The Other McCain

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

What Happened to ‘No Drama Obama’?

Posted on | July 22, 2011 | 37 Comments

Turned the TV on this afternoon to try to get some news about the Oslo terrorism attacks and instead, I get a hectoring and angry President Obama.

It appears that House Speaker John Boehner has found his spine and isn’t going to be bullied into raising taxes, and this has driven the president into paroxyms of inchoate rage.

To quote Don Surber: “Washington has more Drama Queens than a Barney Frank luau on Fire Island.” And Obama’s the biggest queen of them all.

No more interrupting the actual news with your selfish hissy fits, Mr. President. There is nothing in the Constitution that requires Congress to ask “how high” when you say “jump.”

Get off my TV!

UPDATE: Linked by That Mr. G Guy — thanks! — and at The American Spectator, Quin Hillyer summarizes it in six words:

Obama’s Goal — a Crisis — Comes Nearer

It’s irresponsible as hell and, I agree with the commenter who said that was the “least presidential presidential press conference I’ve ever seen.”

Linked by Don Surber — thanks! — and by Aleister at American Glob, who has video of both Obama’s temper tantrum and Boehner’s response.

Category: Barack Obama, Budget, John Boehner

Dear John Hawkins …

Posted on | July 22, 2011 | 20 Comments

. . . twice now I’ve meant to respond to your recent contributions to the “Death of Blogging” meme:

Unfortunately, for some strange reason, every time I start working on a response, a big story breaks and I have to drop my meta-blogging essay to go update the breaking news.

Today, it was the Oslo bombing attack. Traffic in the 3 p.m. hour was over 600 visits and, as of 4 p.m., about 25% of our traffic was coming specifically for the Oslo story, while another 15% or so was coming for our coverage of the Courtney Stodden saga. More than half the traffic was just regular readers checking in at the main page.

You can see from the SiteMeter monthly numbers that our traffic trend has been up, up, up in the past year, and with a little luck — and a few more ‘Lanches — it’s entirely possible we’ll finish July with more than 300,000 visits. Not Drudge-like numbers, but nothing to sneeze at, and the upward trend here rather countervails the notion that the blogospheric future is doom and gloom.

My recent cri de coueur was motivated not by any problems traffic-wise, but rather (a) evidence of failures in terms of getting the job done, and (b) the damnable and eternal problem of monetization.

So the money’s short, and it sometimes seems as if my work isn’t having the kind of impact I would desire. I’m not sure how that fits with what you are trying to say, but I don’t have time to discuss it now, because I’ve got to get back to updating the Oslo bombing story. “Aggregating like a mofo,” you see.

As to what to do about the problems of the “independent conservative blogosphere,” I don’t know.

What can be done for me? Hit the freaking tip jar!





Category: Blogging

BREAKING: Explosions Blast Government Buildings in Norway; Terrorism Suspected UPDATE: Death Toll Now Reported at 17 UPDATE: Shooting Suspect Norwegian, Official Says; No Word Yet on Motive UPDATE: Anders Behring Breivik Named as Suspect Under Arrest — ‘Right Wing’?

Posted on | July 22, 2011 | 78 Comments

* * * SATURDAY UPDATE * * *

Death Toll Now Reported at 91 in Norway
‘Christian Fundamentalist’ Terror Attack

* * * FRIDAY * * *

UPDATE 8:02 p.m. ET: Police in Oslo have reportedly stormed the home of the suspect arrested in the Norway terror attacks:

Several outlets including UK newspaper The Daily Mail and Norweigan broadcaster TV 2 have reported that 32 year old Norweignan Andres Behring Breivik has been arrested in connection with the attacks in the country today: the bombing in Oslo and the shooting on the island of Utoya.
Breivik, a native of Oslo, is described as as 6 feet tall and blond, which matches earlier reports from eyewitnesses on Utoya of a man dressed as a police officer who called teenagers over before shooting them with an automatic weapon.
The latest confirmed death count between the two attacks is 17.

More from MSNBC:

Tore Bjorgo, a professor at Norwegian Police University College — which state broadcaster NRK reported is working with police on the investigation — said the fact that the second attack was directed at a political youth organization suggested the involvement of local or European right-wing extremists.
NRK reports:
“I have consistently kept the possibility open that this might be the extreme right,” Bjorgo said.

