The Other McCain

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

Just Doing My Job, Jerry

Posted on | September 3, 2012 | 34 Comments

My friend Jerry Wilson at Goldfish and Clowns seems to have taken personally my failure to respond to his writings, and that’s OK.

Neglectfulness is a problem with me and when I’m on the road, the problem is compounded. In case you didn’t notice, I spent the past week in Tampa at the Republican National Convention and, given that tip-jar hitters had paid my way there, I felt obliged to provide extensive coverage of the journey:

This blog coverage was in addition to the five American Spectator columns I filed from Tampa:

All in all, I considered it a successful trip, and if the ordeals of the journey — including the engine problem that will require hundreds of dollars to repair — have distracted me even more than I am usually distracted, this was no one’s fault in particular.

Among the successes of the trip: I introduced Ali Akbar to the Allman Brothers. He really digs “One Way Out,” which is now downloaded to his iPhone. It’s hard to believe that anyone could reach age 27 and never have heard At the Fillmore East, but this just goes to show the catastrophic failures of the American public education system.

At any rate, my own failures — extensive though they are — do not include an inability to judge character, and my defense of Ali Akbar is based on an acquaintance that dates back to October 2009 during the Doug Hoffman campaign in NY-23. So Jerry Wilson’s “just asking questions” attitude toward Ali is rather annoying: I’ve known the guy for three years and, whatever his faults, this “convicted felon Ali Akbar” meme is a ridiculous distraction.

The dude’s got skills, OK?

We’re in the midst of a political battle of enormous consequence and, as I’ve said repeatedly in conversations with friends, now is not the time to be distracted by irrelevant personal quarrels, especially quarrels instigated by Neal Rauhauser, Ron Brynaert, et al. Whatever legitimate beefs anyone may have with Ali, these can be settled after Nov. 6, and I don’t give a damn. But I have no patience for criticism of Ali based on partial information at a time when I know for a fact — I’ve seen with my own eyes — that Ali is doing effective work for the cause of liberty.

So to Jerry Wilson or anyone else who thinks they’re going to throw Ali Akbar under the bus, I say, your bus ain’t big enough.

As Ace of Spades often says during election season: “Game faces.”

Stop letting yourself be distracted at a time when we can ill afford these distractions. Concentrate on the big picture, and trust that everything else will take care of itself.

Category: Goldfish & Clowns

Sticky Political References

Posted on | September 3, 2012 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

Bill Quick points to the maple syrup story in the great white north, and figures that the 15k barrels suddenly ‘missing’ from a Canadian warehouse were never filled in the first place.

In the age of politics in everything, let me be the first to point out what an excellent metaphor we have here for our monetary system. As long as nobody actually wants a little something for the pancake, you can borrow against that non-existent supply, trade stock in it, do whatever.

We can all enjoy the idealized world of Obama’s speeches, as long as nobody actually wants to live in it.

Category: Bill Quick

#EmptyChairDay : 100-Year Plant, Or 1000-Year Gripe?

Posted on | September 3, 2012 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

Via Soopermexican, #OccupyResoluteDesk gets hoisted on his own petard again, leaving the chair at the Resolute Desk abandoned. This blog awaits the accusers who said that VP nominee Paul Ryan was ‘misleading‘ to allow that Ryan was relating not only what Obama said in a straightforward manner, but also capturing the messianic thrust of Obama’s presentation:

If you’re going to go on record as a government savior, then you probably had better not make the salvation contingent on re-election. Stand by for a millenium of whinging from Obama and descendants, especially if George Will coughs up Obama’s briefing book.

Update: linked at The Pirate’s Cove

Category: Barack Obama

Rule 5 Sunday: Like A Rock

Posted on | September 2, 2012 | 12 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

For the benefit of those reading Rule 5 compilations for the first time, or who have forgotten since last time: some of the links below are most definitely Not Safe For Work and could contribute to the pollution of your precious bodily fluids.


Laughing Conservative leads off this week with Rhian Sugden giving new life to old denim, and on the other hoof, EBL covers the topless protests at the White House. Also, the udderly fantastic Megyn Kelly! Also also, steenking Badgers and glorious Crimson Tide Girls.  Randy’s Roundtable takes a midweek break with Kate Upton and Claire Tully, while Senator Blutarsky has some suggestions to replace that faded Obama poster on the wall. The Wombat approves of the distinguished gentleman’s taste in posters! Fishersville Mike reminds us that it’s almost time for a new season of Kaley Cuoco – er, Big Bang Theory. First Street Journal’s theme this week is Legs, while Dustbury offers Rumer Willis and Kim Hyun-A of “Gangnam Style” fame. Valley of the Shadow rattles the tip jar this month with the help of Sonam Kapoor who is definitely Bollywood but questionably Goth.


A Fool’s Game chooses to imitate A View From The Beach by salting salaciousness in among serious political posts on the rules flap at the RNC, George Weigel on moral truth, a criticism of the Romney campaign’s tactics, and a hat-tip to Stacy regarding media bias.


Speaking of which, A View From The Beach has the cute (and deeply scary) Summer Glau, this week’s cave girls, “Don’t Know Why”  (music by Nora Jones and body by Brooklyn Decker), bartenders’ revolt against mojitos, another view of the Topless DC protest, “Show Your True Self”, some pillow talk, and followup on the Bacon In The Park “hate crime”.


El Opinador Compulsivo brings the Rule 5 with Lara Stone, Cinthia Fernandez, Gianne Albertoni, Hope Dworaczyk, more B&W goodness, and sweet dreams.


Soylent Green’s Monday Motivationer is Willa, followed by Samantha for Tuesday Titillation, Katie as the Humpday Hawt, Charlie Don’t Surf, Alie, The Curse of Corsetcare, Melissa as the Overnight Awesome, ‘Tis The Season, Florencia, and some gratuitous nudity (sic).


Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe is Amy Jo Johnson, his vintage babe is Hedy Lamarr (all that and brains too, boys), and Jan Sterling puts the sex in advertising this week. Also, a 49ers cheerleader. At The Camp of the Saints, it’s Lara Dutta and the Rule 5 News.


The Daley Gator’s Daley Babes this week include Chieri Aoba, Pampita Ardohain, Tamara Taylor, Rebecca de Mornay, Nozomi Sasaki, Jessica Burciaga, girls in tight pants shooting rifles, and Keira Knightley with Rule 5 linkage. Also, bikini bowling!


Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Links for next week’s Rule 5 Sunday will be due this Saturday, September 8 in the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox.


LATE UPDATE: Three Beers Later gets an exception to policy for complaining that Stacy left out the lesbians in this post from the RNC. Carry on.

 

Category: Rule 5

Labor Day Administrivia/Open Comments Thread

Posted on | September 2, 2012 | 25 Comments

by Wombat-socho


I’m taking tomorrow off and sleeping in. Live At Five will resume Tuesday, September 4.
We don’t usually have open comment threads here, so enjoy this one while you have it.

Category: Live at Five

Breitbart in February: ‘You Want a Unity Speech? I’ll Give You a Unity Speech.’

Posted on | September 2, 2012 | 23 Comments

FLORENCE, South Carolina
Back in February at CPAC, Andrew Breitbart gave a speech in which he called for unifying conservatives to defeat the Left:

Anyone that’s willing to stand next to me to fight the progressive left, I will be in that bunker, and if you’re not in that bunker ’cause you’re not satisfied with this candidate, more than shame on you — you’re on the other side!

