The Other McCain

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

New Motherf–g Tone Update: ‘A Sense of Entitlement That Leads to Criminality’ UPDATE: Althouse Cyberstalker Says ‘Forced to Commit Identity Suicide’

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 58 Comments

UPDATE 10:55 p.m.: The terroristic screed against University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse was posted on a Web account of Madison resident Jim Shankman. In a Facebook status update about 9 p.m. this evening, Shankman wrote:

Because of a right-blogosphere campaign to silence me, I have been forced to commit Identity Suicide. I have never supported or advocated violence for any purpose other than self-defense against terror attacks by the armed wing of the American Right….

A “campaign to silence” you, Jim? And what was your obscenity-filled rant against Professor Althouse?

What’s that? You’ll have to speak up, Jim. We can’t hear you for all those crickets chirping. (Hat-tip: Sarah W.)

UPDATE 12:15 a.m ET Friday: The Underground Conservative has info on the Madison “housing cooperative” associated with Shankman.

Linked by Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit and Bryan Preston at PJ Tatler — thanks! One of the lessons here, by the way, goes back to the outing of anti-Palin blogger Jesse Griffin: You can blog anything you want, under any name you want, but if you think you can do attack-blogging anonymously, you’d better think twice. All it took was one e-mail tip that “Gryphen” was Griffin — a kindergarten teaching assistant — and as fast as you could say, “screen-cap those archives,” it was over.

Speaking of which: Just got off the phone with Dan Riehl, who just got off the phone with Shankman.

PREVIOUSLY (6:39 p.m. ET):

The quoted phrase in the headline is from Professor Glenn Reynolds, reacting to the terroristic screed that someone in Madison, Wisconsin, unleashed against Professor Ann Althouse.

By all means, please go read the whole thing and then tell me that the rhetoric of “workers’ rights” is not a discourse of hateful envy that poisons the souls of young people who succumb to its siren song.

We have seen this before in American history. The lesson is a bit too close to home — and a bit too fresh in memory — for me to let it pass unmentioned.  The privileged never surrender privilege willingly. They employ demagogic appeals to rally others to their self-interested “cause” by demonizing those who dare challenge them. And if someone gets hurt in the process, if some of those duped by the demagoguery decide to turn wrathful words into violent deeds . . .

Madison has become the Neshoba County, Mississippi, of this season. “Workers’ rights” is the Jim Crow of 2011 and government-employee unions are the new Klan.

Yeah. I wrote that. And put it on the Internet.

The New Tone: Because It’s Not ‘Hate’ When Liberals Do It!

UPDATE: Bryan Preston explains why it’s difficult for Althouse to bring this case to the police:

All it will take is one officer involved in the case who is a bit more of a union man than an police officer, and you have a potential problem.

Hmmm. Another parallel to Neshoba County, you see: Because the sheriff’s department there in 1964 included Klan members, the law protected the lawless and no one would protect the innocent. Maybe someone should bring in the U.S. Department of Justice and . . .

Oh, wait. Never mind. Bobby Kennedy, he ain’t.

UPDATE II: The Underground Conservative asserts that the author of the anti-Althouse manifesto is Jim Shankman. And I’d expect online research maestro Dan Riehl is going to have much, much more to tell us about Mr. Shankman.

UPDATE III: Linked by Dad29 — thanks! By the way, Dad29’s reference to Mississippi Burning reminds me of how much I hated that movie, which oversimplified the actual story to turn it into a moralistic melodrama. A native Atlantan of Alabama ancestry, I’ve spent my whole life under the stereotypical shadow of movies like Mississippi Burning and Deliverance. But if you complain about such media distortions, you’ll next be accused of being pro-lynching and here’s never an end to it.

UPDATE IV: Underground Conservative has a photo of Shankman and his friend, Anna Louise Ogden-Nussbaum. While I have not independently verified the ID of Shankman as the author of that screed, there is certainly evidence that Shankman and Odgen-Nussbaum are lefties. On March 11, Ogden-Nussbaum posted a thank-you on a Facebook link about calls for a “general strike” in Wisconsin.

