The Other McCain

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

Pamela Geller Denounced by Notorious Sock Puppeteer Glenn Greenwald

Posted on | August 4, 2011 | 9 Comments

“Any media outlet that gives air time to Pam Geller . . . is disgraceful,” says the man who has spent years covering himself with disgrace and yet frequently gets air time on MSNBC.

Joe Fein has more at Valley of the Shadow.

Meanwhile, ignoring the Greenwald fatwa, Geller rolls out her new book.

Category: Atlas Shrugs

How to Prevent Economic Growth

Posted on | August 4, 2011 | 24 Comments

“Tax cuts do not . . . create jobs . . . When we do not ask the super rich and the corporations who make billions of dollars of profits off of the American economy [for more taxes], we will not have the funds to keep that engine running . . . to make sure that we can meet our nation’s obligations to our seniors, our children and our poor.”
— Rep. Barbara Lee, California Democrat

This morning I did two things I seldom do anymore — eat breakfast and read a newspaper. The complimentary breakfast here at the motel in Des Moines was excellent, and they provided the Wall Street Journal, which included a column by David Wessel that quoted Barbara Lee’s words.

Should it really be necessary to explain what’s wrong with Lee’s rhetoric? She depicts the “super rich” as villains. And they are evil because they prevent “we” — by which she means, government — from getting “the funds to keep that engine running,” as if tax revenues were the fuel of economic growth.

The entire purpose of economic activity, so far as Lee is concerned, is to meet “obligations” to old folks, kids and poor people.

(Questions: How is it that, merely by siring offspring, I have created “obligations” for my fellow citizens? Aren’t we parents responsible for the care and maintenance of our own children? How did it happen that, in the mind of Barbara Lee, this responsibility was transferred to that amorphous “we” by which she means the federal government? Why should people in Iowa or Texas be taxed for the support of children in California or Florida? Shouldn’t taxpayers at least get visitation rights to the children they’re supporting?)

Missing altogether from Lee’s discourse is any sense of the “super rich” as investors and entrepreneurs, whose capital — whether provided by the purchase of stocks or through loans — is the sine qua non of economic growth. Whatever our “obligations” may be, we cannot improve our economy by siphoning wealth from the investor class and transferring it, via government welfare programs, to people not engaged in productive economic activity.

The fact that recipients of government aid are old or young or poor (the sole qualifications for worthiness, in Lee’s estimation) obscures the fact that such aid, if funded by punitive taxes on “the super rich,” amounts to nothing less than the coercive transfer of money from the productive to the non-productive.

Even a nation as rich as ours can only do so much of that stuff before it begins to suffer from the diminution of competitive capacity.

Category: Economics

Again, Zappa

Posted on | August 4, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

Via Hot Air, there is the Debbie Wasserman-Shultz at Real Clear Politics, desperately hoping to perform a modern miracle on the economy through repetition.

“Well, we’re going to focus on what we know is the number one priorities on Americans ease minds right now, that is creating jobs and continuing to get this economy turned around.

Once again, one is compelled to reach for the Zappa. Listening to this NSFW clip (couple of f-bombs and a sphincter reference) one is struck by the sharply prophetic portrait Zappa paints of Wasserman-Shultz. Did her image appear on his windshield while driving at night, or was that just a juicy insect?

More of the great DWS at American Glob.

Category: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Hot Air

Michele Bachmann Touts ‘No’ Vote on Debt Ceiling Deal in Latest Iowa TV Ad

Posted on | August 4, 2011 | 14 Comments

DES MOINES, Iowa
While watching TV news in my motel this morning, I saw a Michele Bachmann ad, aimed directly at getting her supporters out to next week’s Ames Straw Poll:

It’s a good ad: She slams Washington “politicians,” blames the bad economy on Obama, says, “Someone needs to say no,” and closes with an invitation to Ames.

Also — let’s admit it — she just looks great on camera, doesn’t she?

Category: Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, Video

Three Big Advantages To Emailing Pictures Of Your Junk

Posted on | August 4, 2011 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

The dour old Daily Pundit doesn’t really see what a big plus junk photos can be:

  1. They can give you a sense of power. In a Progressive America, where notions of liberty have been supplanted by sexual license, it’s important that teenagers and politicians alike (insofar as you can tell the two categories apart by behavior) send pictures of this and that to each other. Staring at naughty bits (heh) distracts from the crushing weight of the nanny state. It helps keeps people in that special, dependent, infantile mode that is so near to Socialist Utopia.
  2. They also build the base. Junk photos go right to the hormones. Since political success is so deeply rooted (heh) in manipulating impressionable youth into supporting existentially useless causes, sending a little blinky from the winky to the right person at the right time can be just the thing for that voter registration drive, IYKWIMAATYD.
  3. They are fantastic tools (heh) for controlling the news cycle. Occasionally and unfortunately, the truth will out. When, for example, the party heads are about to go ‘bump’ on the debt ceiling (gasp), there can be only one solution. You don’t rue the day, you Wu the day! Yes, a Tiger is a cat, so, technically, Wu was showing his pussy. Some say erratic, some say erotic. See, it’s all about junk.

So, if you’re a Progressive nitwit (but I repeat myself), just email pictures of your junk all around with completely degenerate abandon. Self-restraint and decorum is indicative of that sad, old social conservative repression. Be liberated. Go for it.

Update: Hot Air has a post about “truck nuts”, in the context of the First Amendment. Of course we can’t have truck nuts. Only terrorists have truck nuts. Flag burning, of course, must be protected as the highest form of dissent. Just ask Bill Ayers if you’re unclear on the point.
For my part, I find neither truck nuts nor flag burning in good taste, but I’m sitting here in a uniform purportedly protecting people from others who’d like to regulate good taste via legislation. Which would be in still worse taste.

Category: Progressivism

LIVE AT FIVE – 08.04.11

Posted on | August 4, 2011 | 5 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obama Turns 50th Birthday Into Fundraiser

Banner hangs outside the Aragon Ballroom, where last night's fundraiser was held

But of course.

UN Security Council Condemns Syria Crackdown
Russia, PRC finally agree to statement after 120 killed by security forces
Related: Assad Decrees Multi-party System

Iraq Signals Willingness To Keep US Troops
Multi-party deal would keep about 10,000 troops in Iraq for training



POLITICS
Religious Event To Pose Risks For Perry?

Reliant Stadium in Houston, site of "The Response"

Sponsors, organization of “The Response” prayer meeting questioned

72 Charged In Online Child Porn Ring

Debt Panel Membership To Signal Chances For Tax Overhaul



Accused Rapist Wu (D-OR) Resigns

Panel Failure Would Slash Billions From Defense

Tax Increases Possible Under Debt Deal

Bloomberg, Soros Kick In Millions To Aid Young Black, Latino Men



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Shares Mixed; Yen Falls, Nikkei Climbs On Intervention
Dow Edges Higher To Break Eight-Day Skid
Crude Oil Hovers Around 4-Week Low On Strong Dollar, Uncertain Economy
Mortgage Rates Plunge, Little Boost For Housing
Job Growth Slows, Layoffs Rise To 16-Month High
Economy At Stall Speed May Signal Descent Into Fresh Recession
PRC Warns US On Managing Debt
Microsoft Strikes Back: We Invited Google To Join Patent Bid
New Blackberry Torch Guns For The iPhone Again
Good News: Internet Explorer IQ Study Was A Hoax. Bad News: You’re Still A Moron For Using IE
Germany Says Facebook Facial Recognition Software Violates Privacy Laws
Microsoft Offers Over $250K To “Blue Hat” Hackers For Hot New Security Defenses



SPORTS
Bubba Smith Dead At 66

Bubba Smith, 1945-2011, RIP


NFL star went on to greater fame in Police Academy movies

A-Rod’s Poker Playing Investigated

Ellsbury The Hero Again As BoSox Tip Tribe

Predators’ Weber Gets $7.5 Million In Arbitration

Union Chief Says NBA Season Likely To Be Canceled

Yankees Overwhelm Floyd, White Sox In Slugfest, 18-7

Cards Outlast Brewers In Testy Affair; Molina Ejected For Bumping Ump

Uggla’s Hitting Streak Reaches 25 As Braves Avoid Sweep By Nationals



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
The Actor And The Wrestler

George Clooney and Stacy Keibler

George Clooney hooks up with former wrestler & DWTS contestant Stacy Keibler

E! Network To Air Kardashian Wedding Extravaganza For Four Hours

Jay-Z Buys Billionaire Boys Club

Lea Michele In Bloom: The Harper’s Bazaar Interview

Mila Kunis Rips Reporter In Russian (Video)

ABC To Order Family Comedy Pilot With Kirstie Alley

Demi Lovato: Into The Fire



FOREIGNERS
In Egypt, Unintended Consequences
Quake-Battered Haiti Hunkers Down As Tropical Storm Emily Nears
Somalia’s Famine Spreading, UN Warns
Brits Find 1.2 Tons Of Coke Aboard Luxury Yacht
No End To Violence In Karachi As 26 Killed In The Last 24 Hours



BLOGS & STUFF
Lonely Conservative: Democrats Whine About Problem They Created
Ed Morrissey: Tea Party Won First Skirmish Of Long Fight
Weasel Zippers: Feds Borrow $239 Billion On Tuesday, Borrowing Now Tops 100% Of GDP
Gateway Pundit: Unions Outraged After Obama Hires Non-Union Crew For Birthday Bash
Legal Insurrection: Obama Fundraising Fail – Let The Excuses Begin
Doug Powers: Obama Plans Midwest Bus Tour
Ed Driscoll: Fast Times At Frankfurt School High
Moe Lane: Who Let MoDo Into The HPL Stash?
Big Journalism: Media Matters Puts Tax-Exempt Status In Jeopardy
NRO Corner: Angry Atheists Strike Again
Cold Fury: President Alinsky
Atlas Shrugs: Israel Offered Refuge To Mubarak
Jonathan Last: Chevy’s Volt Still Not Selling

Category: Live at Five

Shoot Not The Messenger: Rather, Laugh

Posted on | August 3, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

Krauthammer from Fox All Stars:

On President Obama’s proposed job-creation initiatives:
An index of how spent he is intellectually on the issue of jobs is the campaign speech he gave today – the fourth in ten days in which he pivoted and he announced five initiatives. Listen to them:
– Payroll tax extension — we already had that.
– Unemployment insurance extension — already had that.
– Trade deals — he’s had it for two and a half years and done nothing.
– Spending, more infrastructure, a perennial, you know — more dams, more bridges and roads.
– And the last one, I love that — here’s the real new one that will get us out of our doldrums: patent process reform!

He’s out of bullets. He’s out of arrows. He’s looking for stones on the seashore. … There’s nothing left in the cupboard. He did a huge Keynesian gamble, and it failed.

The ultimate Alinsky trick will be if BHO becomes a blame sponge for the failure of the Acme Wheel-less Bicycle to sell any product. No salesman could move such an absurd product. No amount of Keynesian stimulus could roll it out the door. No triumph of the will could propel its forked-up front end forward. Resist the temptation to personalize.
Instead, laugh at the absurdity of it all. The world has been sold a bill of goods by sweet fools since Rosseau, since Marx. It’s been seductive, and it hasn’t worked. The State is not God. Get over it.
Even now the Progressives and the Ruling Class still aren’t willing to face the music that the era of failing upward to the federal government, and then, ultimately, to a world-wide government, has failed the other direction. Down. Because of debt.
We have another eighteen months of steady pressure to apply, while witnessing the most farcical demise in the history of political theater. I still think that, if not losing in 2012 is the most important psychological self-preservation point for BHO, that some means will be found to muster one of those big shepherd’s hooks to help get the bobble head offstage.
So, offer laughter. The Socialist politics of failure have failed. Offer pity. They are what a fool and a Michael McDonald fan believes. Offer silence. We have to recover liberty.

Category: Barack Obama

‘Neo-Confederate Sex Panic’ Becomes the Biggest Political Punchline of the Year?

Posted on | August 3, 2011 | 29 Comments

DES MOINES, Iowa
Little did I suspect this morning when I boarded my flight at Reagan National that, by the time I reached Iowa, the nation would be deep in the grip of a hitherto unknown political fever: Neo-Confederate Sex Panic!

“It was like the secessionists .. . Even as [Obama] was
being inaugurated, the voices of secession were uniting in
the South and planning to bring this guy down, right?”

Da Tech Guy suggests Chris Matthews actually believes this stuff. So whatever you do, don’t disillusion him. And don’t tell Amanda Marcotte we’re laughing at her craziness.

Meanwhile, Herman Cain arrives here Thursday morning and will speak at the Greater Des Moines Partnership at noon and the Professional Educators of Iowa at 5 p.m. In between those events, he’ll visit the “Sweet Corn Serenade” festival in Oskaloosa. So I’m working hard, honest.

National Desk, Mickey’s Irish Pub, 3rd & Court, Des Moines, Iowa.





The karaoke contest starts at 9 p.m. If any readers are in the Des Moines area, come on down and I assure you, you’ll get your money’s worth.

UPDATE: T-Paw pulling his ads in Iowa? The first hint of politics I heard in Iowa today was a radio ad by Pawlenty.

So far as I know, Cain has run no ads at all in Iowa. I don’t know if radio or TV ads have any impact on the Ames Straw Poll, and don’t know if the Ames Straw Poll (Aug. 13) makes any difference to the outcome of the Iowa caucuses (Feb. 6).


Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Iowa
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