The Other McCain

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

The ‘Sarah Palin Reconsider’ Clip

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 66 Comments

by Smitty

Via Michelle Malkin, here is the mighty Sarah Palin ad, which appears to have been uploaded on 22 November. I am sure that Ladd Ehlinger could have done something with a bit more zip to it. This appears to be a straight up the middle play. On the one hand, this egalitarian statement is what America in general, and Sarah Palin in particular, are all about: get the substance right, and understand that the anti-elitism is a style of its own.

That said, my newfound irritation with Romney’s diction helps me understand where some people are coming from about Sarah’s tone and accent. The fact that my mother (who lives in Idaho) could do passable voiceovers for Sarah (who is from Idaho) does mitigate a lot of the distraction for me, but this clip puts Sarah’s folksy cadences right out front.

I’d still love to see her on the ticket. Unsure with whom, though. Oh to be the fly on the wall when the GOP delegates look at the primary returns and realize that, no matter her conditions, they should have coaxed her into running.

Category: Ladd Ehlinger, Sarah Palin

What Other Alternatives Exist For Getting Off Of Fiat Money?

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 22 Comments

by Smitty

Ron Paul on money sounds so lucid:

You know your current course is financially suicidal. Those who say otherwise are the ones who are culpable for the current mess.
So, if not Ron Paul’s ideas, and not the status quo, then what?

via Tyler Durden

Category: End The Fed, Gold, Ron Paul, Uncategorized

Exploring ‘Explaining Postmodernism’ By Stephen Hicks 4: Poisoned Enlightenment

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Poisoning the Enlightenment for fun and excitement
Our last post was about the first half of the 20th century. Things were nearly interesting with the Postmodernists when, at last, even they realized that Karl Marx was a false prophet. Fortunately for the human race, they PoMo weenies repented of their ways, sought enlightenment, and–wait: which history is this? The PoMo weenies doubled down on dumb, and resurrected an idiot older than Marx.

Postmodernists are not individuals who have reached relativistic conclusions about epistemology and then found comfort in a wide variety of political persuasions. Postmodernists are monolithically Left-wing in their politics. (Hicks, 84)

In other words, shouldn’t we see at least some libertarians? And why couldn’t you be a Postmodern conservative?

The initial Marxist symptoms:

  1. Capitalism is exploitative: The rich enslave the poor; it is brutally competitive domestically and imperialistic internationally.
  2. Socialism, in contrast, is humane and peaceful: People share, are equal, and cooperative.
  3. Captialism is ultmately less productive than socialism: The rich get richer, the poor get poorer; and the ensuing class conflict will cause capitalism’s collapse in the end.
  4. Socialist economics, by contrast, will be more productive and usher in a new era of prosperity. (Hicks, 86-87)

Read more

Category: Intellectuals

Did I Ever Mention …

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 18 Comments

. . . that I live about a mile from the Appalachian Trail? And that my teenage sons have a pretty serious gun collection?

The reason I mention this is because Professor Glenn Reynolds linked to an article on a survivalist site about the “Redoubt of the East,” which the author describes as the mountains of East Tennessee. That’s about a six-hour drive south of here, so I suppose if there were sufficient warning of “a severe crisis where food and public infrastructure fails,” I could zip down I-81 and beat the stampede out of D.C. and Baltimore. But I’d probably just stay put.

While I do not wish to derogate the merchants of freeze-dried food, generators, et cetera, I’m not really worried about surviving whatever apocalyptic scenario prompts the hunker-in-the-bunker preparedness industry. There’s enough venison on the hoof hereabouts that we’d survive all right, I reckon.

But there’s one problem: If post-apocalyptic America doesn’t have WiFi, how the heck are people supposed to hit my tip jar? On the other hand, the tip-jar action has been slow enough the last few days, maybe the apocalypse already happened and nobody told me.





Category: Instapundit

Naked Scarlett Johansson: ‘It Would Be Irresponsible’ Not to Support Obama

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 30 Comments

A story I missed: Somebody hacked her cell phone and got hold of naked photos Johansson had taken of herself and sent to her (now ex-)husband Ryan Reynolds. I only learned about this yesterday because I glanced at a headline linked on the sidebar of an article and (the mind plays funny tricks) got the idea she’d sent nude photos to Burt Reynolds.

That would be what we call “news,” so I had to click that link and immediately realized my error. Never heard of this Ryan Reynolds guy and, frankly, never much noticed Scarlett Johansson — she’s an actress who does, like, movies and stuff — and would have ignored the feature article in Vanity Fair if not for this:

Johansson, who has been active in campaigning for various Democratic political leaders, including Barack Obama, tells Biskind that nearly one term later “we’re all guilty of being idealistic, I and everyone who voted for him.” But in response to being asked if she would work for him again, she says, “It would be irresponsible not to.”

This shouldn’t be surprising, given the notorious liberalism of Hollywood, but it doesn’t make sense to those of us out here in the rest of America, where pretty girls generally tend to be conservative. To cite one example, the annual Reaganpalooza, the post-CPAC party sponsored by the Young Conservatives Coalition, is a total babefest.

Perhaps it’s something intrinsic to the entertainment industry, where the relationship between hard work and success  is less obvious, that causes people in show business to be so peculiarly liberal.

Or maybe conservatives just need to do more education and outreach to Hollywood. Somebody else will have to do “outreach” to Scarlett Johansson. I don’t want to make Alyssa Milano jealous.

UPDATE: Linked by Pirate’s Cove and Weasel Zippers — thanks! — and now a Memeorandum thread. By the way, Alyssa Milano has 1.8 million Twitter followers. Scarlett Johansson? Doesn’t get it.

Category: Celebrities, Hollywood, Rule 5

Herman Cain ‘Re-Assessing’ Campaign

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 129 Comments

Suggestion for Mr. Cain: Fire whoever it was on your staff who left me off the conference call to which Robert Costa was invited:

“Over the next several days, we are going to continue with the schedule as usual,” he said. “I’ve got a major speech tonight at Hillsdale College on national security and foreign policy and I will deliver it with vim, vigor, and enthusiasm. And then tomorrow we’ve got some media appearances scheduled. So we’re going to continue until we complete our assessment over the next several days.”
“But if a decision is made, different than to plow ahead, you all will be the first to know,” he said. “So until that time, I want to continue to thank you all for your support, thank you for your prayers. It’s taken an emotional toll, but the people in the audience tonight will never know it.”

Accusations by hyper-litigious bankrupt divorceés? No biggie.

Leaving me off a key conference call? That could be serious trouble.

I’ve got to go get a pack of smokes and cool my temper.

Maybe some updates after that.

UPDATE: OK, got my smokes, plus cheeseburgers, fries and a Hershey almond bar — comfort food, which I needed badly, as well as a cup of decaf coffee. Thanks to Don Surber for the link, as well as to Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom, who says:

Time to wake up, people. Bachmann is still out there. So is Santorum. And both of them would whip Obama in any debate.

Made a few phone calls while I was out. Thanks to all the friends whose ears I blistered with my rants. I needed to vent.

Maybe I need a nap now.

UPDATE II: “When the going gets weird, the weird get pissed.” Yeah. Then the weird say, “Hit the freaking tip jar.” And take a nap.

 


Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain

Another Under-Bus-Toss For The DOD?

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 18 Comments

by Smitty

Apparently the ACLU is feeling stretched by the Defense Authorization Bill, emphasis original:

The Defense Authorization bill is now on the Senate floor with troubling provisions that would give the President — and all future presidents — the authority to indefinitely imprison people, without charge or trial, both abroad and inside the United States and would mandate military detention of some civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control. The indefinite detention without charge or trial provisions are so harmful that the Obama White House has threatened to veto the bill if they are not removed from it.

#OccupyWallStreet, that fount of reliability, says:

The Udall amendment, eliminates these unconstitutional elements. Supporters of the National Defense Authorization Act: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) explained that the bill will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield” and people can be imprisoned without charge or trial “American citizen or not.” Another supporter, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) also declared that the bill is needed because “America is part of the battlefield.”

Past the heavy breathing, Udall’s site offers a link to the amendment in question, which looks straightforward, for a quick glance.

National defense is a no-kidding Constitutional job of the POTUS. We can and do argue that #OccupyResoluteDesk is shanking that job into fail bunker more or less daily.

And yet, the POTUS is given that power to protect and enhance liberty. We have a Bill of Rights intended to prevent overachievement. To prevent allergic reactions to healthy citizens from our Executive immune system, if you will.

After the Stupor Committee fiasco, the politics get flakier still. The President appears to sound like he’ll reject additional power. Yet power seems to be what BHO understands. The Stupor Committee gambit raised the debt ceiling early this year, pointed a spear at the heart of military funding, and provided finger pointing opportunities, so that #OccupyResoluteDesk can claim to run against a broken Congress.

Is there something like that afoot here? We really do not want the federal government doing any more policing inside the country than is already going on. Expanding federal power means admitting that state and local government are impotent. Also impotent: our Ruling Class, for demagoguing their way down the Greecy slope.

The Underpants Gnome theory of this Administration seems to be:

  1. Trigger crisis.
  2. Demagogue crisis to advantage.
  3. ???
  4. Profit (albeit not yours).

I really can’t tell what the preferred answer is here. What I do know is that whatever pleases BHO least is likely to be most in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution.

via Troglopundit

Category: Barack Obama, Democrats, Troglopundit, Uncategorized

‘Here We Go Again’

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 36 Comments

So said Mrs. Herman Cain, when told of the allegations made by Ginger White. That quote was from Herman Cain’s appearance on Wolf Blitzer’s show, in which he made a flat denial:

“I have nothing to hide,” he said. “I did nothing wrong.”
Asked directly by Mr. Blitzer, “Was this an affair?” Mr. Cain responded, “It was not.”

But then Cain’s lawyer, Lin Wood, issued a non-denial:

“This appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults — a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public,” he said.

If I were a candidate for office accused of having an affair, and my lawyer issued that kind of statement, I’d need another lawyer to defend me against assault charges for trying to strangle the first lawyer.

But moving on, we find some curious facts about Ginger White:

Ms. White is an unemployed single mother. Before the interview, Fox learned that she had filed a sexual harassment claim against an employer in 2001. That case was settled. The station also found a bankruptcy filing nearly 23 years ago in Kentucky, and several eviction notices in the Atlanta area over the past six years.
The station also reported that Ms. White had a former business partner who once sought a “stalking temporary protective order” against her for “repeated e-mails/texts threatening lawsuit and defamation of character.” The case was dismissed, but it was followed by a libel lawsuit against Ms. White. A judge entered an order against Ms. White because she failed to respond to the lawsuit, Fox reported.

“Several eviction notices”? She is supposedly the mistress of a millionaire businessman, but can’t pay her rent? There would appear to be a contradiction involved here.

Beyond any question of whether Ginger White is telling the truth, however, the Cain campaign made at least three different statements Monday: First, there was Cain’s pre-emptive denial on CNN. Then, there was Lin Wood’s non-denial, which raised eyebrows at AOSHQ. Then there was the press release issued by Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon. So the “message discipline” was problematic.

More problematic, however, was a progressive blogger’s reaction, described by Donald Douglas at American Power:

TBogg’s racist black sexual stereotype slam on Herman Cain as a “jungle boogie black stud” who has “Sexed Up Every Woman In America Including Your Mom.” Racist TBogg spices up the post with some white go-go boot betties looking to go down on a big bad black Cadillac-drivin’ Shaft-style mofo. 

If you accurately describe a New York Times column, Dave Weigel says that’s racist. But lefty bloggers throw this stuff at Herman Cain, and that’s OK, because it’s stereotyping on behalf of progressivism.

UPDATE: ABC News has more details on the accuser:

Ginger White . . . has liens and civil judgments in Kentucky and Georgia dating back to 1994.
Eleven of those liens have been filed since 2009, with nine in 2011. The owners of her apartment complex in Dunwoody, Georgia have sued her for non-payment of rent nearly every month since the beginning of the year.
White, a 46-year-old unemployed single mother who is at least twice divorced, was described by WAGA as an Atlanta-area businesswoman. . . . According to WAGA, she filed a sex harassment claim against an employer ten years ago, and the case was settled. . . .
In January, there is a scheduled court date in an unrelated civil suit filed against her by a former business partner, Kimberly Vay, who alleges that White stalked and harassed her and had sought a protective order. A judge has entered a default judgment in Vay’s favor.

She’s nine months behind on her rent?

 


Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain
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