UPDATE V: Death threats against a Republican state senator in Wisconsin.

UPDATE VI: Ogden-Nussaum’s leftist leanings can be seen in a December 2002 story in the Madison Capital Times about more than 500 local residents who signed a “Not in Our Name” ad against the Iraq war. Here is a January 2003 press release from “Not in Our Name” Madison. In case you didn’t know, “Not in Our Name” is an anti-war front group established by Clark Kissinger, ex-SDS national leader and member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a Maoist sect.

UPDATE VII: More info: Shankman and Ogden-Nussbaum are evidently co-proprietors of a Web site called “Free University of the General Strike.” The concept of the “general strike” (and the allied concept of “direct action”) are associated with anarcho-syndicalism, the chief U.S. proponents of which were the IWW.

So it seems that what we’ve got here is a couple of 21st-century Wobblies.

The mind reels . . .

UPDATE VIII: If this terroristic screed results in criminal charges against Ogden-Nussbaum, she could beat the rap with an insanity plea. Madison Capital Times, Aug. 30, 2004:

Anna Ogden-Nussbaum took part in one of the protests that produced many arrests. She rode her bicycle in a “Critical Mass ride” opposing the Republican National Convention and was detained with more than 200 others, her mother, Jenie Ogden, said in Madison this morning.
Ogden said that her daughter, who turned 21 when while being held in a lockup in lower Manhattan, was charged with disorderly conduct and parading without a permit.

“Your honor, my client cannot be held responsible for her actions. She was clearly experiencing an acute episode of Post-Traumatic Bush Derangement Syndrome . . .”

UPDATE IX: Ogden-Nussbaum’s mother is also a kook lefty. Anna’s lawyer can use this as evidence of hereditary moonbatitis.

Linked by The Lonely Conservative and at Piece of Work in Progress — thanks! Memeorandum has more, including the Volokh Conspiracy.


Category: Ann Althouse, History, Instapundit, Unions, Wisconsin

I Wonder How Uncle Jimbo Really Feels About Rep. Lynne Woolsey

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

Uncle Jimbo at BlackFive:

Good lord there are far too many dim-witted buffoons in Congress to actually catalog, but Rep. Lynne Woolsey wins the Daily Douchebag award for this asininity.

“General Petraeus is giving us the Charlie Sheen counter-insurgency strategy, which is to give exclusive interviews to every major network, and to keep saying ‘we’re winning’ and hope the public actually agrees with you.”

I cannot even begin to imagine the blistering, mind and soul-crushing pain he must experience when he has to sit on front of these ultra-maroons and pretend to give one rat’s ass what they say. He knows they will ignore what he says and simply grandstand for the media in order to spit up brain-dead quotes such as this. Hey Lynn, Uncle J’s got something for ya’,

Petraeus- Warrior, Philosopher, Patriot

Sheen- Drug-addled, Adolescent, Ass Clown

oh and while we’re at it, why don’t you have a big heaping cup of STFU!

From TFA:

Woolsey complained specifically that while the July withdrawal date is rapidly approaching, Petraeus has offered only “bland and tone-deaf talking points” on how this might happen. Woolsey also said she does not see any sign that a massive troop redeployment is about to happen, and noted that officials appear to be walking back that timeline.

I’ll add that the General truly is following orders, and that specific complaints should be directed at the SecDef and POTUS.
When discussing our Ruling Class Overlords, however, Knopfler applies:

American Glob has more.
The BlogProf has video.

Update: Michelle Malkin calls her “Capitol Hill’s Lindsay Lohan”. Ow.

Category: Aghanistan, Blogging, Michelle Malkin

Dan Collins Should Be Linked, And Often, And By Someone Who Knows How

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 3 Comments

Please go visit Dan’s blog Piece of Work in Progress immediately and, if the spirit generosity should coincide with a few bucks in your account, hit that man’s tip jar.

