The Other McCain

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

‘It Was the Pronouns! They Were Overwhelmingly Masculine Gendered.’

Posted on | May 11, 2011 | 21 Comments

“Kate Swift, Writer Who Rooted Out Sexism in Language, Dies at 87,” reads the New York Times obituary headline, to which we might cheerfully add: “And Not a Moment Too Soon!”

Ms. Swift turned her attention to the issue of sexist language when she and Casey Miller, her companion, formed a professional editing partnership in 1970 and were asked to copy-edit a sex education manual for junior high school students.
The stated goal of the manual was to encourage mutual respect and equality between boys and girls, but Ms. Swift and Ms. Miller, who died in 1997, concluded that the author’s intent was being undermined by the English language.
“We suddenly realized what was keeping his message — his good message — from getting across, and it hit us like a bombshell,” Ms. Swift said in a 1994 interview for the National Council of Teachers of English. “It was the pronouns! They were overwhelmingly masculine gendered.”

Read the whole thing, which was sent to me by Dave C. from At the Point of a Gun, who should therefore get all the hate-mail from angry feminists. (And let’s face it: If you weren’t angry all the time, you wouldn’t really be much of a feminist, would you?)

UPDATE: Linked in the “Daily Scoreboard” by Don Surber — thanks! — and welcome, Instapundit readers!

Category: Feminism

Obama’s Predictable Immigration Lies

Posted on | May 11, 2011 | 6 Comments

Ace of Spades:

Jake Tapper notes Obama basically gets two facts right:

1. There is a country called “Mexico,” and
2. It has a border.

President Obama went to El Paso, Texas, yesterday to pander to Hispanics by promoting the myth that anyone who wants to get serious about border security is a dishonest racist. As Bryan Preston says, it was entirely predictable:

As predicted, the president spoke in El Paso, Texas today, where he conflated legal and illegal immigration, pushed for the DREAM Act, and showed his longstanding contempt for the rule of law as regards our immigration system.

The misleading conflation of legal and illegal immigration — accusing proponents of strict enforcement of being “anti-immigrant” — is characteristic of all open-borders advocates, Democrat and Republican. (BTW, this is a major reason I don’t regret the defeat of that two-faced backstabbing crapweasel John McCain in 2008.) Obama’s El Paso speech was a masterpiece of distortion, distraction and outright lies. From the transcript:

Today, there are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants here in the United States. Some crossed the border illegally. Others avoid immigration laws by overstaying their visas. Regardless of how they came, the overwhelming majority of these folks are just trying to earn a living and provide for their families. (Applause.)

Why the applause? What was Obama’s audience applauding? The people he is describing are criminals, foreign lawbreakers who are, in essence, trespassing illegally in this country. If we are a nation of laws, it does not matter who these people are, where they came from or why they came; what matters is that they are criminals, all of whom should be apprehended and deported. More from the transcript:

Then they wanted a fence. Well, the fence is –
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: The fence is now basically complete.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Tear it down!
THE PRESIDENT: Then we’ve gone further. We tripled the number of intelligence analysts working at the border. I’ve deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the skies from Texas to California. We have forged a partnership with Mexico to fight the transnational criminal organizations that have affected both of our countries. . . .
So, here’s the point. I want everybody to listen carefully to this. We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we’ve done. But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I’ve got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: They’re racist!
THE PRESIDENT: You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they’re going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they’ll want a higher fence. Maybe they’ll need a moat. (Laughter.) Maybe they want alligators in the moat. (Laughter.) They’ll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That’s politics.

Notice that the same audience that applauded the 11 million illegals is now booing and catcalling, demanding that the border fence be torn down and denouncing Republicans as racists. This is the kind of hate-filled sentiment that Obama is actively promoting.

But in fact — and thanks to Pundette for pointing this out — Obama is lying about the border fence!

It hasn’t been finished. Just like the illegals to whom the president is pandering, his administration has ignored the law. Sen. Jim DeMint at National Review:

Five years ago, legislation was passed to build a 700-mile double-layer border fence along the southwest border. This is a promise that has not been kept.
Today, according to staff at the Department of Homeland Security, just 5 percent of the double-layer fencing is complete, only 36.3 miles.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, reported in early 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layer fencing had been built. That means under President Obama, only 4.3 miles of double layer fencing has been built. This is woefully inadequate.

