"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
Moore, a 61 year-old Vietnam veteran, will kick this fall for Faulkner University, a small Christian school in Montgomery, Ala., 43 years after his initial college career was cut short by Vietnam. When he takes the field against Ave Maria on Sept. 10, Moore will be the oldest player ever to take the field for a four-year university.
After all, a sports career would get him off the hook for bowing to Knoxville, TN five times a day.
— compiled by Wombat-socho
TOP NEWS
Tropical Storm Lee Drenches Gulf
May cause flooding as storm moves inland to the Appalachians
Tribal Leaders To Give Loyalist Bastion To Rebels?
Warfala tribe may surrender Bani Walid to avoid intra-tribal fighting
Typhoon’s Rain Kills 20, Strands Thousands In Japan
Worst storm since 2004
POLITICS
Romney Speaks At Concord NH Tea Party Event
Draws sparse audience, few protesters
Beyond Saving: Obama Leads Romney, Perry In California Poll
President Visits NJ To View Irene Damage
Wildfires Erupt Again In Texas
Palin’s Running…In The Storm Lake Half-Marathon, Incognito
Unrepentant Cheney Stands His Ground
Bloomberg: Yeah, I Lied About Deputy Mayor’s Arrest, So What?
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Bonn City Fathers: Feed The Meter, You Whores
Postal Cuts Threaten Town Hubs
Greek Central Banker Seeks Faster Action From Athens
QE3 No Silver Bullet For Markets
Taxpayers Rank Behind Solyndra Investors Under Obama’s Refinancing Deal
Apple Obtains Second Court Order To Block Samsung Galaxy Tab Sales In Europe
Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is For Real
Google Kills A Host Of Products, Focuses On Making Money
Microsoft’s WinPhone Optimism: Realistic Or Delusional?
Ultrabooks: The First Wave
CrunchFund? Unethical Ventures? PigPile Partners?
SPORTS
Lee Roy selmon’s Death Stuns Tampa Sports World
Hall of Fame Buccaneer dies after stroke, aged 56
NASCAR Atlanta Race Postponed To Tuesday
Budding Super-conferences Don’t Look So Super
Peyton Manning Being Re-Evaluated?
Marcum Sharp As Brewers Sweep Astros
Baltimore Embraces Inaugural Grand Prix
Gutierrez Out For Season As Mariners Lose To Oakland
Livan Takes The Loss; Is This His Last Start For The Nats?
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Eddie Murphy To Host Oscars?
Billy Crystal to have “marquee” role as well
Susan Lucci Unloads On ABC Daytime Head Over Soap Cancellation
Wrestling Legend Kurt Angle Busted For DWI
Green Day Front Man Kicked Off Flight Over Saggy Pants
American Idiot spotted
Audrina Patridge: Bone Deformity Affects Appearance Of My Breasts
Jada Pinkett Smith’s “HawthoRNe” Cancelled
Whole Foods Drops Bethenny Frenkel Drink Containing Toxic Preservative
Kellan Lutz’ Sexy New Girlfriend Identified
Is “Glee” Star’s Bruised-Up Barbie Photo Shoot Glamorizing Domestic Violence?
FOREIGNERS
Activists Report 24 More Syrian Protesters Dead
Historic Rally Buoys Israeli Social Justice Movement
Netanyahu: No Apology To Turkey
Socialists, Greens Post Gains In Mecklenburg; New Setback For Chancellor Merkel
Chirac Brain Disorder Likely To Wreck Trial
OAU Peacekeepers Fire On Car In Somalia, Journalist Dies
BLOGS & STUFF
Legal Insurrection: Presidential Jeopardy Gone Wild
Michael Barone: Speech Fiasco An “Audacity Of Weakness”
Jim Geraghty: Palin In Iowa – Fine Speech, Unless You Wanted An Announcement
Weasel Zippers: Political Science Academics Declare Tea Party Members Racist
Jammie Wearing Fool: “Obama Has Ruined The Democratic Party”
Conservatives4Palin: Bachmann Open To Elimination Of Corporate Taxes
Yd With Lid: Democratic Party Strategists Trying To Destabilize Israel?
Jazz Shaw: Is It Time To Start Charging For Water?
Vodkapundit: Your Weekend Dose Of Doom And Gloom
Lonely Conservative: Why Is Jon Huntsman Getting So Much Media Love?
