The Other McCain

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

‘Marriage’ Is A Complete Concept

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 34 Comments

by Smitty

Prefixing ‘marriage’ in any way adds no meaning to its proper, timeless understanding. Frank J cogently argues “The Arguements For Gay Marriage Are Incoherent“.
Given that one finds the behavior of others is often incoherent, I like his point #2:

Given that marriage is a religious institution that the government participates in, there are two — and only two — logical responses.
1. Recognize it’s special place as religious institution fundamental to society and thus preserve it — perhaps even adding an amendment to the Constitution.

2. Have it removed from government entirely because of the separation of church and state and simply allow the government to recognize legal contracts between two or more adults, allowing them to put whatever ceremony on it they want.

The libertarian approach is really the most economical. To paraphrase the King of Swamp Castle, “Let’s not sit here bickering and arguing over ‘oo married ‘oo.”
I know perfectly well what ‘marriage’ means. Judge the tree by the fruit. Plant the orchard of idiocy, say I; fools will rationalize away the results, and self-identify.

Category: Uncategorized

Florida: Adam Hasner for Senate

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 6 Comments

In next year’s GOP primary to take on vulnerable Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson, conservatives are rallying behind Adam Hasner as the best hope of avoiding the RINO George Lemieux, who has described himself as a “Charlie Crist Republican“:

With several contenders for the Republican nomination, it’s important to unite conservatives behind one candidate to prevent Lemieux from winning. Hasner is a former state legislator who supported Marco Rubio against Crist in the 2010 campaign, and he has the endorsement of Erick Erickson of Red State, Ohio’s Ken Blackwell and talk-radio host Mark Levin. As a sitting senator, Rubio isn’t going to endorse a candidate in the primary, but many of his grassroots supporters are on Team Hasner, including our Florida blog-buddy Sarah Rumpf.

ADAM HASNER for U.S. SENATE

Category: Adam Hasner, Election 2012, Florida, Senate

The Semi-Smear

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 22 Comments

“If you agree with him, you think what he does is citizen journalism. If you don’t, his work is little more than crowd-sourced political sabotage that freely distorts the facts.”
— Jeremy W. Peters, “The Right’s Blogger Provocateur,” New York Times

No need to guess which view of Andrew Breitbart the New York Times endorses. Peters managed to work “jowly” and “husky” into his description of Breitbart, but the key to the presentation is how he depicts Breitbart as (a) a media whore, and (b) a controversial ideologue. “Part performance artist, part polemicist, Mr. Breitbart, 42, has used his network of Web sites and their legions of followers to bring conservative media red meat.”

Perhaps someone can do a Lexis-Nexis search and tell me if the New York Times ever described David Brock’s Media Matters, Ariana Huffington’s Huffington Post or Markos Moulitsas’s Daily Kos in similar terms.

It’s fascinating to see how these reporters feel the need to provide little cues to tell their readers what to think.

Category: Andrew Breitbart, New York Times

VIDEO: Greek Meltdown?

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 10 Comments

Here are a couple of video reports from EuroNews about this week’s big economic question: Can Greece deal with its debt crisis or will default trigger a global economic meltdown?

At the Hot Air Green Room:

The good news, such as it is: French banks have reportedly agreed to a plan to roll over Greek debt. However, Germany’s finance minister doesn’t sound optimistic: “We are doing everything we can to prevent a perilous escalation for Europe but must at the same time be prepared for the worst,” Wolfgang Schaeuble said, invoking the specter of 2008, when “the world was able to take coordinated action against a global and unpredictable financial market crisis.”
Recall that the 2008 meltdown led to the Dow Jones Industrial Average — which had been above 12,000 in June 2008 — falling below 7,000 by March 2009. If Europe dodges the Greek bullet this week, stocks should gain, but the threat of civil unrest in Greece is sufficiently serious that there have been rumors of a military coup.

