The Other McCain

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

Professor Erik Loomis, Code Pink and the Media Hate America’s Gun Owners UPDATE: More Progressive Civility™

Posted on | December 21, 2012 | 16 Comments

Code Pink protesters — including the group’s Marxist founder, Medea Benjamin — disrupted today’s press conference by National Rifle Association chairman Wayne LaPierre. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has video. Meanwhile, as Alex Pappas of Daily Caller reports, influential members of the nation’s elite press corps were openly mocking LaPierre:

Who is Jonathan Weisman? Just another neutral, objective congressional reporter for the New York Times, that’s all.

Might as well get your news from Erik Loomis. (“Metaphor“!)

Here’s the full text of Wayne LaPierre’s speech. More at Memeorandum.

 

 

UPDATE: If there’s one thing America can always expect from progressives, it’s civil discourse about important policy issues:

 

Lots more Progressive Civility™ where that came from.

Linked at Hogewash — thanks!

UPDATE II: Oops! Neutral objective reporters caught on a hot microphone disparaging the NRA, praising Code Pink.

UPDATE III: Linked by American Glob — thanks!

UPDATE IV: Linked by the Lonely Conservative — thanks!

 


Category: Media Bias

Don’t Get Too Fixated On The Raaaaace Card, Jonah

Posted on | December 21, 2012 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

I tried out Ricochet, which gave a free login to Goldberg at the NRO:

Just this week, in an essay for the New York Times, Adolph Reed attacked South Carolina governor Nikki Haley — the first female Indian-American governor in America — for appointing Representative Tim Scott to retiring senator Jim DeMint’s seat. Scott is a black man and a conservative Tea Party favorite.

So obviously, this is a very clever ploy to restore Jim Crow.

“Just as white Southern Democrats once used cynical manipulations — poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests — to get around the 15th Amendment,” Reed writes, “so modern-day Republicans have deployed blacks to undermine black interests.”

That’s it exactly. Indeed, that’s what the Tea Party was always about: undermining black interests.

When Herman Cain — another inconveniently black man — was the overwhelming preference among Tea Party activists for the Republican presidential nomination, a historian writing in the New York Times suggested that Cain could be seen as proof the legacy of the Ku Klux Klan lives on.

You know you’ve been pounding a square peg into a round hole for too long when you find yourself insinuating that a black man from Georgia represents the KKK tradition in contemporary politics.

But it’s really not about the card as such. Abstract a bit. The race card is just a cheap means to the end of amassing political power. If, indeed, the insertion of race/color/creed divisions loses its power generation capability, substitutes will be found. Class warfare for example.

The interesting question is how much longer conservatives can continue to hang out with the likes of a Tim Scott or a Herman Cain, or nominate Mia Love, and so forth, before the whole Racism Industrial Complex begins to crumble.

But who wants to listen to my pigment-deprived self?

Category: Uncategorized

Occupy Althouse? (The Zero-Sum Error)

Posted on | December 21, 2012 | 19 Comments

There are times when you must choose between gratitude and resentment and, considering how rarely this blog gets linked by Ann Althouse, I’ve decided to be grateful that my thoughts on Professor Erik Loomis provided her and Meade with some laughs. Also, because her post linking my post got linked at Instapundit, I’ll be grateful for what bloggers know as the “Secondhand-o-lanche.” Nevertheless . . .

What’s up with people choosing to leave clever comments at Althouse’s blog, rather than to share their pithy witticisms with us?

Moneyrunner said…
It’s worth stating that there is a case to be made for the freedom of academics to take unpopular views. In Loomis’ case it becomes a matter of defending the right of academics to be outrageous assholes without consequences.
12/21/12 6:47 AM

Jim Treacher said…
What’s the big deal? It’s not like he put crosshairs symbols on a map.
12/21/12 7:27 AM

Astro said…
I’m guessing that 100 years from now, Prof. Erik Loomis will be regarded as an historical dildo.
12/21/12 8:46 AM

Jim Treacher? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Never mind. If Treacher wants to goldbrick on his Daily Caller gig by commenting at Althouse’s blog, that’s between him and Tucker, I guess

Good thing I’m not a lefty, or I’d call for an “Occupy Althouse” movement, to demand a more equitable redistribution of funny comments. This is where one is reminded again of the alternative between resentment and gratitude.

Our commenters aren’t chopped liver, after all, and what’s to stop other bloggers — Donald Douglas or Bob Belvedere, for example — from launching their own protest campaign against us?

