LIVE AT FIVE: 03.20.13

Even when the report does mention “social media,” it’s in the context of getting out the vote or having the party apparatus find a better way to reach voters.
I would not be surprised if the RNC spoke with some of the salaried conservative media class who share the Washington professional circuit. But did they reach out to the Army of Davids who are the anti-thesis of the consultant model because we mostly don’t get paid or make much money blogging, we do this in our “spare” time, and we are outside D.C.?
Did the RNC get any input from the great unwashed conservative blogosphere? You wouldn’t know it from the report if it did . . .

Read the whole thing. The idea of “citizen-journalism” is quite nearly alien to the consultant class. The teamwork concept of voluntary collaboration mystifies people for whom politics is a paid gig. Take away their consulting fees, and these guys wouldn’t have anything to do with politics.

There is nothing wrong with applying the entrepreneurial spirit to politics — “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn” — so long as the rewards bear some relation to results. As I’ve often said about the hindsight criticisms leveled at the Romney campaign, nobody would have cared what they got paid, if only they had won the election.

The massive stumbling clusterf–k of the Romney campaign’s “Project ORCA” exposed the fact that greedy incompetents were being paid ginormous fees to do jobs they didn’t actually know how to do. There is a difference between making a living and making a killing, you see.

Category: Legal Insurrection, Republicans

Left-Handed Family Conservativism

Posted on | March 19, 2013 | 14 Comments

by Smitty

We may not return to the notion of one job, one family as superior yet, but could drift back that direction. Lisa DePasquale reviews Lisa Millier in New York magazine on “The Retro Wife”, about feminists surveying the labor force and finding equally forceful labor at home. As though, in addition to decrying “slut shaming,” feminists may eventually back off of “wife shaming,” too. Go figure.

In the nearly 20 months that the World’s Youngest Blogger has been my joy, I’ve actually spent five of those months at home, on a sabbatical after deployment, and then the last two months laid off. Thus, I’ve grown to admire the undeniable fact that motherhood IS a full-on job, and feminists have been as false in attacking mothers who treat motherhood as a full-time job as the feminists have been diabolical in supporting abortion.

DePasquale notes:

Feminists always put a higher premium on what women miss in their careers — advancement, fulfillment, salary — while ignoring what they miss in their home life — time with children and spouse, hobbies, greater connection with what their children are doing. They were able to sell this bill of goods to women in the 60s, 70s and 80s because those women were less likely to be the children of working mothers. Women my generation and younger know what’s missing when living in a single parent or dual-working parents homes. Every generation wants their children to have better. For many mothers, that means being at home during the development years.

The other point here is that our progressive tax code really starts to crush and punish a second salary in the home. In the DC market, you really want $40K to pay a nanny to watch the little dears, by the time all of the pay and tax and overtime issues are sorted. Suddenly, the cost avoidance of sticking around the house and homeschooling the next generation seems much less of a hassle than dealing with the Great Wall of Traffic every day.

The Democrats’ anti-capitalist taxation ideas, ultimately, could help heal some of the cultural damage they’ve inflicted. Almost ironic, there in the rubble.

Category: Culture

Like Ferris Bueller’s Sister

Posted on | March 19, 2013 | 74 Comments

“Why should he get to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants? Why should everything work out for him? What makes him so goddamn special?”

Never mind why I’m quoting this. But when you see the vindictiveness — the backstabbing and vicious deceit — inspired by envy and ambition, and when you see your friends made to suffer because your other “friends” are psychologically consumed by selfish jealousy . . .

Damn. Just . . . damn.

Category: Politics

LIVE AT FIVESIX: 03.19.13

Posted on | March 19, 2013 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
Pope Francis Arrives At St. Peter’s For Inaugural Mass

Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he rides through St. Peter’s Square

Stops frequently to greet people in the million-strong crowd

Cyprus Bailout Live
Telegraph blog slams EU move to rob depositors

Wave Of Violence Erupts In Shiite Sectors Of Baghdad
Car bombs, shootings claim at least 23 on tenth anniversary of US invasion

POLITICS
Perez Record Could Doom Nomination

The President approves of my racist background!

The President approves of my racist record!

