The Other McCain

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

Had The Man Brains, He’d Be Dangerous

Posted on | January 15, 2014 | 35 Comments

by Smitty

What is this nonsense?

“We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help they need. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone,” Obama said Tuesday as he convened his first Cabinet meeting of the year.
Obama continued: ”And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward in helping to make sure our kids are getting the best education possible, making sure that our businesses are getting the kind of support and help they need to grow and advance, to make sure that people are getting the skills that they need to get those jobs that our businesses are creating.”

The title of this post does not mean to imply a lack of respect for #OccupyResoluteDesk’s low animal cunning. Past all of the bluster, though, what does this mean? Is it tantamount to saying that our separation of powers is moot? Is the pack of limp-wristed sycophants on Capitol Hill sufficiently softened by the ObamaCare hijinks that they’ll cheerfully pass a law backing up Obama’s fiats, to keep the fig leaf in place?
To paraphrase George R. R. Martin: November is coming.

Category: Barack Obama

New York Times Plays the Koch Card, Reporting Democrat ObamaCare Panic

Posted on | January 15, 2014 | 14 Comments

The free market group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) opened the 2014 campaign early, running ads targeting vulnerable senators who voted for ObamaCare, as I have previously reported:

AFP is one of the largest grassroots organizations in America, with thousands of supporters and contributors, but notice how the New York Times emphasizes a certain name in this article:

Democrats are increasingly anxious about an onslaught of television ads hitting vulnerable Senate and House candidates for their support of the new health law, since many lack the resources to fight back in the early stages of the midterm campaign.
Since September, Americans for Prosperity, a group financed in part by the billionaire Koch brothers, has spent an estimated $20 million on television advertising that calls out House and Senate Democrats by name for their support of the Affordable Care Act. . . .
Some Democrats are open about calling for help from allies and supporters of the health care law who may be biding their time.
“Democrats need money at this early stage in order to fight back against the limitless spending from the Kochs,” said Guy Cecil, the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “As we get closer to the election, we will have the resources to introduce their Tea Party candidates before they have an opportunity to define themselves for voters, but right now the limitless spending from the Kochs means we need Democratic donors to step up in a bigger way immediately.”

Why do the Koch brothers deserve mention in the second paragraph of this article, whereas the word “ObamaCare” does not appear until the 19th paragraph? The article doesn’t even name President Obama, who is thereby a sort of ghost haunting this article which is, after all, about the failures of his signature legislation.

The status of the New York Times as a Democrat Party propaganda organ has never really been in doubt, so it’s very encouraging to see this evidence that Harry Reid has hit the panic button. Meanwhile, AFP has launched new ads targeting vulnerable House members who voted for ObamaCare, including this one against Rep. Gary Peters (D-Michigan):

You Can Click Here to Contribute to
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY

What a bargain: For $25, you’re like an honorary Koch brother.

 


Category: Barack Obama, Democrats, Health Care, New York Times, Senate

Lena Dunham: ‘If You’re Not Into Me, That’s Your Problem’

Posted on | January 15, 2014 | 51 Comments

Was a reporter guilty of misogyny in questioning the rationale of the frequent Lena Dunham nude scenes in the HBO series Girls?

Certainly, producers of Dunham’s show answered in the affirmative. “It’s sexist and offensive, it’s misogynistic,” said Judd Apatow, while another producer spoke of her “rage spiral” toward reporter Tim Molloy: “[T]his idea that you would talk to a woman like that . . . The idea, it just makes me sort of sick.”

All the focus has been on Molloy’s Sexist Offensive Question:

“I don’t get the purpose of all the nudity on the show. By you particularly. I feel like I’m walking into a trap where you say no one complains about the nudity on ‘Game of Thrones,’ but I get why they’re doing it. They’re doing it to be salacious. To titillate people. And your character is often naked at random times for no reason.”

Amid all the rage over Molloy’s question, no one seems to be asking, “Was Dunham’s answer to Molloy gay-baiting?” Seriously:

“[The nude scenes are] a realistic expression of what it’s like to be alive. . . But I totally get it. If you’re not into me, that’s your problem and you’re going to have to work that out with professionals.”

WHOA!

A man who isn’t “into” Lena Dunham has a “problem”? He needs “to work that out with professionals”? As in, reparative therapy?

Look, I don’t know if Tim Molloy is gay or not, but to say that a man who isn’t attracted to Lena Dunham needs professional help?

What the whole controversy is actually about, of course, is the feminist notion that all women are equally attractive, or at least, that it’s sexist oppression for men to prefer some women over others. Wrapped up in this egalitarian idiocy is our contemporary fetish of self-esteem, and the idea that men’s differential preferences are to blame for the psychic trauma experienced by ugly girls.

Alas, beauty is an objective reality. Beauty is not culturally imposed. In no culture do men prefer Lena Dunham to Kate Upton.

The rage expressed by Dunham’s producers is the customary indignation of the Left — “How dare you?” — when someone calls attention to facts that contradict their belief system.

Rush Limbaugh’s Undeniable Truth of Life #24: “Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.” They’ve never forgiven him for that.

 


Category: Celebrities

LIVE AT FIVE: 01.15.14

Posted on | January 15, 2014 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Teacher Credited With Disarming 12-Year-Old Shooter At NM School

Students escorted from Berrondo Middle School after the incident

Two students and a staff member injured



Oklahoma Gay Marriage Ban Struck Down By Federal Judge
Ruling stayed until state can appeal


Deadly Clashes Erupt Between Police, Morsi Supporters As Egypt Votes On Constitution
At least 11 dead, 28 wounded



POLITICS
Appeals Court Strikes Down “Net Neutrality” Enforcement

Senator Cantwell (D-WA) has a sad

Court rules FCC can’t force broadband providers to treat all customers the same



Questions Arise Over Justice Nominee’s Radical Past


Senate Struggles To Get A Deal On Unemployment Insurance Extension

White House Pushes Back Another Obamacare Enrollment Deadline

Issa Questions Labor Secretary Over Choice Of Investigator In IRS Scandal

Defiant Christie Taunts Critics: Scandal Won’t Derail Agenda



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Profit-Taking Pulls Asian Crude Down: NYMEX $92.52, Brent $106.22
End Of The Mortgage Party? Home Lending Plummets At Wells, JP Morgan
Asian Stocks, Dollar Rally On Hopes For Global Growth
Deep Discounting Erodes Retailers’ Holiday Profits
Fed May Restrict Bank Ownership Of Commodities
Three States Investigate Neiman-Marcus Data Breach
Is Open Internet Dead?
Google Builds A “Nest” For Future Of Smart Homes
Russia’s Yandex To Get Access To Facebook Content
Intel Puts New Arizona Processor Plant On Hold Amid PC Slump
“Catlateral Damage” Gives You A First-Person Cat Simulator



SPORTS
Deng Carries Cavs Past Woeful Lakers

Luol Deng easily puts up a shot past Pau Gasol’s futile defense

New addition drops five three-point bombs on way to 27 points as Cleveland wins 120-118

Leafs Stifle Bruins’ Charge In Third, Edge Boston 4-3

Lee Leads Grizzlies Over Thunder, 90-87


Flyers Top Sabres In Wild Back And Forth Game

Judge Blocks $765 Million Settlement Of NFL Concussion Claims

Devils Whip Habs 4-1

Hoosiers Upset #3 Wisconsin, Inflicting First Loss On Badgers

Eight Eligible Nationals File For Arbitration



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
“Cheer Perfection” Mom Andrea Clevenger Busted For Statutory Rape

Turned herself in after two felony warrants issued

34-year-old charged with two counts of raping 14-year-old boy



Bieber Sidekick Arrested For Coke Possession During Egging


CW’s “Originals” Mocks “Pretty Little Liars” With Ad On ABC Family Channel

Marvel Eying Johnny Depp For “Dr. Strange”

JoJo Signs Deal With Atlantic Records

Christina Ricci Inspires New Trend After Squeezing Into Refrigerator

Christine McVie Rejoins Fleetwood Mac



FOREIGNERS
PRC Lending Slows As PBOC Walks Policy Tightrope
Israeli Defense Minister Apologizes For Kerry Comments
French Affair A Trial For Wincing Hollande
Danish Woman Allegedly Robbed, Gang-Raped In New Delhi
Thai PM Stands Fast On Elections, Says Protests Flagging
UK Government Orders Probe Into SAS Involvement In 1984 Golden Temple Raid
Indian Consul Khobragade Seeks Dismissal Of Visa Fraud Case, Arrest Warrants
Mexican Vigilantes Reject Calls To Disarm As Drug War Rages On



BLOGS & STUFF
First Street Journal: Common Sense From Governor Christie
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Failing PS 106 Received An “A” Grade Under Bloomberg
Proof Positive: The Campaign Is In The Details
Doug Powers: Reuters Wins “Most Ridiculous Headline Of The Week” Award
Twitchy: Give America A Chance – Tony Katz Shreds Obama Over Plea To Give Peace A Chance With Iran
American Power: Trending – #LiberalWhiteWomenPrivilege
American Thinker: Poverty, White Privilege, And Short Memories
Blackfive: Godspeed, Darrell Gilliam
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Justin Bieber And Octomom Investigated
The Necropolitan Sentinel: Obamacare Watch – WE GOT NUMBERS!
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, January 14
Jammie Wearing Fools: Democrats On Hillary Hit List – Please Don’t Hurt Us, We Love You
JustOneMinute: Heroic Idiocy
Pat Dollard: Bloomberg To Serve As SecDef Under Obama Or Hillary?
Protein Wisdom: SHOCKER! White House, Administration, SecDef Et Al Knew Immediately Benghazi Was A Terror Attack
Shot In The Dark: Re-Volt
The Jawa Report: Iranian President – Yeah, The US Surrendered To Iran
The Lonely Conservative: Where Are Republicans And The Media On Administration’s Racial Disciplinary Edict?
This Ain’t Hell: Military Sabbaticals
Megan McArdle: Learning To Shop After The Recession


Category: Live at Five

The ‘Emerging Awareness’ Continues

Posted on | January 14, 2014 | 105 Comments

Same-sex marriage was illegal in all 50 states as recently as 2003. That was the year in which Justice Anthony Kennedy invoked the “emerging awareness” doctrine in the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas ruling:

In all events we think that our laws and traditions in the past half century are of most relevance here. These references show an emerging awareness that liberty gives substantial protection to adult persons in deciding how to conduct their private lives in matters pertaining to sex.

From this decision — premised on the oddly arbitrary claim that “laws and traditions” antedating 1953 are invalid or irrelevant “in matters pertaining to sex” — it was a swift race to the point at which a federal judge appointed in 1994 by President Clinton could declare that a state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage was unconstitutional:

A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled Tuesday that the state’s constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage violated the federal Constitution, the latest in a string of legal victories for gay rights and one that occurred in the heart of the Bible Belt.
The state’s ban on marriage by gay and lesbian couples is “an arbitrary, irrational exclusion of just one class of Oklahoma citizens from a governmental benefit,” wrote Judge Terence C. Kern of United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, in Tulsa, deciding a case that had languished for nine years. The amendment, he said, is based on “moral disapproval” and does not advance the state’s asserted interests in promoting heterosexual marriage or the welfare of children. . . .
The Oklahoma amendment under question, stating that “marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman,” was adopted by referendum in 2004 with 75 percent of the vote.

So, the votes of 75 percent of Oklahoma’s citizens are invalid, because the “emerging awareness” doctrine declares that 5,000 years of human tradition constitute “an arbitrary, irrational exclusion.”

 

Category: Gays, Marriage

Another Community Organizer Non-Victory In New York

Posted on | January 14, 2014 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

Via Insty, Richard Epstein alludes to a bummer of a tale in New York:

“After Winning a Raise, 175 Workers At a Queens Casino Lose Their Jobs.” That result would never have happened if the workers had won their raises by demonstrating higher levels of productivity to their employer, The Resorts World Casino. Instead, these wage increases were dictated by a labor arbitrator who doubled the base wages for workers in the casino under the living wage arrangement that he imposed on the firm.
No one should be thrilled that restaurant workers have to settle for wages of $5 per hour plus tips. But a steady job at that level is better than no job at the $12 base pay ordered by the arbitrator. The casino sought to raise food prices to compensate for the increased costs, but the law of demand applies to consumers as well. In hard times, they won’t stand for the increased prices, so the casino closed a food operation that could only operate at a loss, leaving 175 union members to scramble for jobs.

I’m no fan of casinos, not being bothered even to play the lottery. For a better rebuttal, and lest you think me too pious, allow me to introduce a bit of Frank Zappa, with a reggae-driven rebuttal for union idiocy everywhere. This is FZ, which is short for NSFW for those not In The Know.

You can enjoy the tune before or after reading the whole of the article.

Category: Unions

The Rocky Horror Dating Game: Translesbians Encounter Queer Hate

Posted on | January 14, 2014 | 86 Comments

Radical egalitarianism is a sort of philosophical insanity, premised as it is on the idea that everything is equal, even things that are fundamentally different. When you begin with an obvious falsehood as the premise of your argument, the conclusion will necessarily be madness.

Ten days ago, I brought you up-to-date about an emerging controversy on the extremist fringe. Radical feminists who wish to exclude trannies from their events are accused of “transphobia”:

RadFem 2013 was a conference in London, which resulted in a gigantic controversy because radical feminists insisted on excluding the “transgendered” from their female-only event, and one of the featured speakers, Australian lesbian feminist Professor Sheila Jeffreys, was about to publish a new book, Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism, that was deeply offensive to the “T” people represented in the LGBT acronym.
How crazy did that conflict become? At one point in April, the venue tried to cancel the event after discovering that “certain language was used and some statements were made about transgender people that would go against our equalities and diversity policy.” Another RadFem conference organizer, Cathy Brennan of Baltimore, was meanwhile all over Twitter announcing “transwomen are men” and comparing them to MRAs (men’s rights advocates).

 Brennan’s outspoken hostility to “transwomen” — including those she calls “Pretendbians” — takes it to a whole new level of crazy:

Basically, Cathy Brennan is the Fred Phelps of radical lesbian feminists. Brennan’s message seems to be, “Feminism is for man-hating socialist homosexual perverts and we don’t want to associate with a bunch of surgically mutilated psychotic freaks.”

Gosh, it’s kind of hard to choose sides here, isn’t it?

One radical feminist (who evidently rejects capitalization as misogynistic oppression) offers this diatribe against “transwomen”:

whereas transwomen’s “problems” would not be solved if feminism succeeded — that means transwomens problems are male problems, and do not implicate male power or womens oppression by men, which are the kinds of problems feminists are interested in solving.  post-patriarchy, transwomen would definitely not be let into female-only space, for example.  and insofar as transwomen depend on global female oppression to define and maintain their identities, and depend on subjugated females on which to model their feminine behaviors, and insofar as born-women not coddling transwomen is a “problem” for transwomen, transwomens problems will actually be made worse when and if patriarchy falls, because they would not be able to express their gender properly, the entire concept — or the parts of which are dependent on female oppression — having been abolished.  and because NO ONE would put up with their shit.

In the vocabulary of “gender studies” intellectuals, the prefix “cis-” has been popularized as the antonym of “trans-,” so that someone who is born female and identifies as such as is a “ciswoman.” That explanation is necessary to understanding — insofar as the rantings of a deranged lunatic can be understood by sane people — the romantic complaints of translesbian Julia Serano:

About two years ago, my ex and I split up after being together for nearly a decade. She was a cis queer woman who was supportive when I transitioned a few years into our relationship, and we were monogamous during the lion’s share of our time together. This meant that for the first time in a decade, I would be re-entering the dating scene. This could be somewhat disconcerting for any person, but there were a few compounding factors that made it especially . . . well, let’s say “interesting” . . . for me. First, this would be the first time that I would be dating people as a woman. Furthermore, while I had dated queer women before my transition, this would be my first time formally dating within the queer women’s community. On top of that, around this same time, after years of identifying as a lesbian, I came out as bisexual, so I also planned on dating men.

To clarify: Julia Serano was born a man. His/her ex-girlfriend is a lesbian “who was supportive when I transitioned,” but now they’re split and so the bisexual post-transition shemale is looking for love “within the queer women’s community.”

And you thought your love life was complicated, eh?

One trans woman friend told me about how she recently met a cis dyke, and they were really hitting it off, until she realized that this person was misreading her for a person on the trans masculine spectrum. When my friend told the cis dyke that she was in fact a trans woman, the cis dyke seemed to immediately lose interest.

Oops. Don’t you hate it when that happens?

On numerous occasions I have looked over the “w4w” [i.e., women for women] section of Craigslist, but it inevitably leaves me traumatized. There is so much trans hate speech on that site, and the very few ads that mention being open to trans are specifically looking for trans men or tranny bois, not trans women.

Isn’t that wonderful? After you get a sex-change operation, you’re allowed to describe romantic rejection as “hate speech”!

 I also find it ironic that cis dykes — many of whom pride themselves on their progressive politics and subversive sexualities — tend to be far more conservative and conforming to our culture’s yuck-dating-a-trans-woman-is-gross mindset than their cis male counterparts, at least here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am also embarrassed as a queer for the fact that so many straight cis men have worked through, or are beginning to work through, their own issues regarding trans women, whereas most cis queer women refuse to even consider the possibility that they even have an issue.

In other words, if you are a lesbian who doesn’t date trannies, you have “issues” you need to “work through.”

Sexual attraction is a complex phenomenon, and of course there is lots of individual variation. I certainly do not expect every cis queer woman to swoon over me. And if it were only a small percentage of cis dykes who were not interested in trans women at all, I would write it off as simply a matter of personal preference. But this not a minor problem—it is systemic; it is a predominant sentiment in queer women’s communities. And when the overwhelming majority of cis dykes date and fuck cis women, but are not open to, or are even turned off by, the idea of dating or fucking trans women, how is that not transphobic? And to those cis women who claim a dyke identity, yet consider trans men, but not trans women, to be a part of your dating pool, let me ask you this: How are you not a hypocrite?
I did not write this piece to vent about my dating life. I go out on plenty of dates, and I’m having lots of super-fucking-awesome sex, just not with cis women at the moment. My purpose in writing this piece is to highlight how cis dykes’ unwillingness to consider trans women as legitimate partners translates directly into a lack of community for queer-identified trans women.

Stop the presses! Queer-identified trans women are suffering from “a lack of community”! And if you don’t agree that this is the most important issue in the world, you’re obviously a hater.

The good news? Even radical lesbian feminists can be haters now.

“All is proceeding as I have foreseen.”

 

Category: Feminism, Gays, Sex

Up Through the Ranks, Under the Bus

Posted on | January 14, 2014 | 24 Comments

Have you heard about Clint Lorance? In 2002, the Texan enlisted in the Army on his 18th birthday, and was promoted to sergeant in two years. In 2005, he earned his Airborne wings at Fort Benning. Sgt. Lorance was deployed to Iraq with the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team from September 2006 to November 2007. Upon returning stateside, Sgt. Lorance enrolled in an officer training course and in 2010 was commissioned a second lieutenant. Assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, Lt. Lorance deployed to Afghanistan in March 2012:

During his deployment, Clint was the squadron’s liason officer to the commander until selected to become a platoon leader.
On July 02, 2012 while conducting an Afghan-Led dismounted patrol into an afghan village, the Afghan Army element on the joint patrol began to engage what they thought were Taliban. Worried that the Afghan Soldiers are poor marksmen and would likely cause collateral damage, Clint ordered his gun truck to fire two precision shots at the Taliban. As the platoon moved through the village, the intelligence analysts intercepted several radio transmissions indicating the Taliban could see the Platoon in plain view. There was an existential enemy threat in the area. From the beginning of the patrol, US helicopters were radioing LT Lorance’s patrol indicating confirmed enemy activity in the area, the description of the enemy matched exactly the enemy combatants the patrol initially engaged with the two precision shots. A few moments Later in the patrol in the same village, Clints Soldiers captured one Afghan on a motorcycle who was later confirmed as a Taliban.

Lt. Clint Lorance was subsequently charged with murder and in October 2013 was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Here was a soldier who had devoted nearly 10 years of his life to his nation’s service, who had come up through the ranks from private to lieutenant, whose previous record as a soldier was unblemished.

However, in a situation of extreme danger — a battlefield environment in which guerrillas and terrorists were a menace to the lives of Americans and Afghans alike — Lt. Lorance was accused of violating the rules of engagement and convicted of murder.

“He made the statement to his soldiers that
he would bring them home to their families
and that’s what he intended to do.”

Does this seem right to you? It sure as hell doesn’t seem right to me.

His family has a Web site devoted to this issue.

 


Category: Military
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