“Comrades! We must resist the imperialist dominance of the blogospheric bourgeoisie that exploits the commenter proletariat!”

No, we’ve seen where that ideology leads: The HuffPo “killing fields,” with volunteer contributors rounded up in a digital veal pen, promised that their unpaid work will help advance the Progressive cause, only to see the People’s Democratic Republic of HuffPo shamelessly sold to the highest bidder by Arianna and her investors.

We’re not going down that road. We’re not even going to slow down as we pass the off-ramp that leads to that road.

It would be easy enough, I suppose, to find bloggers prone to a sour-grapes mentality, to convince them that success is a zero-sum game, to mobilize their petty resentments, to persuade them that the reason they don’t get more funny comments on their blogs is because Althouse is unfairly monopolizing funny comments.

But that would not only be false, it would be evil.

The spirit of generosity and gratitude can accomplish more in human affairs than can the spirit of selfishness and envy. And I suppose, since this is the Friday before Christmas — and most of you are reading this while goldbricking at your jobs prior to taking 11 days of paid holidays — I should remind you of this greatest gift, that God so loved the world as to give his only son. And the shepherds heard an angelic host, proclaiming, “Peace on Earth! Goodwill toward men!”

If you don’t get back here until Wednesday, Jan. 2 — like Treacher, goldbricking at your job again — Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!




 

UPDATE: This seems to be a good time to thank readers who have hit the tip jar in the past week: William in Bakersfield, James in North Carolina, Gregory in Elmhurst, Clare in Larchmont, William in Dallas, Cathryn in Oregon, Glenn in Tennessee, John in Annapolis, Charles in Oregon, Amelia in New Jersey, William in Owego and Dianna in San Jose.

Category: Ann Althouse, Christmas

Leaders Are People With Followers

Posted on | December 21, 2012 | 47 Comments

by Smitty

So the House GOP broke on Plan B. This is telling, emphasis mine:

Upstairs by the House floor, which was now closed after Boehner’s announcement, a handful of senior members discussed the whip count. They decided to go out for drinks near Union Station, in order to avoid their colleagues who’d be hanging at the Capitol Hill Club on the House side. “I don’t want to talk to the people who ruined this, at least right now,” a retiring House member told me. “They don’t get it.” Another senior member told me that Boehner was always going to struggle with the whip count since most House conservatives have little interest in seeing the speaker strike any kind of deal. “Boehner was trying to play chess and the caucus was playing checkers,” he said, sighing. “Boehner is willing to lose a pawn for a queen. I’m not sure about the rest.”
Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, a conservative with libertarian leanings, was stunned. As he walked back to his office, he said the episode was unfortunate, even though he was planning to vote against the measure. For the past month, since House leaders booted him off the budget committee, he has been railing against Boehner for his management style. But even Amash wondered whether the House GOP was making the right move. “Too many people in there were arguing that this thing is a tax increase, and I don’t think that’s what Boehner was trying to do,” he said. As much as he disagrees with Boehner’s approach, even he regretted how the speaker’s plan was killed.

If you’re in a military situation, and everyone is under the UCMJ, then the authoritarian mode is far more workable. You can toss out the “Because I said so” argument, and toss malingerers under the bus.

It isn’t clear in politics that you can play it that way. There is nothing whatsoever in the Fiscal Cliff debate that is of a national security nature. Boehner really ought to have been playing chess, and not poker. Truly, the seeds of most evils are planted with cards held close to the chest. Thus, if Boehner is unhappy with the results, Boehner can blame Boehner. This country has been producing chips from nowhere and piling them on the table for these decades, and the table is collapsing under the weight of the idiocy.

It is, in fact, time to return to chess, with all the pieces on the table in plain view. The Republican Party, if interested in turning around both its and the country’s decline, ought to consider a full reform platform, and start selling it to voters for the 2014 election. Something that admits that the last century of collapse into a single Progressive uber-State is a pair of deuces that thinks itself a royal flush. Something that builds upon ideas, e.g. Barnett’s Bill of Federalism, that redistribute power, not wealth.

The Republican Party has to be more than Gasping Obama Patsies to make a difference.

Via amyvrwc

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

 


Category: Budget

LIVE AT FIVESIX: 12.21.12

Posted on | December 21, 2012 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Boehner Cancels Plan B Vote In Face Of Conservative Revolt

Speaker of the House John Boehner

NYT misses opportunity to blame Norquist, Tea Party for this

Putin Defends Russian Syria Policy
Condemns US for toppling Qaddafi and leaving Libya in chaos

Cory Booker Explores 2014 Senate Run
Not eager to tangle with popular Christie for governor’s chair



POLITICS
Defense Bill Emerges From Conference Committee, Draws Varied Reactions

Look! A helicopter!

Bipartisan agreement between Senate and House likely to be signed by Obama despite grumbling and threats

Indicted State Chemist’s E-Mails Reveal Close Personal Ties To Prosecutors

Judge Hears Arguments, Defers Judgment On Oakland Pot Dispensary Case


Jake Tapper Moves To CNN As Washington Bureau Chief

Marine Pleads Guilty To Urinating On Taliban Corpse

Anti-NRA Campaigners Go After Hotels Offering NRA Member Discounts

Sen. Ayotte Expresses Concern With Hagel’s Positions On Iran, Israel

Congressmen Call For National Travel Boycott Of Mexico Over Jailed Marine



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Drops As Fiscal Cliff Optimism Fades: NYMEX $89.41, Brent $109.78
NYSE Agrees To Sell Itself To Futures Exchange ICE
Wishing On A Weak Yen Seen As LDP Returns To Power In Japan
Third Quarter GDP Revised Up As Jobless Claims Increase
S&P Downgrades Cyprus On Default Fears
Parliamentary Commission Calls From Breakup Of UK Banks
Existing Home Sales Jump To Three-Year High
Moody’s Warns It May Join S&P In Downgrading US
Nokia, RIM Settle Wi-Fi Patent Dispute
Instagram Does An About-Face
Apple Kills A Kickstarter Project
Facebook Testing Pay-To-Message Feature
Google Sells Motorola Set-Top Box Business For $2.35 Billion
Brazilian “iphone” Runs Android
FCC Approves AT&T 4G Spectrum Grab



SPORTS
NHL Moves Closer To Cancelling Season

Deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly

But…but…Bill Daly tells Hockey Night In Canada Radio there’s going to be a season!

Quick Start Helps LeBron James, Heat Put Mavericks Away Early

Jabari Parker Picks Duke

BYU Rides Defense To Win In Poinsettia Bowl

Rangers Sign A.J. Pierczynski To One-Year Deal


Hickson Scores 18 Points With 18 Rebounds As Blazers Beat Nuggets 101-93

Cubs Sign Edwin Jackson: Four Years, $52 Million

Tom Gorzelanny Signs Two-Year Deal With Brewers



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
LeAnn Rimes Sings On “X Factor” Despite Illness

LeAnn Rimes

Sick, or drunk?

Former Olympian Admits To Double Life As $600/Hour Call Girl

Simon Cowell Confirms He’s Dating Carmen Electra

Five Things You Don’t Know About Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo

Justin Bieber Threatened With Philippines Ban After Ridiculing Manny Pacquiao

Unspeakable Armenian Complains Instagram’s New Policy Could Destroy Her “Career”

Katherine Heigl Excited Over Adoption Of Daughter Adelaide

Rapper Fat Joe Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion Charges



FOREIGNERS
Vladimir Putin Holds Marathon Annual Press Conference
Egypt’s Chief Prosecutor Retracts His Resignation
Jordan Warns Jihadis Are Hijacking Syrian Revolution; Israel, Jordan Could Be Next Targets
Narendra Modi To Be Sworn In As Gujarat Chief Minister On Boxing Day
UN Sanctions Two Iranian Companies For Running Guns To Syria
UNSC Authorizes Intervention Against Malian Jihadis
PRC Ships Enter Disputed Waters For First Time Since LDP Regains Power In Japan
As Election Nears, Likud Party Revels In UN, US Censure Of Settlements



BLOGS & STUFF
Doug Powers: Taxpayers Will Lose Around $14 Billion In Selloff Of GM Stock
Weekly Standard Blog: Harry Reid’s Plain On The Fiscal Cliff – “We Are Not Going To Do Anything”
Power Line: Plan B Fails; GOP Moves Closer To Political Cliff
Lonely Conservative: Millionaire Tax Portion Of Plan B Shelved For Lack Of Support From GOP
NRO Corner: Gays, Cuban-Americans, Hezbollah Victims – Everybody Hates Chuck Hagel
Alan Dershowitz: Hagel – The Wrong Man
Gateway Pundit: Former SC Governor Mark Sanford Plans Run For House, May Face Ex-Wife In Primary
Jihad Watch: Muslim Neighbors Of Toulouse Mass Murderer Acclaim Him As “Hero, A Martyr Of Islam”
American Thinker: New Political Reality – Independents No Longer Decide National Elections
Protein Wisdom: Ann Coulter Makes Herself Useful
NRO Corner: Maple Syrup Mystery Solved


Remember, today’s the deadline to get your links in for tomorrow’s FMJRA.

Category: Live at Five

Again, Cassone, On Newtown

Posted on | December 20, 2012 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

We need a word for that awkward point,
When one enounters art,
And says, “Da best in da flippin’ joint!
Tell, me: How’d it start?”

The artist’s face, it then grows dark,
And with a lowered eye,
Replies, “Blood down in the park,
That deserved not so to die.”

Oh that we could enjoy beauty,
But with a lower price,
For with the living lays duty,
To dodge diabiolical dice,

And honor those less fortunate,
For reasons we grasp not,
Perishing in moments turbulent,
In sudden, hellish shot.

We need a word for that awkward point. Pre-catharsis? Take in this touching tribute:

Category: Chris Cassone

Viral Video Idea, Only Minor Damage To Robert Stacy McCain Required

Posted on | December 20, 2012 | 23 Comments

by Smitty

Via Slashdot, we have a review of the new Windows:
Based upon that review (lengthy, but consistently good throughout), if we set up a camera, gave RSM a writing deadline, and a computer running Windows 8, my gut is that the resulting meltdown would be one for the ages. I guess if they wanted to shank Windows 8 any further, they would have needed Congress to code it.

While more or less good with Windows, myself, especially with VBA macro coding in MS Office (I should crank out an O’Reilly book) I really only use it on the job. It’s all Linux and OSX these days. If I haven’t got a command-line interface and some reasonable scriptability, it’s dead to me.

Category: Uncategorized

A Constitutional Right to Donkey Sex?

Posted on | December 20, 2012 | 21 Comments

Lisa Graas remembers how Rick Santorum was ridiculed for saying that the same logic that justifies gay marriage as a “right” could also justify legalized bestiality. Many at the time mocked Santorum as a bigoted yahoo. Yet the Republican presidential hopeful was merely expressing what Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had warned of when, in dissenting from the court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision, he criticized the thin and hasty logic by which his colleagues overturned their own 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick precedent:

State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers’ validation of laws based on moral choices.

Scalia’s dissent — which everyone should read — derided the court’s majority decision for creating a hitherto unknown “emerging awareness” doctrine for laws governing sexual behavior. Who can predict with any confidence where “emerging awareness” might lead?

We may be farther down the slippery slope toward legalized bestiality than most people suspect. In September, Carlos Romero was arrested in Marion County, Florida, and charged with having sex with a female miniature donkey named Doodle. His lawyers are arguing that the Florida law against sex with animals violates Romero’s rights:

In the motion filed in Marion County court on Dec. 6, the assistant public defenders handling Romero’s case — Joshua Wyatt, Scott Schmidt and Joshua Lukman — wrote that the statute infringes upon Romero’s due process rights and violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

Of course, the 14th Amendment — the universal solvent of judicial activism!  Tracy Clark Flory at Salon is apparently OK with that:

They’re specifically targeting the language of Florida’s anti-bestiality law, which does not require proof that an animal has been harmed or “of the sexual activity being non-consensual,” or even of penetrative sexual contact.
The attorneys write, “Therefore, the only possible rational basis for the statute is a moral objection to sexual acts considered deviant or downright ‘disgusting.’” And that, they argue, is unconstitutional: “The personal morals of the majority, whether based on religion or traditions, cannot be used as a reason to deprive a person of their personal liberties.”
If, however, “the statute were to require sexual conduct with animals to be nonconsensual or to cause injury in order to be a crime, then perhaps the State would have a rational basis and legitimate state interest in enforcement,” they write.
It may be an opportunistic defense, sure, but it also brings up some interesting, if squirm-worthy, questions: Why should bestiality be illegal? Is it because it’s socially unacceptable or because it causes harm to animals? If it’s the latter, is it OK for people to have sexual contact with animals in cases where the animal isn’t harmed?

You can say whatever you want. Just don’t say you weren’t warned.

Category: Crime, Culture, Florida, Supreme Court
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