And speaking of MSNBC, how long until Chris Matthews blames this on Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh?

UPDATE 8:41 p.m. ET: Via Zombie at PJTV, we have this very rough translation of a Swedish TV report:

According to TV2?s sources, the arrested belong to the right-extremist groups in eastern Norway, and the man must have registered two weapons on their name – an automatic weapon and a pistol of the type of Glock.
32-year-old created in 2009, a company that would engage in the cultivation of vegetables, melons, roots and tubers, which means that he may have had access to fertilizer – a well known ingredient in the manufacture of a bomb.
According to sources such as TV 2 has talked with the bomb that exploded in the government building a fertilizer bomb.
Breivik will be conservative, Christian, and may have a connection to the extreme right environment.
The man owns a farming business in eastern Norway, and the man’s Facebook page says it listed that he has studied in Oslo Handel.
His interests, according to Facebook profile, both involving hunting and bodybuilding.

The dude looks very clean-cut and preppy. If indeed he is the terrorist responsible for this, I’m sure the story of his descent into evil madness will be quite a fascinating tale. You can see the quotes now: “He seemed like such a nice, quiet kid. A devout Lutheran . . .”

Linked by Zilla of the Resistance, by Don Surber and by Bob Belvedere at The Camp of the Saints — thanks!

UPDATE 6:31 p.m. ET: The possibility of a “lone wolf” attack must be considered, because it appears that the man who committed the Utoya shootings may have also committed the Oslo bombing — and planned to explode other bombs:

Undetonated explosives were found on Utoya Island, where a gunman opened fire earlier in the day on a Labour Party Youth Camp, Oslo, Norway, acting Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim said late Friday night.
Authorities believe the man traveled to the island from Oslo, where at least seven were killed in a bombing in the city center. The suspect, a 32-year-old Norwegian, was taken into custody after he killed or wounded an unknown number of people, Sponheim said.

UPDATE 7:20 p.m. ET: The confirmed death toll, so far as we know at this hour, is 17:

At least seven people were killed in the bombing, which inflicted huge damage on government buildings in Oslo.
At least 10 more died at the camp, on an island outside Oslo, police say. One witness said he had seen 20 bodies.

UPDATE 5:54 p.m. ET: Agence France-Presse:

A man police arrested after a deadly bombing in Norway’s capital Oslo and a series of shootings on an island just outside the capital is a Norwegian, Justice Minister Knut Storberget says.
“A person has been arrested… I have been informed that he is a Norwegian,” Storberget told a press conference.
“It would not be fair of me to go into more detail about this,” he added.

No word about motive, although it has been reported that the suspect is talking to police. We might speculate or theorize, but it’s best to wait and see what is reported. Considering that the targets were the Labour Party prime minister and a youth camp run by his party, a domestic political motive is certainly possible.

UPDATE 6:14 p.m. ET: Headline at The New York Times:

16 Die in Norway Shooting and Bombing

At least 16 — or so it’s reported at this hour. The reports are conflicting and confused. BTW, apologies for the scrambled chronology of the updates below.

Linked by Gay Patriot — thanks!

UPDATE 3:30 p.m. ET: Associated Press reports:

Oslo police say they suspect the man arrested after a shooting at a youth camp is also linked to a bombing in Oslo. . . .
Andre Scheie told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he saw “very many dead by the shore” of the camp on Utoya island, where the youth wing of the Labor Party was holding a summer camp for hundreds of youths. He said some victims were shot in the water after trying desperately to swim away. “There are about 20 to 25 dead,” he said.
Police did not immediately confirm the account. but Inspector Bjoern Erik Sem-Jacobsen said a suspect in the shooting has been arrested. He said the gunman, who was dressed as a police officer, pulled out a gun and started firing into the crowd of youths.
Acting Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told broadcaster NRK that investigators suspect the two attacks are linked.

UPDATE 5:35 p.m. ET: Welcome, Instapundit readers! The exact death toll from the attacks is still not certain. USA Today reports:

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg says police believe the death toll from the youth camp mass shooting is expected to exceed 10. Police have said nine or 10 died.
The suspect [arrested in the shootings at the Utoya island youth camp] is not affiliated with any terrorist organization, the Aftenposten newspaper in Oslo reports. Police “know the arrested man’s identity but will not provide more details about the arrest” . . .
Police are not saying more about the suspect or his background.

UPDATE 4:53 p.m. ET: Henry Chu of the Los Angeles Times:

A massive bomb rocked downtown Oslo on Friday and a gunman opened fire on a youth camp run by a political party in twin attacks that killed at least 16 people. . . .
Reports still were sketchy, but police said nine or 10 people appeared to have died at the youth camp, which was run by Stoltenberg’s Labor Party.
Mattias Carlsson, a reporter for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, who took a boat around the island, said in a telephone interview that he could see more than a dozen bodies lying on shore or floating in the water, many of them young women.
“There are four people and they are lying together as if they are hugging,” Carlsson said of one group of bodies.
Other news reports quoted a witness as saying he had seen between 20 and 25 dead.

The number of deaths from the Oslo bombing has been reported at seven, and so a mininum of nine killed at the Utoya youth camp would bring the total to 16, at least. But as the man said, it’s still “sketchy.”

UPDATE 4:38 p.m. ET: Still no identification of the suspects either in the Utoya shooting or the Oslo bombing, but Zombie at PJM has a large aggregation about possible motives for a terrorist attack on Norway, and links this translation at Jihad Watch:

Praise be to Allah from his slaves, united and humiliating the people of shirk [worship of others besides Allah] and companions of kufr [unbelief]. Prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, his family and companions and descendents. . . .
Today Norway has been targeted in order to be a lesson, and a lesson to the rest of Europe. We have warned since the Stockholm raid of more operations and we have demanded that European countries of Europe withdraw their armies from the land of Afghanistan and end their war on Islam and Muslims. We repeat our warning again to the countries of Europe and tell them that the demands of the mujahideen must be carried out. What you see is only the beginning. There will be more.
There were many reasons for the targeting of Norway. The most important is their participation in the occupation of Afghanistan and the abuse of our prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Praise Allah who has enabled his slaves to be united…and pray to Allah to save our brothers and our fighters everywhere.

So, yeah: Clearly the work of Lutheran extremists.

UPDATE 5:05 p.m. ET: A Swedish report (translated) has a photo appearing to show bodies lying on the rocky sea shore at Utoya.

UPDATE 3:08 p.m. ET: Putting this update at the top — lots more news below — so you can see this raw video shot by an amateur (obtained via British Channel 4 News) showing what downtown Oslo looked like immediately after the bombing:

PREVIOUSLY (11:28 a.m. ET): Early report from CNN on a developing story:

A giant explosion rocked government buildings in Oslo, Norway, on Friday, state TV broadcaster NRK said, with at least one person confirmed dead.
Windows in several buildings had been blown out, and people were in the street bleeding, NRK said on its website. The cause of the blast remains unknown.
One explosion happened near a government building housing the office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, said Linda Reinholdsen, a reporter for Norwegian state broadcaster NRK. Another hit near the Norwegian parliament, she told CNN.
Several buildings in Oslo were on fire, she said, and smoke was pouring from them.
Walter Gibbs, a journalist with Reuters, said he saw eight injured people, including two or three with serious wounds and one who looked dead. . . .
The blast also severely damaged the Oil Ministry and left it in flames, he said.

Early reports on these kinds of events are always confusing. We await more details to clarify the story. But this is almost certainly the result of terrorism because — as Drew notes at AOSHQ — Oslo doesn’t have a natural gas system, which would be the only other obvious explanation for such an explosion.

UPDATE 11:30 a.m. ET: Scrambling to catch up now. It is being reported that the explosion or explosions were definitely the result of a bomb, and that authorities have found other bombs that failed to detonate.

UPDATE 11:35 a.m. ET: Video from Britain’s SkyNews:

UPDATE 11:41 a.m. ET: Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg was unhurt by the attack, BBC reports more details:

Oistein Mjarum, head of communications for the Norwegian Red Cross, said his offices were close to the site of the explosion.
“There was a massive explosion which could be heard over the capital Oslo,” he told the BBC. . . .
Mr Mjarum said there were fires burning in the prime minister’s 17-storey building.
“This is a very busy area on Friday afternoon and there was a lot of people in the streets, and many people working in these buildings that are now burning,” he said. . . .
Mr Mjarum said people were in shock in Oslo and across Norway.
“We have never had a terrorist attack like this in Norway – if that’s what it is – but of course this has been a great fear for all Norwegians when they have seen what has been happening around the world.”

