The Other McCain

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

‘Stacy Threw Out Fake Statistics
That Portray a Skewed Reality’

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 17 Comments

Q. Do you consider yourself a feminist, or not?

Yes . . . . 24%

No . . . . 70%

CBS News Poll, Oct. 23, 2004

This post originally continued with an on-point response to Little Miss Attila’s assertion in the comments that I “threw out fake statistics,” but then I woke up at 1 a.m. and changed my mind.

Because this isn’t about me.

So what you’re reading now is something I wrote at 1 a.m. after taking out all the penetrating analysis I’d compiled in response to Atilla’s previous “citation, please” provocation.

Look: The post-9/11 coalition attracted many disparate elements, including Feminists Against Getting Blown to Smithereens by Guys Named Mohammed, a cadre not necessarily coterminous with Feminists Who Think John Kerry Is a Laughable Douchebag.

Now we’ve moved forward, new issues have arisen, and the coalition has also changed. Yet there is still room in the big tent for Feminists Against Massive Deficit Spending and, also, Feminists Who Think Nancy Pelosi Is Suffering From Botox-Induced Brain Damage.

Therefore I’m reconsidering whether I should bother to fight this thing through to a glorious victory merely because I’m 100% right and she’s 100% wrong.

More important things to do right now.

But I’m gonna be keeping an eye on these can’t-let-go-of-the-feminist-label women, because their deviationist tendencies could betoken a philosophical unsoundness, one that might eventually prove dangerous.

After all, we remember what happened to the famed post-9/11 Coalition of Pony-Tailed Bicycle-Riding Jazz Guitarists Against Radical Jihad.

And now . . . The Little Miss Attila National Anthem:

But we close with . . . The Other McCain National Anthem:

Category: Feminism, Little Miss Attila, Polls

Wombat Down!

Posted on | March 17, 2011 | 16 Comments

We apologize for the absence of the usual “Live at Five” feature that goes up at 5 a.m. Monday through Friday. Between his demanding day job and various offline hassles, Wombat’s worked himself into a state of exhaustion during the past week. So at about 9 p.m. Wednesday night, he sent an e-mail saying he was going to take some Tylenol and sleep for about 12 hours. While praying for his swift recovery, a partial rundown of the top news:

U.S. Officials Alarmed By Japanese Handling of Nuclear Crisis

U.S. seeking evacuations from Japan  — The official government position is now, “PANIC!”

Hillary Clinton won’t serve second term — Somebody else will have to wear the red nose and floppy shoes at Obama’s State Department.

Washington Post apologizes for plagiarized articles — Editors knew something was wrong; the articles were suspiciously factual.

Jodie Foster declares ‘love’ for Mel Gibson (but probably not that way).

John Hinckley vows to kill Mel Gibson — These are the jokes, people. Surely you didn’t expect me to resist a punchline opportunity like that, did you?

My 8-Year-Old Daughter’s Favorite Jonas Brother Attempts Solo Career — That would be Joe, of course.

Wall Street in Meltdown Over Japanese Crisis

Adrienne’s Catholic Corner has been enjoying the recent blog war over “feminism.”

Ace of Spades is all over the GOP budget wars.

Jimmie Bise Jr. was on a conference call with my 12-year-old son’s favorite presidential candidate — That would be Herman Cain, of course.

And, our final update: Charlie Sheen Is Still Crazy.

You see how lame is my attempt to compile a daily morning round-up. Not nearly up to the usual “Live at Five” standards, and at least one joke bad enough for Gilbert Gottfried. So we certainly hope for Wombat’s immediate recuperation.

Category: Live at Five

Define ‘Hate Group’

Posted on | March 16, 2011 | 16 Comments

Also, define “secretly funneled,” because I’m having a little trouble with Josh Dorner’s Think Progress headline:

Newt Gingrich Secretly Funneled $350,000
To Anti-Gay Hate Groups Last Year

Except, of course, that there wasn’t anything “secret” about the “funneling”: It was duly reported as required by law and, as Think Progress itself notes, Gingrich was outspoken in his support of the effort “to oust three of the nine Iowa Supreme Court justices” who had voted to mandate same-sex marriage in that state.