So Obama lied about the fence. Notice, however, that in his speech, Obama only identifies Republicans as advocates of strict border security. Are all Democrats now in favor of open borders and amnesty? Because I seem to recall some Democrats desperately seeking re-election last year who ran TV ads portraying themselves as tough on immigration.

We might get a chance to put the president’s claim to the test, because Senate Democrats are promising to re-introduce the DREAM Act amnesty bill. Let’s see how many Democrat senators facing tough re-election fights in 2012 vote for that. Hell, Harry Reid couldn’t even get a cloture vote on the DREAM Act during the lame-duck session last year, because five Democrats voted “no”: Max Baucus (Montana), Kay Hagan (North Carolina), Ben Nelson (Nebraska), Mark Pryor (Arkansas) and Jon Tester (Montana).

So Obama lied about the border fence, he lied about Republicans, and he lied about who it is that’s playing politics with the issue: It’s him.

And Herman Cain called him out on it:

“He is not only out of touch with what’s really going on . . . he has absolutely no intentions of getting serious about making it a priority [to] empower the states, like Arizona is trying to do to protect themselves. . . . It is ridiculous that the federal government sued Arizona to begin with . . . This is just creating another distraction, which this administration is really good at.”

The latest Zogby poll puts Herman Cain ahead of Mitt Romney among likely GOP primary voters.

Isn’t it time you joined the online grassroots army at Citizens for Cain?


Category: Barack Obama, Crime, Election 2012, Herman Cain, Immigration, Texas

LIVE AT FIVE – 05.11.11

Posted on | May 11, 2011 | Comments Off on LIVE AT FIVE – 05.11.11

TOP NEWS
Flooded Mississippi Taking Aim At Delta

Inmates help load sandbags onto a truck in Louisiana

River likely to devastate poorest part of country with record-high floodwaters

Obama’s Immigration Speech Offers Nothing New
“Big policy speech” offers no new proposals, no new legislation, and no idea how he’s going to win over a hostile Republican majority in the House


Syrian Army Shells Homs, Arrests Dozens
Hama rules, 2011 edition



POLITICS
Romney To Make High-stakes Speech On Health

Mitt Romney at the crossroads

Will speech reverse RomneyCare curse, or doom his campaign?

Speaker Boehner Likes Christie As Presidential Candidate, If Reluctant Governor Decides To Run

Benton Harbor’s Woes A Sign Of Tough Choices To Come

Presbyterian Church Votes To Allow Gay Ordination

Senate Democrats Go After Oil Company Tax Credits

Federal Judge Blocks Utah Immigration Law

Navy Reverses Course On Gay Marriage



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
PRC Inflation Eases Off 32-Month High
Toyota 4Q Profit Tumbles On Quake, Strong Yen
Euro Clings To Gains But Obstacles Lurk
Google Sets Aside $500 Million For Ad Probe
Gold Edges Up, Silver Rises
Apple Defends IPhone “Hot Spot” Logging
Google Announces New Tablet OS Updates, Music & Movie Services



SPORTS
Boozer Gets Physical For Bulls

Bulls forward Carlos Boozer lets out a scream

Power forward’s double technical spurs Chicago to Game 5 victory, 95-83

Davis Injured In Mets’ Win Over Rockies

Selig Defends Sale Of Dodgers To McCourt

McLane Still Negotiating Sale Of Astros


Bruins Need To Bottle Up Lightning

Sharks Have One Last Chance Not To Choke

Glendale Ponies Up $25 Million To NHL To Keep Coyotes



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Schwarzenegger/Shriver Split A Long Time Coming?

The Governator and Maria

Shriver allegedly disturbed by Schwartzenegger’s ego, his plans to return to films

Rachel Weisz’ Decision: Oz or Bourne?

Whitney Houston’s Prince Privileges Revoked

Rapper Common’s White House Performance Draws Criticism

Sarah Ferguson: Royal Wedding Snub Was “Difficult”

Woody Harrelson Gets Prime Role In “The Hunger Games”


Kirstie Alley Dieting Too Much While Dancing?

Ethan Hawke Joins “Total Recall” Remake



FOREIGNERS
Kerry Heads To Pakistan To Soothe Anger Over Raid
Japanese Government To Get Involved In TEPCO Management
Egypt Tries To Remove Mubarak’s Name
Pakistan Hints PRC May Get Peek At Stealth Chopper Wreckage
Report Links Ecuador’s President With Columbian Guerrillas



BLOGS & STUFF
Allahpundit: Killing Bin Laden Good Reason To Re-Elect Me, Obama Says
Blackfive: Obama The Gutsy
Don Surber: Unpresidential
Jim DeMint: Speeches And Summits Won’t Secure The Border
Weasel Zippers: Senate Democrats To Reintroduce Stealth Amnesty DREAM Act
AmSpecBlog: Fake Trump Bubble Collapses
Cubachi: Gov. Haley, Senator DeMint Demand Answers On Boeing Ruling
Lonely Conservative: Media Matters’ Boehlert Was Fro Freaking Out Over Violent Rap Artists Before He Was Against It
Ramesh Ponnuru: Obamacare And GM In Court
Verum Serum: Media Buzzards Offer Up Another Palin Post-Mortem
Small Dead Animals: Election 2011 – Look What Preston [Manning] Started (Video)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

You Know What America Needs?

Posted on | May 10, 2011 | 28 Comments

We need some lectures on the finer points of international law from the bin Laden family:

The adult sons of Osama bin Laden have lashed out at President Obama over their father’s death, accusing the United States of violating its basic legal principles by killing an unarmed man, shooting his family members and disposing of his body in the sea.
“I am now disabled and unable to work all because of bin Laden. I could care less about the legality of the US handling of the bin Laden situation. ”
The statement said the family was asking why the leader of Al Qaeda “was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world.” Citing the trials of Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic, the statement questioned “the propriety of such assassination where not only international law has been blatantly violated,” but the principles of presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial were ignored.
“We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems,” the statement said, adding that “justice must be seen to be done.”

Seems like to me your family’s opposition to “arbitrary killing” is just a wee bit too late, fellows.

UPDATE: Da Tech Guy invokes a Clint Eastwood line from Unforgiven, but I’m thinking about a line from Dirty Harry: “Well, I’m all broken up about that man’s rights!”

Category: Terrorism

NY-26 Special Election: Stealth Democrat Crazy Jack Davis Plays ‘Tea Party’ Spoiler

Posted on | May 10, 2011 | 22 Comments

You may remember in February when “fit fun classy guy” Rep. Chris Lee (R-Stupid) resigned from Congress after being caught trolling Craigslist for dates. That set up a special election to fill the seat, now scheduled for May 24 — two weeks from today.

Republican county chairs picked Assemblywoman Jane Corwin as their candidate, while Democrats picked an obscure county official, Kathy Hochul. This is a strong Republican district in western New York and Corwin, who also has the crucial endorsement of the state’s Conservative Party, should be running away with this.

Alas, there is the Crazy Jack Davis, a once-upon-a-time Republican who, in 2004, 2006 and 2008, ran for the NY-26 seat as a Democrat. Crazy Jack has now managed to get himself on the May 24 ballot as a “Tea Party” candidate. Of course, he’s not in any way representative of the Tea Party movement, and is supported by no Tea Party organizations, but nevertheless — funny how these coincidences happen — Davis has the “Tea Party” ballot line.

Crazy Jack Davis is a millionaire protectionist. As Sam Foster pointed out at Red State, “His signature issue, his raison d’etre has to do with our nation’s trade imbalance . . . He wants to cancel all free trade agreements in favor of something he calls ‘balanced trade.’ ” Which is utter nonsense, of course. (How is it that some people — Donald Trump is another — become millionaires without understanding basic economics?) “Balanced trade” is just a variation of economic nationalism which, in turn, is a straight road to the planned economy. But if you don’t yet understand why free trade is better policy than protectionism, there’s no point in my lecturing at this point: You’re on the wrong blog, pal.

Of far more immediate political relevance is the fact that a substantial number of NY-26 residents appear to be buying the Smoot-Hawley snake oil that Crazy Jack is selling. One recent poll showed Davis playing the “spoiler” role in the special election by pulling independent voters away from the conservative Republican, Jane Corwin. This has enabled the Democrat to eke out a lead:

Hochul (Democrat) . . . . . 35
Corwin (Republican) . . . . 31
Davis (Crazy) . . . . . . . . . . 24

As the Lonely Conservative says, “A vote for Davis is a vote for Hochul.” And there is no doubt that Davis is a Democrat, rather than a true representative Tea Party movement. Crazy Jack’s campaign is run by progressive Democrat operative Curtis Ellis, who in February 2010 co-authored an op-ed column denouncing Tea Party supporters:

They fancy themselves the vanguard of a revolution, when in fact they are typical self-absorbed, privileged children used to having their way — now — and uninhibited about complaining loudly when they don’t.

