The Other McCain

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

One Does Hope This Is Pure Bluff

Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

CNS News reports “Soldiers Won’t Get Paid Under Government Shutdown, Medicare Payments Would Continue, Obama Administration Determines”

Soldiers will continue to earn money but not be paid during a government shutdown, a senior Obama administration official said. 

“Military will continue to work as I described earlier,” the official said. “They will continue to earn money during this period of time. Given that we do not have any money to pay out, they will not be paid. They will not receive their paychecks until we have money again and Congress appropriates.”

Now, this is no personal threat to servicing the mortgage. However, I fear for the junior lads and lasses who haven’t glommed onto the fact that living from paycheck to paycheck, or loan to loan in the government case, is the height of stupid.
As the political situation bottoms out, this could be a long-term win, though.

  • Threatening the foundation of the military-industrial complex could lead to some much-needed soul-searching about the US National Security Strategy. By this I mean the ‘If not neo-Con, then what?’ question. If we deem the PAX AMERICANA is too dear for the wallet, then what will we do instead?
  • Messing with the troops, especially ones forward deployed, is not going to help anyone’s popularity, Legislative or Executive. This will help loosen some of the deadwood that needs removal.

While I don’t care for poker, I do play some chess, with the subtlety of a freight train. You want to bluff? I’ll trade material all day long. Bring it.

Update: linked at The Lonely Conservative.

Update II: also at The Camp of the Saints.

Category: Barack Obama

Meet a Typical Anti-American Elitist

Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 7 Comments

Her wedding was reported by the New York Times in 2006:

When they met at last, it was by transcontinental telephone in fall 2003. Ms. Akner, then working in New York as the director of education at MediaBistro, a Web site for print and electronic journalism, hired Mr. Brodesser, then a reporter for Variety in Los Angeles, to run a workshop. Their rapport was instantaneous and evolved into a four-month phone flirtation. “He was keeping me on the phone, making me giggle,” Ms. Akner said.

She hates you, does Taffy Brodesser-Akner. She hates you with a depth of contempt you cannot possibly imagine. Your wedding was never reported by the New York Times, which is certainly reason enough for her to hate you. Also, unlike Taffy Brodesser-Akner, you probably didn’t attend a university where tuition is over $40,000 a year.

And you probably vote Republican, too. You damned Americans!

Category: Intellectuals, Liberals

Insty’s Sarcasm Exceeds Caustic Level

Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Here:

I can predict that President Obama will do something that his supporters used to think was stone-cold evil and unAmerican, and most of them will be fine with it. Oh, wait, that’s already happened? Never mind, then.

I blame Fukushima radiation.

Oh, and did I mention the #Obama2012Slogans hash on Twitter? Heh:

Bonus: do not miss the Obama/Paco Debate.

And, Reid whines: Boehner’s new short-term budget proposal is a “fantasy”:

Furthermore, this is hysterically funny.

Category: Instapundit

Libya: Even the New York Times Admits the Rebels Are Militarily Hopeless

Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 5 Comments

Having spent the past several days bemoaning what a half-assed bunch the Libyan rebels are, it’s nice to see a reporter on the scene describe the extent of their half-assedness:

The rebel military, as it sometimes called, is not really a military at all. . . .
With throaty cries and weapons they have looted and scrounged, the rebels gather along Libya ‘s main coastal highway each day, ready to fight. Many of them are brave, even extraordinarily so. . . .
But by almost all measures by which a military might be assessed, they are a hapless bunch. They have almost no communication equipment. There is no visible officer or noncommissioned officer corps. Their weapons are a mishmash of hastily acquired arms, which few of them know how to use.
With only weeks of fighting experience, they lack an understanding of the fundamentals of offensive and defensive combat, or how to organize fire support. They fire recklessly and sometimes accidentally. Most of them have yet to learn how to hold seized ground, or to protect themselves from their battlefield’s persistent rocket and mortar fire, which might be done by simply digging in. . . .

