The Other McCain : Page 2138 : "One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up."

. . . is “data,” and the data regarding our demographic apocalypse are varied and interesting, if often pathetic. Consider this confessional article from the London Daily Mail by journalist Rachael Lloyd:

When I was younger, I always expected to become a mum. I even played with names over the years — Robert for a boy, and Caitlin or Daisy for a girl. As far as I was concerned, the day I became a mum was just out there waiting for me to reach out and embrace it.
But I’ve just turned 39. I’m fit, healthy, with lots of friends and an enjoyable job in the family firm. I own my own flat, albeit a humble one. I’m close to my extended family and I’m reasonably attractive on a good hair day.
Yet, at times, I feel like an utter failure. I have failed to do the one thing that even the most uneducated, unimaginative woman, sane or insane, can accomplish. I’ve failed to have a child.
Having a child is so easy, isn’t it? Anyone can do it. So how did I manage to miss the boat? How did I mess up so spectacularly?
During my 20s, I put in long days as an aspiring journalist, and at night I partied with the best of them. In my mid-30s I battled an addiction to alcohol but have come out the other side smiling and sober.
Like a lot of women my age, I’d thought 30 was probably an ideal age to settle down. But once I hit 30, it’s was if I hit an oil patch and the years just slipped away. The men I dated either weren’t at the same life stage as me, or simply didn’t have the money to commit to a baby.
Having children is expensive, and I dreaded ending up broke and abandoned with a wailing newborn in my arms.
So to my dismay, like too many of my generation, I’ve become one of the ‘circumstantially infertile’ — a woman unable to have children because I don’t have a suitable partner with whom to conceive.
And I’m not alone. According to a recent study, 48 per cent of university educated women born in the late Sixties and early Seventies are childless. . . .

You can read the whole thing, and try not to ask yourself, “Is there maybe more to it than that?” Like, you should resist the temptation to think that maybe the circumstances of Lloyd’s “circumstantially infertile” situation were the result of her own unwise choices. Meanwhile, via WeSmirch, we have this shocking headline:

Charlize Theron Wants A Baby NOW & She’ll
Adopt If She Can’t Find A Man To Help Her!

That’s somewhat hyped-up but still, the fact is, Theron is now 36. Last year, she ended a nine-year relationship with Stuart Townsend and — strange as it might seem for such a famous beauty — she doesn’t seem to have any marital prospects.

Marital prospects are somewhat more encouraging for 27-year-old Hilaria Thomas, if by “encouraging” you mean shacking up with a middle-aged asshole:

Alec Baldwin is settling down as he advances his political ambitions.
The 53-year-old perennial bachelor, who has his eye on a mayoral run, also seems to have his heart set on marriage with 27-year-old yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas. . . .
Baldwin has sold his 300 Central Park West apartment at the famed Art Deco Eldorado to move in with his girlfriend downtown. . . .
“He’s really in love,” a source said. “He’s even met her parents. He sees marriage in the near future.”

And now we come to the final data point, involving this young lady:

That’s 22-year-old actress Emma Stone. If you’ve never heard of her, don’t worry. Neither had I until I saw (via Ace of Spades) that Miss Stone was the object of a rather bizarre online video proposal:

I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re all the way beautiful. Not just pretty, but, you know, smart and kindhearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you, and we would have chubby little freckled faced kids.

That proposal was made by 49-year-old Jim Carrey:

The plural of “anecdote” is “data,” and perhaps you see the faint outline of a trend here: While 30-something women like Rachael Lloyd and Charlize Theron are withering on the vine, divorced middle-aged guys like Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey are chasing after 20-somethings. There is some sort of mismatch in the romantic interests or lifestyles of modern singles, a mismatch that tends to prevent the development of durable pair-bonds. Without opportunities for lasting marriage, many women avoid child-bearing. The particular cases cited here may be exceptional, but they are nonetheless representative of a larger trend.

And aren’t stories more interesting than statistics?

‘Ed Schultz With a Smaller Rack’

Posted on August 25, 2011August 25, 2011Comments

The title quote is how Ace of Spades describes Contessa Brewer, whose eight-year career at MSNBC has come to an inglorious end. Ace reminds us of one of her highlights:

BREWER: “Joining me now to talk about this and the nation’s real problem of joblessness, the Reverend Al Sharpton. What’s your reaction to hearing someone say, you know, when it comes to income inequality, all’s well, a rising tide floats all boats?”
JESSE JACKSON: “Uh, I’m Reverend Jesse Jackson.”
BREWER: “Right. You know, I’m so sorry. The, uh, script in front of me said Reverend Al Sharpton. I’m looking at your face. I know who you are, Reverend Jackson. We all do. I’m sorry.”

But wait, I’ve got one even better, courtesy of Mark Finklestein at Newsbusters:

REP. MO BROOKS (R-ALA.): During the six years [Obama has] been in Washington, our accumulated national debt has increased by more than 50 percent. And what has President Obama’s response been now, and as a senator? To increase spending even more — not to cut it, but to increase spending even more. Two years as a freshman senator, the debt goes up $400 billion because of deficits. Two years when he’s in the majority of the United States Senate, it goes up $1.8 trillion dollars –”
BREWER: “But congressman –”
BROOKS: “– and now it’s $2.8 trillion while he’s president.”
BREWER: “You’re simplifying the issues that were on the plate of the nation at that point. I mean, we were looking at going . . . reverting into a depression at that point. Everyone, the Fed chairman –”
BROOKS: “Oh, I disagree that we were going into a depression, but go ahead.”
BREWER: “Do you have a degree in economics?”
BROOKS: “Yes, ma’am, I do — highest honors.”

BTW, Mo Brooks didn’t get his economics degree from some third-rate school. He graduated summa cum laude with a double major in economics and political science from Duke University. Contessa Brewer, who got her degree in broadcast journalism at Syracuse, was four years old in 1978 when Brooks added a University of Alabama law degree to his credentials.

So now Mo’s still a member of Congress and Contessa’s just gotten the boot from the world’s least-watched cable news network.

Economics, y’know.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE II: Amid the comments at AOSHQ, a link to this clip from the Stephanie Miller Show (via Scared Monkeys and Radio Equalizer) in which Brewer expresses her disappointment upon learning that the May 2010 Times Square bomber was a Muslim:

A. Probably Worse Than You Think

Posted on August 25, 2011August 25, 2011Comments

Q. How bad is the economy right now?

Warren Buffet reportedly bought $5 billion — that’s billion, with a “b” — of Bank of America stock, and yet the Dow Jones Industrial Average still lost 170.89 points. That broke a 3-day streak of gains, and now we notice that mortgage rates are rising, an indicator of bond-market worries, and here’s a scary sentence for you:

A more severe crash than the one triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers could be on the way, according to alarm signals in the credit markets.

Monty’s got more DOOM, if you want it. (And you know you want it.) Now, our periodical “You Should Have Listen to Glenn Beck” Update:

Gold prices rebounded Thursday as more U.S. workers sought unemployment benefits and concerns about Europe’s debt problems took back the spotlight.
Gold rose $5.90 to finish at $1,763.20 an ounce after falling $134.60 in the past two days. . . . The price of gold is up 8.7 percent this month.

An 8.7% gain in a single month, despite the recent slide. Look at your investment portfolio and see if anything else you’ve got has done as well.

UPDATE: Banks in U.S. Face Main Street Squeeze as Sputtering Economy Saps Earnings. And to remind you what I wrote yesterday: If you buy gold now, and the price goes to $2,100 an ounce within six months — an entirely plausible scenario — that’s a sweet 20% profit.

Surprise: Philly ‘Sanctuary’ Advocates Don’t Like Reporting Illegals to Feds

Posted on August 25, 2011August 25, 2011Comments

Mike in Ardmore tipped me to this story from Philadephia:

Outside the Immigration Court building at 9th and Market Streets on Wednesday, about 100 demonstrators knelt on the sidewalk in memory of recent deportees, whose names they wore on string-and-paper necklaces.
It was just one stop in a mile-long walk to increase public pressure on Mayor Nutter to end a program in which the Philadelphia police share the names of the people they arrest – and their country of origin – with federal immigration authorities.
Advocates for immigrants say the voluntary agreement, signed in 2008, can result in deportations even when the original criminal charges are dismissed. . . .
The perception in immigrant communities that local police are acting in concert with Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) only adds to the problem, they say.
“That makes it harder for police to do their jobs. . .and less safe for everyone,” said Jen Rock, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, the interfaith coalition that sponsored “Walk A Mile In Our Shoes,” from Love Park, to the Liberty Bell and back to City Hall.
In a non-binding resolution in June, City Council unanimously opposed renewing the arrangement, which gives ICE agents access to the city’s Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System.
Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, said Philadelphia is “on track to renew” the PARS agreement at the end of this month, with the possibility of some slight modifications.

Illegal immigrants are criminals, and those who assist illegals are accessories to the crime. In a just world, Jen Rock and her “sanctuary movement” buddies would be serving time in Leavenworth for impeding federal law enforcement. And all the illegals would be deported.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Joey Vento, R.I.P.

