The Other McCain

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

Republican Auto-Demoralization

Posted on | January 29, 2013 | 14 Comments

It’s amazing how Obama and the Democrats have persuaded John McCain, Lindsay Graham and Marco Rubio to help them destroy the morale of the Republican Party grassroots at the very beginning the 2014 mid-term election cycle. Democrats know that John McCain’s push for “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e., amnesty) in 2006 andf 2007 demoralized Republicans and alienated blue-collar conservatives from the GOP, thus helping Democrats win Congress in 2006 mid-terms and win the White House in 2008.

Now, by convincing Johyn McCain to re-launch the “compehensive” amnesty, Democrats have set the stage for a crushing victory over Republicans in November 2014 and, as an added bonus, have ruined Rubio’s future viability as a GOP presidential hopeful by associating the young Florida senator with this shabby betrayal of principles.

Furthermore, the McCain-Graham-Rubio triumverate have steered Republicans right into Obama’s carefully staged ambush. By insisting on legalizing the residency status of foreign same-sex partners, Obama presents the GOP with a lose-lose dilemma. Either (a) prove themselves to be “homophobes” willing to vote down the entire plan over the same-sex measures, or (b) further alienate working-class voters by extending citizenship rights to homosexual foreigners.

John McCain is the most valuable ally Democrats have in D.C.

Category: Barack Obama, Foreigners, Gays, Immigration, John McCain, Republicans

Steubenville Update: Nodianos Video Will Not Be Used as Evidence at Rape Trial

Posted on | January 29, 2013 | 5 Comments

‘Occupy’ protesters in Steubenville, Ohio, earlier this month.

“What is Anonymous trying to accomplish by its digital vigilante act in Steubenville? Who is lurking behind those Guy Fawkes masks and sockpuppet accounts, and what are their real motives? What are we to make of ‘Occupy Steubenville’ and their bizarre claims that the local sheriff is part of a conspiracy?”
— Robert Stacy McCain, “Anonymous and Steubenville: Online Lynch Mob Complicates Rape Case,” Jan. 13

A video that caused an Internet sensation will not be used as evidence in the trial of two 16-year-old Steubenville High School football players accused of sexually assaulting a girl last August.

At a preliminary hearing Friday in the Steubenville case, state prosecutors described the video of Michael Nodianos as “inadmissible and irrelevant” to their case, Lee Stranahan reports.

The video shows Nodianos, who graduated from Steubenville High in June, making crude jokes about the drunken condition of a 16-year-old West Virginia girl who has accused Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond of sexually assaulting her during a night of alc0hol-fueled partying.

Nodianos, who had been on academic scholarship as freshman at Ohio State University, dropped out of the university earlier this month after he became a target of threats and harassment. Some bloggers and media accounts had erroneously described the so-called “Steubenville Rape Video” as a confession. In fact, Nodianos was neither a participant in nor a witness to the alleged sexual assault. The video was reportedly recorded in the early morning hours of Aug. 12, after the alleged assault had occurred at another location.

Mays and Richmond are scheduled for trial next month, although Judge Thomas Lipps did not rule at Friday’s hearing on whether the trial would be delayed or moved from Steubenville.

The Nodianos video was originally recorded and posted to YouTube by Steubenville student Evan Westlake and then removed from the site in response to complaints. When the video was reposted to YouTube in January by KnightSec, a cell of the online hacker group Anonymous, it provoked extensive media coverage of the Steubenville case, which gained widespread attention in December after the New York Times published a long article about it. A number of bloggers have portrayed the case as a “cover-up,” alleging that police and school officials were protecting the football program at Steubenville High. Those sensational charges helped inspired protests in Steubenville by the “Occupy” movement, as well as threats against Nodianos and others whom Anonymous accused of being part of the “Steubenville Rape Crew.”

Lou Grieco and Mary McCarty of the Dayton Daily News reported:

An anonymous blog makes sweeping, unsubstantiated accusations against many Steubenville residents and students, targeting everyone from the prosecutor to the sheriff to the head football coach. The blog describes Steubenville as a “town rife with corruption, cronyism, illegal gambling and fixated upon their star high school football team.”
[Ohio Attorney General Mike] DeWine disputes the notion that team members are being protected because of their status as football players. “We have an outside judge, outside prosecutors, outside investigation,” DeWine said. “There’s no coverup here. There are so many rumors going around Steubenville that I know are simply not true, but we can’t comment on every rumor. We need to present the case in court.”

Cliff Pinckard of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:

Steubenville residents, spooked by threats to their schools and their children, have started to speak out at rallies, dubbed “Stand up for Steubenville Youth.” Steubenville officials launched a website and have been trying to combat rumors they say are sullying the image of their town. They have also offered counseling to kids upset by the negative attention. . . .
Sasha Brown-Worsham of the cafemom.com blog says Steubenville is the “most hated town in America” because of attention from online media and hackers.

Lee Stranahan’s reporting on the case showed that much of the online lynch-mob fury against Steubenville was led by fugitive hacker Christopher Doyon (“Commander X”) and convicted drug trafficker Frankie Francis (“Occupy Steubenville”). While sensationalized accounts of the Steubenville case led to claims of a “cover-up” and denunciations of the town as symbolic of a “rape culture,” Stranahan says the controvery has obscured the real lesson of the story:

There is a serious, nationwide problem involving teenage drinking and hook up culture. . . .
There’s been a cultural shift and it’s impacting teenagers today. The mainstreaming of stripper/sex tape/porn star culture seems to have finally pushed activities that were previously not discussed or considered for consenting adults only into the lives of America’s children. MTV shows like Jersey Shore and Buckwild glamorize constant parties with red solo cups, hooking up and fighting. Now add in social media and the constant presence of smart phones with cameras, and you have an incendiary mix.

In an e-mail thanking him for his coverage of the case, one Steubenville resident wrote to Stranahan: “There have been so many rumors and lies circulating about this case and the masked group was never needed here; they have only proven to show hate and chaos to our community.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Crime, Ohio

“What Difference, At This Point, Does [A SuperPAC] Make?”

Posted on | January 29, 2013 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Fans of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have launched a super PAC on her behalf as speculation continues to swirl about her 2016 ambitions.
“Ready for Hillary” on Friday filed with the Federal Election Commission, following on the heels of another group called “HILLARYCLINTONSUPERPAC.”

Hillary is sooo (not) not running.

via preciseBlogs

Category: Hillary Clinton

LIVE AT FIVE: 01.29.13

Posted on | January 29, 2013 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obama To Announce Own, More Liberal Immigration Reform Plan

President Obama: headed for Vegas

Administration proposal includes quicker path to citizenship for illegals

Boy Scouts May Allow Local Troops To Set Policy On Gays
American public, Family Research Council opposed

Congress Okays $50 Billion In “Sandy” Aid
Only nine Republicans vote for bill after amendment to require offsetting budget cuts fails



POLITICS
McCain/Schumer Immigration Plan A Rerun Of Failed 2007 Bill

Comparing new bill to the original version

Kennedy-Kyl 2.0?

Maryland Lawmakers Discuss Minimum Wage Increase

Wildfire Arsonist Sentenced To Die

Taxes, Tolls, And Free Wi-Fi In New Hampshire

Hawaii Legislative Session Begins With Battle For Second Amendment Rights

Missouri Gov. Nixon Endorses Bond Proposal, Pushes For Education Increase In State Of The State Speech

Massachusetts Special Election To Replace Senator Kerry Set For June 25

Virginia Senate Panel Approves “Love Shack” Bill

Cuomo Bats Back At Bloomberg On Teacher Evaluations

Bills Start To Reach House, Senate Floors In Montana Legislature



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Continues To Rise On US Data, Middle East Unrest: NYMEX $96.64, Brent $113.60
Yahoo Sees Revenue Climb This Year, But Long Road Ahead
Orders For U.S. Durable Goods Jump 4.6%
Asian Shares Rise, Cautious Before Fed, U.S. Data
Bond Yields Rise On Better Economic News
Caterpillar Can’t Save The Dow
Hostess Picks Little Debbie Maker As Lead Bidder For Drake’s Cakes
IRS Advises Further Delays For Those Claiming Education Breaks
VMWare To Cut 900 Jobs As Outlook Disappoints
Seagate Stock Slides On Downbeat Forecast
Facebook Endures Hours-Long Outage In U.S.
Google Promises Fight Over Government Access To E-Mail
Analyst: Blackberry 10 No Salvation For Research In Motion
Microsoft Office 2013 General Availability Arriving Today
HP To Jump On Chromebook Bandwagon?
Cisco To Sell Linksys Business To Belkin