Is it “hate” to oppose same-sex marriage?

Then welcome to the Hater Majority, Newt!

Category: Election 2012, Gays, Iowa, Newt Gingrich

It’s the New Motherf–ing Tone!

Posted on | March 16, 2011 | 8 Comments

A spontaneous orchestrated outbreak of civility in Tennessee:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Seven union supporters were arrested and charged following an outburst inside a Senate Committee Hearing.
Troopers at the Tennessee Capitol had to forcibly carry out the protestors who were among a group who stood up during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday and began chants about what they called “union busting” by the state Legislature.
Most demonstrators left the hearing room after about 30 minutes, but a small group tried to lock arms to keep from being removed.
“I see civil disobedience as an obligation that we have when we see injustices in the world,” said protester Jared Story.

And who gets to decide which “injustices” oblige us to disrupt legislative proceedings? Because I considered it an “injustice” when the administration screwed over GM’s private bond-holders to give the UAW a bigger slice of the company.

Never mind: Somebody’s shooting at Republicans in D.C. Civility!

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

Category: Mary Katharine Ham, Tennessee, Unions

‘Other’? I Mean, Really? ‘Other’?

Posted on | March 16, 2011 | 13 Comments

Greg at Rhymes with Right took an online questionnaire and discovered that, under “gender,” the choices were “male,” “female” and “other,” with a blank available for the ambiguous respondent to fill in . . . ??

Insert punchline here.

My own objection is to the use of “gender” instead of “sex.” As an old editor of mine often said, “People have sex. French nouns have gender.” But the grammatical is now the political, I suppose.

Speaking of ambiguity, while I’m not fighting the Great Feminism War today — after yesterday’s massive barrage, the troops need a day to rest, refit and reload — Da Tech Guy weighs in and tries to get into the middle betwixt Attila and me.

But there can be no middle ground. Either my argument is right, or it’s “oversimplified fiddle faddle.”

We’re in a Sharks-and-Jets situation, and when you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette . . .

“Citation, please?” Dan Collins: “Talk to the claw.”

 Thanks to tip-jar hitters Steve in Grand Rapids, Jack in Oklahoma City, and John in Virginia who includes this note: “All right! I give up. If you write about feminism, I’ll respect you in the morning!”

Clearly, then, some readers appreciate my tremendous sacrifice in re-reading Susan Brownmiller (so you don’t have to). Now I’m re-reading Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Hit the tip jar, brothers. And be ready for the next barrage.

Category: Da Tech Guy, Feminism, Little Miss Attila, Protein Wisdom, Sex

Guilty Twitter Pleasures

Posted on | March 16, 2011 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

While I didn’t work much on my project tonight, I did see that IowaHawk served up something suitably serious for the POTUS March Madness Moment.
This appears to have led to an Obama’s Bracket hash tag on twitter, to which I contributed the following:

Stop the spread of malaria!


Twitter hashes: your sophomoric outlet. Twice as good with TweetDeck, Stacy.

Category: Uncategorized

Anyone Else Shocked That One Election Didn’t Magically Fix Everything?

Posted on | March 16, 2011 | 15 Comments

by Smitty

Insty links the Examiner about the Dems being Muhammed Ali, letting the GOP wear themselves out before delivering a knockout. I don’t think the analogy has much going for it. The Progressive position itself looks more like this old Harry Reid pose behind Rep. Sonny Bono (R-IP)

harry_reid_in_fighting_trim

Sonny Bono and Harry Reid, an immortal combination


The 2010 election has been called a restraining order. As a squid, I am bound by character to point out that the ship of state has been cruising with left standard rudder on for, oh, a century. We’re way off Constitutional course. 2010 really didn’t give us rudder amidships, much less anything right of center. We’re still set to stack up on Socialist shoals.

