Cokie Roberts Must Be Telepathic

by Smitty (via Right Wing Video)

After there is a liberation of talk shows, there needs to be a rule: sweeping, idiotic generalizations must be met with a pie in the face. Sure, these intellectual shortcuts are easy to throw out there, we can all flail ourselves. But let’s work to cut it out. I’m not certain all Lefties are as reprehensible as Cokie here, attacking ‘People’ for calling President Obama Muslim because they can’t say ‘I Don’t Like Him Cause He’s Black’. No one’s heart is truly knowable to less than the Almighty; the protestations of Christianity have to be taken at face value. Nor does the President’s train wreck record have anything to do with the genetics of the case: the record draws 32 feet of static head on its own (i.e., it sucks like hard vacuum).
So, get stuffed, Cokie: your statement tells us nothing except you’re handy with cheap rhetorical devices.

NATO Hits Qaddafi Compound

NATO bombers hit Qaddafi’s headquarters compound near Tripoli. Here’s an al-Jazeera video report:

Meanwhile, on the fighting front at Ajdabiya, the big news today is that the rebels are listening to anti-Qaddafi rap music.  Which is a poor substitute for actual news, but I guess the Associated Press is more interested in happy-face feature stories than reporting how the war is going. Damn sad thing when you can get more news from al-Jazeera than from the Associated Press . . .

Zeitgeist Cult Implodes

Zeitgeist, the conspiracy-theory movie that influenced Tucson mass-murder suspect Jared Loughner, also inspired its own cult movement.

Zeitgeist director Peter Joseph Merola became an advocate of The Venus Project, a utopian scheme for a “resource-based economy” proposed by Jacque Fresco, a Florida-based futurist. The Zeitgeist Movement (TZM) described itself as the “activist arm of The Venus Project” (TVP).

Now, three months after the Tucson shootings, a dispute between Merola and Fresco has apparently produced an irreparable schism between TZM and TVP. According to statements made by Merola and by Fresco’s partner Roxeanne Meadows, it appears that the schism developed because Fresco wanted to make a major feature film based on his plans for The Venus Project. Merola viewed Fresco’s film project as impractical and yet, despite Merola’s objections, Fresco began soliciting contributions to produce the film.

Here is an audio excerpt from an hour-long meeting/conference-call. You’ll hear Meadows ramble on for about two minutes before Merola jumps in and starts cussing her a blue streak, describing as “ridiculous” Fresco’s idea for a $20 million movie:

It’s rather ironic that Merola, a critic of the “monetary-based economy,” fell out with his partners over money. And because his utopian partners were impractical. (Imagine that!)

Anyway, I thought you’d want to know what became of this cult inspired by the movie with which the Tucson shooter was reportedly obsessed. As one longtime critic of the cult asked, “Is this how it ends for our friends who were going to remake human civilization in Jacque Fresco’s image?”

‘Main Street Fairness Act’: Dick Durbin’s $23 Billion Internet Sales Tax Scheme

Patrick Ishmael at Hot Air explains how Illinois imposed a job-killing Internet sales tax on businesses in that state. Now, Illinois Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin is proposing to turn this bad idea into national policy as the “Main Street Fairness Act.”

Kelly William Cobb at Americans for Tax Reform says that Durbin’s job-killer is “not just an enormous tax hike, it’s a threat to federalism, accountable government, and interstate commerce.”

You’d better hurry up and shop the latest bargains at Amazon, before Democrats tax it out of existence!

LIVE AT FIVE – 04.25.11

TOP NEWS
Calcutta Mourns Death Of Spiritual Leader Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba, 1926-2011 RIP

Revered by millions, he was India’s most famous and controversial holy man; top political leaders, Bollywood personalities, sportsmen and lakhs of devotees rush to pay homage


NATO Strikes Hit Qaddafi Compound (Video)
“Most significant damage yet”

Doctors Clear Gifford To Attend Husband’s Shuttle Launch
Her first extended outing from the hospital since being shot in January



POLITICS
Medicare, Medicaid Must Be Part Of Budget Debate, Coburn Says

Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Okla)

“To lead on this issue and create a false predicate that says we can solve our problems without addressing our entitlements hurts the country.”

