The Other McCain

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

Excellent Overview Podcast Of Virginia’s Tax Debacle

Posted on | February 26, 2013 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Coffee and Markets serves up a thorough, insightful review of just how thoroughly jacked up Governor McDonnell’s Folly was. The way that the bill was never released for public review before the vote, alone, is just the beginning of what a complete Benedict Arnold move Ol’ Bobby just pulled.

And it worsens as the details unfold. What a betrayal, Governor, of Virginia and conservativism. We really deserved at least a bit of foreplay there.

Ken Cuccinelli for Governor

His campaign slogan has been reduced to “WTF?”

via jbrown1969

Update:

But instead of simply making his pitch and picking up a few business cards from potential donors, Cuccinelli was all but dressed down by two fellow Virginians.
Kilberg, who is close with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, spoke first and noted that the state has become “purple.” She pointed out that McDonnell has sought to govern in the mainstream. But then she wondered aloud if Cuccinelli’s crusading brand fits Virginia’s present political and demographic reality.
Shapiro spoke up next and was even tougher on Cuccinelli. As a hushed room looked on, Shapiro, who sits on the board of the influential Northern Virginia Technology Council, said the state’s centrist-oriented business community won’t back the Republican standard-bearer because he’s out of the mainstream.
“Gary just slammed him,” said one attendee.

Hey, Politico, if you don’t think we see right through the character-assassination, think again.

Category: Virginia

Sending Bloggers to CPAC

Posted on | February 26, 2013 | 10 Comments

The National Bloggers Club is raising money to send bloggers to CPAC. From the press release:

With the largest annual gathering, the Conservative Political Action Conference, less than three weeks away, the National Bloggers Club launched a new scholarship fund to send at least four citizen-journalists to the annual conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
Money for the scholarships will be raised through crowd sourced donations, BlogBash.org, and will cover travel and hotel costs. Grant recipients have been selected from applicants from throughout the country.
“The National Bloggers Club is honored to launch this initiative to help some of our own attend CPAC -and BlogBash this year,” said Bruce Carroll, NBC board member and blogger at www.GayPatriot.com. “Our goal through this effort is to raise $4,500 to make sure that our scholarship recipients have the resources they need to accurately and efficiently report from CPAC. As bloggers, we have a duty to help each other out and this is part of that continuing mission.”
Many bloggers hold full-time jobs and support families, so it can be a financial challenge to attend the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the country. The National Bloggers Club established this fund knowing the both the conference and the political blogging world benefit from the presence of additional citizen-journalists.
The National Bloggers Club is working closely with the organizers of CPAC, the American Conservative Union, to make sure these grantees receive blogger credentials to the event. Recipients of the grant will also assist the Club in providing tools, pictures, and other resources to the hundreds of its members planning to attend.

Click here to contribute.

Category: CPAC

LIVE AT FIVE: 02.26.13

Posted on | February 26, 2013 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Early Italian Election Results Point To Gridlock

Silvio Berlusconi shows off his ballot

Silvio Berlusconi shows off his ballot

Bersani’s center-left coalition will probably take lower house, Berlusconi’s bloc the Senate; comedian-turned-agitator Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement likely to form a powerful new force


GOP Pushes Back On Obama’s Sequester Warnings
House GOP, governors accuse President of preferring scare tactics and campaigning to negotiating a deal

Did Citigroup Pay Jack Lew A Government-Job Bounty?
Senate committee plans vote today on SecTreas nominee



POLITICS
Senator Cornyn Points Out Harsh Truth About Defense Budget Sequestration

Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas)

Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas)

Overall DoD funding will actually increase despite cuts

Sotomayor Chides Attorney For “Racially Charged” Question

Massachusetts Congressional Delegation Whines About Sequester’s Effect On Poor, Children, Elderly

Lindsey Graham Continues To Grow In Office, Urges Tax Hike In Exchange For Entitlement Reform

Chris Christie Snubbed By CPAC?