SOTD: Hand Of Fate
— compiled by Wombat-socho
Buckle your wrist braces and make sure you have a suitably-sized beverage in front of you, because we’ve got a mess of links to go through this Labor Day weekend…
Left over from last week, Postaldog gets us off to a good start by taking Rule 5 right to the edge of NSFW. Soylent Green got an interesting result when he googled “Hurricane Babes”; also, Daniela Sobreira! Troglopundit thought differently when the Kinky Perry meme came rolling around, and Bring The Heat Bring The Stupid has some Julia Ormond for our viewing pleasure.
El Opinador Compulsivo wound up being held over as well, but I think Talulah Riley, a prize-winning butt, a topless blonde, and some Brigitte Bardot from 1953 were worth the wait. This week, he offers not one, but two high-resolution beauties, a potpourri of lovelies, Roxanne, and Dakota.
Too late for last week? No! Super early for this week! Randy’s Roundtable checks in with Jenna Pietersen on Monday for Thursday. Clear? Valley of the Shadow enlists the suitably Goth Rose MacGowan in his shaking of the tip jar, while the POH Diaries affirm the truth that Kate Beckinsale is hot. Edge of the Sandbox crosses the Rule 5 and FMJRA streams to interesting effect in his post comparing Femen in the Ukraine to Western feminists’ slutwalks. Eye of Polyphemus has Sophie Monk this week, and Daily Irony has Meng Qian posing with a soccer ball. Reaganite Resistance checks in this week with another in his series of Romanian singers, and Zion’s Trumpet spotlights Karla Diaz. A View From The Beach takes a closer look at Daryl Hannah on the occasion of her recent arrest in D.C. The Rio Norte Line thinks to blaze new frontiers in Rule 5 with his clothing-oriented post, but we’ve seen Corset Fridays for quite a while now. Still, some nice-looking ladies in those pants. Also nice looking are the daughters of Doug Flutie and Mark Rypien, who Troglopundit informs us are following in their dads’ footsteps, sort of. Jake Finnegan’s Burkalesque Babe for this week? Bar Rafaeli.
This week at The Camp Of The Saints, the Rule 5 lineup includes Melita Toniolo, the weekly Rule 5 News, Julie McCullough, and most importantly, a call to arms: Gina Elise Needs Our Help. Do your part! Go forth and CLICK!
Maggie’s Notebook this week has Emmanuelle Chiriqui for us, and Teresamerica celebrates the beginning of football season with Alexa Flutie and other cheerleaders. Dustbury’s pick of all the possible Rule 5 opportunities at the VMAs was Victoria Justice, and his pick of the new comedy shows this fall is Whitney Cummings. Almost makes me want to start watching TV again.
American Power checks in with his own Rule 5 linkagery featuring Yevgeniya Diordychuk, Kate Winslet heating up the Venice Film Festival, a Britney Spears video, and some afternoon rule 5 links.
Only two stragglers this week. Please send your Rule 5 links by September 10 to Rule 5 Wombat to be included in next week’s Rule 5 roundup!
CONCORD, N.H.
Mitt Romney headlined tonight’s Tea Party Express rally and here are just a couple of photos:
I’ll have much, much more in a few moments.
UPDATE: More photos:
Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer is interviewed by Da Tech Guy.
Dave Weigel interviews some local Tea Party activists who showed up to protest against Romney.
UPDATE II: More photos:
My friend Andrea Shea King offered to take this photo.
Not everybody in the crowd succumbed to Mitt-mania.
Suffice to say, he’s immune to Mitt-mania.
This young fellow knows how to get onto my blog.
UPDATE III: Yet more photos:
A capitalist offers a fine selection of anti-Obama buttons.
A Tea Party activist tells an ABC News reporter why Mitt Romney is the spawn of Satan (I paraphrase).
My old buddy Eric Odom is traveling with the Tea Party Express.
The anti-Romney rally sponsored by FreedomWorks.
UPDATE IV: Dave Weigel, filing for Slate from the same McDonald’s where Da Tech Guy and I are working, just posted his article about the anti-Romney protesters:
“The issue with Romney is the issues,” says Jackie Bodnar, spokeswoman for FreedomWorks, the group that quit the TPX tour to protest Romney. She hands me the three pages of fliers and oppo research that everyone will be getting as they show up, with granular details about the taxes and fees and un-Tea Party things Gov. Mitt Romney supported in the ‘Aughts.
Peg Coutermarsh was one of the first to arrive. She wears a shirt with the date January 19, 2013 on it — Obama’s last day in office, if he loses — and holds a flagpole that has been signed by famous Tea Party speakers. Hermain Cain has signed it. She doesn’t want Romney to sign it.
