The Other McCain

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

LIVE AT FIVE – 02.10.12

Posted on | February 10, 2012 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
West Offers Only Words As Syria Killing Rages On

Wounded men are seen in the Sunni Muslim district of Bab Amro in Homs

Assad, bolstered by Russian support, ignores calls to halt the slaughter
U.S. Looks To Turkey To Take Point On Supporting Syrian Rebels

$25 Billion Pact Reached With Five Banks
Settlement doesn’t apply to 50% of mortgages

Cardinal George Throws Down The Gauntlet
Chicago archbishop blasts Obama Administration contraception mandate in letter to be read from pulpits this Sunday



POLITICS
New Jersey, Nine Other States Get Waivers From “No Child Left Behind”

Secretary of Education Duncan applauds before the President announces which states get NCLB waivers

States pursued greater accountability, improvements in their schools

Chairman Of House Financial Services Committee Under Investigation For Insider Trading

U.S. Allows More Combat-Related Jobs For Women

First Lady Fights Obesity In Iowa, But Overweight Kids are Few There

Democrats Propose Six-Week Cut In Jobless Benefits

Giffords Aide Will Seek Her Seat

Romney Glitter Bomb Suspect Fired From Job, Could Face Jail Time



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Weakens As Dollar Gains
Gold Weighed Down By Stronger Dollar Despite Margin Cut
German Bunds Rise For First Time In Four Days As EU Withholds Greek Aid
European Stocks Fall
A Bear Lurks Behind Chines New Year Data Skew
Emerging Market Stocks Fall From Six-Month High On Greece, PRC Concerns
Kodak Shutters Camera Business
First New U.S. Reactors In Decades Approved
Tesla Motors’ Gull-Winged Model X SUV Debuts
Hasbro, Zynga Team Up
Videogame Designers Use Crowd-sourced Funding For New Project
Google’s GDrive Reportedly To Launch As Less-Pricy Dropbox Rival
Windows 8 On ARM (WOA) To Include Office Apps For Tablets
Foxconn Hacked In Factory Conditions Protest



SPORTS
Gasol’s Double-Double Pushes Lakers Past Celtics

Lakers' Pau Gasol shoots over the Celtics' Jermain O'Neal

Boston falls in OT, 88-87

NYC In Grip Of “Linsanity” But Jerseys Nowhere To Be Found

Rockets Use Strong Bench Effort To Down Suns, 96-89

Rangers Beat Lightning 4-3 In OT

Gonzaga Thrashes #13 St. Mary’s 73-59, Back In WCC Hunt

Tennessee State Upsets #9 Murray State 72-68

Blues Stick It To Devils, Win 4-3 On Shootout


Oil Can Boyd Admits To Doing Coke

An Amazin’ Tweet! Mets GM Alderson Pleads Poverty

Australia Leads Sri Lanka In Third ODI Match: 231 (all out) to 65/2 out

Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) Whines About Nats’ “Take Back The Park” Plan



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Halle Berry Wants Out Of U.S. Due To Death Threats

Halle Berry

Crazed stalkers and a baby daddy lackadaisical about security – who wouldn’t want to shift the scene?

Kris Jenner: The New Face Of Lube


Ellen Barkin To Co-Star In NBC Comedy Pilot

JWoww, Snooki Spin Into Jersey City After Being Kicked To The Curb In Hoboken

Demi Moore Seeks Help From Deepak Chopra
Can’t wait to see the Crack Emcee‘s take on this.