White House Deploys Cabinet Secretaries To Moan About Sequester Cuts

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop Dies, 96

NC Nonprofit Faces Funding Loss After Memo On Plan To “Eviscerate” GOP

Calls Intensify For Obama To Break Ties With Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Uncertainty Over Italian Elections Saps Crude: NYMEX $92.07, Brent $113.31
Asian Stocks Fall On Italian Election Concern; Yen, Oil Decline
Disquiet Over Italy, And Wall Street Dives
IKEA Recalls Meatballs After Horse Meat Detected
Deutsche Boerse Says No Talks; Analysts See Merit In CME Deal
Macy’s CEO Says He Expected Martha Stewart Exclusivity
B&N Chairman Plans Offer For Bookstore Business
Ray Lane On Hot Seat As HP Chairman
Zynga Cutting Workers, Offices
Twitter Announces App For Firefox OS
HP Sells WebOS To LG For Smart TVs
Mophie Announces iPhone 5 Juice Pack Air
Apple To Offer $5 Credit To Parents Victimized By Bait Apps
Can Samsung’s Android Rivals Catch Up?
EMC Morphs Hadoop Elephant Into SQL Database Hawq
“Dishonored” DLC “The Other Side Of The Coin” Trophy List Leaks



SPORTS
Maple Leafs Hang On To Beat Flyers

Flyers goalie Bryzgalov pokes the puck away

Flyers goalie Bryzgalov pokes the puck away

Toronto wins 4-2

Tom Brady Gets Three-Year Extension From Patriots

NASCAR, Speedway To Oversee Crash Probe

Marlins Owner Jeff Loria Faces Media To Address Negative Fan Fallout

M’s Bonderman Optimistic In Comeback Attempt

Senators Rely On Ben Bishop To Beat Habs In Shootout

#12 Syracuse Loses On The Road To #22 Marquette

Nats’ Anthony Rendon Wants To Take Full Advantage Of Big League Time



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Janet Jackson Secretly Married To Wissam Al Mana

The happy couple at Milan Fashion Week

The happy couple at Milan Fashion Week

Qatari billionaire is Miss Jackson’s third husband

The Onion Posts Apology To Quvenzhane Walls On Facebook

Ben Affleck On Wife Jennifer Garner: “She’s More Perfect Than I Am”

Heidi Klum Shows Off Her Goodies

Britney Spears Goes Brunette, Debuts New Hair Color At Elton John’s Party

Andy Dick Joins DWTS Cast: Riskiest Move Ever?

Prince Michael Jackson To Make Acting Debut On The CW’s “90210”

Lindsay Lohan’s Lawyer Moves To Dismiss Lying-To-Cops Case: She Wasn’t Mirandized



FOREIGNERS
Iceland’s Plan To Ban Internet Porn Sparks Uproar
Syrian Rebels To Meet SecState Kerry, Dismiss Damascus Offer
Palestinian Prisoner Buried As Israel, West Bank Leaders Work To Avert Clashes
Cardinal’s Resignation Sparks Vatican Conspiracy Theories
German Court To Decide The Future Of Technoviking
Major Powers To Offer Sanctions Relief If Iran Curbs Nuke Program
ROK President Park Geun-Hye Warns Norks In Inaugural Address
Cuba Under Raul Castro: He’s Tinkered, But It’s The Same Old Machine
Depardieu Visits Chechen Capital
NATO: No Evidence Of Afghan Misconduct Claims
Kenyan Presidential Candidates Hammered On Corruption At Debate



BLOGS & STUFF
Breitbart: FLOTUS Interruptus – Obamas Hijack The Oscars
This Ain’t Hell: Oscars? Meh.
Weasel Zippers: Hero Of The Working Class Sports $9K Dress To Oscars
Jesse Walker: Oscar Roundup 2013 (Or As They Call It At My House, Purim)
Twitchy: FLOTUS Prop Flop – Michelle Obama’s Use Of Military As Props Sparks Disgust
Allahpundit: Chris Christie’s Not Invited To CPAC This Year
Erick Erickson: Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Thinks You’re An Idiot
NewsBusters: David Brooks Labels Republicans As “Mindless Anti-Government Fanatics”
Jim Pethokoukis: Is This The Real Reason Why Obama Is Worried About The Sequester’s Defense Cuts?
Legal Insurrection: The Firehouse Syndrome
Gateway Pundit: Senate Democrats Will Vote To Ban “Assault Weapons” Today
Betsy Woodruff: Farrakhan Cheers Hagel’s “Jewish Lobby” Comment
Hit & Run: WH Report Claims Sequestration Will Affect Federal Department That No Longer Exists
AmSpecBlog: Devastation – Washington Schools To Face 0.06% Sequester Cut
Ed Driscoll: “Turn Us Into These Last Men”
Protein Wisdom: DOJ Claims If You Operate A Corporation You Give Up Your First Amendment Rights
Nick Gillespie: If You Think The Sequester Cuts Will Tank The Economy, I’ve Got A Bridge In Brooklyn You Might Want To Buy
American Thinker: Secretary Kerry’s Maiden Speech
Lonely Conservative: Blue States Wither While Red States Prosper



(h/t Michael Z. Williamson)

Category: Live at Five

Congressman @SteveStockmanUS Exposes Obama’s Anti-Gun Spambots

Posted on | February 25, 2013 | 16 Comments

Finally, at least one Republican is getting tech-savvy:

A Texas Republican on Monday said President Obama’s gun control campaign is a fraud based on fake messages over Twitter.
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) accused Obama of trying to make support for his position look stronger than it really is by flooding Twitter with messages from people who don’t exist. . . .
Stockman said that in response to Obama’s call for people to tweet their congressman in support of gun control legislation, he received just 16 tweets. But he said all of these messages were identical, and that a closer look at them revealed that only six were from real people.
“The other 10 are fake, computer-generated spambots,” his office said in a press release. As evidence, he said these 10 tweets use default graphics and names, and have not engaged in any interaction with other people. Two of the tweets were sent at nearly the same time, and both follow just one person: Brad Schenck, Obama’s former digital strategist.

A huge hat-tip to @DefendWallSt, who spotted the fake Twitter accounts on the #DemandAVote hashtag Saturday. Friends pointed it out to me, so I blogged about it, and apparently someone in Congressman Stockman’s office was actually paying attention.

National Review reports that Republican Reps. Michael Grimm and Adam Kinzinger have also been “flooded” with messages from the Obama anti-gun spambot campaign.

 

Category: Barack Obama, Congress, Republicans, Texas

Yes

Posted on | February 25, 2013 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

“Is America Becoming Europe?”

The question remains whether our domestic idiots will completely destroy the economy before such, and whether the whole EU/US mess implodes into something still uglier.
I don’t think crap stacks that high, but I’ve been show quite wrong across the board of late.

via Insty

Category: Europe

The Troll R.J. Sterling: Charles Johnson Fanboy Enjoys #TwitterGulag Tricks

Posted on | February 25, 2013 | 6 Comments

For some reason — and “reason” is perhaps not exactly the word to describe the irrational motives of moonbats — a certain Twitter account got up in my face yesterday. The troll seemed to be dogpiling attacks by thin-skinned Charles Johnson after I made a jest:

Notice that I did not include Johnson’s Twitter handle in that Tweet. No need to give him the recognition. But when the Wicked Witch gets annoyed, the flying monkeys attack, and so “Battle Damage” started flinging poo, CC’ing various others (inter alia, Brett Kimberlin fanboy Matt Osborne) to invite them to join an anticipated beatdown that, unfortunately for him, backfired pretty quickly. Then “Battle Damage” started threatening to send people to “Twitter gulag” — using the spam-block to try and get their accounts suspended — and when I called attention to that abuse of Twitter’s terms of service, “Battle Damage” began deleting the threatening Tweets.

A real classy operator, this guy.

Some spectators to this conflict had dealt with “Battle Damage” in the past, and gave me a heads-up to who I was dealing with:

Sources say “Battle Damage” is R.J. Sterling, a lonely middle-aged nerd who works at a restaurant in Pennsylvania.  His thuggish Twitter tactics have been previously described:

This is the evildoer. An Applebees employee, people. Your neighborhood bar and grill is a haven for leftists, people. Leftists who get us thrown into Twitter gulag.
That’s not all: we have a source on this guy. This source told us the following:

But the most useful thing we actually learned, is that RJ is… how should I put this? Not that important, but still connected enough to do damage with TwitterGulag. He’s not like, Shoq’s right-hand woman or anything. But you can definitely tell that RJ idolizes Shoq. . . .
He mostly uses the internet to hit on 21 year-old girls (he’s like 45, btw) by playing the “nice guy” card; and decrying the wickedness of ”the patriarchy”. . . .
RJ is not important because he’s making decisions, or giving orders. He’s important because he relays and amplifies the words of shoq, subculture, lizardoid, etc. to the nerd community. He’s nothing but a lackey– but a lackey who uses whining victimhood to motivate his devoted followers (mostly ignorant young girls) to come to his rescue. . . .
RJ’s preferred (and cowardly) method of trolling is to scan through #tcot, looking for bios he doesn’t like. Then he posts screenshots (without @’ing the person) on his TL, with a whiny tirade about how terrible that person is for not believing in socialism. *snort* THAT is very suspicious as well. RJ knows that he can get in trouble by @’ing random people. A LOT of people have been trolled by one of RJ’s followers and then tracked it back to his TL. When people see that he screenshot their tweets/bio and mocked it to a bunch of people, they naturally tweet @ RJ, and tell him to fuck right off and stop being a little bitch. Then, of course, he blockreports them.
It’s absolutely baiting behavior.

You can read the whole thing. 

While I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that report — I hadn’t previously paid any attention to this clown — it pretty much fits what you’d expect a Charles Johnson fanboy to be like, eh?

Category: Charles Johnson, Fear. Loathing.

Gov. McDonnell’s Tax Hike Is Key To His ‘George Allen’ Strategy

Posted on | February 25, 2013 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

If Virginia Republicans are going to continue to produce centrist milquetoasts for thrashing by statists in general elections, then putting in the largest tax increase in Virginia history is a must-do.

Nothing says ‘limited government, fiscal conservative’, quite like $1.13 billion/year at the state level, and then heading to a CPAC prayer breakfast. I don’t know, maybe Bob is going to offer an Oscar-level performance in public begging.


Trying to find some way to defend it, I suppose it acts as a sop to our blue-state tumors in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, while offering a fine rallying cry for conservatives this November in our off-year election: if you want to restrain government spending, vote Ken Cuccinelli, who, with enough electoral encouragement, may overcome his bashful, shy, retiring nature and go after this largess with pliers and a blowtorch. But is Virginia too far gone for a conservative recovery?

Erickson is kind of upset:

People like McDonnell say this is about evenhanded “problem solving”. But really it’s about the fact that they think conservatives are too stupid for there to be any negative consequences for breaking their promises – on taxes, on Obamacare, on anything. There will always be someone more liberal than a guy like McDonnell, so he doesn’t have anything to worry about. He has just shown us how fake he is, and he’s convinced he can continue to fake people out because they’re too dumb to keep track of it all.
Bob McDonnell is a perfect example of the worst kind of Republican. He has no principles that he won’t sell out if he thinks the situation demands it. He is interested in the praise of liberal editorial pages for his balanced leadership, which is really just selling out the people who got him elected. His policy legacy will now be trading higher taxes for a massive entitlement expansion. How pathetic.
Conservatives should recognize that between Bob McDonnell and Charlie Crist only Crist is honest about not believing in anything.

See, Erick, this is what makes a guy like McDonnell such a perfect setup for increasing the power of Ruling Class, at some nominal cost to, you know, liberty and representative government. McDonnell has enough name recognition to keep reformers off the ballot as Republicans, while retaining a sufficiently pathetic record as to be indistinguishable from the Democrat in the general election.

Laughing hysterically at all this: Mark Warner, who could have faced a significant challenge on his record from McDonnel in 2014, but now will do to McDonnell what Smilin’ Timmy Kaine did to George Allen, or, if you will, what Obama did to John McCain. Or Romney.

What a pile of bollocks. If there is some rationale or strategy to jacking taxes and spending when what’s needed is a downsizing of government, I’d be interested in hearing such.

Category: Virginia

Short Answer: ‘No’

Posted on | February 25, 2013 | 35 Comments

Jonathan Martin of Politico floats a question: “Dems 2016: Will Hillary Clinton clear the field?” And the answer is, “no.”

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is almost 100 percent certain to run and is already assembling his 2016 presidential campaign. Republicans should not make the mistake, as many did in the lead-up to 2008, of basing their entire plan on beating Hillary.

In fact, it’s by no means certain that Clinton will even seek the nomination in 2016 and — more to the point — Republicans have got to put 2016 out of their minds for the time being and focus laser-like on winning the 2014 mid-term elections, now less than 21 months away.

Category: Election, Hillary Clinton
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