My conscience was seared today when I recognized that I had failed to link Dan often enough. There was a blinding flash of recognition when someone sent me an e-mail with the subject line, “Best Rule 5 post ever.” Naturally, this intrigued me, and when I opened the e-mail, I saw it was a link to a post at Dan’s blog, the title of which I hesitate to repeat here.

Obviously, the state of traffic at Dan’s blog has reached crisis level — this was a cry for help, dear brothers and sisters — and we must do all we can to aid our brother in distress.

GO VISIT PIECE OF WORK IN PROGRESS NOW!

UPDATE: As always when these Rule-5-Gone-Amok cases arise, I blame myself. Grant that my own employment of the rule has sometimes crossed over the line separating Have-Another-Slice-of-Cheesecake from the realm of the Arguably Creeptastic.

That’s OK. My reputation is already so toxic anyway, there’s not really any harm left to do. But I feel bad when a genuinely good and decent person like Dan Collins finds himself in a traffic-trough and, succumbing to Blogger Mood Disorder, does a Rule 5 that offends someone I’m sure he did not mean to offend.

This would never have happened if I’d been linking Dan as often as I should. Mea culpa. Mea magna culpa.

GO VISIT PIECE OF WORK IN PROGRESS NOW!

UPDATE II: Instapundit reminds us that Dan is doing a soft-sell bleg, and you should not be put off by Dan’s protestations that he is unworthy of your generosity. Like Dan, I’ve contributed to the Japanese relief effort, and encouraged others to do the same, just as I have also called attention to the disappearance of Marizela Perez. But bloggers must also pay their bills or else they can’t keep blogging, and so I join Professor Reynolds in urging you to go feed the Kraken!

Category: Piece of Work in Progress, Rule 5

Media Decides to Be the Decider

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 5 Comments

So, after a couple hours offline, I return to the computer, check Memorandum, and see headlines like these:

What’s going on here is that (a) the liberal media are once again trying to tell the Republican Party what to do, and (b) some Republicans — including a celebrity millionaire trying to promote his reality-TV career — are playing along with this game.

As a conservative, being able to think clearly about politics requires an enormous effort to see through the layers of tendentious bovine excrement smeared across the public mind. Understand, for example:

  • Members of Congress are fully authorized to vote their consciences without regard for how their votes would be portrayed by a hostile press.
  • When a reporter asks a question, “no comment” is an acceptable response.
  • Anonymous “insiders” are a dime a dozen in politics, and every time you see an anonymous source quoted in a story, you have every right to ask yourself, “What’s his agenda? What’s in it for him? Whose ox is this anonymous source trying to gore?”
  • Polls taken many months in advance of an election are a dubious predictor of the actual result, otherwise Charlie Crist would be a Republican senator and Martha Coakley would be a Democratic senator.

I’m not saying that people should ignore the news. I’m saying that people need to keep in mind that the media have their own agendas ( including trying to gin up readership and TV viewership) and that this imposes on news-consumers the burden of ignoring the hype and spin to find the actual facts buried beneath the bovine excrement.

And Republicans who try to advance their own narrow interests by playing along with the liberal media’s game — to the general detriment of the conservative cause — do not deserve admiration as “leaders.”

Category: Election 2012, John Boehner, Media Bias, Polls, Sarah Palin

Not The Time To Go Wobbly In Wisconsin

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Lefty poll blog Swing State Project says that three Republican State Senators are in trouble against a generic Democrat.
It would be great to have confidence that the blogging prowess of Ann Althouse, as well as the bloviations of the TrogloPundit and Grandpa John could be counted upon to avert disaster.
But the Union Zombie Apocalypse ain’t bean bag:

union_zombie_apocalypse_are_you_ready

Union Zombie Apocalypse: things are worse than simple halitosis


(Image mooched from Ideas Den)
More at Legal Insurrection.

