After careful consideration, I have decided to end my marriage. I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision. I had hoped this marriage was forever, but sometimes things don’t work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best.
In all seriousness, I hope she and the husband repent. The institution of marriage will outlive any individual idiocy, but that should not be an occasion to behave like an idiot. So, if you’re loaded, have a two-dimensional, present tense view of what matters in life, and better hair than I do. . .no, pursue happiness instead.
Kris Humphries was reportedly blindsided, and not keen on being just another video tape in her collection.
I wish him the best in saving the marriage, and I thank the Lord that destiny did not put me in similar shoes.
UNESCO, true to form, has voted today to admit the Palestinian Authority as a member. So ineffective was Obama administration diplomacy that France voted in favor of Palestinian membership, and Britain and Japan abstained. U.S. statutes, dating from 1990, now require a full cutoff of U.S. funding, which Congress should insist occur immediately. Should the administration seek changes in the applicable statutory provisions that would eliminate or weaken the funding cutoff, Congress should reject them.
I expect Boehner to be all over that and really turn the screws on the Administration. . .real soon now.
American political parties are increasingly being reduced to flags of convenience; party organizations and party institutions have little influence over events. That didn’t use to be true. Party leaders and officials once exercised significant power over the choice of nominees, over the careers of aspiring pols, and over patronage. These days, outside Chicago and a handful of other places, we no longer think of party “bosses”.
but nowhere does he seem to grasp why this occurs: information control. With the traditional media going the way of Borders Books, people are turning to outlets such as this blog both to figure out what’s important now, and to fill in the blanks on what public education left out. History, Economics, &c.
Previously, a Herman Cain may have gone under the bus and stayed there, because there was no way to get a word in edgewise and ask for, you know, facts, to back up the finger pointing. A Ted Kennedy can have his Chappaquiddick and still have a political career. John Edwards’ scandal takes him down.
Our weak party structures also contribute to one of the worst features of contemporary American politics: the rise of political dynasties. While these were not unknown in the country’s past, ever since the Kennedy clan made its bid for permanent political power, we have seen more sons and daughters of politicians try to carry on the family trade. In general, organized political parties try to fight that trend; advancement in politics is given to the loyal as a reward for long service, not to glamorous upstarts as a reward for their genes.
This explains Jeb Bush’s preeminence in the 2012 field. Oh, wait: we’re sick of dynasties. Because, as a result of the information revolution, we don’t have to accept the big party dynasty. Not to say that Bush isn’t well qualified; he has supporters. But for 300 million+ people, come on. No ball hogging.
Historically, the common sense of the American people and the public spirit of American wealth have helped keep our politics on a relatively even keel. We still have plenty of patriotic and generous, spirited rich people, and the American people continue to have a healthy respect for laws and the limits of democracy.
Yes, but #OWS really points out that Progressivism is to our politics what osteoporosis is to the elderly. And even the likelier candidates for 2012 seem strangely comfortable with the over-extended federal government.
Bringing coherence to the politics of a diverse country of 300 million is a difficult task. The answers to our problems are seldom obvious, and even when they are, the path to achieving them is not. And because the United States is on the cutting edge of world history, and our effort to build mass prosperity in a post-industrial era is something that has never really been tried before, we need political movements and leaders with the ability to imagine new ways forward and to inspire faith.
Not obvious? Federal over-reach is the general description of the problem. Admittedly, unwinding the last century is going to be tough. It will take inspired leadership to convince the people to re-assume their liberty, and discharge the debt. Greece is about what you expect from humans. We must again prove exceptional.
The reason there is even hope of arriving at an exceptional turn-about is the Information Age. Thus, I think Mead noted a positive symptom and talked his way around the effects.
Update: I’ll go with Daily Pundit on most of his ideas, but #3 really needs to understand that, for political purposes, “any aggregation of people, to include Unions” would be an improvement over “corporations”.
“In my over 40 years of running businesses and corporations, I have never sexually harassed anyone,” he told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
“I was accused — falsely, I might add. When the charges were brought, I recused myself, and allowed my general counsel and human-resources officer to deal with the matter.
“After a thorough investigation, it was determined there was no basis for the complaints,” Cain related.
UPDATE 3:41 PM ET (RSM): The media scrum waited around in the Press Club to catch Cain after his speech, but he eluded us, exiting via a back way down the garage. Then we all raced to the elevators and down to the street. I went around to the exit of the garage and spotted one of Cain’s advance men on lookout duty. Cain had evidently left by another route, but in a couple of minutes, chief of staff Mark Block walked out — smoking a cigarette, naturally. The advance man on lookout duty was giving me the Evil Eye, so I didn’t approach, but shouted out, “How’s it going, Mark?” He made a hand gesture: “call me.” And I shouted, “Hey, I been calling you all day.”
Block was ushered to a waiting Cadillac sedan and they paused briefly before pulling away from the curb, so I trotted up to the open rear window and said, “What’s going on, man?” Block answered: “Gotta got to the next thing.” And off they went.
I’d parked my car a block away at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, and stopped in the ornate lobby to call Smitty and consult as to updates, etc. Then down to the car and out Constitution Avenue, across the river to Rosslyn and the offices of the American Spectator, where I’m now logged in on a borrowed computer. People have asked me how I thought Cain did today, and I answered — striking a John Travolta gesture — “Stayin’ alive.”
