Huffy Arianna And The Circling Sharks

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by Smitty

Morrissey and the dextrosphere are all enjoying a good chuckle at the expense of the Huffington Post lawsuit.
Jonathan Tasini:

We’re going to make it clear that, until you do justice here, your life is going to be a living hell.

Justice? Really? How does Tasini’s notion of justice relate to things like contract law? Maybe he should confine himself to croquet or other games where the rules are made on the fly. Or maybe Jonathan Tasini is qualified to be a god, and craft justice on the fly continuously, and without error.
The really interesting question in all this, however, is whether this mugging will be sufficient to recast Arianna as a conservative.
More fun courtesy of Little Miss Attila.
And I think it’s fair to characterize Volokh as amused.

‘Shared Sacrifice’ = Tax Increases

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Today, Obama will give a major speech on deficits and here’s an Associated Press video report in which the reporter uses the phrase “shared sacrifice” to describe the president’s plan to call for repealing the Bush tax cuts:

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday that the plan Obama will outline on Wednesday at George Washington University would contain both spending cuts and tax increases. “The president believes there has to be a balanced approach,” Carney said. . . .
Carney said that the GOP plan drafted by Ryan is unbalanced “through it’s rather drastic reform of Medicare and Medicaid…That’s not the approach the president believes is the right way to go…The burden has to be shared by everybody.”

Now let’s think through this “balanced approach”: If you are receiving assistance from the government in the form of payment for your medical care, that money comes from . . . taxpayers.

But because we’re spending too much — more than the taxpayers actually pay — we need to balance the budget. So if you get less services at taxpayer expense, and the taxpayers have to pay more, that’s what is being called “shared sacrifice.”

Except the taxpayers are being asked to give up more of their own money, whereas the people on Medicare and Medicaid are merely being asked to make do with less money from the taxpayers.

Something about this “balanced approach” doesn’t seem so balanced to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Daily Libya Update

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If this is Wednesday, the rebels are advancing:

AJDABIYA, Libya — This normally bustling city was nearly deserted Tuesday as rebel fighters pressed on to the oil port of Brega, taking advantage of recent NATO airstrikes that pushed forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi farther west. . . .
In Ajdabiya, rebels left behind a skeleton crew to watch over what were mostly shuttered businesses and deserted streets in a city of 130,000 residents. Rebel commander Awdea Misrati said the NATO airstrikes gave the rebels defending Ajdabiya some much-needed breathing room, but residents of the bullet-scarred city are being told to stay away until the situation stabilizes.
Misrati said weekend airstrikes fractured Gadhafi forces, leaving small pockets of men and weapons scattered along the desert road to Brega and within the city itself. Fighters reported sporadic gunfire within the city as rebels tracked government snipers left behind, and they fired rockets at a suspected group of government holdouts near the western gate.
The road to Brega is littered with the charred hulls of tanks and cars and where empty shell casings jingle underfoot.

From a briefing by NATO commander Brig. Gen. Mark van Uhm:

The situation on the ground is dynamic, fluid and changing constantly. In the east opposition forces retook control of Ajdabiya yesterday, two days after being driven to the northern edge of the city.
Regime forces withdrew towards Brega and deployed their lead elements east of that city. Opposition forces have deployed elements southwest of Ajdabiya. So the confrontation line is once again between Brega and Ajdabiya.

So the rebels are now back where they were last Thursday, before the panic-stricken retreat. And as to the situation on the ground being “fluid” — try not to step in that, OK?

LIVE AT FIVE – 04.13.11

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TOP NEWS
Romney On Obama:”The Citizenship Test Has Been Passed”

Mitt Romney greets members of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Veags

“There are real reasons to get this guy out of office…but his citizenship isn’t the reason why.”

Stocks, Commodities Fall On Continuing Japanese Crisis; Swiss Franc, Bonds Gain
Oil, S&P index fall


Obama Calls Newly Installed Ouattara
Also, France agrees to $850 million stimulus for its former colony



POLITICS
Lawmakers Urge President To Accept Mandatory Spending Restraints

No fresh borrowing without spending restraint?

Congress anxious about impending debt limit vote

Border Agent Indicted In Arizona Marijuana Case

Texas Wildfire Conditions Akin To 2006 Disaster



Body Count Along NY Beach Highway Reaches 10

NC State Senate Pardons Governor Who Stood Up To Klan

DC To Offer First Internet Gambling In US

PRC National Accused In Army Recruiting Scam



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Cisco’s Flip Gets The Ax
Crude Falls For Third Day On IEA Growth Forecasts, Stockpiles
Foxconn May Spend $12 Billion On Brazil Expansion
Walmart Reduces Electronics Spaces, Reverses 2008 Decision To Cut Back Less Popular Items
Air & Space Museum Final Home For Shuttle Discovery
Space Station Crew Celebrates Yuri’s Night: 50th Anniversary Of Man’s First Space Flight



SPORTS
Hurt Hamilton Out 6-8 Weeks

Rangers CF Josh Hamilton

Rangers’ MVP center fielder breaks arm in play he describes as “stupid”

Reoriented Caps Face Rangers In First Round Of Playoffs

Giants Raise Almost $70,000 For Injured Fan

Devils Move Up In Draft

Malcolm Lee Done At UCLA, Declares For NBA Draft

Ramirez’ Return Fails To Flog Fish Across The Plate: Braves Win 5-0

Werth Goes Deep As Nats Beat Phillies 7-4

Dodgers’ Furcal Heads For DL With Broken Hand, Mentions Retirement



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Contrary To Rumor, Scarlett Johansson Not Pregnant

Scarlett Johansson: Clearly Not Pregnant (Or Out Of Shape)

“F’ing pregnant women, how do they look?” -The Superficial staff

Lindsay Lohan & Victoria Gotti Meet In NYC

Bradley Cooper In Talks To Star In “The Crow” Remake

Demi Lovato Has An Eating Disorder?