The question conservatives should be asking themselves is, “Why is a transparent fraud like Davis evidently hurting the GOP in this poll?” And the answer, I would suggest, is two-fold:

1. Republicans have done a piss-poor job of articulating the principles of a free-market economic policy, having become accustomed instead to winning elections waged over cultural issues or national-security policy.
2. The New York state GOP establishment, in particular, is inept and out-of-touch.

Talk to conservative grassroots Republicans in New York — and I talked to lots of them during the fabled NY-23 campaign of 2009 — and you will get an earful about the “Albany insiders” and their idiotic idea that the GOP can win elections as an unprincipled “me-too” party.

Despite the fact that 36% of New York residents are Catholic, and these Catholic voters represent the “swing” vote in every close election, state GOP leaders have a profound horror of pro-lifers and other social conservatives. This was why they thought pro-abortion Dede Scozzafava was a good candidate for NY-23 and why, in last year’s mid-term election, a pro-life candidate like Ann Marie Buerkle in NY-25 got very little support from the party establishment.

Of course, fixing the Republican Party in the two weeks between now and May 24 is not an option. The question is how to beat Hochul by rallying support for Corwin and discrediting Crazy Jack. Looking on the upside, the polls probably overstate Crazy Jack’s support. A lot of people who tell pollsters they’ll vote for a novelty candidate won’t actually show up to vote on Election Day. But New York Tea Party activists (some of whom were disgruntled by the GOP’s choice of Corwin) need to get the message out that Crazy Jack is the wrong choice for NY-26.

The conservative group American Crossroads just announced a $350,000 ad buy on behalf of Jane Corwin and John Boehner campaigned for Corwin last night:

NY-26 is a winnable district, and a GOP defeat would be interpreted by the media (however falsely) as a repudiation of the conservative agenda. Let’s win this one!

JANE CORWIN FOR U.S. CONGRESS

UPDATE: Ithaca resident Professor William Jacobson:

A win by the Democrat in this Republican district — even if created by a phony Tea Party candidate siphoning off votes from the Republican– will be spun as a major victory for Obama. You will hear nothing but how it signals Obama’s turnaround, how it reflects Obama’s new found popularity after the bin Laden kill, and how it signals unhappiness with Republicans.

UPDATE II: Linked by the Rhetorican and by Bob Belvedere at the Camp of the Saints — thanks!


Category: Congress, Election, New York, Republicans

Is Paco Taking A Steve Forbes Route?

Posted on | May 10, 2011 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

I don’t know what his Cain strategy is, perhaps a Great Wall of Pizza, but here is how Paco views the rest of the GOP field:

I figure weekly trips to one of the better tonsorial establishments will give me an edge over Romney in the ‘important hair’ department, and I can out-drawl Mike Huckabee. Tim Pawlenty comes across as kind of a human tranquilizer, which will never happen with me, since I plan to do conjuring tricks during debates, and I have a photo – I’ve been assured it’s genuine – of Sarah Palin shooting grizzly bears with a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the back of a Dodge Ram truck. That ought to draw the crunchy-con vote.”

But will the uncle moneybags strategy work? Read the whole thing.

Category: Uncategorized

You Saw This Coming, Right?

Posted on | May 10, 2011 | 20 Comments

The inexorable logic of “equality”:

Anticipating the elimination of the military ban on homosexuality, the Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains has decided that same-sex couples in the Navy will be able to get married in Navy chapels, and that Navy chaplains will be allowed to perform the ceremonies — if homosexual marriage is legal in the state where the unions are to be performed.

Forget “Anchors Aweigh.” They need a new anthem . . .

Category: Gays, Marriage, Military

VIDEO: Newport Beach, California, Pays Lifeguards More Than $200,000 a Year!

Posted on | May 10, 2011 | 9 Comments

Which may explain why their municipal budget needs CPR:

Hat-tip: Maggie’s Farm.

Category: California
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