The Other McCain

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

Meet @BridgetteDunlap, Fordham’s Campus Commissar of ‘Human Rights’

Posted on | February 15, 2013 | 37 Comments

“Ms. Dunlap, 31 … was raised a Catholic and was educated at parochial schools”
(Photo: Michael Nagle, New York Times)

You may recall this week I wrote an item called “Why Does @BridgetteDunlap Want to Suppress the Truth About Abortion?” describing a misguided effort to intimidate those who had written about the abortion-related death of Jennifer McKenna Morbelli. I closed that post by wishing Bridgette “good luck with your career as a commissar in the Thought Police.” Little did I realize Dunlap had already established quite a name for herself in that regard.

In November, College Republicans invited Ann Coulter to speak at Fordham University, where Dunlap is “Crowley Scholar in International Human Rights at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice.” Apparently, this is the kind of sinecure that entitles the “scholar” to engage in radical mau-mauing wherever her fanatical obsessions are involved.

The College Republicans caved under pressure and disinvited Coulter — thus providing Fordham CRs valuable experience in the cherished Republican tactic of caving under pressure — but the campus radicals, no more satisfied than Hitler had been with the cession of the Sudetenland, decided to take it a step further: Demanding reparations merely for the school having entertained the possibility that Coulter might be permitted to speak at Fordham:

Though the College Republicans withdrew the invitation to Ms. Coulter in light of the outcry from their peers, the problem remains that the University was willing to allocate over $10,000 to this event even while denying funding to other student and departmental initiatives featuring speakers or topics with which it disagrees. We appreciate your statement distancing the University from Ms. Coulter’s hateful rhetoric and defending free speech and academic freedom. . . .
We would like you to explain how the decision was made to allow the College Republicans to use student activity funds to pay for the Coulter event while denying the use of such funds for other purposes deemed not to be in keeping with the University’s mission. For example, we understand that student groups may not use their budgets for the productions of the Vagina Monologues mounted by Fordham undergraduates each year to raise funds to combat violence against women. Along these same lines, Fordham’s anti-abortion club receives funding while pro-choice advocacy is censored. Why are these forms of student expression and association denied support while the Coulter event was not? Is pro-choice advocacy or the Vagina Monologues more inconsistent with the University’s mission than Coulter’s hate speech you rightly decry? Are they less entitled to respect in the free exchange of ideas in the Academy? . . .

This angry manifesto was written and circulated by Fordham Law professor Tracy Higgins and — you guessed it — Bridgette Dunlap.

At the time, William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection wrote:

A group of law professors at Fordham Law School exchanged high-fives over Coulter’s departure, then quickly segued into demanding that the University fund the Vagina Monologues, pro-abortion groups, and other oppressed, um, minorities at Catholic universities on the theory that if the University was willing to fund Coulter’s “hate speech,” it should fund the feminist agenda even if contrary to Catholic teachings.

Fordham is a Catholic university and somehow, in the twisted pretzel logic of Commissar Dunlap and Comrade Higgins, permitting student funds to be used for College Republicans to invite Coulter to campus — an invitation the mau-maus forced the CRs to withdraw — means that the Jesuits are obligated to fund Eve Ensler’s obscene farce in the name of “the free exchange of ideas.”

This is a concept that a friend of mine long ago dubbed “diversity through homogenization”: Radical egalitarianism requires that all institutions be equally diverse, so that traditionally all-male institutions must be forced to accept females, each university must have a certain quota of left-handed Latina lesbians, and so forth. This rigid insistence on universal conformity to the dogma of “diversity” is the mindset that led to the death of Kara Hultgreen and the ritual humiliation of Lawrence Summers at Harvard.

You will perhaps not be surprised to learn that Bridgette Dunlap staged a Sandra Fluke-style protest over the refusal of Fordham’s campus health center to prescribe contraceptives. Students at Catholic universities must be provided the exact same things that are provided to students at secular schools or else, to the radical egalitarian way of thinking, someone’s “rights” have been infringed.

This is a totalitarian worldview and the fact that a neo-Stalinist commissar like Bridgette Dunlap is honored with a scholarship in “human rights” at Fordham is an obvious clue as to what manner of indoctrination now prevails in American academia. 

Professor Jacobson responds to Dunlap’s threats to sue Jill Stanek and others who have reported on the Jennifer Morbelli case:

The legal accusations are frivolous.
If late-term abortion is defensible, why try to hide the reality that there are names and faces and lives destroyed [?] . . .
It’s not an esoteric law school discussion.
Defend the practice if you can, but don’t deny it. Or try to silence it.

