The Other McCain

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

Inconvenient History: Jackie Robinson Was A Republican?

Posted on | February 22, 2013 | 15 Comments

by Smitty

Hip Hop Republican points to Jackie Robinson, the baseball great who at least started off as a Republican:

Jackie Robinson is remembered for breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, but he played a less heralded role in Republican politics and black community activism. Robinson was a vital voice of reason in the early ‘60’s as the black liberation movement in the urban north grew more radicalized. He struggled to preserve an older, conservative vision of social progress against a wave of left-wing extremism.
In his biography, Robinson described what drew him to Republican politics:

“I believed blacks ought to become producers, manufacturers, developers and creators of businesses, providers of jobs. For too long we had been spending too much money on liquor while we owned too few liquor stores and were not even manufacturing it.

Read the whole thing.

Wikipedia notes he veered left later:

Robinson was angered by conservative Republican opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He became one of six national directors for Nelson Rockefeller’s unsuccessful campaign to be nominated as the Republican candidate for the 1964 presidential election. After the party nominated Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona instead, Robinson left the party’s convention commenting that he now had “a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler’s Germany”. He later became special assistant for community affairs when Rockefeller was re-elected governor of New York in 1966. Switching his allegiance to the Democrats, he subsequently supported Hubert Humphrey against Nixon in 1968.

What can we learn from this? I’m by no means a scholar of the details, but it sure seems that, when adhering to basic conservative principles, the GOP succeeds, and when it gets caught up in the elitist stereotypes played to such great effect by the Obama campaign in 2012, the GOP gets whacked.

Update: more at Grand Old Partisan.

Category: Republicans

Never Doubt That Kurt Eichenwald Cares Deeply About Gay Kids With Bad Haircuts

Posted on | February 22, 2013 | 34 Comments

Thursday I posted a “coming out” video by a mopey kid with a bad haircut. This evidently enraged a Vanity Fair writer:

Thu, February 21, 2013 7:38 PM
From: KURT EICHENWALD <[email protected]>
To: Chris Smith <[email protected]>; “[email protected]” <[email protected]>
Subject: you are both despicable

I will address you both as adults, even though you clearly are not. The fact that you could use your site to make fun of an abused, frightened teenager is the most abhorrent thing I have ever seen by supposed “professional” commentators. Your decision that this kid was a fake was the type of arrogance I would expect to see from a 5th grader, not an adult. If you have nothing better to do than direct derision and contempt towards a child, then maybe you should stop pretending you are anything more than bullies who have nothing better to do with their lives.
You deserve all of the contempt possible. And hopefully, you will pay a price for your arrogance and immaturity.
Kurt Eichenwald

Not content with that, he followed up with this:

Thu, February 21, 2013 8:01 PM
Re: you are both despicable
From: KURT EICHENWALD <[email protected]>
To: Chris Smith <[email protected]>; “[email protected]” <[email protected]>
Oh, and by the way, you immature bastards….
I have invited my 7,000 twitter followers to contact your advertisers and demand they stop advertising with your site. And they’re doing it.
Have a nice life. You bastards.

Well, this was certainly a charming introduction to Kurt Eichenwald, and he is a man of his word, because a few hours later, one of our advertisers forwarded to me this e-mail:

Subject: your add on a hate site
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:00:11 -0600
From: KURT EICHENWALD <[email protected]>
To: [REDACTED]
You are currently advertising on a site called http://theothermccain.com. In the last two days, these “adults” took a youtube video of a young gay teen who was both coming out and revealing abuse he has been suffering at the hands of his mother and not only made fun of him (for his haircut!), but invited their followers to do the same. The followers happily complied. This site does not represent your values. Moreover, this child is clearly depressed and discussed the times he considered suicide. If the torment of these “adults” on this site contributes to the boy acting on those feelings, you would not want to have any connection to it.
Many thanks.
Kurt Eichenwald
Contributing Editor
Vanity Fair
914-552-2588

The advertiser, in forwarding the note, remarked that she is “a former socialist turned conservative” who is not intimidated by Eichenwald’s secondary boycott threat, which looks for all the world like a re-play of the “Stop Rush” operation.

A lot of people are probably wondering, “Who the hell is Kurt Eichenwald?” You can consult his Wikipedia entry. His biggest controversy was a story about a teenage boy running a pornography site, in which Eichenwald reportedly paid money to the site operator and . . . something about “ethics”:

Mr. Eichenwald wrote several articles on Mr. Berry and Internet child pornography, the first of them published in The Times on Dec. 19, 2005.
“I have no independent memory of any payments I am alleged to have made in June 2005 through PayPal,” he said in a written statement yesterday. “If these PayPal payments did occur in June 2005, I am deeply sorry that my inability to remember them has resulted in permitting a series of convicted felons to cast doubt on the nature of my wife’s and my efforts to save a young man who was caught in the grip of a cycle of drugs and abuse.”
He has said he gave the $2,000 payment not as a reporter but as a person concerned that Mr. Berry was in danger from sexual predators. It was a month later, he has said, that he began to pursue the young man’s story as a journalist.
He did not disclose the financial connection to his editors while working on the articles, and Mr. Eichenwald has said that he simply forgot it.

Hey, people forget things. It happens.

As to the post that led Eichenwald to write to our advertisers, describing this as a “hate site,” I’ll say: Somebody called that video to my attention and I watched it — or, I should say, I tried to watch it, before giving up — and my main reaction was, “What’s with that haircut?” 

The thought occurred to me that (a) the kid is basically inviting everybody to attend his pity party, and (b) our sarcastic commenters were likely to say rude things about him.

The video already had nearly 20,000 views in barely a week and — in case this didn’t cross anybody else’s mind — that translates to a bit of YouTube advertising revenue for young Austin Gates. So he’s like a professional pity-party event planner or something.

Are his tales of abuse and suicidal thoughts true? Has anyone verified his story? “If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” but if a kid says his mother hates him, don’t bother, eh?

Habitual cynicism, that’s my problem. Having been a teenage hoodlum myself, I see a video like that and instantly think: “Scam.”

Kid’s probably hustling contributions to buy himself some weed. Or maybe he’s angling for a guest spot on daytime TV talk shows, maybe even a reality TV series deal. For all we know, the minute the video ended, Austin Gates was high-fiving his buddies: “How was that, huh? Did you like that whiny thing I did at the end about suicide? Hey, man, fire up the bong and let’s burn some buds.”

We’re not supposed to think that way anymore, I guess. It’s “bullying” to see a mopey kid and say, “Stop moping — and get a haircut!”

One of my sons is in Army basic training now. He called home last night and reported that he was one of only two men in his platoon to qualify on their first day at the rifle range. Before it’s over with, he’ll be expected to hike 12 miles in full gear. And . . .

Kurt Eichenwald wants to shut down our advertisers. Because we’re a “hate site.” Maybe I should start moping and threaten suicide, but I’m not a gay boy with a bad haircut, so I guess Kurt Eichenwald probably wouldn’t be interested in my feelings.

IYKWIMAITYD.

Damn that habitual cynicism . . .

UPDATE: The habitually feisty Kathy Shaidle:

Progressives live in the past.
They still think their bullying tactics work, especially their Selma-era “I’m gonna start a boycott against you” bullshit.
The same tired, tapped out bullshit that doubled Glenn Beck’s net worth in 12 months.

If you’re not following Kathy Shaidle on Twitter, you should. She’ll fight ’em ’til hell freezes over, then she’ll fight ’em on the ice. Also, this might be a good time for readers hit the tip jar. 





 

Category: Gays, Journalism

LIVE AT FIVE: 02.22.13

Posted on | February 22, 2013 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obama, Congressional GOP Look To Soften Impact of Budget Cuts

One agency most Americans won't mind seeing cuts to

One agency most Americans won’t mind seeing cuts to

President finally picks up phone to seek help

Vegas Strip Shootings Put City’s Image In The Crosshairs
Five violent incidents since January; LVPD warns of increased crime on the Strip

Officials Analyze Water In Tank Where Missing Canadian Tourist’s Body Found
“Do not drink” order issued for L.A.’s Cecil Hotel after Elisa Lam’s corpse found in cistern



POLITICS
Big Business, Big Labor Agree On Immigration Principles

If Chuck U. Schumer is smiling, you know it's going to be bad...for you.

If Chuck U. Schumer is smiling, you know it’s going to be bad…for you.

Chamber of Commerce, AFL-CIO reach agreement on importation of low-skilled workers

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice And Her Two Sisters Convicted On Corruption Charges

Democrat Mayor Breaks Ranks, Endorses Christie For Governor

Hampton Roads, Va. Braces For Defense Cuts

Texas Bill Would Block Police From Enforcing Federal Gun Laws

GOP Senators Call On Obama To Withdraw Hagel Nomination

Mitt Romney To Address CPAC

Army Puts Kibosh On Broadwell’s Promotion



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Tumbles On Poor U.S. Jobs Data, Weak Demand, Fall In Eurozone Manufacturing Activity: NYMEX $93.21, Brent $114.14
Japan’s Economic Turmoil May Open Door To Free Trade Pact
Bond Market, White House Disagree On U.S. Economy
HP’s 1Q Net Slips 16%, Still Tops Forecasts
Jobless Claims Jump 20K To 362K
Mortgage, Deposit Rates Go Their Separate Ways
Ford Investing $200 Million To Build Turbocharged Engines In Cleveland
Google’s Pixel Chromebook A Delight For Microsoft
Norks To Switch On Mobile Internet For Foreigners
Foxconn Puts Hold On Hiring, Cuts iPhone 5 Production
Over 100,000 Sign White House Petition To Legalize Mobile Phone Unlocking
NBC Website Hacked, Infected With Citadel Trojan
Microsoft Cooler Than It Used To Be, Say Half Those Polled



SPORTS
Brad Keselowski Shares His Vision For NASCAR’s Future

Brad K has a few things to say

Brad K has a few things to say

Reigning Sprint Cup champ details dramatic changes he’d like to see

A New Start For The Red Sox

“Small Ball” Leads To Big Win As Heat Scorches Bulls 86-67

Blue Jackets Rally To Tip Wings 3-2

#23 Ducks Fall To Golden Bears 48-46

Rangers Fall 3-2 To Senators

Knicks Offer Veteran Kenyon Martin A Ten-Day Deal After Trading Brewer To Thunder

Horton Scores Twice As Bruins Beat Lightning

#6 Duke Trounces Virginia Tech 88-56

Pudge Rejoins Nationals As Special Assistant To GM Rizzo



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Taylor Swift Channels Beyonce At Brit Awards

Taylor Swift and Beyonce

Taylor Swift and Beyonce

Busts some familiar moves as well as (unsuccessfully) aping the look

Josh Brolin, Diane Lane Divorcing

Kate Hudson Flaunts Her Legs

Wiz Khalifa, Amber Rose Welcome Baby Boy

Rihanna Celebrates Her 25th In Hawaii With Chris Brown

Mila Kunis And Ashton Kutcher Moving In Together

Octomom: I Can Get Stoned And Take Care Of 14 Kids!

Courtney Stodden Turns Down “Reality” Video Remake Offer From Adult Website

“Most Sadistic Reality Show Of The Decade” Is Back

Wheelchair-Bound Lady Gaga Tweets Thanks To Fans For Helping Her Through Hip Surgery



FOREIGNERS
Japan’s Popular PM Heads For Washington
Guatemala: Drug Lord “El Chapo” Guzman Dead?
Fourteen Dead, Hundreds Injured In Hyderabad Bombings
Friends, Roommate Thought Pistorius And Steenkamp Were Happy
Huge Car Bomb Near Baath Party HQ In Damascus Kills 60
Former PM Hariri Blasts Lebanese Government For Silence On Hezbollah Involvement In Syria
Three Indian Girls Aged 6-11 Raped, Murdered And Thrown Down Well
Palestinians Clash With Security Forces In West Bank
French, Malian Troops Eject Jihadis From Gao City Hall
Berlusconi Surge Evokes Recurring Nightmares For Italian Left
Venezuelan Government Reports Chavez’ Health Not Improving



BLOGS & STUFF
Troglopundit: Is Danica Patrick Sexist?
Althouse: New Ad Includes Laura Bush, Colin Powell, And Dick Cheney Supporting Gay Marriage
Jon Huntsman: Marriage Equality Is A Conservative Cause
Allahpundit: New GOP Sequester Plan – Let Obama Decide What To Cut
Yuval Levin: The Sequester In Proportion
Andrew Stuttaford: A Tax By Another Name
Weasel Zippers: Obama – Helping Rich The Only Thing Binding GOP Together
Hit & Run: Gun Expert Joe Biden Advises His Wife To Illegally Discharge A Shotgun
Sense Of Events: Dem Lawmaker Promotes Weapens
Not a typo
Atlas Shrugs: Christian Priests In Egypt Told To Convert To Islam Or Face Death
Vox Popoli: Which Is Worse, Work Or Rape?
James Taranto: The Fallows Principle
Jihad Watch: Three UK Muslims Convicted Of Plotting Mass Murder Bigger Than 9/11, 7/7
NRO Corner: Rick Scott’s Big Reversal
National Review: War On Women 2.0
Weekly Standard Blog: Lindsey Graham Proposes National ID Card, “The Public’s Way Of Contributing”


Category: Live at Five

Improv Actress With BFA Degree in Theatre — or Sex Education Expert?

Posted on | February 21, 2013 | 35 Comments

Apparently, it’s not an either/or choice. The qualifications to become a “sex education expert” seem to be pretty flexible, so that studying acting in college (along with such experiences as writing novels and hiking in Spain) will suffice as credentials.

What inspired this discovery was an article by Katie McHugh of The College Fix about “I Heart the Female Orgasm,” a special event that Alleghany College hosted in the school’s Ford Chapel:

The two sex educators, Marshall Miller and Kate Weinberg, talked students through a variety of masturbation techniques during the event.
“Sometimes it can be difficult finding your G spot by yourself, because it involves inserting a finger or fingers inside the vagina into the front wall of the body, and that kind of results in an awkward, kind of clawlike hand position,” Weinberg said, demonstrating with a pawing motion as the audience giggled. “Obviously, there are better ways you can position your body. Or if you’ve got a partner, you can get your partner to insert their finger or fingers inside your vagina in the front wall of your body in a sort of a J curve.” . . .
In statements to The College Fix, the college’s chaplain defended the event’s location, calling its theme “responsible,” and a campus spokesperson said it offered a “great message.” . . .
“Some people figure out masturbation and orgasm as teenagers, some people figure it out later than that,” said Weinberg, describing her lifelong fascination with pleasuring herself. “And some people figure it out earlier than that. Like preschool age. I was part of that last category.” . . .
Weinberg later held up two books titled I’ll Show You Mine and Petals, encouraging students to flip through them after the program: “We’ve got two amazing books up here with pages and pages of art photographs of vaginas and vulvas.”
The event was hosted by Allegheny’s student government and Allegheny College’s Reproductive Health Coalition, along with Young Feminists and Queers and Allies. It was funded by student activities fees.

All-righty, then.

You can read the entire article at The College Fix, and there are a lot of angles worth considering about this story, but one of those gut-hunch impulses prompted me to wonder, Exactly who is this Kate Weinberg person? I mean, besides being someone who’s been diddling herself since “preschool age.” Well . . .

Kate Weinberg
Kate graduated from DePaul University in Chicago. She describes a “lightbulb moment” she had while taking an intensive HIV/AIDS course in college, when she realized how sexuality “is a thing so intimately connected to politics, religion, guilt, expectation, Kate Weinbergthe ways in which we live and are allowed to live. It’s one of those things that seems to explain the world around it.” Little did she know at that moment, but she had begun her journey toward becoming a sex educator.
In addition to reading nearly every sexuality book she could get her hands on, Kate trained as a teacher of the Our Whole Lives comprehensive sex education program for adults and college students, and now teaches sex education workshops for inner-city youth through a Newark, NJ nonprofit. She’s a certified yoga instructor and the author of an acclaimed young adult novel. Kate lives in Brooklyn, NY, and has long wished that she could be a mermaid. She co-presents our Female Orgasm program.

OK: “DePaul University . . . young adult novel . . . Brooklyn.”

Keep those reference points in mind, because Google turns up more than one result for Kate Weinberg:

Kate Weinberg grew up in exotic Baltimore, Maryland. She Mid-Westernized at the tender age of seventeen to study acting at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, as well as feed her burgeoning interests in poetry, improvisational comedy, and the visual arts. In 2009, she walked across the north of Spain and ate lots of cheese sandwiches on hard bread despite her body’s cruel intolerance to lactose, worked on farms in Spain and Ireland, moved to Brooklyn, and refused to eat a cheese sandwich ever again. She has published a few weird little poems using her real name, and a Young Adult novel under the opaque, gauzy disguise of a top-secret pen name, and is a firm believer in the power of impromptu, improvisational dance and song, as well as road trips, to unite all the world in peace.

Same person, right? But no reference to her enthusiasm for sex education, and why? Because this is from her profile as an instructor at the 2012 Vermont Governor’s Institute of Art, a “2 week intensive program for high school students.” And here is Kate Weinberg in the 2011 cast of the improvisational show Tambourine at the Magnet Theater in New York:

Kate Weinberg grew up in Baltimore and received her BFA in acting from DePaul University in Chicago, where, additionally, she messed up a lot in an African Dance class she had to take, had a really creepy landlord, and studied at IO. She has worked at an outsider art museum, walked across Spain, published some poems, written a novel for young adults, and also likes to draw weird naked bird-ladies and make shrinky-dink jewelry. She is so grateful for the very wonderful, welcoming Magnet community, and for every teacher, performer, and audience member she has had the chance to encounter as a result of its stunning, stellar, gorgeous existence.

So, two years ago, Kate Weinberg was performing in an improv troupe, last year she was teaching theater to high school kids in Vermont, and this year, she’s teaching a female orgasm seminar to college students in Pennsylvania!

Busy and versatile performer, this young Ms. Weinberg and, in addition to her “young adult novel” (which became “acclaimed” rather recently it seems), she’s adept at writing the quirky/clever type of autobiographical profile of herself.

You’re probably asking yourself, “With her busy career as an actress — and also the novel-writing, hiking in Spain and so forth — how did Kate ever find time to train as a teacher of the Our Whole Lives comprehensive sex education program”?

Does the phrase “three-day weekend” ring a bell?

Yep: That’s how long it takes to undergo the training sessions for “Our Whole Lives,” a program of the United Church of Christ.

This is the kind of top-notch expertise student fees at Alleghany College were paying for, and you’ll probably not be surprised that the organization that brings the highly-qualified Kate Weinberg to campus has also provided similar services for dozens of colleges and universities, from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (Tifton, Ga.) to Worcester State University in Massachusetts.

Can you say Higher Education Bubble, boys and girls? Good.

One more thing, kids: If you’re in college and don’t know what a vagina looks like, you’re probably too stupid to be in college.

 

Category: Education, Sex

Grief Tends Not To Transmit Far

Posted on | February 21, 2013 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Jerry makes a good point here:

It’s interesting to note where priorities lie for people. I clearly recall after my brother passed away unexpectedly last year feeling not a little anger toward those too self-preoccupied to express condolences even after having been directly notified about what was happening. I also heard from more than a few conservative new media types that I needed to “get over it” and was grieving far too much whenever I mentioned this. Such individuals make this whole forgiveness thing quite the challenge, but it’s a work in progress.

I’ll link this post by way of apologizing for being in the “too pre-occupied” category last September when he wrote it. I recall that we’d made a trip to Germany around then, and were just back. I (looking at YouTube uploads) that I was over at LibertyCon around then.

