The Other McCain

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

Loose Cannons And Enthusiastically Violent AIs

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 26 Comments

— Wombat-socho


Apologies for the lack of book posts lately, but frankly, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to spend between the covers of a book while playing Dad Taxi while my daughter was in town. Since I’m not going to be doing much else this week, you may wind up getting two book posts, but no promises. We’ll see how it goes.


First, the leftover recommendations by commenters from the last book post: L. Neil Smith’s The Nagasaki Vector got some love, as did Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson, Roger Zelazny’s Roadmarks, and in the How The Hell Did I Manage To Forget These category, Tim Powers’ Three Days to Never and The Anubis Gates. Both of those are most excellent, as is pretty much everything Powers has written. Man deserves his own post, and one of these weeks I’m going to have to slap it together. Also, Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions.


I did find time to finish David Drake’s Loose Cannon, the Tom Kelly anthology. I thought I’d read Fortress, the second novel in the collection, before but guess I thought wrong – either that, or it was so long ago that I completely forgot about it, which is pretty unlikely considering that I can still remember plot summaries of stories I haven’t read since junior high school. Anyhow, in the unlikely event either Fortress or Skyripper get made into movies, Bruce Willis is a cinch to play Tom Kelly. No idea who’d they get to play Gisele, the German belly dancer, though. Anyway, as to the plot of Fortress: it takes place in an alternate history 1985 where the US did things right and got to the moon in 1963, in which year McNamara instead of Kennedy ate a bullet in Dallas, and American troops wound up in Lebanon instead of Vietnam. In this alternate 1985, Tom Kelly is an aide to a Congressman recruited by the CIA to find out what the hell is going on with some former Kurdish assets and some ex-SS men in Turkey…to say nothing of the aliens. There are references to an alt-history version of the USS Liberty incident and Kelly’s exposure of Israeli involvement, which is the reason he got turfed from the NSA, as well as what looks an awful lot like a rework of Drake’s short story “The Last Battalion”, which also involves Nazis and aliens. The first half of the anthology, of course, is the technothriller Skyripper – although Skyripper only fakes being a technothriller until you realize that the Soviet scientist raving about aliens isn’t raving*. Between the two novels, you really ought to pick up Loose Cannon if you don’t already own both novels.


The other book I managed to finish last week was Iain Banks’ Surface Detail, and I was surprised that it ended as happily as it did. This has not been my experience with other Culture novels by Banks, most of which feature the bulk of the POV characters dying in fairly unpleasant ways (and for no good reason to boot) but this one was a pleasant surprise, with the [deleted] dying a miserable and painful death while [deleted] get their [deleted] handed to them as they so richly deserve, and [deleted] as well as [deleted] get to live happily ever after. Which is a long, long time in the Culture. The story takes a while to get rolling, but is worth the time you spend on it. Some nice space battles in this one, too, although you might argue they’re more like deep-space ambushes where the ambushers don’t realize just how much trouble they’re about to get into. Bwahahaha!


Currently reading Threat Vector and already getting the feeling I missed a couple of books in the Jack Ryan universe, since the last one I read was The Teeth Of The Tiger.


So what have y’all been reading?


*This isn’t exactly a spoiler since whatever genius at Baen wrote the back cover blurb already SPOILED IT FOR EVERYBODY. Nice job there, spud.

Category: Books

A New York Times Columnist Even Worse Than David Brooks and Paul Krugman?

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 30 Comments

As impossible as it may seem, apparently it is true:

The New York Times earlier this month announced “an important expansion” of its opinion offerings, adding more than two dozen new contributors from around the world slated to write monthly columns.
Among them is Egyptian best-selling author Alaa Al-Aswany, quoted frequently in the English-language media and described as a “liberal” Egyptian voice . . .
According to Eric Trager of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Aswany is “among Egypt’s most prolific conspiracy theorists, and he often uses his very public platform to reinforce some of Egypt’s most popular bigotries,” The New Republic notes.
Because Aswany voices his more controversial opinions in Arabic, the Western press doesn’t notice.
For example, Aswany told Egyptian television that a “massive Zionist organization rules America,” thus “Obama is not able to go against Israel’s desires.”