Bloomberg Says Now Is Not The Time For Tax Hikes On Top Earners

Trump Vs. The GOP Also-Rans



Obama Already Running Against Paul Ryan



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Schumer Wants Job Numbers; Lost Jobs From NYSE Deal?
Treasury Secretary Geithner Downgrades His Own Credibility To Junk
Yen Weakens On Outlook For Japan Stimulus; Oil, Gold Up
Long-Term Bets On Yuan No Sure Thing
PlayStation Network Outage Continues
Former Sony CEO Norio Ohga, “Father Of The Compact Disc”, Dies At 81
Amazon Outage Sparks Frustration, Doubt About Cloud



SPORTS
Celtics Leave NYC Clean

Celtics' Paul Pierce all smiles; Carmelo Anthony, not so much

Knicks Fall In Four Straight To Beantown Squad – On To Miami!

Sixers Rally To Beat Heat & Stay Alive

Paul’s First Triple-Double Wins It For Hornets; Series Tied At Two Apiece




Hawks Come Through At End To Beat Magic, Take 3-1 Lead

Flyers Force Seventh Game

Cardinals Take Series From Reds With 3-0 Win

BoSox Headed Back to .500 On Wings Of Angels



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Lindsay Lohan Gets Four Months, 480 Hours

Lohan in court, April 22

Prison time and community service, respectively; actress free on bail pending appeal for alleged jewelry theft

Antoine Dodson Busted For Weed

Leann Rimes Weds Eddie Cibrian

Emma Watson Leaving Brown; Rep Says Actress Not Bullied To Leave

Charlie Sheen Dumped By Bree Olson

Snooki’s Diet Plan: More Gym, Less Clubbing



FOREIGNERS
Russian Police Free Kidnapped Kaspersky Son; No Ransom Paid
Japan Deploys 25,000 Troops In Search For Disaster Victims
Syrian Security Forces Storm Daraa; Activists Detained In Sweeps
One Israeli Killed, Four Wounded By Palestinian Police
Hundreds Of Taliban Escape By Tunnel From Kandahar Prison
Guns Silent On Thai-Cambodiam Border, But Talks Cancelled



BLOGS & STUFF
Hit & Run: Man Gets Visit From SWAT Team After Not Securing His Wi-Fi Router
Power Line: Another Passover Massacre
Legal Insurrection: “But How In The World Did Mrs. Palin…Manage To Figure All This Out So Far Ahead Of The New York Times…?”
Watts Up With That?: The Telegraph Gets It About Climategate Investigations…
Mark Steyn: Choc And Awe

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Rule 5 Sunday: Bawitdaba

Half-pints of love, and the fifths of stress…

This week we start by combining (political) business with pleasure. Rio Norte Line draws our attention to the fact that Turkish actress Sila Sahin will be appearing in the German edition of Playboy – as a deliberate protest against the restrictive edicts of Islam. (Some pix NSFW.) POH Diaries also took note of this.

Soylent Green kicks off the week with a triple-threat motivational pic, doubles down on that (and then some) for Tuesday, abruptly changes to an appreciation of small flowers at mid-week, and finally on Thursday, expresses his appreciation to Little Miss Attila in a unique manner. This is not to say he forgot the weekly corset appreciation session; nor did he forget to celebrate Earthy Day. No, that’s not a typo, and yes, like the rest of the posts, it’s NSFW. Like we have to tell you this by now?

Fishersville Mike alerts us to a new country Darling. Randy’s Roundtable steps up to the plate for the first time with a couple of sweet tarts, Chanelle Hayes and Keeley Hazell. Proof Positive, not to be outdone, has some very nice shots of Erinn Bartlett and vintage babe Romy Schneider.

Speaking of vintage babes (with brains), A View From The Beach reminds us of another actress who dabbled in engineering, Hedy Lamarr. Quite the dish in her day, and a VERY smart woman besides.

Over at The Camp of the Saints, Bob leads off with Tawnni Cable, follows with Tamsin Egerton, Rule 5 Thursday with (among others) Sasha Grey, Rita Lee, and what appear to be a bevy of women with huge tracts of land as a tribute to Little Miss Attila.

What with all the goings-on in Nigeria, it seems a happy coincidence that the DaleyGator leads off his links this week with Genevieve Nnaji, follows her with a fine assortment of ladies, Madyson Rayne, Flo Jalin, Melissa Marie Gonzalez, and last (but not least) Cote de Pablo.

Dustbury gives us a peek of the mermaid from On Stranger Tides, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, and also the much desired Tenth Zooeypalooza.

Finally, Three Beers Later produces the definitive post disproving the notion that guys don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses. Yum. I doubt any of the ladies in those pictures have to worry much about being bored in the evenings.

Thanks to all for your linkagery! Want your Rule 5 posts linked? Send links to Rule 5 Wombat by April 30 for the May Day Rule 5 Blue Shirt Blowout. 🙂