The ones that hate our guts are betting on a lack of will/attention span/commitment to liberty from the Tea Partiers. That’s why they continue to piss down the public back while rejoicing in the precipitation. I, for one, hope that HotAir publishes a book with a title along the lines of “Obamaturisms: a Cacaphony of Cock-Ups” next spring, to celebrate three complete years of the Mad Ass-Hatter on parade. Such a tome, annotated with historical ties to the preceding century, would be a helpful reminder to the electorate that This. Crap. Must. Halt. Conservatives need to double down in their efforts both to reform the GOP and to convince the Left that their ideas are as desirable in contemporary America as those of the Loyalists during the Revolutionary War.

Category: Election 2012, Uncategorized

Atlantic Crossing

Posted on | March 16, 2011 | 5 Comments

Trans-Atlantic cosmopolitan Hadley Freeman, who apparently hops back and forth between Manhattan and Ye Merry Olde, offers what she describes as an ironic contrast:

The British approach to dating could easily be described as “chaotic” to the point of non-existent. I, however, see it as a decidedly just, nay, DEMOCRATIC state of affairs: you go to a party, you get drunk, you go home with someone, and the next day you either move in with them or you never speak to them again. It’s such a free-for-all kind of approach; one that would have made the founding fathers proud.
In New York City, the alleged hub of dating, the whole dating farrago is freighted with so many rules that Jane Austen would bang her head against the parsonage wall and snap her little bit of ivory in half.

(Hat-tip: Roger Ebert, of all people.) Freeman goes on to describe the too-timid-for-her-tastes ritual of the men she’s recently met in Manhattan. As to her notion that the Founding Fathers would have been proud of the “free-for-all kind of approach,” I’m rather dubious.

Her description of British dating habits, however, reminds me of something Rod Stewart once said when he was dating an international supermodel. (Of course, Rod’s always dating an international supermodel, but I digress …) The singer was asked if he contemplated marriage with the long-legged lady and replied (in effect), “If she gets pregnant, we’ll get married.”

Which is a sort of old-fashioned working-class attitude toward such things, and that which is old-fashioned is always in some sense conservative.

Of course, the association of marriage and parenthood is conservative. We may disapprove of Rod Stewart’s multiple divorces, but his try-try-again approach could be seen as representing a veneration of the conjugal institution. And he certainly has shown an enthusiasm for fatherhood. Last month, Stewart and wife No. 3 welcomed a baby son, Aiden, his second son by her, and his eighth child in total, including 47-year-old Sarah Streeter. At age 66, however, Stewart admits the experience of fatherhood leaves him “bloody exhausted.”

Social conservatives aren’t likely to adopt Rod Stewart as a family-values role model, but the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous do offer an opportunity to discuss the “sexual scripts” that are the subject of Rebecca Hagelin’s latest Townhall column:

A new book, Premarital Sex in America, by Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker . . . offers compelling research on the influences and decisions that lead to premarital sex—or virginity—among older adolescents and young adults. . . .
“[S]exual scripts” within a person’s social community strongly influence his or her expectations about sex.
What are “sexual scripts”? They are the unwritten “rules” of a social community, the norms about “what…to do next” or how, when, and why to have sex. Peers, friends, and the media pass these scripts along, often implicitly, teaching through the power of stories, images, and anecdotes. The popular scripts shape adolescents’ perceptions of what’s “normal,” while competing “scripts,” proposed by parents and religious beliefs, may fade from the adolescents’ day-to-day life and become lost. . . .
[T]he sexual scripts proposed by our permissive culture and the media rest on lies–lies about relationships, the meaning of sex, and the path towards happiness.

Go read the rest of Hagelin’s column. Her mention of Premarital Sex in America might inspire another one of those head-exploding outbursts from Echidne of the Snakes. Something about fish and bicycles, perhaps?

 But I will resist the temptation to return to the Feminism Wars.

The Siege of Stalingrad was less epic.


Category: Celebrities, Culture, Marriage, Sex
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