"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
. . . and he approved this message:
Notice the reference to “Ellen” — that’s Ellen Carmichael, Cain’s communications director. She’s often told me how much she enjoys working for him because he’s so optimistic and cheerful. Here you see him talking about growing up during segregation, without any hint of bitterness or resentment. Heck, he’s laughing about it.
Little Miss Attila says “I like this guy.” She should join the grassroots online army at Citizens for Cain. And you should, too.
by Smitty
Troglopundit links an article in the National Journal making the claim that
a solid majority of political operatives — 59 percent — said the public didn’t “know enough about the issues facing Washington to form wise opinions about what should be done.”
Political positions are about leadership. I’ll cite the Stockdale Leadership Model: a leader is a moralist, jurist philosopher, steward, and teacher. Leaders acquire and broadcast knowledge. They point in a direction, navigate via a moral compass, and articulate to those who will soon succeed them why, in the near term, the bad guys can appear to win.
Certainly, some aspects of the government have a great deal of history to them, and have acquired complexity. Yet, real leadership would seek to minimize that, both to make it easier to manage in the here and now, and for the next generation to assume the watch.
As we’re collapsing into an Imperial Executive and a Divine Government, officeholders are instead becoming a ‘priesthood’. Laws pile upon laws with intent to obscure. I can’t find the quote, but I seem to recall it was Sowell, mentioning that it took 2,000+ pages of ObamaCare to describe how it was going to be unfair to people. Precisely the antithesis of the purpose of law and government.
News flash for you self-aggrandizing Ruling Class creeps: you will continue to be peacefully opposed by liberty-loving Americans, who will continue to communicate and resist you. It’s common sense, it’s patriotism, it’s the knowledge that the fools who have created this contemporary crisis are incapable of doing anything but worsen it. The Ruling Class are so generally Gollum-like in their twistedness as to be incapable of redemption short of an overt act of God. We can pray for them, but these ‘priests’ are not leaders and therefore should not be followed.
TOP NEWS
NATO Takes Over Command & Control Of No-Fly Zone
Not agreed yet re: taking on broader responsibilities from UNSC
Reactor Core May Be Breached At Fukushima Plant
Radioactive water to be drained from No. 3 unit
Air Traffic Controller Tested For Drugs, Suspended After Sleeping On The Job
FAA declines to confirm testing or comment on results
POLITICS
Hispanics Surge To New High: 50 Million
Hispanics also made up over half the nation’s population growth
California Site For “Maternity Tourists” Shut Down (Video)
Romney Hits Road To Target Big Contributors
Union Bill Ruling Moves On To Wisc. Supreme Court
Texas Beauty Queen Wins Back Her Crown
Bachmann Tests Support In Iowa For 2012 Candidacy
Boehner Faces Tea Party Pressure On Budget
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Fed’s Clash with Bank Of America Raises Questions
USPS Announces Sweeping Job Cuts, District Office Closures
Euro Heads For Second Weekly Advance Vs. Yen
Forecast Glum On Global Auto Output
US Stocks Close Higher As Earnings, Outlooks Boost Tech
Comodo CEO: Fake SSL Certificate Incident Highlights Flaws In DNS
Research In Motion 4Q Profit Beats Forecast, Outlook Falls Short
Forrester CEO Predicts Apple Will Eclipse HP, IBM
SPORTS
UConn Men Beat Aztecs 74-67 In Sweet 16 Action
Walker leads and makes Huskies believe
In The End, Too Many Pieces Missing For Jimmer Fredette Finale
Loss At Houston Clinches Warriors’ Third Straight Losing Season
Illusion Of Big East Dominance Takes Hit In Tournament
Sacramento Mayor Says Kings’ Relocation Like Slow Death
Arizona Announces Arrival With Second-Half Demolition Of Duke
Penguins Beat Punchless Flyers In Shootout
Steroids Expert Testifies At Bonds Trial
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
This Week’s EW Cover: Robert Pattinson Moves Beyond “Twilight”
Pattinson dishes on Reese Witherspoon, annoying vampire contacts, and more
“Real Housewives Of DC” Second Season Vetoed?
Whoopi Admits To Toking Up, Being Completely Stoned During 1981 Oscar
What’s her excuse these days?
Rachael Ray Cooked Her Dog?!?!
ABC Orders “Dancing” Duo Lacey & Mike To Turn Down The Heat
George Lopez Compares Kirstie Alley To A Pig
Showtime Developing Comedy Series Adaptation Of “Chew” Comic
“Sucker Punch” Ladies Shine On Red Carpet
FOREIGNERS
Portugal’s Crisis Bad Timing For EU Summit (Video)
Syria’s Regime Forced To Offer Concessions
Yemen Security Forces Brace For Mass Protest
Northeast Burma Struck By Powerful Quake
Ivory Coast Neighbors Urge Tougher UN Stance
EU Nuclear Fight Spills Over To Leaders’ Summit
BLOGS & STUFF
Cubachi: Michele Bachmann Forms Exploratory Committee
Lee Stranahan: Why I’m Quitting Blogging At HuffPo
Legal Insurrection: WI Court Of Appeals Refuses To Rule On TRO, Sends Case On To State Supreme Court
Weasel Zippers: GE Makes $14.2 Billion Profit, Gets $3.2 Billion Tax Credit
Flopping Aces: Krauthammer Says Obama’s “Working On Language That Will Disguise A Failure”
Peter Suderman: Space Waste
Camille Paglia: Liz Taylor “A Luscious, Opulent, Ripe Fruit!”
— compiled by Wombat-socho
by Smitty
Fausta was one of the bazillion bloggers mocking the verbal ‘wardrobe malfunction’ of the year week day. It was a sideshow on Twitter, where I got faved by a couple of people for this effort:
More at The Sundries Shack.
Oh, wait, a breaking terminology update:
a time-limited, scope-limited military action
is the new Kinetic Military Action. TLSLMA. That’s Like Saying Lying Makes Amends.
In this particular kerfuffle, as with the Obama Administration as a whole, the lesson is “Never send an academic to do a job requiring leadership.”
by Smitty
Gateway Pundit links a NewsOK story:
A state senator today blasted a firefighter union television advertisement as “horrific and tasteless” for using images of the Oklahoma City bombing to make a case against his bill.
The advertisement by the International Association of Firefighters began airing today.
The first line of the ad:
“Firefighters and paramedics are sworn to saving lives and protecting property.”
Now, ‘protecting property’ could be construed to mean ‘protecting the value of the property’ without a lot of mental gymnastics. So how does that work, if the funding model for the union benefits bankrupts the community?
A public sector union is a mutiny, and merits all the affection afforded such.
This is going to work out real smooth:
Four branches of the military have begun sending training material to 2.2 million active and reserve troops as a prelude to opening the ranks to gays, with instructions on, for example, what to do if an officer sees two male Marines kissing in a shopping mall.
Key themes are that sexual orientation will no longer be a bar to service, that all service members must respect each other, and that the partners of gay troops will not receive the benefits of heterosexual spouses.
“We are going to make [gay ban] repeal training expeditiously,” said Maj. Joel Harper, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon. “It’s great training.” . . .
The Marine Corps, which a Pentagon survey found holds deep opposition to lifting the ban, plans to publicly release its training material April 1. A Marine source provided copies to The Washington Times.
The vignette about seeing two male Marines kissing is part of a list of scenarios to help instructors prepare commanders for incidents likely to arise.
“Situation,” it begins. “You are the Executive Officer of your unit. While shopping at the local mall over the weekend, you observe two junior male Marines in appropriate civilian attire assigned to your unit kissing and hugging in the food court.
“Issue: Standards of Conduct. Is this within standards of personal and professional conduct?”
I predict Smitty’s head will explode.
Smitty
Oh no, things are going swimmingly here in ScentCOM, as the Brits are far ahead of us on the downward spiral. We are, however, chasing their tail for some of that hot, kinetic military action, IYKWIMAITYD, NTTAWWT, PDTMY*:
*Please Don’t Tell My My Wife
by Smitty
Why is it that Republicans tend to favor policies that reduce voter registration, while Democrats do the opposite? The Texas House passed a bill, supported by Governor Rick Perry…requiring photo ID, and it is likely to hurt minority voter turnout.
Once upon a time, I used to think there was some sincere argument here. Now I recognize this as your typical Lefty intellectual judo. Who is buried in Grant’s tomb? All you have to do is introduce uncertainty, and you now have a ‘problem’ to set about solving.
Lets rework Alan’s question: Why is it that Republicans favor policies that improve the legitimacy of elections?
Answer: because legitimate elections are foundational to legitimate government, you knob!
by Smitty (h/t Tatler)
Yes, the Westboro Baptist Church – the Kansas-based organization with a history of holding controversial and politically inflammatory protests – has announced that its members plan to picket the star’s funeral, according to reports.
TMZ reports that Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro leader Fred Phelps, sounded off on Twitter Wednesday about the planned protest:
“RIP Elizabeth Taylor is in hell as sure as you’re reading this & getting mad as a wet hen. She should’ve obeyed God. Too late!”
Hey, Fred: if you want to follow Christ, I recommend you start by picketing precisely as many funerals as the Carpenter did.
Should those knuckleheads ever protest in Arlington, and I am home to do anything about it, I should like to muster a bunch of Christians for a flash choir to maybe breath a little love at these folks.
As for Liz: God rest the lady. I wasn’t a tremendous fan, but there’s no denying she was lovely.