Ashley Tisdale, Bridget Moynahan Strip For Allure’s Naked Issue

Sneak Peek Of Josh Brolin Playing The Young Agent K In “Men In Black 3”

Beyonce Prepares For Battle In Sexy New Music Video


Retooled “Law And Order: LA” Fails To Spark Ratings

Kirstie Alley: There’s a Conspiracy Against Me On “Dancing”
Xenu loves ya, baby.



FOREIGNERS
Mubarak Hospitalized With Heart Problem During Prosecutor’s Interrogation
Libyan Rebels Reject African Union Peace Plan
Israel Solicits Turkish Help In Stopping New Gaza Flotilla
PM Harper Fends Off Attacks In Debate, Asks Voters For Majority In Canadian Parliament
BRICS Leaders Caucus, Eye Bigger Role On World Stage
Body Count In Mexican Mass Graves Rises To 116


BLOGS & STUFF
Tim Blair: Gore Store No More
Cubachi: Rand Paul Considers Filibuster Of Spending Cut Agreement
AmSpecBlog: Lies, Damned Lies, And Polls About Planned Parenthood
Riehl World View: Surprise! Boehner & Obama’s Historic Budget Deal Is A Sham
American Digest: Remember That Wage Gap? Me Neither.
Israel Matzav: Netanyahu Snubs Justin Bieber
Moe Lane: The Quiet Man
Just One Minute: As The Libyan Stalemate Gets Stale

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Smoke, Mirrors, Some Assembly Required

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Some of the conservative pundits who were doing victory laps over Friday’s budget deal — and you know who you are — need to admit they were taken in by the D.C. spin machine:

Details of the $38 billion worth of spending cuts factoring in last Friday’s 11th-hour budget that averted a government shutdown have been released, but the cuts, while historic, were significantly eased by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight of hand and going after programs President Barack Obama had targeted anyway. . . .
Many of the cuts appear to have been cuts in name only, because they came from programs that had unspent funds.
For example, $1.7 billion left over from the 2010 census; $3.5 billion in unused children’s health insurance funds; $2.2 billion in subsidies for health insurance co-ops (that’s something the president’s new health care law is going to fund anyway); and $2.5 billion from highway programs that can’t be spent because of restrictions set by other legislation.

As I said — while all the “smart” guys were popping champagne corks — the main question of the budget deal was “how many magic beans Boehner got for the family cow.”

And now we have the answer: Not enough.

UPDATE: “Mark Levin was right!” As usual.

This Reminds Me of Stalingrad

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Earlier this afternoon, I remarked on Twitter how wonderful the Battle of Stalingrad was. Nazis killing Commies and Commies killing Nazis — killing each other by the thousands, day after day, week after week, for months on end.

It was a win-win, and the only sad thing is that the battle ended before every last one of those totalitarian bastards got killed.

Same deal with the dipsticks who are now suing HuffPo:

Today, a group of bloggers led by union organizer and journalist Jonathan Tasini filed a class-action suit against the Huffington Post, founder Arianna Huffington, and AOL, which acquired the news-and-blogs site in February.
Tasini, the lead plaintiff, has been a blogger for Huffpo since December 2005, when the site was just seven months old. According to his blogger page, however, he stopped posting on February 10, three days after the purchase of the site by AOL was announced.

There is no bad outcome possible. Either:

A. HuffPo is required to fork over millions of dollars to these crybaby free-bloggers; or

B. The crybaby free-bloggers, who are all a bunch of left-wing idiots, get screwed raw.

What’s not to like here? Legally, I don’t think the crybabies have a leg to stand on, but at least they’re forcing HuffPo to hire lawyers to defend against this nuisance suit. And while I think HuffPo will ultimately prevail — where’s the fine-print contractual agreement that obligates anybody to pay a dime to these free-blogging losers? — the biggest payoff will be in disabusing ex-HuffPosters of their idealistic notions that they were part of a  “progressive community.” Here’s my message to the HuffPo crybabies: Continue reading This Reminds Me of Stalingrad →

Pregnant Portman Quits Veganism (Insert Puerile ‘Meat’ Double Entendre Here)

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A radical alteration in the delicate ballet of her diet!

Let not meat protein cross these lips!

Natalie Portman made the incredible shift from full-on vegan, which metamorphosis occurred in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals, to the far more widespread practice of vegetarianism:

“I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff,” she said during a Monday phone interview with the Q100 Bert Show in Atlanta. “I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy and that sort of stuff.”
“I know there are people who do stay vegan,” she added, “but I think you have to just be careful, watch your iron levels and your B12 levels and supplement those if there are things you might be low in in your diet.”

“She don’t eat meat but she sure like the bone!”

We are obliged to remind readers that today is the one-year anniversary of the notorious KFC “Double Down” sandwich.

This post began, BTW, with me urging it upon Smitty as a worthwhile blog topic. He worked dutifully on the post, and is responsible for the obscure punk-rock “New Age Girl” reference, but eventually abandoned the collaborative project after (a) he experienced a crisis of conscience due to his own wife’s gravid condition, (b) he reminded me he is deployed in Afghanistan with less-than-ideal bandwidth, and (c) I kept pestering him to add a specific reference:


So this post is kind of a global intercontinental joint collaboration — a complete clusterfark — and yet, I believe, still ‘Lanche-worthy because:

BACON: IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO?