The Other McCain

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

Hippie Weeps for #OccupyToronto: ‘We Just Want to Try and Build a New World’

Posted on | November 26, 2011 | 14 Comments

Ace said dreadfully insensitive things about this pathetic Occupier’s sorrow over the loss of their squalid tent city. He has become to the Occupy movement what Chris Crocker was to Britney Spears:

“I spent the last three weeks building this library into a place where people could come together, where they can just share ideas, where they can meet each other, and where they can just be in peace together. And now it’s all being torn apart for no good reason. We’re not hurting anybody here. We’re not hurting any one. We just want to be here and meet each other and learn together. We just want to try and build a new world.”

Crying Canadian hippies! The last time I enjoyed sorrow this much was when ‘Bama made Tim Tebow cry in the 2009 SEC Championship Game.

Category: #Occupy, Canada

UPDATED With The Video: ‘Sarah Palin Reconsider’ Ad In Iowa: Windmill Jousting, Doolittle Raid, Both?

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 102 Comments

by Smitty

via Surber, here is the ad:

He says:

My take on it is simple: If she is on the ballot in the West Virginia primary in May, I shall vote for her. She is my first choice.

I’m even simpler: I’ll write the lady in, if possible. A lot of people, like Teach in the comments, are miffed that she took so long to bow out quietly. Maybe that’s her final word. Even if it is, the dangling threat of her lives rent-free in the mind of the Left. Let’s keep the mind-frak going, and fight for the Constitutional restoration we need, ye patriots.

Previously:
Via GinTheGin on Twitter, Conservatives4Palin reports:

Your contributions have made it possible for us to run the Palin reconsider television ad next week in the Sioux City, Iowa market. Thanks to everyone who chipped in to make it possible.
You’ll be able to see the ad that will be shown on televisions on KCAU-TV across the Sioux City, Iowa market on this blog and on youtube when it goes up next week. If you have any ideas on how to get this story more attention, let us know and feel free to push it yourself to people who may be interested. The target date for this ad going up is now November 29th as the Thanksgiving holidays pushed our initial target date of November 28th back. At the very latest, we expect to get it up on the Sioux City market on the 30th.
What we do next after the television ad goes up is a more difficult question. If this ad is able to build some momentum for the Governor, the best way to keep that momentum going may be to commission a national GOP primary poll that includes the Governor as one of the options. We’ll see if it’s possible given our resources. We’re open to other ideas but the greatest challenge may be that time is running short for her to reconsider.

Sarah is now a fortnight past the magic Reagan date (13 November) for declaring candidacy. Sure, I’ll write her in during the primary, and support whoever wins. Yeah, it would be 47 kinds of swell if this advertising campaign proved more of a Doolittle Raid on our Ruling Class Overlords than an exercise in tilting at windmills.

However, the tsunami of hormones that would be unleashed if Sarah were to enter the race is non-trivial. I really don’t want to consider her at the top of the ticket for more than about a one minute thought experiment. And that is merely to wonder if the the head ‘splosions on the left would reach critical mass, so that the rest of the Left could join Thomas Friedman in singing the China Syndrome Blues. Walking back the hyperbole, one could envision the winner of the GOP primary, especially in the case of Newt, trying to offer her the VP slot, to polish the résumé for a 2020 run. Because, whoever is going to be on the GOP ticket, the Tea Parties have got to ensure some continuity. Recovering from the Progressive hangover is going to be neither quick nor painless.

Besides: is there really better blog fodder than Sarah Palin news?

Update: now a Memeorandum thread, and via the Des Moines Register:

The ad is set to air beginning on Nov. 30.
Palin, a conservative superstar and media phenomenon following the 2008 campaign, flirted with a presidential bid for months, but announced she would not run in a letter to supporters in early October.
The ad buy was announced this afternoon in a blog post on the Conservatives4Palin website. It is possible due to continued contributions to the organization, which is unaffiliated with Palin and her political operations.
The group acknowledged that convincing Palin to run now is a long shot.

Theory: this is a little shot o’er the bow for the Dems, in case they hoist the Hillary flag.

That’s one way to get the first female president: both parties nominate a lady.

Category: Sarah Palin

‘Social Activist’? Really, Bob?

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 22 Comments

This is so sad: Bob Belvedere at The Camp of the Saints featured Mia Kirshner in a Rule 5 post Wednesday. Lovely girl. I’d never heard of her, so I did a quick Google:

Mia Kirshner (born January 25, 1975) is a Canadian actress and social activist who works in movies and television series. She is best known for her portrayal of Jenny Schecter on The L Word (2004–2009) and for her role in the 2006 crime film The Black Dahlia as Elizabeth Short.

The phrase “social activist” caught my eye. Not in a good way. So I kept reading until I saw this:

In October 2008, after 7 years in production, Kirshner published the book I Live Here,[15] which she co-produced with ex-Adbusters staffers Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons, as well as writer James MacKinnon. . . . After the release of the book, the Center for International Studies at MIT invited Kirshner to run a 4-week course on I Live Here in January 2009.

This is not good. Adbusters started the Occupy movement. And Kirshner’s co-authors are closely tied to the guy behind it:

[Adbusters publisher Kalle] Lasn takes full credit for the protests that started with Wall Street . . . Lasn collaborated on the book Design Anarchy (2006) with fellow social activists Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge.

OK, so what’s up with that book?

“Design Anarchy is equal parts memoir, manifesto, scrapbook, and revolutionary design manual.”

Whatever. Kirshner’s been running around with these Canadian “social activist” commies, which is . . . unfortunate. A pretty girl like that, mixed up with such wretched scum? Ruins it for me. But maybe you still want to see her in her underwear. Read more

Category: Camp of the Saints, Rule 5

Progressivism At Work: Put States In A Bad Way, Blame States For Being There

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Come on, Gandleman:

I need to preface this post by saying that I am a HUGE fan of Texas. I love visiting Texas. I love Texans. And I think too many Texans have been burned by the false stereotype of the exaggerating, bloviating Texas politician in a state that has many fine elected officials from both parties. But, truly, honestly, Texas Gov. Rick Perryz should be in a Political Hypocrisy 101 book. The Politico reports:

The first rule of asking for extra federal dollars in Texas is to never make it seem like you are asking for extra federal dollars.
For Gov. Rick Perry, this is a tricky line to walk. Because as much as the Republican presidential candidate bashes the federal government in his campaign speeches, Texas gets a lot of money from the feds — and a lot of it is going to the health care system he insists Texas can handle on its own.

So Joe, are you just too clueless to understand the ramifications of things like the Federal Reserve Act, or the Community Reinvestment Act? The federal cart precedes the state and local horse.

Nevertheless, here you gloat, Joe, ecstatic in the idea that the completely muddied waters of modern government funding give you a clear shot at an accusation. Yet the guilt is as clear as the ‘Moderate Voice’ is actually moderate. Watch this Front Page clip, which spends 6:30 rehashing the failure of the Stupor Committee, after which they get to the interesting work of predicting what follows:
You want to talk some hypocrisy, Gandleman, note that the Democrats in the Senate are about two months away from that magic, 1,000 Days of Blowing Off Their Job moment.

States have been largely neutered by Progressivism, Joe. And I think you know that. And most of the readers of blogs know it, too. But keep on beclowning yourself with context-free, partisan accusations.

Update: case in point, over at Volokh:

First, police departments across the country compete for a pool of federal anti-drug grants. The more arrests and drug seizures a department can claim, the stronger its application for those grants.
“The availability of huge federal anti-drug grants incentivizes departments to pay for SWAT team armor and weapons, and leads our police officers to abandon real crime victims in our communities in favor of ratcheting up their drug arrest stats,” said former Los Angeles Deputy Chief of Police Stephen Downing.

I’m not addicted to the smell of perverse incentives brought on by federal overreach wafting up my nose in the morning. Mainly because it does not smell like victory.

Category: PJTV, Progressivism

VIDEO: Utah Animal Rights Activist Shows ‘Solidarity With Occupy Wall Street’

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 24 Comments

“I’m down here from Occupy Salt Lake. We came here to show solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. It’s really great to be here and to give thanks to the people who are taking time out of their lives to rebuild a new community, a new economy and a new government.”
—Breana Reichert

Breana Reichert shows up at the 29-second mark of this Associated Press “raw video” of Thanksgiving Day in Zuccotti Park:

OK, good. Now we Google her name and — voilà!

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Wildlife Board shot down a controversial proposal Tuesday that would have changed the regulations for trapping coyotes. The decision comes after critics roundly condemned it as unethical, inhumane and impractical. . . .
“We feel that it’s unethical, it’s cruel, it’s inhumane,” said Breana Reichert. She spoke to the board on behalf of a campus group called UVU Animal Allies.

In January, then, Reichert was protesting on behalf of coyotes. And in February:

When Co-President of the Animal Allies Club Breana Reichert wants to eat at the cafeteria or other food services on campus, her choices are limited.
As a vegan, she chooses not to consume any products or by-products that come from animals. . . .
“Animal rights has many ties to feminism, workers rights, environmental awareness and should be right at the top of the list,” said Reichert.

Go back to December 2010:

SALT LAKE CITY — Two Utah Valley University students spent the night in jail for a demonstration in support of the federal DREAM Act.
Federal Protective Services arrested Diego Ibanez and Agustin Diaz Tuesday night because they refused to leave Sen. Orrin Hatch’s office at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City. . . .
Two other students, Breana Reichert and Jessica Zelaya, waited for a similar response from Sen. Bennett, though they left the building without being detained.

So Reichert, 21, had a background in animal rights and pro-illegal immigration activism before anybody ever heard of the Occupy movement, and was one of 19 people arrested when police cleared the Occupy Salt Lake encampment in Pioneer Park on Nov. 12, a day after a man was found dead in a tent at the camp.

Reichert’s biography serves to demonstrate how Occupy Wall Street — while supposedly targeted on misconduct by financial institutions, income inequality and other economic “social justice” issues — draws its support from a broad spectrum of left-wing activism.

An anti-Israel activist turns up as an Occupy Miami spokesman and a vegan animal-rights activist from Utah turns up at Occupy Wall Street on Thanksgiving Day.

The politics of protest represents the anti-social impulses of the alienated and disaffected, who have been indoctrinated to believe that Sixties-style protest is a noble duty. The Occupy movement functions as a magnet for these confused and/or hate-filled people.

 

UPDATE: Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom calls attention to one protester’s account of the now-infamous pepper-spray incident at University of California-Davis:

Well, we were protesting together, and the riot cops came at us, and we linked arms and sat down peacefully to protest their presence on our campus. And at one point, they were -— we had encircled them, and they were trying to leave, and they were trying to clear a path. And so, we sat down, linked arms, and said that if they wanted to clear the path, they would have to go through us. But we were on the ground, you know, heads down. And all I could see was people telling me to cover my head, protect myself, and put my head down. And the next thing I know, I was pepper-sprayed.

Jeff’s analysis of the incident and reaction is spot-on:

Case dismissed.
And no, it is not acceptable to scapegoat a couple of riot police or a university Chancellor just to quell the emotional demands of mobs, or to sate a public outcry manipulated by a hostile press. . . .
The left is looking for its Kent State moment. Hell, they’ve been longing for it.

It is vitally important to understand that the Occupiers — as well as the journalists who for the past two months have heaped fawning coverage on their movement — have all been indoctrinated in the civil-disobedience mythology of the Sixties.

Once again to borrow the old Rodgers and Hammerstein lyric, “you have to be carefully taught” to believe this stuff, i.e., in any conflict between protesters and police, the protesters are always virtuous heroes and the police are always villainously wrong.

Category: #Occupy, Progressivism, Utah

I’ve Said It Before: ‘Open Fire’

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 14 Comments

My first reaction to Occupy Wall Street was to marvel at the restraint shown by the NYPD. Busy with campaign coverage, I’d planned to ignore the protests — they want nothing as much as they want attention — and my accidental encounter with the Occupy DC mob only intensified my contempt for this idiotic “movement.”

A society that lacks the willpower to crush these scum should at least have the decency to ignore them. But the media are obsessed:

Last week, the day after New York mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the NYPD to dismantle the tent city in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, the New York Times carried no fewer than half a dozen articles on the subject. Never in living memory has such a small political movement received such disproportionate attention from the press. Never in living memory has a movement been so widely scrutinized and yet so deeply misunderstood.

That’s Matthew Continetti of the Weekly Standard, who has written a must-read article putting the Occupy movement in historical and philosophical context. And I still say: “Open fire.”

UPDATE: The usual suspects:

The recent executive director of the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations’ South Florida chapter is a founder and spokesman of Occupy Miami, WND has learned.
Mohammad Malik currently is as an activist with several other Islamic groups.
He has led hate-filled anti-Israel protests in which participants were filmed wearing Hamas paraphernalia while chanting “Nuke Israel” and “Go back to the oven” — a reference to Jews being killed in the Holocaust.
Malik has been widely quoted in the Florida news media in recent weeks speaking for Occupy Miami.
The Miami Herald identified Malik as one of the organizers of Occupy’s Miami’s downtown campsite headquarters.

Jew-haters, commies, psychotics, rapists — the Occupy movement is like a roach-motel for scum.

UPDATE II: 25-year-old Occupy supporter to South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley: “I hope someone murders you before I do.”

Category: #Occupy, Progressivism

#OccupyFederalCommunications Fail

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 13 Comments

by Smitty

Slashdot reports:

About 200 customers of the Central Maine Power Company recently noticed something odd after the utility installed smart meters in their homes: household electronics, including wireless devices, stopped working, or behaved erratically. Many Smart Meters broadcast in the 2.4GHz frequency range. Unfortunately, so do many of the consumer gadgets we take for granted these days including routers, electric garage doors, fire alarms, clocks, electric pet fences, answering machines, and baby monitors — even medical devices. The electromagnetic congestion in the home is in some ways similar to the growing electronic congestion in hospitals as they acquire more and more electronic monitors all operating within a few feet of each other.

Sure am glad the FCC has focused on regulating the internet, and not that boring old electro-magnetic spectrum.

However, I’m sure that a new bureaucracy will spring up to handle the tasks now so ‘expertly’ managed by #OccupyFederalCommunications, replete with a Czar, a guilt trip about the amount of gadgets Americans have, while the poor people in Zambiniland have none, a death panel for gadgets deemed too old, and some buyouts so that General Electric, the parent company of the Administration, can sell you less functional equipment. Wow, did that sound bitter?

Managing the electro-magnetic spectrum is among the small subset of tasks the federal government has taken for itself which one could argue are reasonably in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution. Thanks for nothing, guys.

What’s also worrisome is that these smart meters broadcast at all. Why? These are power companies, no? They can probably engineer, you know, power line networking, right? Why the need to broadcast at all, one wonders.

via Instapundit

Category: How This Here Internet Thingy Works, Uncategorized

Sen. ‘Name That’ Thune Names Romney

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Dondero reports that Senator John Thune has endorsed ol’ Willard Mitt for POTUS:

“Mitt Romney has shown throughout his life in the private sector, as leader of the Olympics, as governor and in this campaign that he will not back down from difficult challenges.”

Come to think of it, having led the Olympics may be the optimal pro-Mitt argument:

  • The Olympics and the U.S. government both claim to be about some idealized notion of humanity, yet mercilessly exploit the youngest segment of society.
  • Both organizations are ruled by a core elite that re-distributes wealth wherever they go.
  • Neither outfit seems to produce anything of actual economic value.

But there may be some deeper meaning here. If the pre-Wilson era is akin to the Ancient Olympic Games, then Romney’s path to restraining the modern Olympic leviathan becomes simple: resurrect that ancient Constitution and cut the federal games back to the Enumerated Powers. You hear that, Mitt? I realize it’s the height of Progressivism, but the rhythmic origami event has got to stop.

Category: Mitt Romney, Republicans, South Dakota
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