The Other McCain

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

Downgrading America

Posted on | October 24, 2011 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

Big Government links The Hill with a poll saying over 2/3 of voters say America is in decline.
Meanwhile, HotAir brings the new RNC ad going after BHO for his bus tour in NC and VA:
Got news for BHO about the Commonwealth: the impending VA election will likely be as savory to him as Momar Qaddafi’s last breakfast was to the recently departed.

Amidst all the doom and gloom about decline, let us draw an important distinction. America, itself, and by that I mean the founding Enlightenment ideals of the country, are the permanent political priapism. The country is substantially fine. We just have to get back to the substance. The only thing saggy in these parts is the nanny state tit of the Progressivism, which has so completely run out of other peoples’ money that it can’t mooch more money to buy bigger bustiers that can contain it all.

The GOP keeps threatening to show consciousness of the Tea Party disdain for the Ruling Class nonsense of the last century. And then we get a Mitt Romney as the anointed front-runner. I can safely predict, in the case of a Romney nomination and election, an Andy Warhol honeymoon for the man. Roughly 15 minutes after the oath of office, the Tea Party would be scrolling over Romney like repetitive speeches on BHO’s teleprompter. This American downgrade/decline is unacceptable.

Update: more at The Commune

Category: Barack Obama, Hot Air

Voorhees Announces Late Entry to 2012 GOP Field; Huntsman Reportedly Worried

Posted on | October 24, 2011 | 10 Comments

T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII hears the call:

“With the President vulnerable and so many sensible government contracts at stake, they have persuaded me that the GOP electorate is yearning for the one voice in our party brave enough to consistently stand athwart the Tea Party lunacy. And, with the entire current Republican field variably afflicted with this madness, I could not help but relent to their entreaties. …
“And for my fellow sensible conservative Americans, let me assure you that in T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII you will now have a choice — not an echo. As the only Republican in this race who is dedicated to the future reduction in the rate of increase of the rate of increase of federal government, you can pull the lever in full confidence that your federally funded retirement and health care and education and automobiles and solar panel rebates will be preserved, in full accordance with conservative principles.”

We expect the Voorhees juggernaut will immediately challenge Jon Huntsman (Real Clear Politics average 2%) for the “margin of error” vote.

You may ask, what’s the difference between Coddy Voorhees and Jon Huntsman? Well, one of them is a complete joke.

And the other is a satirical character created by Iowahawk.

Category: Election 2012, humor, Iowahawk, Jon Huntsman

No Surprise: Sharia Law in Libya

Posted on | October 24, 2011 | 18 Comments

What “liberation” means in the Islamic world:

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its “basic source”. …
Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi’s era that he said was in conflict with Sharia — that banning polygamy.
In a blow to those who hoped to see Libya’s economy integrate further into the western world, he announced that in future bank regulations would ban the charging of interest, in line with Sharia.

Wow. How shocking. Who could have possibly predicted this?

Category: Islam, Libya

George Will Plays the Dukakis Card on an Unsuspecting Romney

Posted on | October 24, 2011 | 39 Comments

by Smitty

“It has a lot to do with Romney. He is rising as more and more Republicans come to the conclusion that the Republican Party has found its Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor running on competence, not ideology.”

I’m looking at the National Debt Clock and wondering just What. The. Flippy-flop. George Will means by ‘competence’. I guess the Will/Brooks/Krauthammer Axis of Pant-crease thinks that ‘competence’ means destroying the country at a medium pace.

This is why an outsider of the Perot/Palin/Cain tradition finds traction in the American electorate. We sort of know that ‘competence’ means ‘compromised’, and figure that ObamaCare will be to Romney what Gitmo is to BHO: the big campaign promise that proved a bridge too far after about the second briefing from the shadowy dudes who make the calls.

Santorum called it cleanly at the CNN debate in Las Vegas: no one has confidence in Romney. Who can reasonably expect him to do anything other than be a blue state governor, given the White House promotion. Should the Tea Party frog really offer a lift to the GOP scorpion?

doesn't get more timeless

via The Blaze

Update: linked by Da Tech Guy.