Thomas Perez officially nominated as Secretary of Labor; Sen. Vitter pledges to block nomination

Rep. Lynch: Returning Vets Deserve Better Care

Supremes Appear Divided On Arizona Voter Registration Law

Mark Sanford Seeks Redemption From SC Voters

FBI: We Know Who Pulled Off 1990 Gardner Art Heist

New Colorado Gun Restrictions Could Imperil Democrats

FBI Agent Recounts Raid On Gosnell Abortion Clinic

Defense Contractor Accused Of Passing Nuclear Secrets To Chicom Lover

Two Former CALPERS Officials Indicted On Corruption Charges

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Down On Cyprus Deal, US Consumer Confidence: NYMEX $92.27, Brent $108.48
India Rate Cut Eclipsed By Reform Risk As Singh Ally Leaves Coalition
Washington Post Latest Paper To Put Faith In Paywalls
Yellow Pages Bankrupt But Not Gone
US Home Builder Confidence Declines For Third Straight Month
Unemployment Up In 25 States, Down In Only Eight
Boeing Techs OK Contract On Re-Vote
Wheat, Oat, Soybean Futures Fall On CBOT As Beef Rises
Samsung Confirms Smartwatch Scheming
SimCity Players Offered Free EA Game
Judge Ignores Leniency Plea, Hands AT&T Hacker 41-Month Sentence
What Other Services Will Google Shut Down Or Revive?
WinPhone’s 18-Month Support Means It’s Being Upgraded, Not Abandoned
FCC Brings Down The Iron Fist On Illegal Robocalls
Google Pays $40K To “Pinkie Pie” For Partial Hack Of Chrome OS
Reddit Debuts Original Web Series “Explain Like I’m Five”

SPORTS
Injuries Taking Toll On Padres Even Before Season Starts

3B Chase Headley latest ailing Pod

Five injuries to key players could cripple offense, hurt pitching

Bears’ Matt Forte Speaks Out Against Potential Rule Change

Everybody Hates The Sixers’ Andrew Bynum

Ducks Edge Sharks 5-3 For 12th Straight Home Win

Ravens Get Four Extra Picks In Next Month’s Draft

Titans Release QB Hasselbeck, Colts Promptly Sign Him

Blackhawks Avenge Streak-Busting Loss To Avs

Jordan Zimmermann Dominates Tigers’ Heavy Hitters

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Lindsay Agrees To Plea Deal: Ninety Days Locked Down In Rehab

“Ninety days, Lindsay! When you hot, you hot!”

Also, therapy and community service

Tiger & Lindsey Go Public With Their Romance

Lil Wayne Out Of ICU, Upgraded To Stable Condition

Michelle Shocked Hates Gays, Apparently

Julianne Hough: I’m Hot, Single, And Ready To Mingle!

Beyonce Shows Off Her Bod On April SHAPE Cover

Rosario Dawson, Danny Boyle Split

“Rihanna 777”: Fox To Premiere Documentary About Notorious Tour

Sarah Silverman In Talks To Play Whore In Seth MacFarlane Western

Keyshia Cole Slams Beyonce’s New Song, Calls Her “Self-Righteous”

Hilary Duff Shows Off Tiny Heart Tattoo: “All Is Full of Love”

Justin Bieber Leaves Paris Hotel After Fan Disturbance, Rep Claims Not Kicked Out

Michael Jordan Paternity Case Dismissed – For Now

FOREIGNERS
UK Press Regulation: Newspapers Bridle At “Historic” Deal
22 Killed In Kano Bombings
37 Killed In Western India Bus Crash
Report Finds Corruption In PRC Getting Worse (Video)
Obama Tells Iran To Take Immediate Steps To Ease Tensions
Thousands Rally In South Yemen Against Dialogue
Philippine Court Suspends Birth Control Law

BLOGS & STUFF
1389: Will Pope Francis Excommunicate Joe Biden?
Doug Powers: Elizabeth Warren Wants To Know Why The Minimum Wage Isn’t $22 An Hour
NRO Corner: Priebus Credits Portman With Making “Big Inroads” With Gay Community
Senator David Vitter: I Will Block Perez Nomination
Belmont Club: Grease Is The Word
Small Dead Animals: “What Difference, At This Point, Does It Make?” Hacker Distributes Confidential Memos Sent To Hillary On Benghazi Attack
AmSpecBlog: “The Bible”‘s True Grit
Ed Driscoll: His Satanic Majesty’s Request
Weasel Zippers: Obama’s Net Approval Rating Down 15 Points
Israel Matzav: Welcoming Obama, Palestinian Style
Gateway Pundit: Obama May Cancel 135th Annual Easter Egg Roll Due To Sequester
Allahpundit: Rand Paul Advisor Warns RNC Of Nuclear War With The Base If Caucuses Canceled

Category: Live at Five

Rainy Day D.C. Getaway: Did Kimberlin Send a Photo-Stalker to CPAC Blog Bash?

Posted on | March 18, 2013 | 10 Comments

Brett Kimberlin could have been sentenced to 230 years in federal prison

WASHINGTON, D.C.
The piped-in music in this taco shop seems to be set to ’80s punk-pop — currently “Rock This Town” by the Stray Cats — which isn’t an ideal working environment. Of course, I’ve filed from enough bars, McDonald’s and airport terminals that it wouldn’t bother me, except that I spent the past week running around CPAC and I’m ready to be back home.

We scrambled out of National Harbor this morning to get to a 14th Street coffee shop where Ali Akbar and Bill Murphy did their weekly #PoliChat seminar at noon, then Ali had some National Bloggers Club business nearby and, by the time we were ready to hit the road, I figured we’d get trapped in rush-hour traffic. So, executive decision: Grab some cheap Mexican food and get on the free WiFi while we wait for the gridlock to clear. D.C. drivers are horrible on a clear-blue sunshine day, and are utterly hopeless in the rain.

All of this is by way of explaining my relatively modest blog output the past several days. During CPAC, I was getting acquainted with the ViralRead operation while running around to a series of scheduled events and business meetings. After five years of independent freelancing, it’s an adjustment to return to the world in which business meetings are an unavoidable fact of life. Anyway . . .

We were partying away Thursday at Blog Bash when it was learned that there was a photographer outside the nightclub — evidently on assignment for The Unlinkable Site (Now Run by Bill Schmalfeldt) That Coincidentally Smears Enemies of Brett Kimberlin.

Yeah.

It might be libelous to state as a fact that this photographer was being paid by Brett Kimberlin, but it’s hard to imagine why anyone else would have hired a nutjob for such an assignment.

Several of us went outside to talk to the guy, who didn’t seem to recognize any of us. You’d imagine that being face-to-face with Mandy Nagy, Lee Stranahan and other of Kimberlin’s enemies would have gotten a reaction from a volunteer/activist — someone who actually knew whom he was supposed to be stalking — but this guys eemed utterly oblivious. Jeff Dunetz tells the story:

At about 9pm my daughter . . . ran up to me exclaiming “Daddy there is someone outside taking pictures through the window.” . . .
As I went outside to confront the cameraman he ran across the street. As I followed he put his camera up to take pictures of me. Eventually he put down his camera and got nose to nose. . . .
With our faces almost touching he said, “You can’t intimidate me.” I replied “You can’t kiss me.”
Eventually he admitted who sent him to BlogBash — Brett Kimberlin, the Speedway Bomber. Apparently the man who had tried to intimidate the party venue from hosting the event, who [allegedly] had been tweeting nasty slanders against myself and other members of the BlogBash committee for the better part of two weeks … hired a photographer to take pictures of the party … didn’t have the guts to take his own pictures.
So goes it [with] all bullies. Show weakness and they will continue to attack — stand up to them as many of us have been doing with blog posts and other writing —they back off.

You can see the photos at The Lid, and you might also want to see Jeff’s post about the pubescent Indiana girl whose grandmother got shot dead, kind of coincidentally about the time grandma was having a problem with Brett Kimberlin. These coincidences just accumulate, see, and I’m reminded of James Carville’s famous saying that when you see a turtle on top of a fence post, you know it didn’t climb up there by itself.

Being a full-time news industry executive now, I can’t engage in conjecture, insinuation or unsubstantiated speculation. On the other hand, it is just Neutral Objective Journalism to report that I’ve had conversations with writers advising them that, while the phrase “suspected pedophile” is potentially libelous, “convicted bomber” is a statement of documented fact.

You can read Citizen K (sample quote: “Jessica was ten years old and Kimberlin was twenty”) and decide for yourself.

Since 2005, Brett Kimberlin’s tax-exempt 501(c) groups have raised more than $2 million, but what can he buy with that money?

Respect? Admiration? Gratitude? From whom?

No decent, intelligent person could ever have a good opinion of Brett Kimberlin, nor would any honest person consent to take a dime of his money. And therefore Kimberlin seems to have assembled a thug-mob of the indecent, the stupid and the dishonest to wage a war against those who tell the truth about Brett Kimberlin. Which brings us to this description of the photo-troll’s antics:

The Kimberlin folks will call this “journalism.” Watch it and decide for yourself. The photographer screams at passersby: “Warning! Right-wing CPAC maggots! Woot Woot!” He talks about how he is going to “freak out” the people inside and runs up to the window to take a picture. He screams about his “freedom and liberty!!!” to take pictures on the sidewalk, and cackles. He shouts at Ted Cruz when he comes out of the venue, asking him what Jesus would cut from the budget. And so forth.

Read the whole thing (with video) at Patterico. A few hours from now, I hope to be home with my wife and children — returning as the Conquering Hero — and there was a text-message I sent to a few friends last night: “Whom God would destroy, no man can save. Whom God would save, no man can destroy. Praise God.”

It’s a long drive home. Never doubt that God answers prayer, and I’m profoundly grateful for your continuing prayers.

FURTHER READING:

The Best Quotes From “Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin” — John Hawkins, Right Wing News, June 25, 2012
Flashback: Progressives Embrace Convicted Terrorist — Mandy Nagy (“Liberty Chick”), Breitbart.com, Oct. 11, 2010
Kimberlin case a maze of murder, deceit – Joe Gelarten, Indianapolis Star, Oct. 18, 1981
Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin – Mark Singer, 1996

Category: CPAC, Neutral Objective Journalism, The Kimberlin Files

In Missouri, ObamaCare Sucks Even Harder Than Military Service

Posted on | March 18, 2013 | 21 Comments

by Smitty

So, you can be a conscientious objector, and gaff off military service, but:

A federal judge has struck down a Missouri law exempting moral objectors from mandatory birth control coverage because it conflicts with an insurance requirement under President Barrack Obama’s health care law.

Will Orwellian wonders never cease?

As an aside, I don’t have a personal problem with a consistent pacifist who eschews military service. I do have a problem with a deadbeat coward who’s copping out. You have to know and have the moral courage to judge somebody to tell these two categories apart.

The purpose of the post is to call attention to the singularity-like pull of these entitlements, as Rousseau is mutated to say: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Spiffy.”

Category: Missouri

Rule 5 Monday

Posted on | March 18, 2013 | 10 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

First Street Journal leads off this week with a hot country video: “The Girls On Fox News”. Also, in a more conventional post for FSJ, Fun In Iraq. Conservative Counterpoint is now RedNeck Insurrection, and features CPAC videos of Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin on his front page. Subject To Change is in the kitchen, Animal Magnetism checks in with Rule 5 Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon, and Laughing Conservative is eye to eye with Julie Orden. Randy’s Roundtable has Karlie Kloss, Eye of Polyphemus lights on Jordan Brewster, and Reaganite Republican looks at the Barbie Doll craze. Ninety Miles From Tyranny has Lingerie Ladies, Late Night Ladies, and the Hot Pick of the Late Night. The Rio Norte Line carries Katie Holmes, Fishersville Mike is impatient for spring football, and Blessed Blasphemy joins Stacy in defense of the Page Three Girls.

EBL’s been busy in the kitchen as well, with Sophie Dahl serving up the seafood three different ways; also, a big BSC mess, Miss Israel 2013, orchids for the ladies, Gloria Swanson, Dominique McElligott, Sophia Loren, and CPAC Blogger of the Year Katie Pavlich.

Soylent Green is up to speed in the new digs with Monday Motivationer Cara, Tuesday Titillation Tara, Congrats to the Pommies, Humpday Hawt Meggan, It’s Been A Year? Feels Like Ten, I Miss Traveling First Class, Fursday Fabulous, Je Te Retrouverai, Blogasm Droning Drivel, Corset Collation – Sundry Undies, A Minion Missive, Overnighty Janine, and a Weekend Wahini. Also, Spassfabrik auf der St. Patrickstag!

A View From The Beach starts with Olivia Wilde vs. Justin Bieber, followed by Washington’s War On Women, White Smoke (And FEMEN), Topless
Women Protest Headless Church, Puffy Faced Ex-Porn Star Has Political Plans, Ashley Madison: Did She Or Didn’t She? Also, Tina Turner and other rockers celebrate the end of Nanny Bloomberg’s soda ban.

Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe is Marta Dabrowski, his vintage babe is Frances Rafferty, and of course there’s Sex In Advertising along with a Heavenly Body Alert. Dustbury has Svetlana Pankratova and Genevieve Bujold, and Three Beers Later has Maureen O’Hara for St. Patrick’s Day.

The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabes this week included Candace Smith, a Rule 5 Fest with Abbie Cornish, Mariqueen Maandig, Berenice Marlohe, Cobie Smoulders, Bare Breasts vs. Feminuts, Jamie Edmonson, Shanola Hampton, Roxanne McKie, Melinda Clarke, Alexa Davalos, Rashida Jones, Polly Parsons, a need to visit Japan, Mayuko Iwasa, Morning Japanese Hotness, Rosie Jones, Brittany Dailey, and Alison Brie.

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline for submitting links to the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox for next week’s Rule 5 Sunday is Saturday. March 23.

Category: Rule 5

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The Other McCain

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

LIVE AT FIVE: 03.20.13

Missing Word in RNC Report: ‘Blog’

Left-Handed Family Conservativism

Like Ferris Bueller’s Sister

LIVE AT FIVESIX: 03.19.13

Rainy Day D.C. Getaway: Did Kimberlin Send a Photo-Stalker to CPAC Blog Bash?

In Missouri, ObamaCare Sucks Even Harder Than Military Service

Rule 5 Monday

THE FULL METAL JACKET REACH-AROUND AWARD

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!

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