“I’m going to support a Tea Party candidate,” she says. “Romney represents the same old, same old.”
Is she swayed at all by the polls that show Romney beating Barack Obama?
“If you read into who was polled, they were all Romney people.”
The press conference starts at 5:30, sharp. There are two dozen protesters and around 30 reporters scribbling down what they say. Andrew Hemingway, wearing a Join-or-Die T-shirt, speaks into a microphone, his anti-Mitt jeremiad radiating from a small grey amp.
“Did you know that 50,000 people fled Massachusetts because of Mitt Romney, fled to the free state of New Hampshire?” asks Hemingway. “For him to say, in a recent Politico article, that a lot of Tea Party people in New Hampshire like him? I say he’s drinking the wrong Kool Aid.”
Jerry DeLemus, chairman of Granite State Patriots, warns us that Romney is about to commit fraud, getting the media to take pictures of him in front of a “Tea Party” banner and pronounce him acceptable.
“A photo-op is just that,” he says. “I can take a picture of myself in front of the Supreme Court. That does not make me a Supreme Court justice!”
Read the whole thing. Dave does good work.
UPDATE V: The first few photos at the top were uploaded while we were still at Rollins Park, where I was poaching WiFi from the Tea Party Express. Several people — including Weigel and Andrea Shea King — thought it was amusing to see me working on the grass and shot some photos:
Whatever it takes to get the story, right?
Speaking of which, Da Tech Guy’s doing a quick fund-raiser in an attempt to get enough money to join the Tea Party Express tour.
Both Da Tech Guy and I have more photos, videos, etc., to get online, but Sarah Palin’s due in Manchester at noon Tuesday, so we’re going to have to shut down the National Affairs Desk here in Concord and get back on the road.
UPDATE VI: We’re at the hotel in Manchester where the Tea Party Express crew is staying. Pete’s uploading video and telling stories of his travels. Meanwhile, Don Surber writes:
What does compute is that as the lone New Englander in the race, Romney must win New Hampshire. And how does he go about that? By sucking up to the party brass? By showing everyone how centrist and electable he is? By using the 2008 plan?
No, he is asking the Tea Party for help. Far from being the extremists who will turn off middle America, the Tea Party is middle America.
Surber links the Boston Globe‘s story:
CONCORD, N.H. — More than 25 protesters turned out before a Tea Party Express rally this evening to protest not President Obama, but Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
“We do not need leadership that puts their finger up, sees which way the wind’s blowing and then all of a sudden changes their mind and goes back in that direction,” Tim Carter, a leader of the Lakes Region Tea Party in New Hampshire. “If you look at Mitt’s past voting record, I think that’s what you’re going to see.” . . .
The FreedomWorks rally was held before the larger Tea Party Express rally, where Romney was scheduled to speak. FreedomWorks had been active with the Tea Party Express, but pulled its staff member off the Express bus to protest Romney’s inclusion in today’s event. After holding the anti-Romney rally, it urged participants to join the Express event, held in the same place.
The Tea Party Express tour, which is crossing the country in the lead-up to a Tea Party-sponsored Sept. 12 presidential debate, invited all Republican presidential candidates to speak at rallies along the route. With the entrance of Texas Governor Rick Perry into the presidential race, Romney has showed signs that he will be reaching out more to Tea Party activists.
UPDATE VII: Bob Belvedere at The Camp of the Saints quotes the original Gonzo:
It was dangerous lunacy, but it was also the kind of thing a real connoisseur of edge-work could make an argument for… Separately, we might pull it off. But together, no — we would blow it. Too much aggressive chemistry in that mix; the temptation to run a deliberate freakout would be too heavy.
When the going gets weird, the weird go to New Hampshire.
UPDATE VIII: The New York Times:
Mitt Romney’s keynote speech Sunday night at a Tea Party Express rally in Concord, N.H., was perhaps more notable for what did not happen — there were no fiery clashes with Tea Party protesters, or angry hecklers — than for what did — Mr. Romney delivered a lively version of his standard stump speech.
The civility of the Tea Party was, or at least should be, the big story of this event, as Da Tech Guy has been saying all night. Here’s Pete’s video where he asks a question of Romney and then of Romney’s finance director Ron Kaufman:
Linked at Memeorandum, with more from The Lonely Conservative and The Gateway Pundit.
“In the course of this apparently endless campaign, I have set up the National Affairs Desk in some of the worst hotels, motels and other foul commercial lodging establishments in the western world. Politicians, journalists, and traveling salesmen seem to gravitate to these places – for reasons I’d rather not think about, right now – but the Wayfarer is a rare and constant exception. The one that proves the rule, perhaps . . . but, for whatever reason, it is one of my favorite places: a rambling, woodsy barracks with big rooms, good food, full ice machines, and . . . yes . . . a brief history of pleasant memories.”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72
MANCHESTER, N.H.
We left Worcester, Mass., about noon and hooked a left onto Route 13 North through Townsend toward the New Hampshire state line at Brookline. Da Tech Guy’s big Buick Le Sabre is a big car for such a small road. North of Townsend, Route 13 is a lumpy two-lane running through the forest, and the first thing you notice when you cross into New Hampshire is the higher-quality of highway pavement. No more of those rutted and badly patched Massachusetts roads here.
Unlike Iowa, where Council Bluffs is 130 miles from Des Moines, New Hampshire is a small state and the distances are short. After crossing the border, we drive about 10 miles, hang a right onto Route 101 East, and then it’s about 15 miles to Manchester. So the total drive time from Worcester to Manchester is barely 40 minutes, although I’m sure we could have trimmed that time considerably if Pete had let me drive the Buick, which has a powerful V-8 that could have us rocketing along at 90 mph, were I behind the wheel. (And we haven’t seen a New Hampshire State Trooper yet. “Live Free or Die” is a motto incompatible with rigorous enforcement of speed limits.)
New Hampshire state legislators are paid just $100 a year, the legislature only meets part-time and there is no state income tax. By contrast, Massachusetts state legislators make $50,000 a year, the legislature meets year-round and the state income taxes are so high that there is a continuous out-migration of fed-up residents moving to neighboring New Hampshire. Unfortunately (and perversely), the immigrants from “Taxachusetts” often bring with them to the Granite State the same liberal values and Democrat political loyalties that have made the Bay State increasingly unlivable.
We arrived in Manchester and drove directly to Herman Cain’s New Hampshire campaign headquarters on Lowell Street. Nobody was in the office, but there was a note on the door: “If locked call 570-604-0809 for Cain info.” No problem. Right across from Cain HQ is the world-famous Red Arrow Diner, visited by every presidential candidate in recent memory.
From here, we were due to push on to Concord, where Mitt Romney is scheduled to headline a 6 p.m. rally at Rollins Park. En route, however, I wanted to stop by a famous local landmark. But when we got to 121 South River Street . . .
Alas, the Wayfarer Inn — that “rare and constant exception” to the western world’s “foul commercial lodging establishments” — is no more. It was boarded up and surrounded by a chain-link fence, parts of it covered in graffiti. I did, however, manage to get a photo of the main entrance, site of one of the most hilarious scenes in Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72.
Somewhere, I’m sure, Frank Mankiewicz was still hiding in the shrubbery, waiting to waylay innocent journalists. So we moved on . . .
Yes, I’m filing this from the Playland of a McDonald’s up the road from the Wayfarer. There’s probably a metaphor in this, but no time to think about it now. Next stop, Concord.
Writing about yesterday’s Sarah Palin rally in Iowa, I mentioned the theory that “Palin may enter the 2012 field because of her dissatisfaction with Perry’s campaign.” I resisted the temptation to examine the theory at length, because I wanted to discuss something I’d seen earlier — Dan Riehl’s discussion of the Palin-Perry issue:
For her part, Palin may factor in Perry’s standing in her own decision-making process. . . .
If she opts to run, it will be because she hasn’t heard what she believes she needs to in the upcoming debates, and/or doesn’t trust Perry to bear the standard.
Read the whole thing, because Dan has put his finger directly on something I had previously remarked in passing: Palin has specified September as her deadline for making a decision, and there are three debates in September — Wednesday at the Reagan Library in California, Sept. 12 in Tampa and Sept. 22 in Orlando. If Perry underperforms in those debates, Palin may see the front-runner’s weakness as an invitation to enter the race.
Did I say “weakness”? This morning at breakfast with Da Tech Guy, I picked up the Boston Herald and saw this Associated Press article:
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — He may have been 2,000 miles from the border, but Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry’s immigration record in Texas quickly became the focus in New Hampshire Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to hundreds of Granite State voters at a private reception, the Texas governor was asked whether he supported a fence along the Mexican border.
“No, I don’t support a fence on the border,” he said, while referring to the long border in Texas alone. “The fact is, it’s 1,200 miles from Brownsville to El Paso. Two things: How long you think it would take to build that? And then if you build a 30-foot wall from El Paso to Brownsville, the 35-foot ladder business gets real good.”
Instead, Perry said he supported “strategic fencing” and National Guard troops to prevent illegal immigration and violence from Mexican drug cartels.
Make of that what you will. But according to the article, some Tea Party activists in New Hampshire didn’t like Perry’s answer.
By the time you read this, Da Tech Guy and I will be in New Hampshire, where Mitt Romney’s appearance at a 6 p.m. Tea Party Express rally in Concord is expected to draw a big crowd, including many angry Tea Party protesters.
— compiled by Wombat-socho
MY VIDEO of Michele Bachmann’s Christian Testimony Used in SMEAR JOB
Gibson Guitars CEO: U.S. Government Urged Him to Use Foreign Labor
Lowlife Who Pirated My Video Apologizes for Smearing Michele Bachmann
Hard Times Spreading Just Like the Flu …
Storm Center Commander-in-Chief?
Why Does Conservative Light Suck At Supporting Lefty Darkness?
FMJRA 2.0: Take Me Out To The Ball Game
Rule 5 Sunday: Cuts Like A Knife
Al Gore: If You Disagree With Me About Global Warming … RAAAAACIST!
‘Self-Appointed Republican Elites’
How About That Commitment To Mediocrity
Discrimination Against the Ugly? Expect a Class-Action Lawsuit by Smitty and Me
Talking Economics to Democrats Is Probably a Waste of Breath, But …
‘This Whole Capitalistic System Is Basically in Place to Rip Your Ass Off’
What Accounts for the ‘Gender Gap’ in Pay? Statistics Prove: It’s Lazy Women
Thanks for Answered Prayers, and Guess Who’s Going to New Hampshire?
Bad Liberal Policy in California
Should I Stay In Afghanistan, Where It Sounds Relatively Safe?
Ron Paul vs. Tea Party Express?
Sounds Like An Expression Of Contempt For Separation Of Powers, To Me
Bachmann Ad: ‘There Is an Honest Conservative and She’s Not Rick Perry’
Tommy Christopher’s New Assignment: Covering Speaker Boehner’s Resignation
‘Let’s Face It, the Color of His Skin’
Arianna Huffington Fires Tech Blogger AOL Paid $30 Million to Buy Out
Obama Helping the Rich Get Richer
‘Community Organizing’ Properly Understood: Political Organized Crime
Top linkers this week:
Thanks to everyone for the linkagery! If you want to be included in next week’s FMJRA and you’re using Blogger or some other platform WordPress hates, please send your links to Wombat-socho by September 9 with “FMJRA” or “Shameless Blogwhoring” in the subject line.
by Smitty
Those two things being:
I, for one, see a great deal of wisdom in Sarah’s non-approach to toying with the notion of a Presidential campaign. She’s basically doing a Second Mover play. What is striking, ironic, and disheartening is that, for all of the dismay about politics as usual, there is nothing but contempt poured upon someone doing the unusual.
Fricking relax, people: Governor Palin will either declare, or not. You know who wants her to declare right now, so he can giver her the Full Alinsky? BHO, that’s who. The threat of her candidacy, itself, is something which conservatives should relax and enjoy fully, until such time as she declares that phase concluded.
Should the potential candidacy materialize, waiting as long as possible shall have minimized the exposure to the Ruling Class money sources, and maximize pressure on We The People to put up or shut up. If we fail to support a relatively independent candidate, then we deserve the Romney/Huntsman tool who will be picked by the Ruling Class to run a mediocre campaign, culminating in a gracious concession speech.
For my part, none of the candidates are talking about the kind of scaling back that is truly needed. Spending varies, typically increasing. So talking about spending cuts, or tax cuts may as well be hope and change, for all I care. Tell me about regulatory cuts, about structural reductions in the federal government, and you have a chance of sounding serious. That’s what needs to occur. Yet all of the candidates are concerned about focus-group testing every utterance, about ensuring they don’t scare the moderates. OK. Got it. We have to start where we can, and keep the pressure on to reduce the government. Three parts to bureaucratic struggle:
Keep that in mind.
Update: props to Anamika for helping my typing of ‘independent’.
Update II: woe unto the blogger who doesn’t make a separate math check after the spell check, especially when named ‘Smith’.