Category: Troglopundit, Wisconsin

Cubachi Assesses Sarah Palin’s Trip To Israel As A ‘Run’ Indication

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

So what do I make of this visit? It’s a sign that she is running for 2012, and that she wants to reaffirm her commitment to Israel. It’s nice to see that we have some political leaders that recognize the importance of Israel. A very nice contrast to the current Commander-in-Chief.

My points are:

  • She’s not not thinking about a run.
  • The Lefty head ‘splosions are already at critical mass. Very critical. Yet so very, very entertaining.
  • I hope any final announcement pertaining to 2012 comes at the last possible moment. Suspense is its own pleasure.
  • Getting a President with some principles is the crucial thing about 2012. Whether that principled public servant is Sarah or not is simply less important.
  • As noted elsewhere, I’m arriving at the suspicion that the ‘bad cop’ negative feedback from the Pundit Priesthood (Will, Krauthammer, Brooks, &c) is as much a reverse psychology play as anything.
  • Her ongoing non-commitment to campaign orthodoxy is curious. I’ve bought both her books, but hope that she really throws down the gauntlet in the form of a comprehensive, well-founded plan to cure the Progressive disease and restore fiscal sanity. Rep. Paul Ryan, the legislative equivalent of John the Baptist, has a fine (and unique) going-in position.
Category: Blogging, Sarah Palin

Two Michigan Democrats Face Felony Charges in Fake ‘Tea Party’ Ballot Fraud

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 1 Comment

Not just a scam, but an inept scam:

Two former leaders of the Oakland County Democratic Party are facing a total of nine felonies for allegedly forging election paperwork to get fake Tea Party candidates on November’s ballot. . . .
Former Oakland County Democratic Chair Mike McGuinness and former Democratic Operations Director Jason Bauer face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
“Some of the people didn’t even know they were on the ballot till they began receiving delinquency notices of filings that were required as a candidate,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
The sheriff says 23 statewide races had questionable Tea Party candidates on the ballot and the investigation may go beyond Oakland County.
“It was learned that a scheme was developed by a party leader in Lansing to place on the ballot people pretending to be Tea Party activists and that this was going to be a statewide effort,” Bouchard said.

Democrats in several states did similar things. “Independent” candidates had an interesting way of popping up in key Massachusetts congressional races, as I recall. But apparently these Michigan Democrats were so careless they actually broke the law.

Category: Corruption, Democrats, Election, Michigan

‘Mississippification’

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 7 Comments

Matthew Yglesias tries to get his mind around a phenomenon I first analyzed on the basis of 2000 exit-poll data: The greater the non-white population, the greater the tendency of whites to vote Republican.

Much as I’d love to reproduce that analysis here, it was done on an old computer that long ago went kaput. But to summarize briefly: On average, the higher the percentage of a state’s population that is black, the more likely whites were to prefer Bush over Gore.

The correlation wasn’t exact, of course. For example, whites in many western states (Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, etc.) also showed a strong Bush preference, although those states have very small non-white populations. But the states with the strongest Bush preferences among white voters were Mississippi and South Carolina (both more than 30 percent black), whereas Gore easily won the white vote in pure-vanilla places like Vermont.

Based on the astonishing strength of GOP identification among white voters in Mississippi — where white Democrats are an endangered species — I dubbed this phenomenon “Mississippification.”

The Left will explain this by a single word with five A’s, of course. But the demographic trends simply are what they are and, interestingly enough, blacks were also more likely to vote Republican in Southern states.

Based on his own analysis of the 2000 vote, Steve Sailer notoriously declared that the key to future GOP success was to increase its share of the white vote. I say “notorious,” because certain neo-cons had a conniption over that article.

As a statistical proposition, however, you could compare exit-poll data from 2004 — the peak year of Bushism — with the GOP wipeouts of 2006 and 2008 and see it was the shift of white voters toward Democrats that made the big difference. And white voters shifted sharply back toward Republicans in 2010, the best GOP mid-term performance since 1949, leading Sailer to declare this a vindication of the “Unmentionable Sailer Strategy.”

Category: Polls
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