Read the whole thing. It is in hope of overthrowing Moammar Qaddafi with this pathetic rabble that the Obama administration has involved the international prestige of the United States. Sigh.

What happened in Wednesday’s fighting? It’s hard to say, because the rebels have now banned reporters from the front:

Rebel soldiers refused to let civilians past the checkpoint outside the town of Ajdabiya on the road leading to the front, citing strict orders from the defected army officers who lead the opposition forces. . . .
Until now the front lines have had a carnival-like quality, with hundreds of young men, mostly unarmed, milling around, singing and chanting, and then fleeing in panic when mortars crash into the sand along the road.
But after a week in which the force has been pinned down outside a string of vital oil towns it has twice seized and lost, the core of army defectors leading the charge ordered civilians be kept away from the battle.

So as to what has transpired in the fighting near the oil port of Brega, we must rely on second-hand accounts:

Libyan rebels reported heavy fighting with the forces of Muammar Gaddafi on the Mediterranean coast road on Wednesday as both sides tried to break a stalemate in the seven-week war.
Mohamed el Masrafy, a member of a rebel special forces unit, said clashes began at 6am after Gaddafi’s forces were resupplied with ammunition and moved eastwards out of the oil port of Brega.
He told journalists after returning to the eastern town of Ajdabiyah there was heavy fighting with machineguns and other weapons.
“The rebel army is about 60 kilometres [35 miles] from here,” he said. That would put them about 20 kilometres [12 miles] from Brega, the focus of a week-long see-saw battle. Gaddafi’s forces mounted a sustained assault on Tuesday that pushed the rebels about half way back to Ajdabiyah, gateway to their stronghold of Benghazi. . . .
Hossam Ahmed, a defector from Gaddafi’s army, said the frontline was 40-60 kilometre west of Adjabiyah, saying on Tuesday’s retreat “wasn’t a full withdrawal, it’s back and forth”.

There was one report, from the Chinese press agency Xinhua, claiming Qaddafi’s forces have retreated from Brega, but that is contradicted by all other news reports online. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Qaddafi’s forces have attacked oil fields that feed the rebel-held port of Tobruk, limiting the ability of the rebels to export oil to pay for more weapons. And the continued fighting in Libya is one reason some analysts expect oil to spike as high as $150 a barrel later this year.

Higher prices? Not a bug, a feature!

Category: Libya

Vince Shlomi’s ShamWow ‘Love Slave’

Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 8 Comments

Pictured above is 23-year-old Jennifer Kosinski, a model who worked as a personal assistant for Vince Shlomi — the famous TV informercial pitch-man for ShamWow and Slap Chop — and who has now filed a federal lawsuit against her 46-year-old former boss:

Kosinski moved to Miami Beach, where she became Shlomi’s personal assistant (and lived rent-free in a spare bedroom in his $3.6 million oceanfront South Beach condominium).
Along with cleaning Shlomi’s home, shopping for his groceries, and cooking his meals, Kosinski contends that she also handled customer service responsibilities and had to attend “dinners, parties, and events with him.” For this she was paid $4500 monthly. . . .
Shlomi’s behavior, Kosinski claims, grew more “bizarre and inappropriate.” Though she made it clear that their relationship would remain platonic, Kosinski alleges that a controlling Shlomi pressured her to become romantically involved. . . .
When Kosinski rebuffed Shlomi’s advances, he allegedly called her a “b—-” and a “c—,” specifically because she “would not tell him the ‘secret formula’ that he claims existed for her to like him in a romantic manner.”

“Charlie Sheen just emailed me to say he’s going to have to up his game,” says Ace. What I don’t get is how this apparently successful guy could be such a loser in the romance department. My wife is plenty sexy, and I never even had a $3.6 million oceanfront South Beach condo.

Guess I’d better shut up, before she leaves me for the ShamWow guy.

Category: Celebrities, Scandal

‘Shut It Down and Praise the Lord’

Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 11 Comments

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that, in addition to halting IRS audits, a federal government shutdown would temporarily rid D.C. of a couple of my pet peeves.