But the excuse “I was too busy” isn’t really the point. No, the real issue is that, in the detached online world, working up significant emotion for unmet people is a Hard Thing. One’s immediate family, co-workers, members of the community of faith: when they pass, we’re moved. Heroes, statesman (that dwindling breed), artists: when they go, we write a blog post.

For people I haven’t met or don’t know of, genuine emotion just isn’t there. Sure, there is the general honor afforded all veterans, and the comfort of knowing that those of faith may be encountered in the next world. But in a firehose of online information, things like Benghazi draw the attention. The sheer volume of data moving through makes being online a “best effort” endeavor at best, short of contractual obligation.

To our detriment. The Internet was supposed to be a digital utopia, helping the truth get out, and allowing time to focus on Important Matters. Well, that didn’t happen. Jerry, I’m sorry your brother passed, and further sorry about the slow reaction. I’m not sure how the overall situation can be improved.

Category: Uncategorized

Consulting the Legal Department

Posted on | February 21, 2013 | 16 Comments

My previous observation that no one could be sued for libel for merely describing the self-evident fact of Bill Schmalfeldt’s derangment drew a mildly critical e-mail from a lawyer friend:

Not to be a pedant, but the reason it’s not defamatory is that it’s a statement of opinion based on disclosed facts, and therefore not subject to defamation analysis.
Statements of opinion (except for those implying that they are based on hidden, false facts) can’t be defamatory.
Like if you called me a jerk. That can’t be defamation.

To this, I replied:

“Opinion”? Don’t try to fool me with all your high-falutin legalistic argle-bargle, sir!
I’m a professional journalist. I deal with facts, and the Neutral Objective Fact is, this guy is a certifiable nutjob.
Any journalist who says otherwise should turn in their press credentials, clean out their desk and find another line of work.

On at least one previous occasion, Bill Schmalfeldt suggested that certain lawyers he doesn’t like deserve “to have their knees broken with baseball bats.” (You could look it up.)

It it merely an opinion to say that Schmalfeldt’s nuttier than a fruitcake, loony as a goony bird, a few fries short of a Happy Meal?

No, I state as a fact that Bill Schmalfeldt is neurologically impaired, mentally defective and psychologically abnormal.

The kook  is ranting about Lee Stranahan’s teeth, for God’s sake!

Your Honor, I rest my case.

However, aware that a federal judge has recently declared notorious lunatic Barrett Brown mentally competent to stand trial, I wish to reserve my right to the “satire” defense, which Schmalfeldt himself used to defend his statements about anal rape.

Yeah, they banned Bill from Daily Kos for that. And anybody who’s too crazy for Daily Kos will have a hard time proving libel merely because I state the obvious truth that he is bonkers, unhinged, off his rocker, daffy, mad as a March hare and not in his right mind.

 

Category: Bill Schmalfeldt

Jonah Goldberg: ‘Cheer Up, The Worst Is Yet To Come’

Posted on | February 21, 2013 | 14 Comments

by Smitty

This first seven minutes is stand-up (but good if you’re a fan), so you can skip that if pressed for time:

One great quote, I guess due to Charles Murray: “One of the problems with the elite is that it refuses to preach what it practices.”

Another crucial point, he calls it a category error that the Left always makes, the Right sometimes makes, and Libertarians never make: the government cannot love you.

via Mataconis

Category: Uncategorized

Ed Markey’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Moment?

Posted on | February 21, 2013 | 13 Comments

Washington Free Beacon:

Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.), who is running to replace recently appointed Secretary of State John Kerry in the Senate, compared the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to the 1858 decision to uphold slavery, according to BuzzFeed.
Markey made reference to the Koch brothers and Karl Rove spending undisclosed amounts of money before saying, “The constitution must be amended. The Dred Scott decision had to be repealed, we have to repeal Citizens United.”
BuzzFeed notes Markey has accepted more than $2.5 million from business, labor, and ideological PACs since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Will anyone hold Markey accountable for his hypocrisy and his offensively reckless language? He’s a Democrat. It’s Massachusetts. Which is to say, not bloody likely.

Category: Democrats, Election, Massachusetts, Senate
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