The Other McCain

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

Creeptastic News of the Day

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 22 Comments

Sitting here in my home office with the cable TV news playing in the background, I occasionally overhear summaries of stories that have nothing to do with politics, but which are nonetheless interesting as news.

The case of Utah mother Susan Powell’s disappearance has been much-discussed today. This would be just another one of those “Perils of Pauline”-type stories — the attractive white female as crime victim — were it not for the bizarre circumstances revealed by the investigation:

Josh’s father Steve was arrested over the weekend after police found evidence that he shot pictures and video of women and children in various states of undress through several acts of voyeurism.
Josh’s wife Susan Cox Powell has been missing since December 6, 2009, when she was last seen in her West Valley City, Utah home.
Susan’s husband Josh took the couple’s two young sons and moved in with his father Steve a month after Susan’s disappearance.
West Valley City Police served a search warrant at Steve Powell’s Puyallup home in August, and gathered evidence that suggests Steve was engaged in several acts of voyeurism in which he video taped or photographed women and children without their knowledge. Among the video collected by investigators was video of Susan that was shot without her knowledge.
Police say some of the video and photos were of neighbor women and girls.

Ick. The missing woman’s father-in-law was engaged in voyeurism and pornography, including child pornography, and secretly recorded video of Susan Powell. And in case that’s not creepy enough for you, take a look at this angle of the story:

Details emerged Wednesday about Steve Powell’s past in a 1992 divorce case from Spokane County. Case documents reviewed by The Associated Press show Steve Powell’s ex-wife accused him of keeping pornography, damaging his children’s respect for marriage and inappropriately discussing sex issues with the kids.
Terri Powell wrote in the divorce papers that Steve Powell talked of teaching his children about birth control methods when they were as young as 9-years-old. Terri’s sister, Becky Mulcahy, wrote in the documents that Steve Powell told her that he had shown his youngest children books about sexual intercourse when they were 6- and 8-years-old.
Terri Powell said her husband viewed people as animals and that they should be able to have sex with anyone at any time. She recalled a conversation in which Josh referred to a girl his brother, Johnny, liked. “All she is good for is her body, right Dad?” Terri recalled Josh saying. “Yeah, that’s right,” Steve Powell replied, according to the declaration.
Terri Powell also said Steve Powell kept hardcore pornography in the home and that he visited pornography shops.
Jennifer Graves, Josh Powell’s sister, said in an interview with The Associated Press that she broke off ties with her father in part because of his problems with sex and pornography. She recalled going on a business trip with her father when she was about 11-years-old and that he viewed a pornographic video while she was with him.
“Looking back, I wonder if he was willing to do that with a 10-12 year girl — his daughter — in the room, what else would he be willing to do?” she said.

Ick.

Whatever happened to Susan Powell, it appears she unwittingly married into a family badly damaged by Steve Powell, who “viewed people as animals” — hello, Darwinism! — and otherwise shared the perspective on human sexuality promoted by the disciples of Alfred Kinsey.

Perhaps “mental health professionals” will have some comment on this case. And if Steve Powell beats the rap, maybe Columbia University will hire him. Otherwise, he might become an anti-Palin blogger.

Of course, if you see this strange case as relevant to larger trends — a high-profile crime as the tip of a massive iceberg of perversion deeply embedded in our hyper-sexualized culture — then you’re probably some kind of right-wing Christian fundamentalist theocrat, and are therefore automatically discredited as a social critic.

When only secular progressive arguments are deemed admissible, when perspectives of faith and tradition are pre-emptively excluded from public discourse, we should not be surprised when the ghastly results show up on the cable TV news.

Yet those of us excluded from participation in the cultural debate must ask, if only among ourselves, how much of the human misery chronicled in the 24/7 news cycle is the product of a society that has lost sight of those once well-known moral maxims beginning, “Thou shalt not …”?

But this has no relevance to politics, of course.

UPDATE: Thanks to Pagan Temple in the comments, discovering that Susan Powell’s father-in-law Steve Powell was a singer/songwriter, using the pseudonym “Steve Chantrey,” whose Web site includes this interesting item:

[A]s an 18-year-old college student I used a campus talent show as a platform for unveiling a song I had written protesting the Vietnam War and the draft.

Also interesting is that the personal narrative on Steve Powell’s “about” page begins by talking about the break-up of his parents’ marriage. So Steve’s parents were divorced, then Steve was divorced, and now Steve’s daughter-in-law is missing and presumed dead. Something about those “Thou shalt nots” is perhaps relevant to understanding this three-generation legacy of dysfunction, now turned deadly.

UPDATE II: An August story from the Salt Lake Tribune provides background on Steve Powell’s obsession with his daughter-in-law. Some readers may have been following this story a while, and I apologize for re-hashing what is, to you, old news. But I hadn’t been paying attention until they started featuring it in the top-of-the-hour headline updates today on Fox.

Category: Crime, Culture, Sex

Re-Integration Continues Apace

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Thanks to the legion of well-wishers here on the blog, on Twitter, and via email.

The main message of de-mobilization is “take it slow”. I grew up in the Navy, and dad would just be gone so long that I hardly recognized him whenever the deployment ended. These days, we’re fortunate to have technology keep the information distance small. Physical, not so much.

Mrs. Other Smitty, the father-in-law, the World’s Youngest Blogger and I are doing fine in Norfolk, while I find out about the plethora of services offered to people coming back. My main secret was, of course, blogging. One tries not to confuse oneself with a representative sample of the population.

It is good to see Mrs. Other Smitty again. Below is a Safe For Work re-enactment (by some slightly better looking people than us) of the sort of chilling out we’re currently undertaking.

 

Category: humor

At Least One Florida Republican Party Official Who Is Not Batsh*t Crazy

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 20 Comments

“Sunshine State Sarah” reprints an e-mail from Republican National Committeeman Paul Senft:

Republicans have always been law abiding people who obey the rules. If we don’t want to go by the rules — if we want to be arrogant and only abide by the rules we like or agree with — then we should consider another party. As long as we are a member of the Republican Party we should go by their rules. If we want to change things, we should do it through the proper channels and procedures, not break the rules because we think we are better than other states. . . .
If we break the rules again (this will be two in a row) we will alienate the remainder of the country.

Please read the whole thing.  You know who you’re going to “alienate”? Me, and every other political journalist in the country. If these crazy [obscene epithets] in the Florida GOP move their primary from March to Jan. 31, then the Iowa caucuses, currently scheduled for Feb. 6, will also have to move up, perhaps as early as Jan. 3.

January Third! Do you know what that means? The final two weeks of the Iowa campaign will stomp all over the Christmas holidays!

New Hampshire will then move up to Jan. 10 — stomping all over the BCS National Championship game Jan. 9! And considering that the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide are looking very much like they’re ready for another national title, that would piss me off bad.

A Wall Street Journal article lists state House Speaker Dean Cannon and state Senate President Mike Haridopolos as the vicious swine responsible for this crazy idea. So who are these big shots?

What does this look like? In four words: The fix is in.

By moving up their primary, these big-shot Florida GOP power-brokers are in effect protecting the front-runners and preventing any other candidates — including Herman Cain, who stomped Cannon’s boy in Saturday’s straw poll — from gaining traction. Despite all their noise about wanting to make sure Florida is represented in the process, blah, blah, blah, Cannon and Haridopolos are actually pushing a plan that would strip the state of half its delegates to next year’s GOP convention.

Certainly wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen such shenanigans from Florida GOP bosses, eh? Remember how they wanted to fix the 2010 GOP Senate primary for Charlie Crist? The state party chairman tried to strangle Marco Rubio’s campaign by endorsing Crist 15 months before the primary and got his buddy in Washington, NRSC Chairman John Cornyn, to join in. And that state GOP chairman — now ex-chairman — Jim Greer is awaiting trial on corruption charges.

So forgive me for suspecting that these two GOP big shots are running some kind of hustle. I’m not saying they’ve done anything criminal. But it sure as hell looks shady, and even if they aren’t crooked, they’re planning to ruin Christmas and wreck the college football bowl season.

It’s un-American! They must be stopped!

MIKE HARIDOPOLOS — (850) 487-5628
DEAN CANNON — (850) 488-2742

(Please note that when calling their offices, you should be polite. Avoid profanity, personal insults and accusations of perverse sexual habits. Leave that to us professional journalists, because if Haridopolos and Cannon don’t back off this insane Jan. 31 nonsense, the political press corps will cuss these guys to hell.)

Category: Election 2012, Florida, Republicans

VA High Speed Fail

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

The Washington Post points to a $44mil example of why the DC madness must stop: a high-speed rail connection between DC and Richmond?

The VRE already has lines going west and south. So, if there is a business case to put in more rail service, then where is the VRE on this?

We’re fond of noting that DC sucks, as in, a couple of million people drawn into its maw daily to perform various rituals referred to as ‘work’. Thus, if there is a requirement for this high-speed rail, and it’s not just an outburst of Solyndra-ism, then it would seem that one way to retire the requirement would be to make DC suck less. That is, lopping a couple of Constitutionally tenuous executive agencies ought to do the trick.

Calinfornia’s high speed rail has either been a smashing success or not, depending on whether you’ve quaffed sufficient kool-aid. Amtrak is a rolling fail, despide the support of “BFD” Biden. Perhaps the DOT, if we can’t elect a beauro-dragon slayer to kill the DOT outright, could explain why this VA project isn’t just so much white-collar welfare.

Note that I live in Virginia, so a Lefty might argue that I’m blogging against my own economic interests. My reaction would be that being a silent accessory to something close to Yet Another Kickback Scheme is un-cool. This is the kind of crap that has to stop, ye Americans.

Category: Virginia

Plot Was ‘Not Reflective of a Particular Culture, Community or Religion’

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 30 Comments

Curious statement from U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz:

“I want the public to understand that Mr. Ferdaus’ conduct, as alleged in the complaint, is not reflective of a particular culture, community or religion. In addition to protecting our citizens from the threats and violence alleged today, we also have an obligation to protect members of every community, race, and religion against violence and other unlawful conduct.”

Hmmmm. What “particular culture, community or religion” was not reflected in the acts of 26-year-year-oid Rezwan Feradaus? Obviously, the U.S. Attorney must be afraid that some people will use this to cast aspersions on . . . Northeastern University physics students, perhaps? Rock band drummers?

Mass. musician accused of D.C. terrorist plot

Yeah, that’s the headline at CBS News, because what’s headline-worthy about Ferdaus is that he was a musician from Massachusetts:

Ferdaus, an U.S. citizen and Northeastern University graduate, went by the name “Bollywood” when he played in a Massachusetts band. However, U.S. officials say the drummer is also a self-radicalized jihadist, intent on attacking Americans in the U.S. and overseas.

Wait — what? A “self-radicalized jihadist,” you say? And what else?

[H]e repeatedly told the agents that he was driven to kill Americans which he called “enemies of Allah.”

Killing “enemies of Allah”? It almost sounds as if Rezwan Ferdaus was acting on behalf of “a particular culture, community or religion.” But what sort of “a particular culture, community or religion” could that be?

Terror Arrest: Muslim Rezwan Ferdaus
Planned Attacks on Pentagon and Capitol

Thanks, Jim Hoft. We never would have guessed that Rezwan Feradus was a Lutheran if it hadn’t been for . . .

Wait — what? Muslim, you say?

First time for everything, I suppose. We’ve had so many violent terror attacks by Northeastern University physics students and rock drummers, that it’s always surprising to learn strange new things.

Muslim jihadists want to kill Americans as enemies of Allah. Who knew?

Category: Islam, Massachusetts, Terrorism

LIVE AT FIVE – 09.29.11

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 8 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Ashland, Mass. Man Charged With Plotting Terror Attack On Capitol, Pentagon

Rezwan Ferdaus, accused terrorist

Modified mobile phones to serve as IED triggers; planned to fly RC planes into DC targets. Chalk up another one for the FBI

Justice Department Asks Supremes To Rule On Obamacare
Ruling sought on coverage mandate. Separately, 26 states and the NFIB ask Supreme Court to strike down health care law as unconstitutional





Saudi King Abdullah Revokes Flogging Sentence For Female Driver
Announcement follows King’s earlier decision to allow women to vote



POLITICS
Judge Upholds Most Of Alabama’s Immigration Law

Alabama governor Robert Bentley

Judge Blackburn upholds all but four sections of America’s harshest immigration law

The Other Warren Drops Out Of Mass. Senate Race

Florida Could Force Early Primaries

Massachusetts Sheriffs, Sen. Scott Brown Criticize Gov. Patrick On Immigration

Perry Campaign Goes On Defensive

Romney Tries To Cast Himself As Political Outsider, Catches Flak



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
European Stocks Seen Lower As German Vote Looms
Study: Facebook, Twitter Usage Increase Company’s Security Risk
Companies Helping Workers Get Healthy In Bid To Slow Insurance Cost Growth
Fed Dissenter Thomas Hoenig Retires
Crude Oil Rises In Asia, Tracking Stocks
Amazon Aims To Kill iPad With Fire
Mango’s Tethering Comes With Strings Attached
Microsoft-Samsung Deal Strikes Blow At Google
iPod Shuffle, Classic To Be Scrapped?
DOJ Asks Google For More Data On Motorola Deal
T-Mobile Asks US Court To Block Ban On Samsung Products
Media Reform Group Sues FCC Over Net Neutrality Rules



SPORTS
Collapse By Red Sox Highlights Wild Baseball Season Finish

Tampa Bay Rays Justin Ruggiano (center), David Price and James Shields celebrate their win over the Yankees last night

Sox Blow 3-2 Lead In 9th At Camden Yards While Rays Claw Their Way Back From 7-0 Deficit To Beat Yankees

Elsewhere, Atlanta Falls 4-3 To Phillies In Extra Innings, Clearing Way For Cardinals


Stern Says This Weekend Critical In NBA Talks

Red Sox Players Back Francona

Hiller & Ducks Beat Canucks, 3-2

No Major Changes In NASCAR’s 2012 Schedule

Crimson Tide Ready For Rough Road Test In Swamp

Strasburg K’s 10 In Season Finale As Nats Win 3-1; Washington Finishes Season In Third With 80 Wins



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Jessica Simpson Postpones Wedding

Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson

Indecision or just cold feet?

Demi & Ashton Gearing Up For Divorce?

Anna Faris: I Want To Have Eight Kids With Chris Pratt

Scarlett Johansson Says Privacy Invasion Is Unjust, Wrong

Who Are The Highest Paid TV Actresses?

Bravo Looking To Clean House (And Housewives) In New Jersey

Dane Cook Inks NBC Development Deal

“Lost” Star Sonya Walger Lands New Series On USA

Interns File Suit Against “Black Swan” Producer

John Goodman Boards Paramount’s “Flight”



FOREIGNERS
Almost 60,000 Evacuated From Hainan Ahead Of Typhoon
Pakistani Leader Hold All-Party Talks On Crisis In Relations With US
Libyan Leaders Remove Heavy Weapons From Tripoli; Profess Indifference To Khadafy’s Whereabouts
Rival Forces Clash In Yemen’s Capital
Syrian Government Forces Kill 17 As EU, USSR Move Closer To Agreement
Serbian Protesters, NATO Troops Hurt In Kosovo Clash
Cartel Leaves Five Severed Heads Outside Acapulco School In Latest Extortion Threat
Ivory Coast Seeks To Heal Wounds With Truth Commission



BLOGS & STUFF
Troglopundit: “Wait – Herman Cain Supported TARP?”
Allahpundit: Perry Admits He Shouldn’t Have Called Critics Heartless
Gateway Pundit: Crony Socialism – Obama Gives $737 Million To Solar Firm Linked To Pelosi Clan
Marginal Revolution: Why They Call It Green Energy
NRO Corner: Your Tax Dollars At Work
Legal Insurrection: A Prayer For 5772
Weasel Zippers: Cain – Black Community “Brainwashed” Into Voting For Democrats
American Power: “I Cannot Tell You How Tired I Am Of This Kind Of Pretentious S**t”
Verum Serum: Obama Tells Hispanic Roundtable To Stop Complaining
Sister Toldjah: The Anti-Democratic Democrats

SOTD: Shoot To Thrill

Category: Live at Five

No, Sarah Palin Did Not Call Herman Cain ‘Herb’ and Did Not Put Him Down
UPDATE: Why Doesn’t the Fox News Transcript Match the Politico Video?

Posted on | September 28, 2011 | 77 Comments

Somebody told me that Herman Cain was asked about this on CBS News and said Governor Palin was “wrong,” evidently based on media reports. But let’s go to the transcript, shall we?

VAN SUSTEREN: How does, though, a politician, though, connect with the people and get it across so it doesn’t just sound like more like, Blah, blah, blah? When the politician gets up on the air, probably many of us can sort of mouth the answers for the politician because we know these people for better, for worse, so well, and that they’re going to say. It’s quite predictable.
But how does a politician actually connect with someone in the heartland, for instance?
PALIN: That’s a great question. I think what helps is for that politician is to have a foundation of having come from the real people of America, the working class, those who make up the majority of Americans who are so extremely concerned about the direction of our country.
Take Herman Cain. Look at why he’s doing so well right now. He’s, I guess you could say, with all due respect, the flavor of the week because Herman Cain is the one up there who doesn’t look like he’s part of that permanent political class. Herman Cain — he came from a working class family. He’s had to make it on his own all these years. We respect that.
That has an automatic connection with the electorate, where we say, We can relate to him, he knows the issues, the problems that we face every day, and he’s determined to do something about it. He’s not elite. He doesn’t seem to allow us to be disenchanted with what it is that he’s proposing because what he proposes in terms of solutions, Greta, for our economy, are based on time-tested truths and common sense and true economic principles that will work.
So Herman Cain is a good example of a connection with the voters and why his message, good messenger, he’s resonating with the people.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it’s sort of interesting about — you know, in watching the straw poll votes in Florida that you were talking about, Herman Cain winning by — he trounced, basically, Governor Perry and Governor Romney, the two supposed front-runners — is that the media was so shocked, that they seemed so surprised. And I’m sort of curious as to what extent, you know, the media doesn’t really go out and talk to the American people. And you know, I wonder if people — if the people watching it from the heartland, if they were surprised that he won in Florida.
PALIN: We are not surprised that he, as a messenger of common-sense conservative pro-U.S. Constitution principles, is doing well. Many of the elites in the media were shocked.
And you know, I think it’s kind of humorous to see the way that the media is covering these candidates. Let me give you an example of this. Earlier today, Greta, on Fox News, you had a host who said Sarah Palin in the polls, she’s way, way down there in the polls. And I’m kind of scratching my head, going, Wait a minute. On another network, on CNN just the other day, they showed a poll where I was, like, within 5 points of President Obama. I was doing well, much better than many of the other candidates.
And I’m thinking all this misinformation and contradictory information, contradicting information from even hosts here on this network itself, it adds to, I guess, the disconnect even — not just the permanent political class, but many in the media also because sometimes, they don’t do their homework. And many times, a host or a reporter, they have their own agenda and they interject their agenda in the information they’re providing their viewers and readers.
So didn’t surprise me or many of us that Herman Cain was doing well, but certainly surprised many in the media because sometimes they don’t do their homework and they do perpetuate misinformation.

Well, Politico tried to “perpetuate misinformation” and between Slate’s Dave Weigel and Hot Air’s Tina Korbe, this gets turned into a kerfuffle. Read the freakin’ transcript: While Palin did say Cain was “flavor of the week” — that is to say, from the media perspective he’s the Next New Thing — she followed that with effusive praise for him as representing “the real people of America,” with whom he has an “automatic connection.” 

Sarah Palin has always been a Herman Cain fan, and is still a Herman Cain fan. I’d have to look it up, but earlier this year, she re-Tweeted one of Cain’s columns. The media are trying to gin up a phony controversy — “Let’s you and him fight,” as they say down home — and the last thing Cain should do is to believe what the media say about Sarah Palin. They’re “makin’ up stuff” again!

See also: “Politics as Show Biz.”

UPDATE: Wait a minute — there is a discrepancy between the transcript and this video:

Something’s screwy: Is the Fox transcription wrong? Did Politico edit the video? What?

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Sarah Palin

LATEST FOX NEWS POLL: Mitt Romney 23% Rick Perry 19% Herman Cain 17%

Posted on | September 28, 2011 | 66 Comments

Published barely 10 minutes ago.

UPDATE: The details:

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 925 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from September 25 to September 27. For the total sample, it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

In other words, this is the first published poll based on a survey completely after Cain won Saturday’s straw poll.

UPDATE II: Let’s compare numbers with the previous Fox poll:

Romney ……… Sept. 9/25-27: 23% …. Aug. 29-31: 18%
Perry …………. Sept. 9/25-27: 19% …. Aug. 29-31: 26%
Cain …………… Sept. 9/25-27: 17% …. Aug. 29-31: 4%
Gingrich ……..  Sept. 9/25-27: 11% …. Aug. 29-31: 3%
Paul ……………. Sept. 9/25-27: 6% …. Aug. 29-31: 6%
Bachmann ……. Sept. 9/25-27: 3% …. Aug. 29-31: 8%
Santorum ……. Sept. 9/25-27: 3% …. Aug. 29-31: 4%

So three September debates in the span of 15 days — Sept. 7 in Simi Valley (NBC), Sept. 12 in Tampa (CNN) and Sept. 22 in Orlando (Fox) —  have completely re-arranged the GOP field.

UPDATE III: Why the big shift to Cain? Well, the Aug. 29-31 poll included Sarah Palin — she got 8% — while the latest poll didn’t.

Are Palinistas becoming Cainiacs?

UPDATE IV: Allahpundit wields the knife on Perry:

This is what happens when the big takeaways from your debate performance are (a) you hate your own base and (b) you sound brain damaged.

Dude. That was cold.

UPDATE V: Thanks for the link, Ace, but — is there something in the water these days? — Palin did not mean to put down Herman Cain with that “flavor of the week” phrase. She’s actually a huge fan of Cain. (And I’ll delete the hell out of any commenter who goes there, IYKWIMAITYD.)

Jeff Goldstein notes Palin’s latest policy commentary: She’s keeping her fire targeted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Except that you can’t use that kind of metaphor any more. Because it’s “hate” or something.


Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Polls, Rick Perry
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