More from Eric Trager in the New Republic:

In August, when Senator John McCain visited Egypt to encourage negotiations between the military and the Brotherhood, Aswany tweeted, “The Zionist John McCain, one of the biggest defenders of Israel, threatens Egypt if it does not release [Brotherhood leader] Shater immediately. The only explanation is that Brotherhood rule is in the interest of Israel.”

So yes, Aswany is worse than David Brooks and Paul Krugman.

But not worse than Tom Friedman. Nobody is worse than Friedman.

 

Category: New York Times

‘Seize This Opportunity to Cripple the Tea Party’s Political Power for Good’

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 52 Comments

One of the things you learn is that if you ever sign up online for any liberal or Democrat operation — even as a reporter trying to get campaign information — your e-mail address will be sold and resold until eventually you’re on every liberal mailing list.

Which I don’t mind, actually, because it gives you a glimpse into what kind of messages are turning up in Democrat inboxes. Eight days before the gubernatorial election in Virginia, this is what was sent out by Democracy for America this morning:

Robert —
“Beat the snot out of them.” — former Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-OH
“If they refuse to fight for us, we must fight them.” — Erick Erickson, RedState
Those aren’t Republicans talking about what they are going to do to Democrats next year. Those are Republicans talking about what they want to do to each other — just as the GOP’s approval ratings implode in the aftermath of the government shutdown.
I assume you’ve heard the phrase, “strike while the iron is hot.” Well, if you want to hold the Tea Party accountable, irons don’t come much hotter than the upcoming election in the purple state of Virginia — in just one week. With voters livid about the government shutdown and Republicans embroiled in a civil war, progressives are in prime position to shock the political world in Virginia, setting the stage for Democrats taking back the House in 2014.
Do you want to seize this opportunity to cripple the Tea Party’s political power for good? Then join fellow DFA members to Call Out the Vote in Virginia.

Yes, I can volunteer to make calls from home into Virginia on Wednesday.
No, I can’t make calls but I can chip in $5 to support DFA’s Call Out The Vote program in Virginia — and in states all over the country in 2014.

DFA went into Virginia early, endorsing and supporting bold Democratic candidates across the state. The polls are extremely tight, and our Purple to Blue endorsed candidates have never been in a stronger position to win.
Our volunteers know that the frustration and fatigue with obstructionist Tea Party tactics is real. Not only is it reflected in the polls — it is reflected in the daily conversations DFA members are having with voters in Virginia. In recent Call Out The Vote phone banks to Virginia, I’ve spoken with several Democrats and independents who can’t wait to run out and cast a ballot for our endorsed candidates on November 5. And I’ve even spoken to Republicans for whom the government shutdown was the last straw.
This isn’t just about one state or one election. This is about seizing an opportunity to change the congressional campaign landscape for 2014. Can you volunteer to help Call Out the Vote in Virginia this week?
Yes, I can volunteer to make calls from home into Virginia on Wednesday.
No, I can’t make calls but I can chip in $5 to support DFA’s Call Out The Vote program in Virginia — and in states all over the country in 2014.
Thank you for helping us win,

Karli

Karli Wallace, Campaign Organizer
Democracy for America
P.S. As an added incentive, the top caller from each COTV shift will receive a signed copy of Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform. Click here to sign up now.

What this tells me is that “Tea Party” is a bogeyman phrase for liberals, the way “Halliburton” and “Religious Right” used to be.

As for Virginia, as incredible as it seems to say, the Old Dominion may actually be about to elect Terry McAuliffe governor.