There’s a deadline looming, so I’ll update more tonight when I get home. As for now … Hit the freaking tip jar!
*** PREVIOUSLY (11:59 a.m.) ***
Stacy is in shoe leather mode at the National Press Club, standing by for remarks.
The luncheon will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m. Remarks will begin at 1:00 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session.
Luncheons are webcast live on press.org. Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NPCLunch, or on Facebook at (facebook.com/PressClubDC) and Twitter (@PressClubDC).
Submit questions for speakers during the live event by sending them to @QNPCLunch on Twitter. Or email a question in advance; type CAIN in the subject line and send to [email protected] before 10 a.m. on the day of event.
He has interviewed sources close to the campaign who said that the campaign had known for some time that Politico was pursuing the allegations of sexual harassment that are in circulation. During a conference call of Cain operatives on Sunday, the Politico story was discussed. The story had been expected within 24-48 hours as of yesterday afternoon, and was published sooner than the campaign had expected. However, there was ‘no sense of doom’ about the story, which is ‘not something that is going to derail the campaign’.
Stacy is seated in the balcony section with a sandwich and coffee, where Cain is expected shortly.
Via Beltway Confidential, we have Herman Cain responding to Jenna Lee on Fox discussing his National Restaurant Association settlement.
UPDATE 12:05 PM EST (RSM) Herman Cain just arrived at NPC. He evaded the sidewalk stakeout by coming in through the parking garage.
UPDATE 12:52 PM EST (RSM) There was a small press gaggle with Mark Block on his way into the luncheon. Have audio, video and photos but am currently poaching a computer in the NPC library and can’t access that now. Security is pretty heavy here.
However, Block denied any knowledge of whether the Politico story was the result of another campaign’s opposition research.
Right now, Politico is looking worse than Cain. Dana Loesch at Big Journalism writes: “Cain has a right to face his accusers and the American public has the right to know the details of a story and not be expected to rush to a judgment predicated on ‘unnamed sources.’” It’s a pretty heavy situation to be sourced so lightly.
UPDATE 13:36 PM EST (RSM) In an impromptu press gaggle before the luncheon, Cain campaign chief of staff Mark Block was asked if he believed the Politico story came from another campaign. Block said,
“I would find it hard to believe that anybody with another campaign would do that. But then again, this is politics.”
UPDATE 13:42 PM EST CNN has some talking heads who are concern-milking the scandal cow in a desperate attempt to make cheese:
UPDATE 13:55 PM EST Found the C-Span live stream. We do not have a health care problem; we have a health care cost problem. His interest in running for president was piqued by BHO’s performance.
UPDATE 13:59 PM EST Singing a variation on “Amazing Grace” for a closer. Sans teleprompter.
UPDATE 14:19 PM EST (RSM) Stacy McCain on stakeout duty awaiting Cain’s departure.
Documented examples of anti-Semitism among the “Occupy” crowds were sufficiently numerous to prompt the Emergency Committee for Israel to release an online ad questioning support for the demonstrations voiced by Democratic Party leaders, including President Obama, who said the movement “expresses the frustrations that the American people feel.”
Obama’s invocation of “the American people” and their “frustrations” might permit some other conspiracy theorists to suggest — with far better evidence — that the protesters camped in Zuccotti Park are part of a deliberate effort by the president and his party to undermine the free enterprise system. Several conservative commentators have interpreted “Occupy Wall Street” in light of Saul Alinsky’s radical maxim: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.” Others see the anti-capitalist mobs in the context of the “Cloward-Piven Strategy” to foment a crisis that would bring about a socialist revolution. This suggestion cannot be lightly dismissed. One of the architects of that 1960s-era strategy, Professor Frances Fox Piven, is an active supporter of the movement and told a public-radio interviewer: “I think we desperately need a popular uprising in the United States.” Piven also denounced the financial industry at a Sept. 29 rally in New York where, in a bizarre call-and-response speech, she told the crowd: “You’ve heard people say they’re greedy, and they are greedy. You’ve heard people say that they are thieves, and they are thieves. But they’re also cannibals, because they are eating their own.” …
Please read the whole thing. By the time you read this, I’ll be en route to D.C. where Herman Cain speaks today at the National Press Club.
By the time the World’s Youngest Blogger can consider college, I anticipate there will be some outfit in academia advertising itself explicitly as ‘*-studies free’.
Karen Strickland, Seattle President of the American Federation of Teachers said in an open letter to Paul Kilpatrick, President of SCCC that the board is in support of SCCC accommodating the request of Occupy Seattle for a number of reasons.
I wonder if “Filming to Document Human Rights Violations” will be some sort of Criminology twofer, if the allegations of sexual assault (via Drudge) at #OWS gatherings have any merit. I suspect they may, and trust the authorities and the media to be on the case.
Seattle is a really great place, at least it was back in the Reagan administration when I was a high school student there. Yet the seeds and early shoots of this kind of idiocy were apparent then.
So, if you’re loaded, have a two-dimensional, present tense view of what matters in life, and better hair than I do. . .no, pursue happiness instead.