UPDATE 11:48 a.m. ET: Da Tech Guy says, “I’m sure this terror attack in Oslo Norway has nothing to do with Islam.”

Obviously, it’s those radical Lutherans again.

UPDATE 11:53 a.m. ET: Michelle Malkin is all over this story, and reports that a “massive vehicle bomb” is suspected.

UPDATE 12:05 p.m. ET: Via Memeorandum, ABC News has more:

At least one of two explosions that rocked a Norwegian government building in Oslo today was result of a massive vehicle bomb, according to U.S. government sources on the scene.
Law enforcement officials told ABC News there were two blasts at the Norwegian capital . . .
No group has publicly taken responsibility for the blast and a U.S. counter-terrorism official told ABC News there is no indication yet of motive or suspects.

Yeah. And you know what it means when U.S. officials have “no indication”? Lutherans.

UPDATE 12:19 p.m. ET: Also blogging the story are Don Surber, Thomas Lifson at American Thinker, Aaron Goldstein at The American Spectator, Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah, Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit and Ed Morrissey at Hot Air.

UPDATE 1:25 p.m. ET: Professor William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection:

Reuters also is reporting a shooting at a summer camp which apparently was coordinated, and Fox News is attributing the attacks to al-Qaeda.

It is being reported that there has been an arrest at the Norwegian Labor Party youth camp, which the prime minister had been scheduled to attend.

Linked by Professor Donald Douglas at American Power — thanks! — who also links a report by the New York Times:

Shortly after the apparent bomb attack [in Oslo], a man dressed as a police officer opened fire on a youth political meeting on the island of Utoya in the Oslo fjord, about 25 miles from the city, the police said.

UPDATE 1:42 p.m. ET: A video news report from India’s News X:

Amazing thing about the Internet, that you get to see how this story is being reported in Bombay or Calcutta.

BTW, thanks to readers who are contributing background on Norway or links to other coverage in the comments.

UPDATE 1:55 p.m. ET: If the youth-camp shooting is connected to the Oslo bombing — and we are not yet sure that this is the case — then the death toll is now seven, according to Reuters:

A man dressed as a policeman shot and injured at least five people at a meeting of the youth wing of the party of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Friday after a blast in the capital, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK said. Former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland had been due to attend the meeting on Friday.

UPDATE 2:33 p.m. ET: In an online jihadi forum, a group called Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami (Helpers of the Global Jihad) had apparently claimed “credit” for the Oslo attack, according to Will McCants, but the person (Abu Sulayman al-Nasir) subsequently clarified to retract.

So the Lutheran extremists are still prime suspects.

BTW, on Twitter I offered a $10 bet that at least one of the people involved in this Norwegian attack is named “Mohammed.” No liberals offered to take that wager, although one did accuse me of “fostering prejudice.”

Right. That’s our real problem: Prejudice against people who are trying to kill us all.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m. ET: Haroon Saddique is aggregating developments for the British Guardian newspaper, and has this:

Police are saying they believe the person(s) responsible for the bomb to be foreign, according to the BBC.
But the attacker in Utoya, now arrested, looked Norwegian, NRK reports …
“Witnesses who have managed to escape from the island, says to NRK reporters on the spot that the perpetrator had a Norwegian look. He should be between 185 to 190 cm tall and have blond hair.”

Which is to say, as I warned at the outset, there is always confusion in the early reports on a story like this. We must be patient and wait for facts, rather than speculating on which Lutheran terrorist organization is responsible.

(I just had a twinge of guilty horror, envisioning someone in a non-English-speaking country who stumbled across this blog via Google, is reading it through an online translator, and doesn’t get the “Lutheran extremist” jokes.)

UPDATE 2:58 p.m. ET: International Business Times:

There is speculation that, if the explosion is a bombing, it could have been the work of militant jihadists anger about the looming deportation of Iraqi-born cleric Mullah Krekar. Krekar is the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, and has been living in Norwary controversially since the early 1990s.

Michelle Malkin pointed out that possible connection very early, but I didn’t mention it because (a) I figure you visit her site anyway, so you already knew, and also (b) since when do “militant jihadists” need a specific grievance to kill innocent people?

Linked by The Mr. G Guy and by The Rhetorican — thanks!

As the Rhetorican observes, it’s when a story like this breaks that I start “aggregating like a mofo.”

Linked by The Lonely Conservative — thanks!


Category: Norway, Terrorism

DeMint Decommisions Commissions, Plus Subtle Krauthammer Humor

Posted on | July 22, 2011 | 15 Comments

by Smitty

If the magnitude of the debt was not nearly beyond visualization, then listening to BHO bloviate in stark criticism of the current debt crisis might nearly be amusing:

As Krauthammer noted on Fox News All Stars:

The Republicans have not done what they should have done months ago, which is to find one plan they could all agree on and present it to the president and to the American people. So right now the plans are all over the place.

The Gang of Six, which rose yesterday, already is receding. A lot of people looked at details of it, and the second half, the part where negotiations over six months are supposed to happen when you get the real cuts in entitlements and the tax reform, appear to have a lot of loopholes in them, and it’s very fuzzy.

Kind of amusing to see a professional shrink ‘should-ing’ the Republicans like this. I’m confident that Mr. Krauthammer understands the sheer impossibility of our political system producing that kind of solidarity in an party. ‘One plan’ would have required a credible threat of violence that would have been instantly self-defeating.
What do we know?

  1. The Progressive Era is defunct. The social welfare state is toast. Things must change.
  2. The blame for the change is going to be politically devastating. Blame avoidance is paramount.
  3. Change hurts. ‘Progress’ meant engineering a world where no one loses. Who decides who loses is powerful, but only if the blame is successfully projected elsewhere.

Therefore, we have a game of political musical chairs. There seems scant political leadership of sufficient power to accomplish anything prior to 2012.
PREDICTION: The dart-on-calendar choice of 02 August passes without tangible change to the situation. The crisis just staggers along, belying the President’s purported persuasive powers, and becomes his personal albatross for 2012.
UNCLEAR: Whether leadership emerges that simultaneously respects liberty, yet concentrates enough political power to go after the overgrown federal government with the necessary chainsaw and machete.

Category: Uncategorized

The Terrible Legislative Catastrophe No One Will Remember in November 2012

Posted on | July 22, 2011 | 7 Comments

For weeks we’ve endured non-stop sturm und drang about the debt-ceiling crisis, and the tightrope negotations between President Obama and Republican leaders in Congress:

President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner rushed Thursday to strike agreement on a far-reaching plan to reduce the national debt but faced a revolt from Democrats furious that the accord appeared to include no immediate provision to raise taxes.
With 12 days left until the Treasury begins to run short of cash, Obama and Boehner (R-Ohio) were still pursuing the most ambitious plan to restrain the national debt in at least 20 years. Talks focused on sharp cuts in agency spending and politically painful changes to cherished health and retirement programs aimed at saving roughly $3 trillion over the next decade. . . .

Maybe my hunch is wrong, but isn’t it possible that all this is being waaaayy over-dramatized?

Here’s what I mean: The great Clinton-Gingrich budget showdown occurred in December-January of 1995-96, a mere 10 months before Bill Clinton faced re-election. By contrast, the current debt-ceiling battle is being fought 15 months ahead of the next election, during the summer, when millions of Americans are on vacation and ignoring the news. (Except, of course, the genuinely important stories about teen starlets and such.) Therefore, it seems to me, the current debate — and whatever godawful “bipartisan compromise” legislation brings it to a conclusion — is less likely to affect the next election campaign than was true of the 1995-96 showdown.

Something else: When Americans went to vote in November 1996, the economy was already clearly in recovery — the dot-com boom was beginning — and Clinton’s evident willingness to compromise on welfare reform stood him in good stead for re-election.

Now? Nothing I’ve seen suggests we’re anywhere near ending the Obama recession, and some indicators — e.g., “strategic default” in Greece — suggest the economy could actually be worse in November 2012 than it is now. And Obama’s poll numbers lead me to believe more Americans are seeing him as the problem than as the solution.

Of course, I could be wrong. But the Democrats who see this debt-ceiling battle as a predictable re-run of the 1995-96 budget showdown, with Obama replicating Clinton’s re-election triumph, may ultimately prove to be a lot more wrong than I am.


Category: Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Economics, Election 2012, John Boehner

LIVE AT FIVE – 07.22.11

Posted on | July 22, 2011 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Congressional Democrats Unhappy With Secret Debt-Limit Deal

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)

Senior Democrats unhappy with massive spending cuts conceded by Obama in return for tax loophole closures
Short-term deal also a possibility





Military Gay Ban To End In 60 Days?
Reports say Panetta, Mullen ready to certify that military is ready for repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but neither will comment publicly

Boobytraps In Brega
Rebels say Khadafy has prepared oil port for destruction if rebels capture it



POLITICS
Struggling Huntsman Campaign Loses Manager

Governor Jon Huntsman announced his candidacy last month

Susie Wiles replaced by former McCain campaign staffer

ABC Sports Says Pawlenty Violated Copyright By Using “Miracle On Ice” Footage

Salon: Daily Caller Blows Bachmann Migraine Story

Alabama Allocated Millions In Tornado Aid, But Only 18% Receive Aid From FEMA

Senate Votes To Extend FBI Director Mueller’s Term

Fight Over Evolution Fizzles In Texas

Pennsylvania Senate President Not Ready To Privatize State Liquor Stores

NJ Democrats Continue Whining About Christie Budget Cuts



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
European Stocks Advance For Fourth Day
Express Scripts Set To Buy Rival Medco For $29.1 Billion, Claims Merger Will Save Consumers Money On Prescriptions
United Continental CEO Says Labor Deals Won’t Be Done This Year
Dodd-Frank Lambasted On First Anniversary
US Government Sells Remaining Chrysler Stake To Fiat, Takes $1.3 Billion Loss
Crude Climbs For Fourth Day On Optimism Over Euro, US Debt; Could Reach $102/Barrel
Microsoft Profits Up 30%
Apple Loses Tablet Share In Q2, Mostly To Android
As Bad As It Seems Now, Nokia’s Future Looks Worse
AntiSec Hackers Claim Breach Of NATO Security
RIM’s Playbook Becomes First Tablet Certified For Government Use
Apple Rumored To Be Making Bid For Hulu



SPORTS
NFL Owners Approve Deal, Players Refuse Vote

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

“Tricked, duped, led astray, hoodwinked, bamboozled.” – Redskins DE Vonnie Holliday, commenting on owners’ proposal, which contains language not discussed with players

Giants Fan’s Beating Case Takes Surprising Turn – More Arrests

Rays Find An Ounce Of Offense To Prevail In Pitching Duel

Celtics Lose Frank To Pistons

NCAA Investigation Puts Auburn Coach Chizik On Defense

Verlander Leads Tigers Past Twins Again

Big 12 Says No To Prep Games On Texas Network

Lockout Forces NFL To Cancel Hall Of Fame Game



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Affair In The Air: Lopez/Anthony Breakup Was Imminent Two Years Ago

Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez in happier times

Fling with stewardess in ’09 led to marriage counseling

“Twilight” Cast Surprises Comic-Con Fans With Breakfast

First Look At Lily Collins As “Snow White”

“Teen Mom 2” Star Uses Drugs, Violates Probation

Demi Lovato Doesn’t Consider Herself Recovered

Annette Bening Joins Kirsten Wiig In “Imogene”


Jessica Alba: “I’m Taking My Time” With Baby #2

Life With Sheen Full Of Tension For Bree Olson

Peter Jackson: No “Hobbit” Presentation At Comic-Con

Neo-Nazis No More: “Prussian Blue” Twins Claim They’re Democrats Now
Honestly, what part of National Socialist is unclear to people?