Radtke, Red State and Riehl
UPDATE: Radtke Campaign’s Attorney Demands Retraction and Apology
UPDATE: Radtke Denounces ‘Scurrilous Behavior’ by GOP ‘Establishment’

Posted on August 25, 2011August 25, 2011Comments

UPDATE 4:50 p.m. ET: Dan Riehl clarifies the timeline and emphasizes: “It’s between the Radtke Campaign and RedState, no matter how some are trying to muddy the water to distract.”

UPDATE 1:10 p.m. ET: Dan Riehl links to a legal letter sent by Patrick McSweeney, attorney for Virginia Senate candidate Jamie Radtke:

On behalf of Jamie Radtke, I am sending this letter demanding your immediate and prominent retraction of your August 24, 2011, posting on RedState and your August 25, 2011 Morning Briefing in which you repeat statements of certain unnamed persons who attended the August 13th dinner at the RedState Gathering in Charleston, South Carolina at which Ms. Radtke spoke. One of the statements in your posting claimed that Ms. Radtke “gets drunk, and gets so embarrassing that I have to duck away….” Another statement that you repeated charged: “She was a drunk, rambling idiot that took 30 minutes to introduce a director who himself was confused.” Those statements are false. You plainly repeated the statements quoted above without regard to their accuracy.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE 1:15 p.m. ET: In case you didn’t notice, McSweeney’s letter is CC’d to Jeff Carneal and Tom Phillips, respectively the president and chairman of Red State’s parent company, Eagle Publishing.

UPDATE 1:20 p.m. ET: Will these statements by Erickson be acceptable to the Radtke campaign’s attorney?

UPDATE 2:10 p.m. ET: In an e-mail “campaign update” sent to Radtke’s supporters and conservative bloggers, her communications director Chuck Hansen writes that “the Establishment Republicans and their buddies in the Establishment Media going after Tea Party supporters who threaten their Good ‘Ol Boy power is an all-too-common phenomena.” More from Hansen’s e-mail:

George Allen’s cocktail party social set lived down to expectations this week, working through Erick Erickson to launch some very nasty attacks on Jamie. So much for Virginia gentlemen.
Of course, they had no problem accepting the Tea Party’s activism, energy and votes last year, which put them in power in the House . . .
Yesterday, on the front page of Redstate.com, Erick Erickson lashed out and wrote a blog smearing Jamie Radtke with completely false attacks by publishing libelous pejoratives in hopes of damaging her reputation.
Erickson wrote his column in response to a report on another blog that he had told Radtke, “My bosses are HUGE [George] Allen friends, not just fans. They are socially connected. So I’m having to tread carefully in this.”
Erickson, after confirming that he had made the statement, wrote a vicious blog that defamed Jamie’s character.
“Erick’s blog goes beyond the pale,” Radtke stated. “He crossed the line by publishing complete falsehoods. Now, it is his responsibility to admit he did wrong, set the record straight and apologize – and that is what I am asking Erick to do.
“This kind of scurrilous behavior and treatment has been repeatedly carried out on tea party leaders and conservative candidates who dare challenge the good ‘ole boy Washington Establishment. This attempt by the Washington Establishment to destroy the tea party and their candidates must stop. Enough is enough.
“What is most important is that we focus our attention on beating a President and his liberal Democrat friends who want to fundamentally change America. I encourage the tea party to stay determined and committed to fight back against the negative narrative on us and let’s defeat Obama and his liberal cohorts.”
Carter Wrenn, chief strategist for Radtke’s campaign, stated that a formal letter from legal counsel had been sent to Erickson demanding a retraction. “To put it as bluntly as possible,” Wrenn said, “Erick Erickson made an untrue and malicious attack on Jamie Radtke yesterday and repeated it again today. He should retract his statement, admit it is untrue and apologize for his mistake.”
Rocking the Boat in DC is hard, and doing so gets the entrenched interests very angry – that’s why it takes a special, determined leader to make it happen. Jamie is that kind of person, a new generation of courageous, conservative leader, who will stand up to Establishment Washington and their attacks and win!

You can see most of this at Radtke’s site. Meanwhile, Ben Smith and the Washington Post are popping the popcorn. Erick Erickson calls this a “distraction” — as any accusation of libel always is.

PREVIOUSLY (12:28 p.m. ET): The fallout continues from yesterday’s eruption of an online knife-fight between the campaign of Jamie Radtke, Virginia’s Tea Party candidate for Senate, and Red State’s Erick Erickson.

Erickson accused Dan Riehl of fomenting that fight, and Riehl isn’t denying it. The alleged motive involves another prominent conservative blogger, Michelle Malkin. Remember that Red State scored a publicity coup by hosting Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential announcement. Malkin wrote a column exposing flaws in Perry’s record and, when Red State’s Streiff wrote a post impugning Malkin’s “integrity and intellect,” Dan Riehl demanded that Erickson retract the slur.

(I can’t recall Malkin ever getting directly involved in a blog war. Even after Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs threatened Malkin in April 2009, she refused to respond. But you may have noticed how rapidly LGF’s decline and fall ensued.)

Erickson refused to stifle Streiff and says that Riehl responded with threats of destruction. I’ve known Dan long enough to know that he doesn’t make idle threats, so if all of this is the fulfillment of Dan’s vow of vengeance, it is not an entirely unexpected development. But there are two points worth noting:

Dan didn’t start it. Streiff attacked Malkin, and Dan chivalrously defended Malkin’s reputation. If Erickson had disavowed Streiff’s attack, the blog war would have ended there.
Erickson’s counter-attack on Jamie Radtke was probably a blunder. He practically called Radtke a drunk. She’s a Christian home-schooling mother of three, widely admired by Tea Party activists in Virginia. Erickson’s attack on her is likely to rally her supporters, and to hurt Red State more than it hurts Radtke.

But we have to ask if this might turn into something more serious than a blog war. As I said yesterday, one of the reactions I got from non-combatants was, “Uh-oh — he’s going after Carter Wrenn.”

That’s Radtke’s campaign manager, a veteran Republican operative with a street-fighter’s reputation. You don’t call Wrenn’s candidate a drunk and then just walk away.

David Frum sees the controversy as evidence of the influence of “hidden power brokers,” and Dave Weigel at Slate and John Hudson at the Atlantic have also taken notice of this dispute, but I’m not sure any of them understand how Erickson’s attack on Radtke has upped the ante in this game. And I’m reasonably sure we haven’t seen the last card played.

$5 Billion To B-of-A, And All The IRS Got Was A Lousy T-Shirt Full Of Platitudes

Posted on August 25, 2011August 25, 2011Comments

by Smitty

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich, saith the sagebrush of Omaha on 15 August:

OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.

Oh boo-effing-hoo. Wait, what’s today’s news?

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced a surprise $5 billion investment in Bank of America Thursday morning, sending shares of the struggling Dow component surging more than 25% in early trading.

So, why don’t you just pour your company’s money into the IRS? Surely, all that matters is keeping the USS Sacred Holy Ideological Theater steaming, right? Later:

Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) shares have taken a beating on concerns that the banking giant may need to raise capital to shore up its balance sheet. But the stock made a comeback Wednesday after influential analyst Meredith Whitney said Bank of America wouldn’t need fresh capital.

0:00 / 3:14 BullHorn: Is worst over for BofA?
The bank announced it would lay off 3,500 employees earlier this month, on top of the 2,500 layoffs that the company announced earlier this year.

Buffett’s investment is nearly identical to the $5 billion investment that Buffett made in Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) in September 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. That was seen as a major endorsement of Goldman’s then at-risk business model. Goldman bought back the preferred shares it issued to Berkshire in that transaction earlier this year.

It would be cool if we could rule out more federal reserve shenanigans. However, until such time as we return to a representative government, we can safely assume the bankers are, once again, financially raping future generations in favor of covering their sad little backsides.

Update: Surber-lanche!

Update II: And Buffet is hosting a BHO fundraiser? Really? Certainly his right, just as it is the right of this blog to consider fundraising for BHO a self-indictmnet. Get bent, Mr. Buffet.

Two Words: ‘Bench Strength’

Posted on August 25, 2011Comments

Many conservatives were disappointed when Paul Ryan declined to run for president in 2012, and many conservatives — among them Joy McCann at The Conservatory — have raved almost deliriously about Marco Rubio’s speech at the Reagan Library:

I’ve been supporting Marco Rubio, of course, since before I knew who Marco Rubio was. The day “those treacherous bastards” at the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist (May 12, 2009, a day that will live in infamy) I went all-in for Marco, who at that point was trailing Crist by 35 points in the polls. And it was the video of Marco’s farewell speech to the Florida House that inspired me to write: “[E]verybody who has seen this video is asking the same question: Why in the world would John Cornyn and the NRSC back Charlie Crist against this guy?” Continue reading Two Words: ‘Bench Strength’ →