As the Coulter controversy showed, Dunlap and her comrades are able to silence the truth at Fordham. Totalitarians are nothing if not ambitious: “Today the campus! Tomorrrow the world!”

UPDATE: How is it, Matthew Archbold of the Cardinal Newman Society wondered back in July, that Catholic schoolgirls grow up to be anti-Catholic Daily Kos contributors? Dunlap invoked her days as “a first-grader in plaid” while accusing Bishop William Lori of lying, and denouncing American bishops as “extremist, lacking in compassion and disconnected from our values.”

Clearly, Dunlap’s first-person possessive — “our values” — refers to the values of progressive feminists for Obama, i.e., MSNBC viewers.

 

Category: Abortion, Education, Legal Insurrection

Ron Paul Supporters Slam Rand After Republicans Block Hagel Nomination

Posted on | February 15, 2013 | 55 Comments

Allahpundit points out that Chuck Hagel was one vote away from passing a cloture vote to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense:

But wait — what about Rand Paul? If ever there was a SecDef nominee whom the Ron Paul paleocon fan base could sort of dig, it’s a guy known for lamenting the “Israel lobby” and opposing Iran sanctions. . . .
Philip Klein, tongue in cheek, calls him today’s neocon hero.

More roundup of Paul-on-Paul conflict at The Daily Caller. After Thursday’s vote, I was riffing on the perception:

Let’s be clear: Disagreements on U.S. foreign policy certainly are acceptable. We ought to be able to debate foreign policy openly and honestly. It is not “hate” to criticize U.S. policy in the Middle East. On the other hand, the conspiratorial insinuation — the suggestion that the U.S.-Israel alliance is solely or primarily a result of clandestine machinations by “neocons” in alliance with the “Israel lobby” — is about two clicks away on the dial from Alex Jones/M.J. Rosenberg kookery. Turn that dial another click or two, and . . .

Well, there is legitimate criticism of policy and then there is something else. Figuring out where to draw the line can be difficult. One of the genuine intellectual giants of the conservative movement, Russell Kirk, remarked in a 1988 Heritage Foundation speech:

Sometimes, true, [neoconservatives] have been rash in their schemes of action, pursuing a fanciful democratic globaIism rather that the national interest of the United States; on such occasions I have tended to side with those moderate Libertarians who set their faces against foreign entanglements. And not seldom it has seemed as if some eminent Neoconservatives mistook Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States — a position they will have difficulty in maintaining, as matters drift in the Levant.

Kirk’s “Tel Aviv” remark has often been cited — it was controversial at the time, and has since become rather notorious — whereas his larger critique of “fanciful democratic globalism” is generally ignored. And while the title of Kirk’s lecture was “The Neoconservatives: An Endangered Species” (the text at the Heritage site appears to be an uncorrected scan), subsequent events showed that Necons enjoyed a hegemonic influence in GOP circles, so as to be able effectively to blackball certain of their persistent critics. Indeed, in 2007, one foreign policy expert at Heritage lost his job for too strenuously criticizing the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq.

It might be possible for conservatism as a movement to maintain a balance between the Paleos and Neos, were it not for the savage “war to the knife, knife to the hilt” blood-feud mentality that has gripped some of the combatants ever since Mel Bradford was rejected as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities back in 1981.

The persistence of such ugly intranecine hostilities, I would suggest, bodes ill for schemes of “fanciful democratic globalism.” If we can’t even broker a peace among Republican intellectuals, how shall we have peace between Israelis and Palestinians?

Well, all of this is only indirectly relevant to the fight over the Hagel nomination. The regular inside-baseball politics of the thing is rather tedious, but Jeff Goldstein manages to find something interesting in the media’s coverage of it all.

DA JOOZZ!

 

Category: Intellectuals, Israel, Military, Senate

It’s Time to Play ‘Name That Party!’

Posted on | February 15, 2013 | 6 Comments

San Diego’s former mayor, Maureen O’Connor, is a liberal Democrat. But now that she’s been charged in a massive scandal — she stole more than $2 million from a charity established by her late husband, in order to fund a decade-long gambling binge — the New York Times somehow can’t bring itself to mention her partisan affiliation. Such an omission is glaring, especially given how meticulously the political press typically covers the mechanics of financial ruin, eagerly detailing whether a disgraced official drained their accounts through offshore tax havens, digital no kyc casinos, or traditional high-stakes poker tables. In O’Connor’s case, however, that relentless journalistic curiosity miraculously dries up the moment her party registration becomes relevant.

 

Category: California, Corruption, Crime, Democrats

LIVE AT FIVE: 02.15.13

Posted on | February 15, 2013 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Senate GOP Filibusters Hagel Nomination

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

“No information, no confirmation” draws blood; cloture vote fails 58-40 with four Republicans voting for

Body In Cabin Identified As Ex-Cop, Murderer
Dental exam provides positive ID

Senator Lautenberg Announces Retirement
Miserable fundraising, impending beatdown by Cory Booker no doubt factors



POLITICS
Bielat’s In: Will Run For Senate In Massachusetts

Sean Bielat debates Joseph Kennedy III in October 2012

Tarr nixes Senate run, Sullivan maybe in


Former San Diego Mayor Gambles Away Stolen Millions, Blames Brain Tumor

Obama Beefs Up Warnings Of Looming Sequester

Illinois Senate Votes To Legalize Gay Marriage

NRA Chief Fires Back At President

VFW Slams Pentagon’s Drone Medal

Tennessee Congressman Admits To Love Child After Errant SOTU Tweets

Former Democratic Rep Debbie Halvorson Gets Hammered by Own Party For Pro-Gun Views

Why Is Homeland Security Buying So Many Bullets?

Warren To Watchdogs: Bring More Banks To Trial



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Mixed On Euro Zone Growth Data: NYMEX $97.34, Brent $117.97
Is Heinz Buffett’s Last Big Deal? (Video)
Yen Firms As Market Awaits Currency Signals From G20
Icahn Discloses 12.98% Stake In Herbalife
CBS Profit Misses Estimates As Streaming Revenue Slumps
Tiffany Rings At Costco? Not Now, Or Ever, Jeweler’s Lawsuit Says
GM Profit Misses Estimates, Losses In Europe Deepen
Bump Sharing App Finally Enables Apple And Android To Do What Palm Phones Did Four Years Ago
iOS Hack Lets Users See Your Phone App, Make Calls
Facebook’s Graph Search Bars Adults Snooping For Minors
Google Play’s Privacy Policies Assailed By Developer
Tamagotchi L.I.F.E. App Review: Too Cute Not To Try
PlayStation 4: What We Expect, What It Needs, And Why



SPORTS
LeBron’s Streak Ends, Heat Pound Thunder Anyway

LeBron James completes his shot after a foul by Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka

Heat jump out to big lead, hold off Thunder to win 110-100

South African Paralympian Pistorius Faces Murder Rap

Lakers Owner Jerry Buss Hospitalized With Cancer

NASCAR’s Plot Thickens With Danica-Ricky Romance

Golden Rats Best #20 (Stinking) Badgers In OT

Fehr Scores Twice As Capitals Win Third In A Row Against Lightning

Avalanche Edges Wild In Shootout, 4-3

Dodgers’ Greinke Is A Baseball Junkie

Wilson Ramos Passes First Post-Surgery Catching Test



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Lady Gaga Cancels Tour For Hip Surgery

Performing at the MTV Europe 2010 Music Awards

Tore hip labrum, will refund all tickets


Bryan Singer Eyes Peter Dinklage For “X-Men: Days Of Future Passed”


SI Bikini Babes Defend Upton’s Curves


Pitt, Jolie To Release Wine Formerly Known As Pink Floyd

Chris Brown & Drake Sue Each Other Over Nightclub Brawl

LeAnn Rimes Sues Her Dentist For Screwing Up Her Teeth

Phillip Phillips’ Mom Popped For DUI

NYPD Probes 911 Calls Coming From Katie Couric’s Dead Husband’s Phone

Tiger Woods, Lindsey Vonn Getting Closer

Britney Spears’ Rep Denies Eve’s Claim That Brit Didn’t Sing On Video



FOREIGNERS
Nork Nuke Test Turns Spotlight On Iran
Pope Benedict Gives Emotional Farewell; Vatican Reveals He Suffered Head Injury During Mexico Visit
Officials Say US Support In Mali Doesn’t Include Combat Troops
Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Assassinated In Syria; May Have Had Central Role In Arming Lebanon’s Hezbollah
India, France Sign $6 Billion Short-Range SAM Pact
Afghan Army Trains Women As Special Forces Troops



BLOGS & STUFF
1389 Blog: Putting Women In Infantry Combat And Special Forces Roles Flouts Common Sense
Michelle Malkin: Who Failed Chicago?
Neo-Neocon: This…Is Somewhat Encouraging
Lonely Conservative: Republicans Block Hagel Nomination, For Now
Allahpundit: On Second Thought, Susan Collins To Vote No On Hagel, Yes On Closure
NRO Corner: The Inhofe Position
Fred Kaplan: Why Republicans Can No Longer Be Trusted On National Security
Heritage Foundation: Senate Unveils Unserious Sequestration Proposal
Katrina Trinko: Boehner Says Obama Should Blame Senate Democrats For His Legislative Failures
Legal Insurrection: NYT’s Digital Trolling
Gateway Pundit: Missouri Democrats Introduce Gun Confiscation Bill That Gives Owners 90 Days To Turn In Weapons
The Right Scoop: Illegal Alien Sensitivity Training At The USDA
AmSpecBlog: Hagel At Rutgers
Breitbart: The Hagel Speech That “Wasn’t” – More Evidence Emerges Of Failure To Disclose
Weasel Zippers: Pelosi Opposed To Congressional Pay Cut Since That Would Undermine The Dignity Of The Office
Ed Driscoll: Marty Peretz Has Second Thoughts


Not to forget: tonight’s the deadline to submit links for tomorrow’s FMJRA.


Category: Live at Five

State Of The Groundhog

Posted on | February 14, 2013 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Feel that refreshing kidney rinse down the back they swear is rain:

via BenHowe

Category: Uncategorized

Deranged Cyberstalker Bill Schmalfeldt Charged With Deranged Cyberstalking

Posted on | February 14, 2013 | 26 Comments

Bill Schmalfeldt of Elk Ridge, Maryland, a.k.a. “Liberal Grouch”

The charge is “electronic harassment” (Md. Code Crim. Law §3-805) according to Aaron Walker. The complainant is Lee Stranahan:

For the better part of a year, my family and I have have been under contestant siege from a small group of people who have worked together in a relentless attempt to humiliate, embarrass and inflict emotional stress on us in a clear attempt destroy my professional reputation and to silence my voice. Much of this appears to be related to stories I have written about such as Weinergate, Occupy Wall Street, the media’s handling of the Steubenville rape case and projects I’ve launched like Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day.
These attacks, however, have gone far beyond the realm of impassioned debate and into the realm of illegal harassment that serves no legitimate legal purpose.

Good luck getting to LeeStranahan.com tonight. Bill Schmalfeldt is evidently part of a troll crew organized by Neal Rauhauser to harass various individuals Neal hates, so we can expect the usual hacking/DOS tactics to be deployed against Lee’s site.

Two weeks ago, after yet another manifestation of Schmalfeldt’s obsessive harassment, I wrote:

When will law enforcement start taking this problem seriously? Will we have to wait until one of these cyberstalkers finally kills somebody?

What these people are doing is not “free speech.” In fact, it is the opposite of free speech: Harassment intended to silence (or, at least, distract, annoy and/or smear) bloggers and journalists whose work the cyberstalkers wish to suppress. Unless and until you’ve been targeted by this menacing kook-swarm, it’s very difficult for you to understand what they do and how they do it.

Point One: It’s not really about Lee Stranahan. That is to say, it doesn’t matter whether you like Lee Stranahan or don’t like Lee Stranahan or have never heard of Lee Stranahan. What is involved here is a pattern of harassing behavior systematically employed by certain people who are either (a) crazy, (b) evil, or quite possibly (c) both crazy and evil.

Point Two: It’s not really about politics. That is to say, it doesn’t matter whether you’re liberal or conservative or utterly indifferent to politics, the type of online stalking and harassment involved here cannot be tolerated and is, in fact, illegal.

It’s one thing to throw a few sharp Tweets at someone you dislike or with whom you disagree politically. It is another thing entirely to do to somebody what Bill Schmalfeldt has done to Lee Stranahan. And, in fact, Schmalfeldt has done it to several other people. (Last November, Schmalfeldt sent me more than 200 harassing messages in a single 48-hour span.) It just so happens that Stranahan has become Schmalfeldt’s latest idée fixe, and I guarantee you that Schmalfeldt can’t tell you how this sick obsession began. 

That’s what it’s like with these “Monsters on the Internet”: Once they become obsessed with someone, the etiology of their obsession is lost amid their persistent harassment. Go ahead and ask Schmalfeldt, “Why are you so fixated on Lee Stranahan?”

The answer you’ll get won’t be a coherent, factual narrative about the history of a personal conflict, but rather a lunatic screed about what a terrible person Stranahan is. Then you’ll say, “So what? Stipulate that Lee Stranahan is not a nice person. Why is it so necessary for you to persistently harass him this way?”

And when Schmalfeldt stops his angry rant in reply to that inquiry, you’ll realize you are not dealing with a rational person, but rather someone in the throes of a profound emotional disturbance.

Normal people don’t do what Bill Schmalfeldt does. Read more

Category: Bill Schmalfeldt, Blogging

Now, That’s Funny => GOPValentine.com

Posted on | February 14, 2013 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

Sent this to my dad, a Nevada voter, with the note: “Your Senator loves loving you.”

via jbrown1969

Category: humor

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Spin Masters: [Epic Subtitle Goes Here]’ By David Freddoso

Posted on | February 14, 2013 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

That the mainstream media is about as useful as a chocolate teapot isn’t news. When the Statism gets hot, the media melts. However, there is room on the bookshelf for a crisply written, well-referenced and indexed summary of just how bad it was in 2012. As time fades, it’s easy to forget that Benghazi, while a spectacular failure, was just a brick in a Berlin bulwark of baloney from these guys. Props to David Freddoso (whose Wikipedia page needs an update) for the excellent Spin Masters: How the Media Ignored the Real News and Helped Reelect Barack Obama.

As an example of why this book stands out, here is a taste of the third chapter, “What Recovery?”:

Americans didn’t need much help from the media to realize during the 2012 campaign that the stimulus hadn’t been a big success, or that the recovery was not proceeding along the lines Obama promised. The press were slow even to pick up on the fact that nearly all of the improvement in the unemployment rate from its peak (at 10 percent) was the result of people leaving the work force, not of job creation keeping up with population growth. But most Americans probably still aren’t aware of the many ways in which the American job market is fundamentally changing during the Obama recovery–nearly all of them for the worse. Those stories weren’t really told. (p39)

Freddoso then proceeds to enumerate some ‘story ideas’ that a competent, non-partisan media would have offered, or, dare I say personally, would have been rammed home were Obama a Republican incumbent in the same economic position:

  • Obama’s “Gray Jobs” Recovery–younger workers are no’ doing so weel.
  • Obama’s Low-Wage Jobs Recovery–what job growth there has been for younger workers is for bottom feeders.
  • Obama’s Part-Time Jobs Recovery–as blogged here => Mini-Jobs Blow.
  • Obama Doesn’t Learn from Mistakes–BHO truly is to jobs what Al Gore is to weather.
  • The Disappearing Workers–Elaborating upon the quotation above, having people bail out of the economy once their unemployment expires goes a long way toward propping up the numbers.
  • Dirty Fuels Drive the “Obama Recovery”—

    • Obama has tried to take some credit for the gas part of this fossile fuel bonanza–the more environmentally friendly part. But he spends a lot more time demonizing oil companies that are currently building America’s economic future–the ones that are hiring people to wages well above the national average and making the Obama recovery look a lot better than it otherwise would. (p56)

  • Amid New Union Push, Right-to-Work States Gain an Edge–A union is a corporation without a product, and the laws of Economics are stubbornly resistant to demagoguery.

To criticize something of this fine little volume, the closing chapter “Fighting Back With Good Ideas”, seems casually optimistic: “Good ideas will ultimately trump any apparent structural advantage that either political party enjoys today.” (p211). Sorry, David: this is not a chess match. The election itself was no intellectual exercise, as noted by the mighty Iowahawk:


Thus, good ideas are necessary, but not sufficient. The common sense, intellectual appeal of conservativism has to be backed up with solid cultural moves, or the Left’s Gustav Le Bon plays will keep on being Lucy van Pelt holding a football to the GOP Charlie Brown of the day.

The conservative media strategy needs a thorough re-work across the culture. As Instapundit suggests, picking up some magazine properties would make some sense. I, for one, would like some relief from the shameless acts of hooverism on the local news.

In summary, Freddoso’s latest outing is quite a worthy addition to any respectably conservative book collection. Thanks, David!

a cheap shot at Stacy McCain

“What should I write?”
“Take a cheap shot at McCain.”
“OK: `Smitty, I can’t believe you’re still working w/that jackass. (Oh, hi, Stacy.)`–David Freddoso”

Category: Books, Uncategorized
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