FOREIGNERS
Libyan Rebels Offer Cautious Welcome To Defectors
Somali Islamists Maintain Aid Ban, Deny Famine
Norks, ROK Meet To Discuss Nuclear Issue
Egyptian PM Promises Reforms, End To Corruption
PRC Fugitive Faces Quick Deportation After Canadian Court Loss
Yemen Says Senior Al-Qaeda Official Killed
British Taliban Are Married Couple From Pakistan



BLOGS & STUFF
Hot Air: Boehner Tells Rush Limbaugh “There Is NO Deal”
Marginal Revolution: The New Greek Bailout Plan, Digested
Sister Toldjah: How The Liberal Gay Gestapo Tries To Win Friends And Influence People
Gateway Pundit: Latest DHS Video – White Middle-Class Americans The Most Likely Terrorists
Ed Morrissey: Senator Harkin’s Office Guilty Of Witness Tampering?
Wall Street Journal: The End Of The Growth Consensus
Weasel Zippers: Representative Mel Watt (D-NC) Seeks Revenge On House Office Of Congressional Ethics; Requests 40% Cut In Office Budget
PJ Tatler: Juan Williams Rips NPR As Being White And Elitist
NRO Corner: Cut, Cap & Balance “The Worst Bill In History”?
Office Of The Governor: Rick Perry Rips Obama For Leaving US Astronauts To Hitchhike Into Space
Don Surber: Obamanomics – Women, New York Times Hardest Hit


I’m rocking out to Juno Reactor and planning to stay inside.
Have a good weekend, y’all; stay cool.

Category: Live at Five

‘What God Hath Joined Together …’

Posted on | July 21, 2011 | 26 Comments

“He’s 51. She’s 16. The same people in Hollywood who knock the marriage cannot wait to be invited to the next Hugh Hefner wedding.”
— Don Surber

We were driving to the pool Thursday afternoon to pick up my 18-year-old son Bob from work (he’s a Red Cross certified lifeguard) while I chatted briefly on the phone with Krista Stodden. And after I hung up the phone, my 12-year-old son Jefferson who was riding with me asked who I’d been talking with. So I explained the story, how it was an exclusive that just “fell in my lap” and Jeff asked if there was anything in my interview with Mrs. Stodden that had been off the record. I said yes, I had chosen to redact the name of the major-league baseball team of the players who had tried to woo teenage Courtney Stodden.

Jefferson laughingly called these guys “creepers,” but I explained that there was no need to drag them into the story, because they almost certainly didn’t know when they saw Courtney online that she was so young. Indeed, one blogger I spoke to Thursday said when he’d seen Courtney’s videos he thought she looked to be in her mid-20s, at least.

So then I called Roxeanne de Luca to make sure that her numerous critical comments on the subject didn’t indicate that she was angry at me. “No, not at all,” she said, and I felt obliged to explain that I’m a journalist, not an advice columnist. But suppose I did write an advice column . . .

Dear Mister Stacy:
My daughter wants to be in show business. She has fallen in love with her acting coach and wants to marry him. She’s 16 and he’s 51. What should I do?
Signed,
Perplexed in Ocean Shores

Dear Perplexed:
Are you kidding me, lady? “What should I do?” Call 911! Report this guy to the FBI for suspicion of violating the Mann Act. Then lock your daughter in her room, take away her phone and disconnect the Internet. And when you’re finished doing all that, seek psychiatric help because you’re evidently out of your cotton-picking mind.
— RSM

However, the parents of nubile would-be starlets don’t consult me in advance on such matters, so vis-à-vis the Stodden-Hutchison nuptials, I’m like a reporter sent out to cover a car crash. It’s not for me to be lecturing the injured victims or telling the paramedics how to do their jobs. I’m not the judge or the cop or even the insurance claims adjuster. My job is to relate the facts and to provide readers with the clearest explanation of how the accident happened.

Also, I occasionally make jokes. Read more

Category: Celebrities, Hollywood, Marriage, Religion

VICTORY!

Posted on | July 21, 2011 | 28 Comments

We’ve whupped the damned Yankees, and the invaders are reported to be in panic-stricken retreat from the sacred soil of the Old Dominion:

Dignitaries, history buffs and thousands of reenactors gathered on the hills and fields outside Manassas on Thursday to mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War.
Amid oppressive July weather, those assembled paused to remember the day — July 21, 1861 — when historians say the nation realized the war would not be a pageant, and instead could be long and bloody.

By God, that’ll teach those arrogant cowards not to mess with us!

Category: History, Military, Virginia
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