To Hell With the Cherry Blossom Festival!

Category: Budget

LIVE AT FIVE – 04.07.11

Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 2 Comments

TOP NEWS
President Holds Late-Night Budget Talks To Avoid Shutdown

Coming back from his real job of campaigning...


White House meeting includes Senate Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Boehner


Related: Karl Rove on Obama’s Government Shutdown Gambit



Effort Begins To Head Off Gas Explosion At Fukushima Reactor
Nitrogen being injected into Unit #1

Wisconsin Supreme Court Vote Doesn’t Shake Walker’s Resolve
Governor says results only confirm that Wisconsin is a divided state



POLITICS
Number Of Non-white Children In LA Area Declines, Bucking Trend

The headcounting starts being translated into political change

“It’s no longer white flight; it’s middle-class flight,” study author says.
New Jersey Prepares New Redistricting Map In Test Of Latino Political Strength



Obama Turns To Sharpton In Effort To Woo Black Voters

Obama Promotes Energy Policy At Wind Turbine Plant

ACORN Pleads Guilty In Nevada Voter Fraud Case



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Australian Dollar Surges To New High On Jobs Bump
Enron’s Skilling Denied New Trial
Dish Network Expands Its Scope With Blockbuster Win
Most US Stocks Close Higher As Takeovers Outweigh Tech Decline
Motorola Xoom Not Zooming Off Shelves
Online Security: Bad And Getting Worse



SPORTS
Kylie Irving Going Pro Excellent News For Lottery Teams

Duke point guard could be the first choice for many teams

Guard going pro comes as a relief to GMs as many players hold off for fear of NBA lockout

Brady, Manning No-Show At Hearing Hurts Players

Rockets’ Playoff Hopes Take Devastating Blow

Howard, Phillies Lay Beatdown On Mets

Ward’s Shutout Of Red Wings Keeps Hurricanes’ Hopes Alive

Defense Rests In Barry Bonds Trial

Hernandez Takes Tough Loss For M’s As Rangers Remain Unbeaten



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Alec Baldwin Says “30 Rock” Is Ending Next Season

Alec Baldwin

Tina Fey’s contract is also up at the end of 2012, and Baldwin says she’s not coming back either. Also, she’s preggers.

Mariska Hargitay Adopts A Baby

Matt Lauer Leaving “Today Show”

MPAA Pulls “Hangover: Part II” Trailer Form Theaters

“Jersey Shore” Trip To Italy Delayed

Robert Redford Returns To Baseball As Branch Rickey In Jackie Robinson Biopic

Universal Offers Hugh Jackman Huntsman Role In Snow White Movie

Javier Bardem Closes Deal To Star In “Dark Tower” Movies, Mini-series



FOREIGNERS
NATO Accuses Gaddafi Forces Of Using Human Shields
Ouattara Forces Lay Siege To Gbagbo’s Bunker
Portugal’s Caretaker Government Seeks Bailout
Italy Bears Brunt Of Europe’s Immigration Crisis
US Says Iran Meddling In Bahrain



BLOGS & STUFF
National Review: Reid Has Tantrum On Senate Floor Over GOP Continuing Resolution
Neo-Neocon: On Ryan’s Budget, Let The Games Begin
Daily Mail: Pals Claim John Edwards Suicidal At Thought Of Jail
Yid With Lid: Saudis So Unhappy With Obama, They’re Expanding Friendships With PRC, Russia
American Power: Bachmann Says, “We Have A Very Strong Opportunity To Make Obama A One-Term President”


— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

Big Gov. Notes The Anniversary Of WWI Declaration Of War Against Germany

Posted on | April 6, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

So we declared war on Germany 94 years ago today. My question to the blogs at large is this: does the fact that we no longer declare any sort of proper war have any impact on the fact that we never get around to peace, either? Discuss.
Theo Spark takes you back to a ‘prayer siren’ from 1918. Thankfully, the ACLU would stop that noise post haste.

Category: History
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