Category: George Will, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum

‘Controversy’ Over: National Right to Life Vouches for Cain’s Pro-Life Bona Fides

Posted on | October 24, 2011 | 27 Comments

We should consider the abortion kerfuffle kicked off by the Piers Morgan interview Wednesday as being decisively ended now:

The National Right to Life Committee is today [Friday] vouching for Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s bona fides, saying the businessman who is considered by many to be the current GOP frontrunner is pro-life. …
“Herman Cain’s pro-life,” David O’Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, told National Review. “He addressed our convention last June. We are quite confident in his pro-life position. When he ran in the primary for senate some years back … he ran as a pro-life candidate then in Georgia. We’ve known of him for a number of years, and he’s always taken a pro-life position.”

Katrina Trinko at National Review notes that Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List remained skeptical as of Friday, but I think most pro-lifers would say if you’re OK with David O’Steen, you’re OK.

Jazz Shaw was kind of obnoxious about this yesterday, suggesting that Cain has a “truth problem.” The actual problem, as I see it, is that Cain wants to seem thoughtful and engaged during interviews like this, and so he responds to questions with something more than talking points, without stopping to think: “Hey, this guy’s trying to push me into a corner and get me in trouble.” Read more

Category: Abortion, Conservatism 101, Election 2012, Herman Cain

Frank Lasee: Conservative Seeks to Bring Wisconsin Reform Message to U.S. Senate

Posted on | October 24, 2011 | 7 Comments

“Let’s Get Wisconsin Working Again” was the winning message that helped elect Frank Lasee to a state senate seat in Wisconsin last fall, and he was part of the conservative Republican majority that pushed through reform legislation and balanced the budget under Gov. Scott Walker. A veteran legislator with a business background, first elected to the state assembly in 1994, Lasee describes himself as a limited-government, constitutional, fiscal conservative.

Two weeks ago, Lasee announced that he will seek to bring that kind of message to the U.S. Senate, forming an exploratory committee to enter the GOP primary for 2012. With Democrat Sen. Herb Kohl retiring, and liberal Rep. Tammy Baldwin likely to be the Democratic nominee for the open seat, Lasee is one of four Republicans who have already declared for the race. Backed by many Tea Party activists, Lasee will be taking on big money and powerful influence, as former Gov. Tommy Thompson is one of the other GOP candidates for the race. Despite the formidable odds, however, Lasee says his message is resonating with voters in Wisconsin.

“I keep hearing, when I’m out talking to people … they know me already and they’re really very supportive because they know I’m a consistent conservative,” Lasee told me in a telephone interview two weeks ago. “I’ve fought big government and fought for fiscal control and fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets in Madison, even against my own party when they weren’t doing it. … I’ve worked very diligently to do that in Wisconsin, have a voting record to support it – even voting against my own party and leadership and fighting the governor when we were heading in the wrong direction as a state. And I think that message will resonate with our voters.”

Lasee is extremely articulate in discussing the limited-government message and has a proven record, both of fighting for key reforms and winning crucial elections. After interviewing him (see the full transcript below), I feel confident that Frank Lasee is exactly the kind of candidate that conservatives can rally behind as we work to carry the momentum of last year’s historic mid-term victories into 2012. — RSM

* * * * *
FRANK LASEE for U.S. SENATE
A Proven Record of Conservative Reform

– — –

* * * INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT * * *

Q. Give me the rundown, Frank – tell me about your campaign.
LASEE: We’re just at the beginning stages of it. We’ve been organizing over the last couple of months. We had the recalls here in Wisconin that put a lot of things on hold. I helped out with my colleagues there, particularly trying to help Kim Simac trying to take out a Democrat up in the northern part of the state. That didn’t  happen. We lost a couple of seats there, but it was really kind of somewhat expected and the seats that we lost — one of them went 61 percent for Obama [in 2008] and the other one [Obama won in 2008] … Otherwise, the same vote turnout or better came through in all of that. … But that took my attention after the budget was over. Now we’ve been organizing and moving forward. … We’re going to be doing it as an exploratory committee process. … So we’re right at the cusp of starting out.

I’ve been in the state legislature. I was elected to the state senate last fall, running on a “Let’s Get Wisconsin Working Again” platform, and I see running for the U.S. Senate as an extension of that. Because I think, really and truly, to get Wisconsin working and to get families back and our economy headed in the right direction – we’ve done a lot of good work here in Wisconsin, but we need to do the same things in the federal government to help make it happen.

Q. So you’re aiming to extend sort of the momentum that has been going for reform Wisconsin, to get away from the “Rust Belt,” union-riddled kind of politics of the past?
LASEE: Well, we balanced our state budget with the leadership of our governor and Republican majorities. The Democrats were in complete control two years ago, and their answer was to raise taxes and fees by $4.5 billion, leave us with a $3.6 billion deficit and a few hundred million dollars of unpaid bills we had to  clean up as well. And we balanced our budget, cleared up the budget without raising any taxes or fees, and that sort of thing is exactly what needs to go on in Washington.
We made some tort reform changes here to cut down on frivolous lawsuits. We really have moved the ball forward in making it easier for people to do business here. Business and manufacturing has been picking up in our state. We lead the country in new manufacturing jobs and as a percentage of our state economy, manufacturing, we lead the country. Our economy is moving forward here, but we’re being held back by what’s going on in Washington and the world. I’d like to see the same things go on in Washington that we’re doing here – balance the federal budget and get the heck out of businesses, stop raising the cost of electricity and gasoline and go the opposite directions, to ease the burden on families and businesses, get ‘em back to work.

Q. The field, that we know of, includes [former Gov. Tommy] Thompson, who obviously has some statewide name recognition, and then there’s some other guy … [former Rep. Mark] Neumann. How do you see your entry into the field? How do you see the field shaping up and the choices facing Republican primary voters?
LASEE: I think we may even see some more entrants into this race, as well, interestingly enough.  Thompson has name recognition. He’s going to be 70 shortly. He’s of the old school, big-government type. I see this Republican primary — and we’ve been having them, both in our state and across the country — between large-government  types and constitutional fiscal conservatives, small-government types like myself. And Tommy Thompson was the governor — when I served in the Assembly, from ’94 to 2008, he was our governor until 2000, for 14 years, a very long time – but he was definitely a big government-type Republican, and our nation really can’t afford that right now.
I keep hearing, when I’m out talking to people … they know me already and they’re really very supportive because they know I’m a consistent conservative. I’ve fought big government and fought for fiscal control and fiscal responsibility and balance budgets in Madison, even against my own party when they weren’t doing it. And they know that I’ve done this and … a large portion of the people [react with] a sigh and ‘Great, there’s somebody else to choose from. And you’re a conservative, right?’
So that gives me my opening. I’m going to have to get out and introduce myself to the voters of the state, of course. I have a good record on what I’d like to do. I’ve worked very diligently to do that in Wisconsin, have a voting record to support it — even voting against my own party and leadership and fighting the governor when we were heading in the wrong direction as a state. And I think that message will resonate with our voters.

Q. Have you been active in the Tea Party movement? Have you spoken at rallies and things like that?
LASEE: I have. I spoke at the Oshkosh rally they had {in September] … I’ve been talking with them. During my [state] senate campaign, I networked with many of the Patriot groups and Tea Party-type groups – groups that are interested in limited government. I kind of frame it to them that we need those folks to go out and market to the people in the middle, to get them to understand that, hey, if you think our government is too big, too expensive, borrows too much, controls too much, does too much and is headed in the wrong direction, and you want to roll it back — you’re really one of us. That’s some of the message I bring to them.
So my history and what I’m about — limited government, constitutional government — often resonates very well with those folks.

Q. Do you have any specific allies in the state? Are there other officials planning to endorse you?
LASEE: There are some. I’ve never put a lot of stock in endorsements. I didn’t pursue a lot of them in the last election cycle. Some people do. … There’s also a tradition in this state of elected people not taking sides in primaries — that’s just sort of the policy. So I’ll get some of my colleagues, some of the most conservative, a handful [to endorse me], but I won’t spend a lot of time pursuing those various endorsements. I’d rather get my message with regular voters, regular people, and work on doing that as opposed to spending a lot of time trying to get a name or two to say I’m a good guy.

Q. The political climate in Wisconsin — this very bruising battle over the budget, the unions descending on the Capitol — how do you think that will affect us going into 2012?
LASEE: You know, we’ve always been a divided state and, I believe, in our state the center-right is really the majority, but it has to be packaged properly. I always tell people that you can’t beat somebody with no one — you need a good candidate, as well. I think that we have a very vocal minority, about 30 percent that are  truly liberal, big government or work for the government, and they’re very riled up, but they’re always riled up. They’re always out there. We gave them some new ammunition by changing really the way our government employee contracts work here and giving more control to government officials.
We treat our government employees really well in Wisconsin and they’ve taken it for granted for a very long time. I think making our case, and as more of it comes out, recent polls are starting to show things are shifting with Scott Walker. As they’ve seen our government continue to provide services, our taxes aren’t going up, all these dire predictions that were put out there by the Left and government workers — really, more accurately, the government union bosses – have not come to be. And I think as more people learn that, and we cut through some of the clutter and give them our message of savings and no tax increases and preserve government services, I think things will be fine.

Q. Speaking of 2012, one of the concerns that I’ve  talked about … this past year, we just had tremendous gains for the Republican Party in the mid-term election, and a lot of credit for that has to go to the revival of the conservative through the Tea Party activists. It’s gotten the
grassroots involved, it’s made them energized and out to volunteer and determined to vote. Do you see your election coming up there in Wisconsin — which is kind of a purple state, it’s a swing state – do you see having a strong Republican Senate candidate there as crucial to the Republican hopes of taking back the White House?
LASEE: Well, I have some familiarity with changing tides, and when I was elected to the Assembly in 1994, we gained a majority, 51 to 48, out of a body of 99 — first time in 20 years, Republican majority. I helped gain the majority again in 2010 for the state senate, and I’m hoping to gain the majority in the U.S. Senate in 2012.  I think it’s really important [to make] that happen. I think Wisconsin is one of the key states to make that happen. And I think that if we’re able, Republicans and conservatives, to win the presidency, retain the House and gain a majority in the U.S. Senate, I think we can make some real significant movements in balancing our budget without raising taxes, cutting back the red tape and putting a block on some of this never-ending rules and administrative things coming from Washington that are driving up the cost of doing business and our energy and our electricity and gasoline and all of these things, and start working in the opposite direction. And that will get our economy working again. I think good things will flow when our economy our economy is working again.

Q. So you ran [in 2010] on a message of ‘Get Wisconsin Working’ and now your message is, ‘Hey, let’s get American working’?
LASEE: Let’s get Wisconsin and America working. They’re very much tied together, and we have to change the direction in Washington, I believe, in order for us to move our economy forward and let people who want to work hard get ahead, find a job, take care of their family.

Category: Election 2012, Senate, Wisconsin

LIVE AT FIVE – 10.24.11

Posted on | October 24, 2011 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Quake In Eastern Turkey Kills 217, Collapses Buildings

Quake measured at 7.2 on Richter scale; hundreds injured and dozens trapped in province on Iranian border

Libya Declares Liberation, End To Khadafi Era
NTC holds ceremony to celebrate liberation, call for reconciliation after four decades under the dictator

Apple Posts Video Of Jobs Memorial
Last week’s employee memorial for the company’s founder posted on the Apple main page



POLITICS
More Protesters Arrested In Chicago, Cincinnati, Philly

OccupyChicago protesters chanting in Grant Park before arrests

130 arrested in Chicago, a dozen each in Cincinnato and Philadelphia

GOP Contenders Vie For Iowa’s Social Conservatives

Sununu Set To Endorse Romney Today In NH


Romney Going To Cincinnati On Tuesday

Perry’s Best Chance To Be The Anti-Romney Is Iowa

2012 Primary & Caucus Schedule Falls Into Place

Houston Democrats Oppose SCV Plate For Texas

Cain Stumbling Under Glare Of National Spotlight?



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
European Leaders Rule Out ECB Help In Boosting Rescue Fund
Stocks Rally On Economic Growth, Europe Summit
Groupon IPO May Arrive November 4
Currency Market Braces For Japanese Intervention
Merrill Lynch: US Likely To Be Downgraded Again
Gold Prices Seen Steady; European Debt Deal Eyed
Gasoline Prices Edge Back Up
Android Phones Offer Apps Similar To Apple’s Siri
Happy Birthday! The iPod Turns 10
“Battlefield” Throws Down The Gauntlet



SPORTS
Holland Long & Strong As Rangers Tie World Series At Two

Texas' Derek Holland leaves the game in the ninth inning

Temperamental starter controls emotions, nails down Cardinals as Hamilton, Napoli carry Rangers to 4-0 win

Tebow Rallies Broncos Past Dolphins In OT For 18-15 Victory




Ponder’s Spirited Debut At QB Not Enough To Save Vikings From Packers; Green Bay Now 7-0

No Mercy From Saints: Colts Brutalized 62-7

Tigers Still #1, Tide Still #2 In BCS Standings

Passion Open 2011 Lingerie Football League Season With 48-0 Romp Over Breeze

Bowyer Beats Burton At Talladega, Gives RCR 100th Win



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Jennifer Lopez Breaks Down On Stage

J-Lo on stage at Mohegan Sun

“Until It Beats No More” a little to close to reality for comfort; singer in tears, leaves stage

Aisha Tyler Joins “The Talk” As Co-Host

Co$ Targeted “South Park”‘s Parker And Stone In Investigation

WB Ready For “Sherlock Holmes 3”

Zooey Sings The National Anthem For World Series Game 4 (Video)

“Hannah Montana” Star Due Back In Court Soon On DUI Charges


Ben Affleck Is WB’s Choice To Make “The Stand”

Nicole Scherzinger, Lewis Hamilton Split

Taylor Armstrong Talks Dating Rumors And “Real Housewives”



FOREIGNERS
Talks Underway To Form New Libyan Government
Argentina’s Fernandez Reelected In Landslide
Tunisia Estimates Election Turnout At 90%
Thai Floods Expected To Last For Weeks
PM Cameron Vows To Claw Back EU Powers Amid Looming Tory Revolt
Swiss People’s Party Suffers Election Setback
Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Dies



BLOGS & STUFF
Gateway Pundit: Surprise! Libya To Introduce Radical Islamic Law
American Thinker: Jindal Coasts To Second Term
Power Line: “F*** Your Military, F*** Your Flag!”
Jazz Shaw: Herman Cain Needs To Lie Better
Volokh Conspiracy: WaPo Spokesman Rips Paper’s Koch Bros. Story As “Tendentious”, “Unfair”.
Maggie’s Farm: Blue States Are Dangerously Irresponsible
Weasel Zippers: Boston Police Website Hacked By OccupyBoston Sympathizers
Ed Driscoll: New Car, Caviar, Four Star Daydream
American Power: Romney Offered Health Care To Illegals


SOTD: Headhunter

Category: Live at Five

If It Weren’t Public School Doing It …

Posted on | October 23, 2011 | 57 Comments

. . . what would you think about someone who wanted to talk to your 11-year-old about masturbation, anal sex, “doggie style” and how to perform oral sex if you’ve got braces? Welcome to New York City in 2012:

New York City 11-year-olds will soon be learning sex education from workbooks that include instruction on “mutual masturbation, French kissing, oral and anal sex, and “intercourse using a condom and an oil-based lubricant.”
The shocking revelations were uncovered in “recommended” workbooks reviewed by The New York Post. . . .
One of the preferred resources for students is Columbia University’s website, “Go Ask Alice,” the Post reported. That site includes discussions on topics ranging from “doggie-style,” oral sex with braces, fetishes, and “sadomasochistic sex play.”

The New York Post reports:

Starting in the spring, the DOE will require one semester of sex ed in sixth or seventh grades and one in ninth or 10th.
It says schools can pick any curriculum but recommends the widely used HealthSmart and Reducing the Risk programs and trains teachers to use them.

Seriously, if any random stranger tried to talk to kids about stuff that schools teach in sex-ed classes, parents would be calling the cops. It’s just downright creepy to teach this kind of stuff to sixth-graders.

Where’s Chris Hansen when we really need him?

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!


Category: Education, New York, Sex
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