Katie Benner of Fortune magazine says Greece won’t default:

Of course, if Greece does default, it will do so “unexpectedly.”

Cato’s Dan Mitchell points out that U.S. taxpayers are helping fund the Greek bailout through the International Monetary Fund, and offers these interesting facts:

  • Greece’s GDP is roughly equal to the GDP of Maryland.
  • Greece’s population is roughly equal to the population of Ohio.
  • Despite that small size, in both terms of population and economic output, Greece already has received a bailout of about $150 billion

UPDATE: How bad could it be? Pretty doggone bad:

Contagion of Greece’s debt problems to the rest of Europe could be worse than the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008, Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said on Monday. . . .
“If it is Greece alone, that’s already big. But if other countries are drawn in through contagion, it could be bigger than Lehman,” he said at a Reuters banking conference on Monday.


Category: Economics, Europe, Greece

‘Revenue Raises’? ‘Closing Loopholes’? Democrat Want to RAISE TAXES!

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 14 Comments

“The fact of the matter is, we have on the table all kinds of revenue raises that they keep calling tax increases. How do you call closing loopholes to oil companies that are making billions of dollars in profits, closing up these loopholes that would generate $40 to $50 billion in revenue, how do you call that a tax hike? That is no tax hike. You only hike taxes when you raise rates. We are not asking anybody to raise anybody’s rates. We want us to have an effective tax collection and close these loopholes, stop giving billions of dollars in breaks to millionaires and billionaires.”
— Rep. James Clyburn, South Carolina Democrat

When I heard this Sunday morning on “This Week,” I was amazed. Under no circumstance will any Democrat ever agree to any meaningful cut to any federal spending program. And so their only answer to budget issues is always: Raise taxes.

Yet they are now trying to finesse the rhetoric, so that tax increases aren’t really tax increases. No, it’s “revenue raises” and “closing loopholes” — as if Americans are too stupid to understand that, call it what you will, Democrats are still the party of tax-and-spend.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Budget, Congress, Democrats, Taxes

‘Brady Bunch’ Mom Florence Henderson’s Wholesome Image Will Never Be the Same

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 21 Comments

From the “TMI” files:

Florence Henderson, the actress who played perky mom Carol Brady in the beloved family sitcom, says she once got crabs after a one-night-stand with career politician John Lindsay, who was the mayor of New York City at the time.
Henderson, now 77, recounts in her upcoming memoir that she was cheating on her husband during the 1960s . . .
“I was lonely. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. So, what did I do? I did it,” she writes in “Life is Not a Stage,” set for publication in September.
Henderson went home later that night, and awoke to a grisly surprise the next day as she saw “little black things” crawling over her bed and body.
An urgent call to a doctor took care of the problem, known medically as pubic lice, and Lindsay sent her flowers and a note of apology.
“Guess I learned the hard way that crabs do not discriminate but cross over all socioeconomic strata,” Henderson writes. . . .

Hat-tip: Instapundit.

Category: Celebrities

LIVE AT FIVE – 06.27.11

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 4 Comments

TOP NEWS
ND Flood Victims Start Recovery Effort

The Souris River in Minot, ND

Most had no flood insurance, but oil-rich state may help

Iowa Caucuses At Eight Months Out
Consensus is that it’s too early for polls to have much meaning

Libyan Rebels Claim Advances In Western Mountains
Making steady progress towards Tripoli



POLITICS
Michele Bachmann Says “Flake” Label Is Insulting

Rep. Michele Bachmann addresses a crowd in Waterloo, Iowa

Points to record of personal accomplishment while not acknowledging “rap”

NRC Inspector Says No Threat To Brownsville Reactor From Flood

Defense Cuts A Path To Budget Compromise?

Wildfire Closes Los Alamos Lab

TSA Forces Dying 95-Year-Old To Remove Adult Diaper

Budget Talks Test Jerry Brown’s Campaign Promises

Governor Walker Signs Wisconsin Budget

NJ Legislature Goes Down To Wire On Budget



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
European Leaders Prepare For Greek Default
Asian Shares Mostly Down On Europe Woes
Interest Rates Must Rise Worldwide, Says BIS
Crude Falls On Slowing Demand; IEA Contemplates Releasing More Oil
Treasuries Advance On Greek Debt, US Economy Concerns
National Gas Prices Drop, Chicago Still Highest
LulzSec Says It’s Ending Attacks
Amazonian Tribe Discovered Deep In Brazilian Rain Forest
NASA’s Dawn Reaches Asteroid Vesta
Google Euthanizes GoogleHealth, Unplugs PowerMeter



SPORTS
Busch Avoids Chaos, Wins Sonoma

Typical Sonoma racing scene

Dominates road-course showdown

Gators, Cocks Meet For College Baseball Title

Terrell Owens Has Surgery For Torn ACL


Torre Shoots Down Idea Of Return To Managing

Kershaw Pitches Complete Game, Helps Dodgers Avoid Sweep In Freeway Series

Shields’ Complete Success

Giants Sweep Tribe, Leave Tigers Alone Atop AL Central

Red Sox Avoid Sweep By Pirates In Error-Filled Win

Fish Fail Continues With Loss To Mariners

McLaren’s Management Ends With 2-1 Win For Nationals Over ChiSox; Now It’s Davey Johnson’s Turn At The Helm



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
The Name Is Craig. Mrs. Craig.

Rachel (Weisz) & Daniel Craig

Rachel Weisz, Daniel Craig tie the knot in “secret” NYC ceremony

Paulina Rubio Arrested After Minor Car Accident, Released

Disgraced Weiner, Miserable Wife Spotted Dining In Chelsea

Oprah Gets Honorary Degree

Duke, Duchess Of Cambridge Attend Awards Ceremony For Irish Guards Regiment



“Cars 2” Revs Up $68 Million, “Bad Teacher” Good Enough for $31 Mill

Britney “Honored” To Meet “Hold It Against Me” Marines



FOREIGNERS
Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge Four On Trial
Egypt, Israel Agree Gaza Flotilla To Dock At El-Arish
At Least 25 Killed In Deadly Nigeria Bomb Attack
Border Shelling Overshadows US/Afghanistan/Pakistan Talks
PRC Dissident Hu Jia “Freer, Not Free” After Prison Release



BLOGS & STUFF
Ed Morrissey: Chris Wallace Apologizes To Bachmann For “Flake” Question
Lonely Conservative: Your Tax Dollars At Work, Punking Doctors’ Offices
Outside The Beltway: Costs Of War Include $20 Billion For Air Conditioning
Jawa Report: Radical Cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr Thanks Followers For Pledging To Attack US Forces In Iraq
Verum Serum: Jon Stewart Proven Wrong On Media Bias – Again
Atlas Shrugs: US Soccer Team Viciously Booed In LA, Mexico Treated As “Home Team”
Legal Insurrection: Operation Chaos – Wisconsin Recall Primary Edition
Powerline: A New Low In Wisconsin
Don Surber: Next Target For Envirowackos? Your Cable Box

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

Eleven Drinks, Four Hours

Posted on | June 26, 2011 | 2 Comments

“Jackass” star Ryan Dunn had 11 drinks — including six shots of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey — between 10:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. before the June 20 high-speed crash that killed him and a buddy:

‘Jackass’ Star Had 11 Drinks Before Crash: MyFoxPHILLY.com

Dunn was 34, so why was he drinking like a college sophomore at a fraternity initiation? At some point that whole stumble-mumble-vomit-and-pass-out style of binge drinking ceases to be amusing.

 On the list of Top Ten Signs You Might Have a Drinking Problem, “Wrapping your Porsche around a tree and dying in a fiery crash” is probably at least No. 3.

Category: Celebrities
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin