  1. Fundamentalist theocrats whose conspiratorial blueprint could be found in the writings of R.J. Rushdoony;
  2. Militia kooks who listened to short-wave radio broadcasts;
  3. The Reverend Sun Yung Moon;
  4. Right-wing billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife;
    and
  5. Newt Gingrich.

Over the years, the cast of characters in this Pageant of Evil has changed several times. Ten years ago, the Left was all about fighting such dreaded demons as Halliburton, Karl Rove, Big Oil and “neocons” (a liberal euphemism for EVIL GREEDY JEWS). Nowadays, the exaggerated object of imaginary fear is usually the Koch Brothers.

After a while, you notice that the list of bogeymen that liberals want you to worry about never includes actual Bad Guys — drug gangs, carjackers, child pornographers, pimps, serial killers, Islamic terrorists or dangerous foreign governments. No, it’s always some far-fetched Republican conspiracy they’re worried about.

The Existential Menace to Democracy As We Know It is necessary to the campaigns of Fear and Hate by which the Party of Evil mobilizes its core constituents: Fools, thieves, radicals and perverts.

+ | + | + | + | +

By the way, please excuse the paucity of new blog material Wednesday. Monday’s 3,000-word “Sex Trouble” essay about radical feminism was so popular — a sidebar headline at Ace of Spades HQ and an Instalanche, among other encouragement — that I spent most of yesterday working on a follow-up. Work like that takes time to research and write, and so the long silences are inevitable. Also, yesterday I spent a couple hours babysitting my 8-month-old grandson while my wife, daughter and daughter-in-law were out doing various errands.

Keeping the heteronormative patriarchy going is a full-time job, and I appreciate the discussion in the comments, as well as the readers who hit the tip jar. Expect a few more hours of silence today while I finish up the next installment in the series.





 

Category: Democrats, Liberals

LIVE AT FIVE: 07.17.14

Posted on | July 17, 2014 | 6 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Israel, Hamas Agree To Five-Hour Truce

A Palestinian inspects the ruins of a police post after an IDF strike

“Humanitarian” pause agreed to so Gazans can restock food, water
Tunnel terrorist attack thwarted
Gaza truce goes into effect just hours after tunnel clash
Operation Protective Edge, Day 9


Fed Kicks Off Global Dollar Squeeze As Janet Yellen Turns Hawkish
“Blistering dollar rally” imminent?

US, EU Escalate Economic Sanctions On Russia Over Ukraine
“US just punched Russia’s economy in the gut.”



POLITICS
Pew: Most Americans Give Obama Poor Marks On Immigration Crisis

Your Mark Wahlberg quote doesn’t impress me, Mr. President

Boehner Blasts President For Senate Dems’ Obstruction

CDC Chief Promises to Fix Safety Lapses At Government Labs

Senate Panel Examining GM Legal Department

GOP Rep Calls Petraeus Probe “Perplexing And Suspicious”

Victims, Survivors Outraged At Federal Judge’s Strikedown Of California Death Penalty

Democratic Superdonor Steyer’s Use Of Tax Shelters Draws Unflattering Romney Comparison



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Crude Up On Bullish US Stockpile Reports: WTI $101.45; Brent $107.19
Time Warner Rebuffs $80 Billion Bid From Murdoch
Obama Pushes To End Corporate Flight To Foreign Tax Havens
Deals, Earnings Boost Dow To Record
Microsoft Expected To Announce Over 6000 Job Cuts
EBay Profit Jumps 13% Despite Stiffening Competition
Apple Could Pay As Much As $400 Million To Settle E-Book Suit
ow Apple’s Big Deal With IBM Hurts BlackBerry, Microsoft
Amazon Tests “Kindle Unlimited” – Netflix For E-Books, Audiobooks
Comcast Customer Service Horror Story Goes Viral
Should Online Accounts Die When You Do?



SPORTS
Sabres, Ennis Agree To Five-Year Extension

Big payoff for 21 goals in 80 games

Second-leading scorer gets second-highest pay


Stephenson Leaves Pacers for Hornets

Touch ‘Em All – Jeter Boosts All-Star Ratings

James Jones To Sign With Cavaliers?


A Bunch Of MLS News Nobody Cares About

Did Nick Saban Turn Down $100 Million Offer To Coach Texas?

Warriors, Rush Agree To Two-Year Deal

MLB’s Most Underpaid Players

Lakers, Ed Davis Agree On Two-Year/$2 Million Deal

“I Wouldn’t Mind Dying On The Cricket Field”

All Quiet In DC As Trade Deadline Approaches



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Danica McKellar Off The Market

Math geeks in mourning

“Wonder Years” star engaged to lawyer boyfriend


Here We Go Again: How Rupert Murdoch/Time Warner Merger Would F*ck You In Hollywood

Jillian Michaels Reveals Why She Left “The Biggest Loser”

Selena Gomez Gets A New Tattoo

Michael Vartan, Lauren Skaar Divorcing


Meet The New Boss In Marvel’s “Avengers: Age Of Ultron”

Billy Eichner Inks Book Deal

Apollo Nida’s Restitution Tab: $2 Million

Britney Spears – I Dine, I Dash, I Just Forgot

Rose McGowan Blasts Instagram Users Who Compared Her To Michael Jackson

“Disco Demolition 2” To Destroy Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus Records

Jeff Goldblum Engaged To 31-Year-Old Girlfriend

Red-Carpet Prankster Apologizes To Celebrities, Plans To Leave US



FOREIGNERS
Afghan forces Thwart Attack On Kabul Airport
Typhoon Kills 38 In Philippines; Millions Without Power
Assad Start New Term With Warning To West
Aussies Ax Controversial Carbon Tax
Court Rules Dutch Liable For 300 Deaths In Srebenica Massacre
Swedish Court Upholds Assange Detention Order
Senate Rips Administration Official For Lack Of India Policy Ahead Of Modi Visit
EU Leaders Fail To Agree On Top Jobs
Thai Junta Allows Ex-PM Yingluck To Leave Country; Caveat – No Politics



BLOGS & STUFF
Doug Powers: The Border Is Secure (And If Not The Koch Brothers Are To Blame)
Twitchy: “Flacktivists” – Democrats Launch Another “Rapid Response” Propaganda Initiative
American Power: It’s Not Just “Unaccompanied Children” – Thousands Of Criminal Adult Illegals Flood McAllen Border Station
American Thinker: A Senate Contract With America
Conservatives4Palin: Full Video – McDaniel News Conference
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, July 16
Jammie Wearing Fools: Obama’s Former Labor Secretary Busted Blatantly Violating Hatch Act
Joe For America: Texas Demands Full Fingerprints For Driver’s License
JustOneMinute: Credentialed Climate Deniers And Failed Metaphors
Protein Wisdom: Today’s Dispiriting Look Into A Decaying Liberal Culture
Shot In The Dark: Paul Krugman Hates The Poor
The Gateway Pundit: Barbarian Senate Democrats Vote To Allow Abortions Up To Nine Months
The Jawa Report: Palestinian Spokesman’s Freudian Slip
The Lonely Conservative: It Isn’t Just Smallpox The NIH Left Lying Around
This Ain’t Hell: Oopsie At The VA
Weasel Zippers: Administration – We’re Not Going To Tell Americans Where We’re Sending Illegals
Megan McArdle: Mommy Police With Real Handcuffs


Shop Amazon – Back to School

Category: Live at Five

Books…And A Smittypalooza?

Posted on | July 16, 2014 | 23 Comments

— by Wombat-socho


I didn’t get much reading done last week, what with a lack of money for new books, a lack of time to stop by the library, and a lack of spare time to actually read what I did pick up last week thanks to the truck breaking down for a day – which, thanks to Northern Virginia’s idiosyncratic transit network, meant a day and a half wasted on bus and Metro riding that I could have spent reading.


Anyway, I finally got around to Variable Star, which is billed as a collaboration between Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson. For those of you unfamiliar with the backstory on this, apparently RAH had written the outline in 1955, but never done anything else with it. When it was found (less its last page) after Virginia Heinlein’s death, Robinson was asked to finish it in his own style, which he did, and the result is something that’s neither fish nor fowl. As Nicholas Whyte said in Strange Horizons, “This is, frankly, not a great book.” I have to agree with him; with its many references to events and characters from Heinlein’s other works, and shameless Tuckerizations, it’s amusing for people who like that sort of thing, but the opening chapters are painful to read and the deus ex machina that saves the day is downright infuriating. Also, contra Whyte, the book seems as obsessed with sex and sexual relations as any of Heinlein’s later, lesser works, which is an annoying distraction since it all seems rather forced and gratuitous, a signal by Robinson that he, too, is hep, cool and with it. It’s not nearly as bad as For Us, The Living, but that’s damning with faint praise. If you really like Spider Robinson and view him as the obvious heir to Heinlein’s legacy (I don’t) then you’ll probably enjoy the book; if not, then you might want to read it once and move on.


And then we have Iver Cooper’s 1636: Seas of Fortune, which is a different kettle of tropical fish altogether. In the old days, Seas of Fortune would probably have been called a fix-up, since it began as a series of short stories, but here forms a pair of short novels dealing with a USE colony in the Guianas (and a refugee marrano from Brazil who plays an important role) and the Japanese colonization of America’s Pacific Coast with exiled Christians under the rule of daimyo Date Masumune, who was not himself Christian. Both stories are entertaining, but whether they’re worth almost nine bucks is another question, especially since the paperback is less expensive. What’s up with that, Baen?


Finally, a couple of short stories. First, Sarah Hoyt’s The Price of Gold, which is an amusing little romantic fantasy that dances along the edge of horror without falling in. The plot concerns a secret high school for magicians, the misfit boy who apparently can’t do magic at all despite his parents both being wizards, and the precocious girl whose magical skills are exactly the opposite – she’s so good, not even her teachers know what her limits might be. When the misfit boy disappears, and nobody else seems to care, our heroine sets off to solve the case – and finds the boy may have a talent their teachers aren’t equipped to appreciate.


Much less sweet (and considerably more frustrating) is Marko Kloos’ Measures of Absolution, a story set in his Frontlines universe that returns us to the hostile slums of Detroit which we previously saw in his debut novel Terms of Enlistment. This time the story is from the POV of Andrew Grayson’s squadmate Corporal Jackson, who finds out why her squad almost got wiped out – but the question is whether she’ll survive to let anyone higher in the chain of command know. I’d have been a lot happier with “Measures of Absolution” if it hadn’t ended abruptly at AN EXTREMELY DRAMATIC POINT, but as it is, it’s a good read but immensely frustrating. Maybe we’ll get to see the rest of the story after Marko finishes AngelsAngles of Attack. Maybe we won’t. In the meantime, if you don’t mind being left hanging, it’s a good story.


Finally, on a completely unrelated topic, it’s been a while since we all got together for drinks, snacks, and goodnatured hijinkery, and frankly, I don’t care to wait for CPAC. How many of you would be interested in getting together someplace in DC or Northern Virginia for beverages (adult & otherwise), nibblements and conversation? We can either follow the example of the recent Northern Virginia Moron Meetup, which reserved a private room and pre-ordered trays of appetizers after people chipped in money, or we can just pick a bar, restaurant, or lounge someplace and agree to meet there at a certain day & time. This would probably, tentatively happen in mid-October or later. Let me know what you think in the comments.


Category: Books

They Found Peggy Joseph!

Posted on | July 16, 2014 | 33 Comments

Everybody remembers the Florida woman who, during the 2008 campaign, gleefully declared in a TV news interview after an Obama campaign rally that if Obama was elected, she wouldn’t have to worry about putting gas in her car or paying her mortgage.

Over the years, whenever the headlines told of bad economic news I’d wonder aloud, “Whatever happened to Peggy Joseph?”

Thanks to documentary film director Joel Gilbert, now we know:

Ms. Joseph told Gilbert, after viewing the 2008 segment together that gave her notoriety, that not only has Obama not been paying her gas or mortgage, but both have gotten progressively harder to pay.
“During that time, we needed a change, but change for the better, not for the worse,” an awakened Peggy Joseph told Gilbert.
“He had a very big voice, just like the Wizard of Oz,” Joseph said, comparing Obama to the famous phony wizard. “The wizard was this little teeny-teeny tiny man, and I think it’s the same thing with Obama, the man behind the curtain,” Ms. Joseph said in a reflective, disappointing tone.
Ms. Joseph looks back at the time of her 2008 interview, saying, “I was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. That’s how I feel.”
“What I learned is never trust the Wizard,” Joseph now says. “It’s within ourselves to have the determination, the courage, and the brains, to bring us to our destiny.”

What many people will find most surprising is that, contrary to widespread belief, Peggy Joseph wasn’t looking for a handout. She is not a welfare mooch. In fact, she is a suburban soccer mom, a Haitian immigrant who works hard as a nurse to support her four children. The question that remains now: Why can’t Republicans reach people like Peggy Joseph with a message of hope, growth and opportunity?

Maybe the Black Conservatives Fund can find an answer.

 

Category: Barack Obama, Democrats, Economics

LIVE AT FIVE: 07.16.14

Posted on | July 16, 2014 | Comments Off on LIVE AT FIVE: 07.16.14

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Israel Resumes Air Strikes On Gaza As Truce Deal Collapses

People play outside a bomb shelter on the beach in Ashdod

Hamas attempt to play good cop/bad cop fails miserably


Gaza residents call for peace as conflict roars on


Top Hamas leader targeted as ceasefire collapses


BRICs Set Up Bank To Counter Western Hold On Global Finances
Branches to open in Shanghai, India; $100 billion reserve pool established

Dollar Rallies As Yellen Hints At Rate Hike
Fed to maintain near-zero interest rate until economy improves



POLITICS
VA Alleges “Tremendous Progress”On Backlogged Claims

VA Undersecretary for Benefits Allison Hickey

Congress, IG skeptical


House Approves Short-Term Fix For Highway Trust Fund


Californians Ready To Vote On Splitting State Into Six


Two Former Utah AGs Arrested On Bribery Charges

Baptist Minister Wins Harsh GOP Primary For NC-6

Issa Slams White House Over Aide’s Subpoena Defiance

5th Circuit Rules University Of Texas Can Use Race As A Factor In Admissions

Policy Analyst Palmer Defeats State Rep DeMarco In AL-6 GOP Primary

Henry Kissinger Gets Heart Valve Replaced



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Crude Rebounds From NY Close On Bargain Hunting: WTI $100.32, Brent $106.17
Asian Stocks Steady As Red China GDP Hits Target
JPMorgan Pulls Back From Mortgage Lending On Foreclosure Worries
Wall Street Down As Investors Digest Earnings
Reynolds American Closes Deal To Buy Lorillard For $27.4 Billion
June Retail Sales Reflect Consumer Qualms
Apple, IBM Team Up for Business Apps & Services
Google’s Project Zero Attacks Web Security Threats
SGI, SAP Collaborate For Real-Time Analytics
Novartis, Google To Work On Smart Contact Lenses For Diabetics
LeapFrog Takes On Apple with New Hardware Aimed At Kids



SPORTS
Derek Jeter Bids Farewell To All-Star Game, Leads AL To Victory

Even if he is a damn Yankee.

Farewell to the Captain

MVP Trout, Cabrera chip in 2 RBI each en route to 5-3 win for Junior Circuit

Jimmy Graham Signs Four Year/$40 Million Deal With Saints


No Guarantee Sterling Will Be Out By Start Of NBA Season

Wade, Heat Agree To Two-Year Contract

Pens: No Surgery For Crosby

NASCAR Introduces New Elements For Chase Cars

Ogumikes First Sisters Named To WNBA All-Star Game

Perfect Setup For Clippard At All-Star Game



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Lindsay Lohan To London?

LiLo with London friends

Wants to be regarded as actress, not celebrity


Tammy Bruce To “The View” As The Anti-Rosie – As Suggested By Sarah Palin?

SNL Loses Three More Cast Members

Marvel Makes Thor A Woman

Baby Girl On The Way For Nick & Vanessa Lachey

Rihanna Tweets #FreePalestine, Immediately Retracts It


Why Anna Kendrick Is Okay Not Being On The Most Beautiful List

“Once Upon A Time” Could Get “Frozen” Spinoff

Cameron Diaz Comes Full Circle

From Ugly And Bullied To Unspeakable Armenian Lookalike

Billy Joel’s Mom Rosalind Joel Dead At 92; Christie Brinkley Leaves Touching Tribute On Instagram

“Napoleon Dynamite” 10th Anniversary Reunion Pics

Nicole Richie: What You Won’t See On TV

Popular Food Blogger Admits To Eating Disorder

Nikki Finke Hoaxed By “Exclusive” Hollywood Tip



FOREIGNERS
Red China Economic Growth Accelerates To 7.5% In Q2
Strongest Philippine Storm Of The Year Kills 5
EU May Impose New Ukraine Sanctions
UK Teachers Hail Education Secretary Gove’s Departure
Moscow Subway Derailment Kills 21
Red China Removes Oil Rig That Provoked Vietnam
35 More Terrorists Killed In NWA Strikes
458 Children Rescued From Group Home In Mexico
Turkish President Approves Kurdish Peace Process Law



BLOGS & STUFF
First Street Journal: The Problem With Feminism
The Quinton Report: John Bolton Raised Over $2.3 Million In Q2 For His PACs
Michlle Malkin: Jose Antonio Vargas – The Face Of The Entitled Illegal Alien
Twitchy: Was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Always Such A Badass?
Yes. Next question?
American Power: Open-Borders Democrat (And Hypocrite) Martin O’Malley Won’t Accept Illegals In Maryland
American Thinker: A Plague On All Houses
BLACKFIVE: Obama Brings Tranquility To The World
Conservatives4Palin: Gov. Palin Announces Support For Johnson & Loudermilk For Congress
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, July 15
Jammie Wearing Fools: Dozens Of Disney World Workers Arrested In Pedophilia Stings
Joe For America: Feds Offer $6000 Each To House Illegals
JustOneMinute: But What About The Movies?
Protein Wisdom: April Sands Doesn’t Understand How Anyone But Straight White Men Can Vote Republican
Shot In The Dark: Open Letter To Progressives
The Gateway Pundit: Black Conservatives To Hold Event To Counter Annual NAACP Conference
The Jawa Report: Ministry Of Jiggly – Free Kurdistan Edition
The Lonely Conservative: For Obama, Bipartisanship Means Republicans Saying “Mr. President, You’re Right”
This Ain’t Hell: Kristen Gwynne Writes The Stupidest Article In The History Of Journalism
Weasel Zippers: TV Reporter Suspended For Saying Inner City Violence Stems From “Young Fatherless Black Men”
Megan McArdle: Online Ads Have Invisible Mojo


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Category: Live at Five

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Son Describes Abuse by Feminist Pagan Fiction Author

Posted on | July 15, 2014 | 39 Comments

Marion Zimmer Bradley was famous for her Avalon novel series.

“Wicca refers to the practice of European paganism popular throughout Europe and North America. . . . Dianic Wicca refers to a more radical women-only practice, named for the Goddess Diana. The novels of Marion Zimmer Bradley have been influential for Dianic Wiccans . . .”
— “Dianic Wicca,” Historical Dictionary of Lesbian Literature

Last month I reported on this startling revelation:

Moira Greyland is the daughter of famed novelist Marion Zimmer Bradley, who died in 1999. Greyland’s father –Bradley’s second husband, Walter Breen — was accused of sexually molesting a 12-year-old boy in 1989, ten years after he separated from Bradley, who was accused of covering up her for husband’s pedophile activities. Bradley’s own tendencies toward lesbianism have been noted, but now Moira Greyland has claimed that she was molested by her mother . . .

Moira Greyland said her mother first molested her at age 3 and the last time when Moira was 12, describing the chaos of her childhood home (“out of control drugs, orgies, and constant flow of people in and out”) with a mother who was “cruel and violent.” Now Moira’s brother Mark is speaking out about Bradley’s abuse:

There was always drama and there was always the invisible blade of what would happen if all of this dreadful secret got out. The atmosphere of fear of discovery was simply everywhere and there was no place to hide. . . .

He talks about his mother’s fans in the feminist neo-pagan movement:

When women started approaching her saying stuff like “you saved my life; now I don’t have to kill myself”, she started wearing new faces around them and more and more of them would gather around her.
Some of them were so angry they treated me like I was a crime for daring to be male around her. Others would give me the deer in the headlights look then look away.
There were times these unhappy women would gather around her by the dozens and I would stand back and watch her on stage and happy. I saw the rituals and the other weirdness close up and then at a distance. What they got out of it was something I did not understand, but I could see that the people were volatile and likely to blow up for invisible reasons.
Feminism to me was a lot of very unhappy women telling stories to each other about how they had been hurt. They were getting ready to change the world and I didn’t want to be in front of that train when it started rolling.

You can read the whole thing. Most people have no idea how influential Bradley was in 20th-century neo-paganism. Categorizing her pagan feminist genre as “lifestyle fantasy” novels, historian Brian Stableford has recounted how Bradley “became something of a guru to numerous writers of a similar stripe, several of whom — including Diana L. Paxson and Gael Baudino — described themselves as priestesses of ‘Dianic Wicca.'” Bradley and Paxson were co-founders of the California-based Center for Non-Traditional Religion, subsequently renamed the Fellowship of the Spiral Path, which is focused on the “Triple Goddess” (Maiden, Mother, Crone) of neo-pagan belief.

Dianic Wicca is quite nearly a synonym for “lesbian paganism” or “feminist witchcraft.” It was founded by a crazy Hungarian-born woman known as Zsuzsanna Budapest who became a feminist, divorced her husband, abandoned her two sons and turned lesbian. In 1975, she was arrested for violating a Los Angeles ordinance against fortune-telling, leading to what she has called “The Last Great American Witch Trial.” She is director of the Women’s Spirituality Forum, which sponsors the International Goddess Festival.

A three-day festival of ridiculous mystic nonsense for $375:

Join us for a blissful weekend filled with magic, sisterhood, and deep connection to the rhythms of the Earth! Once again, we gather together in the coastal redwoods of California among the enchanted energies of Mother Nature to honor the Goddess, ourselves, and one another. . . .
Evenings are reserved for us to come together in the Gaia Bowl, our sacred ritual space of “Fire & Light.” It is here that we call to the Goddess and weave our magic; honor and invoke our Foremothers; hold Initiation and Ordination rituals; and drum, dance, and sing our prayers — for ourselves and the Earth! All of nature is just a step outside your cabin door.

The connection between this pagan/lesbian/feminist “spirituality” and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s career is well-known, and her colleague Diana Paxson reacted to the abuse accusations:

I saw Marion’s children at family parties, and in passing when I was at Greenwalls for meetings, which usually took place in the Center for Non-Traditional Religion’s room over the garage. I never personally observed, nor had any reason to suspect, that she was abusing either of her children.
After living elsewhere for a number of years, both of Marion’s younger children have now returned to the Bay Area. Moira’s brother is currently living with us at Greyhaven. . . .
Our women’s circle met once a month to explore women’s spirituality and study the goddesses. The circle included both straight women and lesbians. I do not recall any overt sexuality within the circle, and I neither observed nor heard about any abusive relationships between Marion and any other woman or girl.

Bradley’s feminist fan Alyssa Rosenberg is disturbed:

A significant theme of Zimmer Bradley’s answers in her 1998 deposition [in a lawsuit related to her ex-husband’s sexual abuse of boys} is the idea that very young teenagers ought to be able to make their own sexual decisions, including about whether to have sex with adults who proposition them. She rejects the idea that any element of coercion is possible in these interactions, particularly when a teenager is physically larger than an adult. . . .
Answers like these throw passages from “The Mists of Avalon” into a new and disturbing light. Take one passage about a Beltane ritual. Zimmer Bradley writes that “The little blue-painted girl who had borne the fertilizing blood was drawn down into the arms of a sinewy old hunter, and Morgaine saw her briefly struggle and cry out, go down under his body, her legs opening to the irresistible force of nature in them.”
Without the context of Zimmer Bradley’s personal history, it is possible to read this sentence as a description of an ancient religious practice that is unsettling both in its depiction of an altered state and behavior that contemporary readers would not find acceptable. In the context of her testimony, and an article she wrote about sensual relationships between older and much younger women in literature, we lose the reassurance that the author shares our moral and ethical presumptions.

Whose “moral and ethical presumptions” are these, Ms. Rosenberg? Aren’t you trying to impose your morality on these neo-pagans? Isn’t your reaction rather — what’s that word? — judgmental?

Maybe you should consult a Dianic high priestess.

UPDATE: Something I hadn’t previously realized is that Bradley’s husband Walter Breen was a notorious gay pedophile before she married him. Click here to read a 1964 account of the scandal Breen’s perversion caused in the science-fiction community. What’s fascinating — the way that a bloody car crash beside the highway is fascinating — is how Breen was protected by the “bohemian” ethos of Berkeley radicals in that era. The guy was a serial child molester, everybody knew it, and nobody felt obliged to call the cops.

 

Category: Feminism
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