The Real Clear Politics poll average has McAuliffe leading Republican Ken Cuccinelli by nearly 10 points, and by 8 points (50-42) in the latest Quinnipiac survey. Why? It’s not Cuccinelli’s fault — he’s a good candidate who has run a good campaign. The problem is that Republicans seem so demoralized and apathetic after their defeat in 2012 that they couldn’t raise enough money to enable Cuccinelli to compete effectively with McAuliffe’s money machine.

Also, since 2010, the GOP has gradually backslid into a cautious, timid and unprincipled “Me Too” posture. If you’re for gay marriage and amnesty for illegal immigrants, you can vote Democrat, but if you’re against gay marriage and amnesty, Republicans won’t dare appeal for your vote by speaking out on these issues, because their consultants tell them your opinions are marginal and disreputable.

You can’t win if you’re afraid to fight. Nobody admires cowardice, and the GOP nowadays marches under the white flag of surrender.

 


Category: Democrats, Election, Tea Party, Virginia

‘Students for Pleasure’?

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 30 Comments

Spencer Chretien describes some vignettes of campus life at the College of William & Mary, including this poster:

“Like oral sex?
Cuccinelli doesn’t.
He actually wants to make it a felony.
Vote Terry McCauliffe (sic) for Governor on Nov. 5th!
Don’t let Election Day go down without you.
#GetYourHeadInTheGame
Paid for by Students for Pleasure”

And I was like, “Students for Pleasure?”

When I was in college, they called themselves Delta Zetas.

These kids today . . .

 

Category: Education

Obvious Truths of the Obama Age

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 13 Comments

Professor Glenn Reynolds, who knows a thing or two about effective Internet sites, discusses the HealthCare.gov debacle:

So the Obamacare website doesn’t work, and nobody knows when it’ll be fixed. Administration officials are pointing toward late November, but they’ve had more than three years to work on it. In about the same amount of time after John F. Kennedy’s “we choose to go to the moon” speech, we’d already put people into orbit and brought them safely to earth. It was obviously the signature effort of the Obama administration, but it was a flop. Forget launching to the moon; we can’t even launch a website now. What does that tell us?

It tells us that Obama was elected because a majority of voters are stupid, but we already knew that. Next question, Professor?

 

Category: Barack Obama, Health Care, Instapundit

CBS: ‘Hey, Benghazi Is a Real Scandal’

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 51 Comments

Here’s the headline at Legal Insurrection:

60 Minutes confirms Benghazi is a
real scandal, and you’ve been lied to

No surprise to anyone who has actually paid attention, of course, but the Obama administration and its media sycophants have spent months issuing excuses and manufacturing distractions — “Squirrel!” — in an effort to delay disclosure of the whole cover-up.

What has happened is essentially a repeat of what happened with the Lewinsky scandal: First, the flat-out lie, then months of carefully shifting the narrative so that when the truth becomes known, the political impact of the revelation is negligible, because people have relegated the incident to the category of Something That Already Happened. If the full truth had been known at the outset, the political result would have been different, but Democrats can survive scandals that would destroy any Republican in similar circumstances, simply because the mainstream media are sympathetic to Democrats and are therefore eager to assist them in perpetrating falsehood.

 


Category: CBS, Libya

Sound The Collision Alarm! Yet Another Lefty Switcheroo Is CBDR!

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 35 Comments

by Smitty

For those not ‘in the know’, CBDR means “Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range”. Say that on the bridge of a ship underway, and you have everyone’s attention.

Robert Reich over at the Huffington Compost: “The Democrat’s Version of Health Insurance Would Have Been Cheaper, Simpler, and More Popular (So Why Did We Enact the Republican Version and Why Are They So Upset?)”

In February 1974, Republican President Richard Nixon proposed, in essence, today’s Affordable Care Act. Under Nixon’s plan all but the smallest employers would provide insurance to their workers or pay a penalty, an expanded Medicaid-type program would insure the poor, and subsidies would be provided to low-income individuals and small employers. Sound familiar?

As stabbed in the heart by none other than the Oldsmobile Admiral himself, Ted Kennedy, the Lyin’ of the Senate:

Nixon strongly believed that a national health insurance plan was crucial. In that 1974 State of the Union Address, he declared that “the time is at hand this year to bring comprehensive, high quality health care within the reach of every American”. Actually, this statement is not surprising considering Nixon’s personal history of poverty and family illness. (He lost two brothers to tuberculosis, the illnesses dealing a heavy blow to the family finances, and in fact proposed a national health insurance bill when he arrived in Congress in 1947.) Nixon sounds very much like Obama, when he said in 1974 that he did not want to see “other families of modest means…driven …to bankruptcy because of the inability to handle medical care problems of a catastrophic type”.
However, the “liberal” opposition, spearheaded by the lobbying of the then-powerful AFL-CIO and United Autowokers, proved too much for an administration spending significant energy on defending against the rising tide of the Watergate affair.
Kennedy did begin secret negotiations with the Nixon White House, but he fell prey to the pressures of the unions, as labor leaders wished for a single-payor system which they felt would be rather easily achieved once a Democrat was elected to the presidency in the face of the Watergate scandal. Many felt that Kennedy would be that Democrat, and therefore he had no business throwing a lifeline to the sinking Nixon administration.

But that’s old politics, and I only bring this up to show that Nixon was more Progressive than anything else, as well as help Reich make sure he doesn’t forget crucial details.

It’s also funny that, for a party that likes to pat itself on the back about being pragmatic, they totally blew the opportunity to get the capstone of FDR’s foul Second Bill of Rights in place while they could.

But the real, contemporary point here, Mr. Reich, is that ObamaCare IS a Democrat turd. How many Republican votes were for it? Zip, zero, nada, zilch. In either chamber of Congress.

The Democrats, and their little sycophants, own this. They were all prepared to bask in the glory, set up a permanent Democrat majority, and pulverize the Republican party. But ObamaCare is a river of lies, with headwaters in hell. It was falsely conceived, falsely legislated, falsely adjudicated, falsely reported, falsely coded, and, unexpectedly, enjoyed a false rollout. The nicest thing I have to say about ObamaCare is that albatross was an appropriate flavor choice:
But under no circumstances should the pure, 100% Democrat ownership of this debacle be allowed to slip from the public consciousness.

Category: Health Care

LIVE AT FIVE: 10.28.13

Posted on | October 28, 2013 | 10 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
Lou Reed, 1942-2013, RIP

Lou Reed playing in NYC, 2009

An outsider whose dark, lyrical visions made rock what it is.



Report: Obama Knew, Approved NSA Spying On Merkel
More fallout from the Snowden leaks


Explosions Kill Five At Narendra Modi Rally In Bihar
Six bombs, five dead and 83 wounded



POLITICS
NSA Denies Website Hacking, Blames System Error

Demonstrators march against NSA surveillance

Hacker group claims credit

One Year After Sandy, Hundreds Of Staten Island Homeowners Still Waiting To Rebuild, Return

Passions High As Hawaii Debates Gay Marriage

Bill Clinton Stumps For McAuliffe In Hampton

Cheney Criticizes Daughter’s Opponent In Senate Primary

Poll Shows DiBlasio Poised To Win by Historic Margin

Healthcare.gov Crashes Again, Verizon Subsidiary Blamed

GOP Groups Step Up Pressure On House To Pass Immigration Reform

Jindal Focusing On Upcoming Elections, Obamacare, Not White House Bid



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Prices Mixed In Cautious Asian Trade: NYMEX $97.71, Brent $107.20
Asian Markets Rebound, Following Wall Street Lead, Yen Softens
Aussie Markets Close At Five-Year High
Furloughed Federal Workers Must Repay Jobless Benefits
McDonald’s Squeezing Out Heinz Ketchup
Amazon Revenue Soars 24% In Third Quarter
Twitter Overtakes Facebook As Most Popular Social Network For Teens
LG Unveils Curved Smartphone In Race Against Samsung
Nokia Goes Big With Lumia Tablet, Smartphones
Comcast Offers HBO In Basic Cable Package
Firefox Plug-In Shows Who’s Tracking You



SPORTS
Gomes Blast Brings Boston The Win

The Bearded One is greeted by Ortiz and Pedroia after driving them in with his sixth-inning homer

4-2 victory over Cardinals evens World Series at two apiece; Red Sox could win it all in Fenway for the first time since 1918

Jeff Gordon Speeds To First Sprint Cup Win Of The Year

Rodgers Leads Packers Past Vikings In 44-31 Rout

Sharks Beat Sens 5-2

Manning Leads Broncos To Victory Over Redskins Despite Sprained Ankles

Oregon Edges FSU In BCS, Standings, Alabama Still #1 – ROLL TIDE!

Chiefs Hold On To Beat Browns, Remain Unbeaten

Dalton, Bengals Humiliate Jets 49-9

Patriots Rally In Second Half, Top Dolphins 27-17

Ducks Edge Blue Jackets 4-3

Report: Nationals To Hire Matt Williams As Manager



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Christina Ricci Marries Fiance James Heerdegen

All the Wednesday Addams fanboys heartbroken ;_;

All the details on the wedding

Olivia Wilde, Jason Sudeikis Expecting First Child

Marcia Wallace, Star Of “Bob Newhart Show” And “The Simpsons”, Dead At 70

Julianne Hough Goes Blackface For Halloween

David Beckham, Son Escape Injury In Auto Accident

“Sons Of Anarchy ” Actress Maggie Siff Pregnant


Liam Gallagher’s Baby Mama Fighting For Full Custody

Doutzen Kroes Feels Guilty About Being A Sexy Model

Boy George Snubs Fans Before Club Set

Rumors Abound After Huma-Wintour Lunch

Matt Harvey And GF Looking For A Home

The Unthinkable Happens: Leopard Skin Now Classy

Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell Don Lederhosen For Halloween Party



FOREIGNERS
66 Dead In Day of Carnage As 11 Car Bombs Rip Iraq
Three Killed, Many Injured As SUV Hits Tienanmen Square Crowd, Bursts Into Flames
Rocket Fired From Gaza Intecepted By Iron Dome
England, Wales Set For “Worst Storm In Years”
Chicoms Put Anti-Corruption Activists On Trial
Twenty Wedding Guests Killed By Roadside Bomb In Afghanistan
Fernandez’ Allies Thumped In Argentine Mid-Terms



BLOGS & STUFF
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Feminism, Marxism, and Permanent Revolution
Chicks On The Right: Helpful Tips From Kathleen Sebelius On The Obamacare Website
American Power: Leftist Media Mounts Coordinated Attack On Obama’s Claim To “Greater, More Competent Government”
American Thinker: Tying The Knot Under ObamaCare
The Necropolitan Sentinel: Obamacare Watch – Say, Where Is The Money Coming From?
Don Surber: St. Crispin’s Day Daily Scoreboard
Jammie Wearing Fools: Obama’s War On Women – ObamaCare Takes Away Womens’ Health Care Choices
JustOneMinute: Noonan On Obamacare
Pat Dollard: Unmarked Military Gunboats Patrolling Louisiana Canals?
Protein Wisdom: “More People In Three States Have Had Their Insurance Cancelled Under Obamacare Than Have Filed An Exchange Account In All 50”
Shot In The Dark: Watching The Astroturf Grow – Nuts And Bolts And More Nuts
The Jawa Report: Nigeria Slaughters Boko Haram
The Lonely Conservative: Democrats Want Smokers To Die Quickly
Megan McArdle: The Great Pension-Bonus Giveaway Fiasco


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