Breitbart also forecast the tactics the media would use:

We’re watching you to play the race card MSNBC. We saw how you cynically placed the Reverend Sharpton in a position of absurdist power. This is Dadaism, I learned that in college, that they would allow for this guy to have a show. This is Dadaism. It’s freaky. It’s Andy Kaufman. It doesn’t make sense unless you understand what they’re doing.
This is going to be the dog whistle election cycle. They tested them in 2011, so he and his pal Toure and that punk Tim Jacob Wise and Ed and Maddow can sit there and call everyone who’s Caucasian racist. “I heard it. He used ‘is’ instead of ‘are.’ He’s a racist. That’s a dog whistle.’”
Ignore it when Congressman [Carson] does it against Allen West. No more. We’re going to go after you. I bought a dog whistle. I bought a dog whistle factory, and I’m giving you dog whistles. And we’re going to listen to every word that comes out of your mouth, and we’re going to hold you to the same standard that you hold us which is an impossible one, and you’re going to have a hell of a time in 2012 because America’s finally woken to your Saul Alinsky bullshit tactics, and we’re coming to get you.

Watch the video:

 

Category: Andrew Breitbart, CPAC, Election 2012

Kimberlin-Rauhauser Axis Targets Romney Campaign Staffer Bill Murphy

Posted on | September 2, 2012 | 39 Comments

Brett Kimberlin could have been sentenced to 230 years in federal prison

Brett Kimberlin’s non-profit 501(c)4 Velvet Revolution is part of an apparent effort to destroy Mitt Romney’s online rapid-response team by targeting Bill Murphy, a young Internet operative who has helped improve the campaign’s social-media presence.

In an item posted Saturday on the Democratic Underground site, Velvet Revolution promoted an article accusing Murphy of “fraud” for his role earlier this year in the National Bloggers Club.

Formed in February at the annual “Blog Bash” during the Conservative Political Action Conference, the club honored Andrew Breitbart with one of its first awards and has helped defend bloggers targeted by Kimberlin’s lawsuits and other harassment. During last week’s Republican National Convention, the club co-sponsored a “Blog Bash” that featured former RNC chairman Haley Barbour and a guest list that included Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner, Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express, author Katie Pavlich and CNN contributor Dana Loesch.

Kimberlin, who spent 17 years in federal prison for his role in a weeklong bombing spree that terrorized an Indiapolis suburb, has gained renewed notoriety for his “lawfare” harassment of conservative bloggers. In May, Kimberlin and his associate Neal Rauhauser were among those identified by Patrick “Patterico” Frey as suspected of being involved in a “SWATting” hoax that sent police to Frey’s residence.

In June, 85 Republican members of Congress signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting an investigation of the use of “SWATting” as a political intimidation tactic:

Investigators have concluded that the majority of SWAT-ting cases utilize voice over Internet (VOIP) connections between the suspect’s computer and a distant telephone network, and then dialing 911. This enables the suspect to falsify their identifying information, such as their telephone number and address, and make it nearly impossible for emergency dispatchers to identify or track the true origin of the call, or even pin-point calls from VOIP connections.
Some of these calls involve embellished schemes, including armed suspects and hostages, and in some instances, the caller claims that he has just killed someone. Moreover, the caller knowingly uses the identifying information of another person, who is usually an adversary of the caller. This elaborate hoax is all done with the goal of having law enforcement swarm the home of the caller’s foe, which only incites fear in and tarnishes the reputation of an innocent person.
Even worse, SWAT-ting is quickly becoming a scare tactic used against political bloggers, essentially stifling those bloggers’ First Amendment rights. Just last month, a popular blogger in the state of Georgia, Erick Erickson, became the latest victim of SWAT-ting. During the Erickson’s family dinner, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Erickson’s home after receiving a 911 call reporting an accidental shooting that appeared to have come from Erickson’s address.

In 2010, Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution non-profit launched an “Indict Breitbart” campaign, accusing the Internet news entrepreneur of criminality. Breitbart fired back with a 3,600-word article by Mandy “Liberty Chick” Nagy that exposed Kimberlin’s criminal past as a major drug smuggler who became notorious as Indiana’s “Speedway Bomber.”

In 1981, Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison, but served only about a third of that sentence before his release in 2001. Within four years, Kimberlin had formed two non-profits — Velvet Revolution and the Justice Through Music Project — that have collected more than $2 million in donations, including contributions from the Tides Foundation, the Barbra Streisand Foundation and the Heinz Foundation.

Last year, Kimberlin’s online efforts were augmented by his alliance with Neal Rauhauser, a consultant to Democrat candidates who was a speaker at the 2010 Netroots Nation conference sponsored by the liberal Daily Kos site. Rauhauser has described his role as “solving problems in the social media work space for political campaigns and causes.” Several conservatives have begun to suspect that Kimberlin and Rauhauser are part of a Democrat-backed attempt to impede conservative New Media efforts in the 2012 election cycle, replicating in many ways the 2010 online harassment campaign against Tea Party activists that became notorious as “TwitterGate.”

Rauhauser has a habit of promoting farfetched conspiracy theories. When Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner was caught in a cybersex scandal last year, Rauhauser (writing at Daily Kos under his “Stranded Wind” alias) claimed that Weiner was the victim of an Oklahoma-based “Christian Infowar Militia.”

More recently, Rauhauser has accused Kimberlin’s critics of being part of elaborate conspiracies. In February, Rauhauser sent to law enforcement agencies a massive cache of documents with a summary article titled, “Breitbart’s ISR Cell?” That article alleged that Andrew Breitbart and others, including Frey, were part of an organized plot involving the security firm HBGary.

In June, Rauhauser sent a series of e-mails to a Republican congressional staffer asserting that the SWATting of conservative bloggers were part of a “complex fabrication from the Breitbart camp.” Rauhauser accused Breitbart.com contributor Brandon Darby of being the “true source” of the illegal fake 911 calls. Rauhauser subsequently forwarded those e-mails to some of Darby’s associates, along with a thousand-word document that outlined a bizarre conspiracy theory involving Darby as well as the GOP consulting firm Hynes Communications.

Raushauser’s mention of the firm, run by conservative New Media strategist Patrick Hynes, was apparently an effort to involve the Romney campaign in a smear against Darby and others on Rauhauser’s enemies list. This connect-the-dots tactic has now been extended to Murphy, who joined the Romney campaign in June after working for two months as a volunteer with the National Bloggers Club.

The article highlighted Saturday by Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution was written by Alex Brant-Zawadzki, a Huffington Post blogger and graduate student at the University of San Francisco. Brant-Zawadzki has frequently assailed the Tea Party movement as “neo-Nazis” and “teabaggers.”

Brant-Zawadzki’s article (“Romney Staffer Committing Charitable Fraud“) refers to the American Liberty Alliance, a Tea Party-oriented project launched by Eric Odom in 2009 that was subsequently dissolved, as well as the National Bloggers Club, as points of association between Murphy and Ali Akbar, a conservative New Media strategist who is president of the National Bloggers Club. Brant-Zawadzki’s claim that the club is a “fraud” appears to be based entirely on the fact that the non-profit has not yet filed its first report with the Internal Revenue Service. Yet as Akbar has explained, the club was only organized in February of this year, and has up to one full year to report its activities to the IRS.

Brant-Zawadski has multiple online connections to Neal Rauhauser, and his article about Murphy was based in part on research by Ron Brynaert, who accused Brant-Zawadski of “ripping me off.” Brynaert, along with Kimberlin and Rauhauser, was named by Frey as suspected of complicity in Frey’s July 2011 SWATTing.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

 

 


Category: Election 2012, Mitt Romney, The Kimberlin Files

World’s Youngest Blogger: What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been

Posted on | September 1, 2012 | 11 Comments

Everybody has to have a first plane trip.

At thirteen months, my teen-age self headed over to Germany to on the occasion of grandmother’s birthday. Parents being the embarrassment that they are, mom and dad neglected to tell grandma and grandpa that we were coming!
When the video starts, mom was seen out the dining room window. Grandpa looked out and noted that a woman walked by that looked like his daughter, down to the hair style. Of course, grandpa knew that mom, dad and I were in Virginia, having left us there Thursday. Old people are so easily confused like that!

Of course, grandma freaking out at seeing me made me freak out, too. But I quickly recovered and got back to work, making some phone calls.

Category: World's Youngest Blogger
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