SPORTS
Rockets Embarrass Jazz In Blowout Win

Houston’s James Harden blasts through the Jazz defense

125-80 biggest win since 50-pointer against Sixers in 2007

Late Goal Keeps Bruins Hot

Lopez Gives Magic Painful Reminder Of The Player They Turned Down

Dodgers Ink $7 Billion TV Deal

Lee’s Double-Double Boosts Warriors Past Raptors

#2 Jayhawks Dress For Success, Hold Off Upset-Minded Mountaineers

Butler Helps Bulls Beat Bobcats

Duke Hoops Fall To #5 In AP Poll

Zimmermann, Desmond Mull Multi-Year Deals



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Chris Brown Probed For Assault After Brawl With Frank Ocean

Chris Brown and Frank Ocean

Big fight at recording studio over parking space

Justin Bieber Sings About Selena Gomez Split In New Song “Nothing Like Us”

Jennifer Lawrence Wardrobe Malfunction At The SAG Awards? Nope

Cry-Lo

Bradley Cooper Calls Lance Armstrong Movie Rumors “Nuts”

Taye Diggs Thwarts Home Invasion – By Himself

Paul Giamatti In Talks To Play The Rhino In “Spiderman 2”

Sam Edelman’s New Muse: Kate Upton



FOREIGNERS
Iceland Wins Case Over Failed Bank Landsbanki
Timbuktu Liberated, But Priceless Manuscripts Destroyed By Jihadis
Egyptian Protesters Defy Curfew, Attack Police Stations
Thousands Evacuated As Flooding Hits Eastern Australia
Queen Beatrix Of The Netherlands To Abdicate In Favor Of Son
Chosun Ilbo: ROK, U.S., Japan Must Help PRC Hold Norks In Check
Youngest, Most Brutal Of Delhi Rapists May Get Away With Least Penalty
Netanyahu Dealt Weak Hand By Voters
Russia Moves To Prosecute A Dead Lawyer



BLOGS & STUFF
DaTechGuy: On Da Radio Talking ‘Bout My SYNDICATION!
Michelle Malkin: Suicidal GOP Senators Join Open-Borders Dems For Shamnesty Redux
Weasel Zippers: Rep. Marsha Blackburn Challenges Obama To Skeet Shooting Match
Jammie Wearing Fools: Homina Homina – Carney Not Sure How Often Obama Goes Skeet Shooting
Allahpundit: Dems Beg Obama Not To Offer His Own Immigration Bill
Rush Limbaugh: Fear Rules The GOP On Immigration
Bryan Preston: That Big Border Commission In The Gang of Eight’s Amnesty Deal? It’s A Phony.
American Thinker: Senators Agree To An Outline Of A Bipartisan Immigration Deal
Mark Krikorian: Lies, Damn Lies, And Enforcement Promises
Conservatives4Palin: False Stories Spread On Governor Palin’s Departure From Fox News
Breitbart: Journalist Accosted By Security Over Mayor Bloomberg Gun Control Question
JustOneMinute: Out Of The Closet At The NYT
Power Line: Obama, Out Of The Closet
Vox Day: Apparently Education Is Not The Answer
Wizbang: NYPD Chief Says “The Problem Is The Handgun”
Ed Driscoll: “Free Of Party Ideology Or Partisan Bias”
Protein Wisdom: San Diego Chief Of Police Says “We Can Disarm America Within A Generation”
Lonely Conservative: Change – Food Stamps Pay For Lap Dances, But No Breakfast For US Troops


Category: Live at Five

‘Arab Spring’ Update: Foreign News the Media Doesn’t Want to Ask Obama About

Posted on | January 28, 2013 | 5 Comments

Kirsten Powers points out what was so obviously missing from Sunday’s 60 Minutes softball interview:

Now, I’m sorry, is anyone paying attention to what’s going on in North Africa? Why is the president not asked about Algeria, Mali, Libya? These are front and center in the news right now.

Indeed. Lots of news out there:

Algeria has bolstered its military presence along the southern border.
Security sources said the Algerian Army was ordered to send thousands of troops along the southern border with Mali. . . .
The sources said [Al Qaeda in the Maghreb] units were believed to have fled Mali amid French air strikes. They said the Algerian Army was ordered to open fire on suspected insurgents and attack strongholds.

Yeah, what’s going on in Mali?

A rebellion in Mali that might have otherwise excited little interest commanded international attention when word came of its hardline Islamist nature and, more importantly, its ties to Al Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM). . . .
The alliance between AQIM and the Tuareg people of Northern Mali and adjacent lands is a curious one. The Tuareg have a long history of opposing encroaching peoples . . .
The Tuareg see AQIM as an ally in their cause, but the latter is more of a burden because it brings regional and international opposition to the Tuareg movement for autonomy. Instead of bringing needed help to the Tuareg, AQIM is bringing a formidable invasion. Realization of the overwhelming opposition before them may be behind the recent split in the Tuareg forces . . .

So there’s a Tuareg rebellion that al-Qaeda has exploited in northern Mali — has anybody asked Obama about this? I think not. What about security problems at our embassies and consulates?

Foreign security contractors for U.S. diplomatic facilities have been deemed inadequate, a report said.
The State Department said the majority of foreign security contractors hired to protect U.S. embassies and consulates were deemed insufficient and inadequate. The department’s inspector-general surveyed foreign guards deployed around 86 diplomatic posts.
“OIG [Office of the Inspector-General] also found at some overseas posts that local guard contracts let under the current lowest-price award method had performance problems and an increased need for oversight from department officials — a condition that may be alleviated by the use of the best-value method where price is not the overriding factor in awarding the contract,” the inspector-general said in a report.
The report, released in February 2012, said foreign security guards deployed at two-thirds of the 86 posts were deemed inadequate. The inspector-general said the biggest problems included the U.S. embassy in Iraq.

Hmmm. A report in February 2012 — seven months before the attack on the consulate in Benghazi — warned of “performance problems” with hired guards at facilities. Kinda curious that they couldn’t ask Obama about that during his 60 Minutes interview. More headlines:

Timbuktu liberated but priceless manuscripts destroyed
— ABC News

Iran denies reports of explosion at Fordo nuclear site
— BBC

U.S. Weighs Base for Spy Drones in North Africa
— New York Times

Lots of news out there, but the hard-hitting investigative journalists at CBS News couldn’t be bothered to ask Obama about any of it.

 

Category: Algeria, Barack Obama, CBS, Iran, Libya, Mali

Iranian Space Monkey Jokes

Posted on | January 28, 2013 | 13 Comments

Of course, the news that Iran has launched a monkey into space is no laughing matter. It’s like the North Korean “space program,” a purportedly peaceful (nudge, nudge) way of flight-testing an ICBM. So once they get a nuclear weapon, the fanatical Jew-hating mullahs now have the means of delivering that warhead to Tel Aviv — or perhaps on some suitable infidel target right here in the Great Satan.

Look on the bright side: If Ahmadinejad were to nuke Manhattan, we’d no longer have to put up with the New York Times. And if there were a slight malfunction with the guidance system in the Iranian ICBM, it might go off-course and annihilate the cast of Jersey Shore.

 

Category: Iran

Fear & Loathing Among the Conservative Intellectuals: A Stubborn Sense of Panic

Posted on | January 28, 2013 | 9 Comments

Mark Steyn and fans at the National Review Institute Summit

“Growing up in the USSR, where the only permitted sources of information were textbooks and the official media, I believed that the Soviet Union was the most advanced society in the world. All other countries lived in poverty and oppression, devoid of the sun of Marxism-Leninism. I wanted them to become more like the USSR for their own good, and couldn’t wait to grow up and live in the communist future, not worrying about money.”
— Oleg Atbashian, Shakedown Socialism, 2010

“So it is that those who wish to force us into acquiescence with a world increasingly secularized and dehumanized, must either confess themselves absolute determinists . . . or they must admit that they intend to shape the future themselves, which is not argument at all, but an announcement of intention.”
— Richard M. Weaver, “On Setting the Clock Right,” National Review, 1957

In 1949, Friedrich Hayek published an essay entitled “The Intellectuals and Socialism” that is still worth reading today. Conservatives are so accustomed to being accused of “anti-intellectualism” that I think at times we almost believe it. The important question is — as it was in 1949 — what do we mean by “intellectual”? And if the terms are not contradictory, what is the duty of a conservative intellectual?

What is an “intellectual”? They are “professional secondhand dealers in ideas,” as Hayek described them:

[An intellectual] need not possess special knowledge of anything in particular, nor need he even be particularly intelligent, to perform his role as intermediary in the spreading of ideas. What qualifies him for his job is the wide range of subjects on which he can readily talk and write, and a position or habits through which he becomes acquainted with new ideas sooner than those to whom he addresses himself.

The intellectual is an “intermediary,” then, and not necessarily an originator of ideas, but rather someone who promotes and popularizes ideas through his position. What distinguishes the intellectual from others is not his superior intelligence, but rather that his occupational speciality involves speaking and writing, giving him the opportunity to influence the beliefs and opinions of others:

The class does not consist of only journalists, teachers, ministers, lecturers, publicists, radio commentators, writers of fiction, cartoonists, and artists all of whom may be masters of the technique of conveying ideas but are usually amateurs so far as the substance of what they convey is concerned. The class also includes many professional men and technicians, such as scientists and doctors, who through their habitual intercourse with the printed word become carriers of new ideas outside their own fields and who, because of their expert knowledge of their own subjects, are listened with respect on most others. There is little that the ordinary man of today learns about events or ideas except through the medium of this class; and outside our special fields of work we are in this respect almost all ordinary men, dependent for our information and instruction on those who make it their job to keep abreast of opinion. It is the intellectuals in this sense who decide what views and opinions are to reach us, which facts are important enough to be told to us, and in what form and from what angle they are to be presented.

To put it another way, intellectuals are the articulate class whose communication skills — and greater access to the institutions through which ideas are disseminated — give them a greater influence in shaping public opinion. In this sense, Jon Stewart is as much an intellectual as Charles Krauthammer. The director of a TV commercial may, in this sense, be an intellectual as influential as an Oscar-winning film director.

Having been recognized a few years ago as a “top Hayekian public intellectual,” I have thought a lot about this: What is my job? What are my duties? What counts as failure or success?

Others must supply their own answers to these questions, and the greater their influence, the greater their responsibility. Certainly the editors of and contributors to National Review, being inheritors of the legacy of William F. Buckley Jr., must conceive how great a burden they bear to prove themselves worthy of that great patrimony. Truly, they stand on the shoulders of giants, not only of Buckley himself, but also such memorable conservative thinkers as Willmoore Kendall, James Burnham, Frank Meyer, Richard Weaver, Russell Kirk and Eric Voegelin.

Here is a question: Does the conservative intellectual owe greater loyalty toward conservatism or toward intellectualism? That is to say, does he pursue his personal interest in maintaining his credentials as an intellectual in good standing, or does he risk disfavor by defending and advancing the conservative cause?

Certainly it was neither easy nor popular for an intellectual in 1957 to argue, as Richard Weaver did, against the proposition that “you can’t turn back the clock.” All the world then was enamored with the idea of Scientific Progress which, it was widely believed, had rendered obsolete certain “horse and buggy” notions about human liberty:

If one remarks that both theory and observation prove that collectivism is fatal to individual liberty, one is blamed for being out of step with the times. If one hazards an opinion that the amount of noise and confusion prevailing today is perhaps not the best thing for the human psyche, one is branded an enemy of progress. In fact, I can’t think of any objection to the present physical and moral order which will not likely be answered with some variety of the charge that the critic wants to turn the clock back.

Weaver was arguing against a certain trick by which self-declared apostles of modernity smuggle their own preferences into the future, disguised as the inevitable consequences of “historical forces.” Pointing out the trick did not endear Weaver to an intelligentsia profoundly enamored of such deterministic thinking, and one imagines the liberal thinkers of that era scorning Weaver as a nostalgic reactionary.

Richard Weaver could only advance the conservative cause by estranging himself from his own class interests as an intellectual, allying himself with a movement which (then as now) was viewed with tremendous disdain by the vast majority of intellectuals.

Weaver had one advantage that today’s National Review writers may not appreciate: He wasn’t constantly hustling to get himself booked on cable TV news or talk radio, trying to clamber up the ziggurat of ambition that today defines the career path of conservative intellectuals.

Nor, for that matter, did conservatives in 1957 consider themselves to be de facto partisan apologists for the Republican Party. Nowadays, the political interests of the GOP are foremost among the problems that conservative intellectuals are expected to address, so that it is difficult to distinguish the party from the intellectuals.

Please don’t accuse me of wishing to “turn back the clock,” but I’m not exactly confident that “historical forces” have amounted to Scientific Progress for the conservative movement, and my weekend in Washington did little to bolster my confidence:

No fistfights broke out during the National Review Institute’s “Future of Conservatism” Summit in D.C., disappointing my hopes for the weekend. Some sort of bloodletting — at the very least, a venting of grievances — might do everybody good after the Republican defeat in November. Alas, decorum prevailed and none of the panelists even raised their voices in anger.
The most depressing moment of the conference came, perhaps not coincidentally, during a panel on immigration when radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, representing the pro-amnesty side of the argument, announced that he really didn’t want to be debating immigration because it was bad for Republicans to talk about the issue — especially when those talking about it were middle-aged white guys like himself and his antagonist, Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Undeterred by Hewitt’s disavowal, Krikorian recounted facts that ought to give pause to conservatives who, since November, have begun jabbering desperately about winning over Hispanic voters by adopting a pro-amnesty line. Krikorian noted a Pew Research poll from 2011 that found Hispanics have the lowest opinion of capitalism of any group surveyed. Only 32 percent of Hispanics hold a favorable view of capitalism, while 55 percent have a negative view. Even supporters of the left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement expressed a more favorable view of capitalism than did Hispanics. Insofar as the Republican Party promotes policies favorable to capitalism, then, it is at odds with the sentiments of the one group whom the pro-amnesty Republicans insist their policy ideas will win over to the GOP.
Facts are stubborn things, John Adams once observed, but perhaps even more stubborn is the sense of panic that has gripped Republicans since Obama’s re-election. . . .

Read the whole thing at The American Spectator.

 

Category: Fear. Loathing., Intellectuals

BREAKING: Lightworker Astride Unicorn Transcends Space-Time Continuum

Posted on | January 28, 2013 | 11 Comments

“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail)

“Difficult as it may now be to recall, there were once ‘spiritually advanced people’ who looked at this Chicago machine politician and saw ‘a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being . . . who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet.’”
— Robert Stacy McCain, Oct. 25, 2012

Ever since that historic moment in June 2008 when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal, spiritually advanced Americans have waited for the Lightworker™ to be transfigured into his cosmic essence, in which exalted form he merely speaks the Word, and the Word is made manifest:

One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates. If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you’ll see more of them doing it. . . .
The same dynamic happens on the Democratic side. I think the difference is just that the more left-leaning media outlets recognize that compromise is not a dirty word. And I think at least leaders like myself — and I include Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in this — are willing to buck the more absolutist-wing elements in our party to try to get stuff done.

The laws of physics have been repealed by the Lightworker’s cosmic essence. Obama has transformed Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi into unifying centrist bipartisan moderates whose only desire is to resist “absolutist-wing elements” and bring together all Americans in the tolerant spirit of inclusive cooperation to Get Stuff Done.

What’s that wonderful smell? Ah, unicorn farts!

 

 


Category: Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi
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