Reese Witherspoon Would Love To Have More Kids



FOREIGNERS
Greeks Strike Deal On Austerity Package, Lenders Remain Skeptical
Syria Bombs Aleppo As Tanks Line Up Outside Homs (Live Updates)
Pakistan Turmoil Expected After PM’s Contempt Appeal Rejected
The Maldives Sink Into Instability
CINC CENTCOM Headed For Pakistan To Mend Fences
Decoding Obama’s Iran Policy
Judge Garzon Convicted, Suspended From Court For 11 Years
PRC’s Anti-Gang Police Chief Placed On “Stress Leave”
Rio Police Vote For Strike One Day Before Carnival
Bungled Conservation Effort Kills South African Rhino



BLOGS & STUFF
Lonely Conservative: Internal WH Debate On Contraception Mandate Proves Obama No Kind Of Moderate
Shot In The Dark: The Not-So-Paper Bull?
Powerline: Is 2012 Slipping Away From The GOP?
Allahpundit: Santorum Blows Past Gingrich In Pennsylvania, Leads Romney By One
Philip Klein: How Romney Could Fail To Get Enough Delegates
Professor Bainbridge: Obama Versus The Bishops
NRO Bench Memos: Linda Greenhouse Doesn’t Understand RFRA Or The Free Exercise Clause
AmSpecBlog: No Waiver For Thee
Gateway Pundit: Breaking Ranks – Ben Nelson Calls Obama’s Mandate “Bone-Headed”
Troglopundit: Labor Unions Pushing Wisconsin Recall Candidates To Promise Really Stupid Things


SOTD: Until The Night

Category: Live at Five

First Daniel Hannan Pic!

Posted on | February 9, 2012 | 14 Comments

by Smitty

I won CPAC, albeit rather early:

And that’s without even making the Blogger Bash, which I skipped for the World’s Youngest Blogger:

Category: CPAC, Europe

CPAC: Too Much Fun to Describe

Posted on | February 9, 2012 | 5 Comments

WASHINGTON, D.C.
As is well-known, I have difficulty with the concept of “schedules,” and I’m now scheduled for a meeting with Herman Cain in half an hour. The house WiFi at the Marriott Wardman Park is suck-tastic, which makes it difficult to upload video and photos. However, I have been able to get a few pictures online:

Another reason to overthrow the decadent Rich Lowry regime at National Review: Jim Geraghty is required to do something called “work” during CPAC.

Two Newt Gingrich campaign operatives, Lindsey Stearns and Robbie Myers. Robbie actually worked a week for me in 2009 as “Myers the Blog Intern,” so I’ll forgive him for not supporting The Next President of the United States, Rick Santorum.

UPDATE: I had to remove a photo showing Mr. Pinko of I Own the World, whose identity is so top-secret that the fate of the Free World would be jeopardized if it were ever disclosed.

Category: CPAC

Celebrating The Crowd At CPAC, ii
General Characteristics of Crowds

Posted on | February 9, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Le Bon, emphasis original:

The sentiments and ideas of all the persons in the gathering take on the same direction, and their conscious personality vanishes. A collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory, but presenting clearly defined characteristics. The gathering has thus become what, in the absence of a better expression, I will call an organized crowd, or, if the term is considered preferable, a psychological crowd. It forms a single being, and is subjected to the law of the mental unity of crowds. (LeBon, 43-44)

So, four experiences I’ve had being in large groups of people:

  • CPAC/Tea Party gatherings, i.e. political outings with a largely self-selecting contingent of people.
  • Rock concerts, with self-selecting fans.
  • Military gatherings, with volunteers in uniforms.
  • Religious services, where the presence of the Almighty is known among self-selecting worshippers.

I think that Le Bon must mean spontaneous, large gatherings of people not united much above the language level. Flash mobs, but without the preparation. Like the wad of people at the L’Enfant Plaza metro on 9/11.  I was there. But even then, I’m uncomftable with this ‘collective mind’ concept. It follows from the rock concert experience noted above that, in a large group of people, rationality can be repressed. Think of a crowded elevator or bar. There is plenty of room for discomfort short of a full-on attack of claustrophobia. You’re operating a little lower on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. More and varied smells are happening. You wouldn’t, say, compose a reflective blog post there. People are behaving more instinctively. I get that.

What is worrisome is Le Bon’s notion of a ‘collective mind’. Sure, you can have a flock of sheep, but where is the flockness kept? The notion of the flock is in the mind of the observer; the sheep are never more than a bunch of sheep in close proximity. Thus, much of modern political speechifying consists of talking heads engaging in wishful, projective thinking with bumper sticker ideas, as they pander to the crowd instead of edifying.

Category: Books

Stacy’s CPAC Tour

Posted on | February 9, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Stacy and the BarbieCam in near-real time:

Category: CPAC

Celebrating The Crowd At CPAC, i

Posted on | February 9, 2012 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Gustav Le Bon’s 1895 book The Crowd heavily informed Ann Coulter’s
book Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America. Thanks to Ann for the hat tip. Rather than take her route of showing the specific evil effects of the Democrat party, and then quoting Le Bon, it seems needful to go back to Le Bon’s book and explore his ideas in the book. Le Bon is subtle in his diabolical approach, I find. The Darth Vader of the social sciences, perhaps.

While I’m going to agree with Ann and argue that Progressives have abused the aspects of human nature illuminated by Le Bon, here’s what I think is important:

  1. Not wasting time getting emotional about the history involved.
  2. Avoiding seduction by the dark side of the mob force, and becoming the Left.
  3. Asking ourselves how, if at all possible, our notions of individual liberty and American exceptionalism can be bolstered to protect a post-Progressive future from going down the same road of statism and debt.

With that, this series follows the Le Bon’s table of contents, with a post on every item illuminating what I think are the key takeaways.

Category: Ann Coulter, Books

CPAC 2012: Extremely Controversial!

Posted on | February 9, 2012 | 8 Comments

Grover Norquist (right) interviewed on WMAL radio
by Brian Wilson and Mary Katharine Ham

WASHINGTON, D.C.
It is inevitable: Every year, left-wingers find something on the CPAC agenda that they can “expose” as controversial, so as to suggest that the entire conference is irredeemably tainted through this guilt-by-association method:

Following speeches from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Michele Bachmann, CPAC is hosting the panel “The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity” with Peter Brimelow, the founder and head of VDARE.com.

Shock! Horror! Because Brimelow and his Web site have been labeled a “hate group” by . . . the Southern Poverty Law Center! And if you know anything at all about SPLC, you’re laughing at the designation, because they have deployed the “hate” designation so promiscuously in the past 15 years as to destroy their own credibility.

Peter Brimelow is no more a hatemonger than I am, although we’ve both been smeared as such by SPLC, as have, inter alia, the Family Research Counci, the American Family Association, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. The list of the defamed is long. In 2003, the SPLC published a report in which they named such respectable organizations and individuals as the American Enterprise Institute and David Horowitz as part of a right-wing conspiracy to “mainstream” extremist views.

Being denounced by the SPLC is like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for conservatives: You’re nobody in the movement until you’ve been labeled a dangerous extremist by those bozos. Here are a few photos of my radical, far-right friends at CPAC:

Notorious extremist John Hawkins of Right Wing News and extremely notorious Tiffiny Ruegner of TheTeaParty.net.

Extremely controversial Pete Dingledey and controversial extremist Joseph Farah of World Net Daily.

Radical right-winger Joel Mowbray of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and right-wing radical Elicia Huffaker of Cain Solutions.

Obviously, these people are all very dangerous — a hate crime waiting to happen. And they must be relentlessly exposed as known accomplices!

Category: CPAC, Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

Stacy’s Future Is Grim

Posted on | February 9, 2012 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Scenes from Stacy’s future:

We sat there in the casino and burned a stogie when Kevin, Stacy and I went to Vegas. For all I don’t mind the very occasional stogie, the thought of being so chained to any habit that I’m going through ritual abuse over it is worse than withdrawal.

Also stupid are public policies that seek people doing ‘sinful’ things like smoking for abuse. You jack the taxes, and people quit, and revenue goes to ash. Governments behave as though stupid policy is nicotine.

Via Collins

Category: humor
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