The Other McCain

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

LIVE AT FIVE – 2.21.11

Posted on | February 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

TOP NEWS
Libyan Protesters Brave Bullets To Close In On Qaddafi

Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi

Hundreds reported dead; “Thunderbolt” division rumored to have defected

Gov. Walker Predicts Fugitive Senators Will Return

Demonstrations continue into 2nd week

PRC Cracks Down Hard On Call For “Jasmine Revolution”
Police out in force, activists detained, massive efforts online to suppress calls for protests



POLITICS
House GOP Spares No Pet Projects In Slashing Budget

Speaker of the House John Boehner

Not only traditional spending targets but defense and homeland security come under the budgetary chainsaw

Senators Ask Florida To End “Flamingo Express”


Obama’s Kind Words For Emanuel Hard For Former Supporters To Hear

Soros: Obama Has Lost Control Of Economic Agenda



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asia Stocks Tumble On Mideast Tensions; Oil Rises
Borders Bankruptcy Spells Trouble For DC Landlords
Obama Administration Proposes To Wind Down Fannie & Freddie; Minorities, Women Hardest Hit
Why Apple Doesn’t Need An IPad2
As Violence Escalates, Libya Shuts Off Internet
Google OnePass Balances Aggressive Apple’s Subscription Model



SPORTS
Trevor Bayne Becomes Youngest Driver To Win Daytona 500

Trevor Bayne celebrates his victory

Despite changes, race still decided in final laps

Knicks Deny Dissension In Pursuit Of Carmelo Anthony

Duke Proves Too Much For Georgia Tech

#9 Bruins Can’t Hold On Against #3 Stanford Women

Stewart Move Could Hurt Avs

Rainbow Cock Fight Encampment Under Investigation



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
A Very Royal Wedding

Hey! It's an invite to Kate & Wills' Wedding!

Over 40 crowned heads invited to the royals’ wedding

No invite for Mum?

Lindsay Lohan Lines Up First Post-Rehab Role

Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” Reviewed By People Magazine


Baz Luhrman To Shoot “Great Gatsby” In 3D

Camille Grammer Lands New Job With CNN



FOREIGNERS
Israel Monitors Suez-Bound Iranian Ships
Tunisia Seeks Ben Ali’s Extradition
Uganda Opposition Rejects Museveni Reelection
Fire In Estonian Disabled Childrens’ Home Kills 10
Merkel’s CDU Loses Three Seats In Hamburg By-Election



BLOGS & STUFF
Michelle Malkin: SEIU Announces Purple Army’s Nationwide Protest Schedule; Meanwhile, Teachers’ Unions Pressure Members To Show Solidarity
Confederate Yankee: Obama’s Allies Calling For Unionists To “Bloody” Tea Party Protesters?
Jawa Report: “Hero’s Welcome” – Wounded Iraq Vet Jeered At Columbia
Legal Insurrection: The Yuppie Revolution In Egypt Is Over, the Islamist Revolution has Begun
Jihad Watch: UK Islamic Supremacists To Hold White House Rally
Moe Lane: Buckwheat
POWIP: Biebernomics
LibertySF: Protecting The Rights Of The Rich

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

Coolest Nature Video Evah!

Posted on | February 20, 2011 | 12 Comments

Completely ripped off from Ace of Spades HQ:

I’d feel guilty about ripping off that video, except (a) it was posted there seven hours ago, which means about 35,000 people have seen it already, so it’s not like I’m depriving them of traffic, and (b) let’s face it, at least 90% of my shtick is secondhand AOSHQ material anyway.

Category: Ace of Spades, humor, Video

Rule 5 Sunday: Getting To First Base

Posted on | February 20, 2011 | 4 Comments

Sometimes, in my haste to throw shit together carefully prepare linkagery for the Loyal Readers, I inadvertently overlook contributions by our friends and allies in the Axis of Cheesecake. Last week was one of those  occasions, and I do penance for it by moving Proof Positive to the leadoff spot in this week’s revue of attractive ladies. Proof led off his submissions with Carly Foulkes and a true classic, Julie Newmar, but unfortunately he followed this with a truly horrible example of anti-rule 5 work, a P-shop of Arianna Huffington which is truly NSA (Not Safe Anywhere). View at your own risk.

And now we return you to your regular leadoff hitter, Soylent Green, who opens his weekly links with a truly fine example of pulchritude in Marine Corps body paint. He also provides a much-needed service by giving us a look at the new Wonder Woman, Adrienne Palicki, follows that with some Hump Day Hawtness, and finishes up with a Friday Confabulation of fabulous corsets and the women that fill them. If I didn’t have to finish this post, I’d be in my bunk…

Three Beers later steps it up this week with a fine review of the fine servers at the Tilted Kilt. Can you see the fugitive Wisconsin state senators in any of those pictures?

The Rio Norte Line likewise crosses the border to retrieve pix of the fine Canadian actress Emmanuelle Vaugier.

Rookies in the lineup this week include Eye of Polyphemus, who sends us a lovely pic of Mila Kunis, and Barry O, who draws this pillow fight to our attention. Meanwhile, the veteran Mr. Hill of Dustbury continues to contribute with his ninth Zooeypalooza and an update on Molly Ringwald.

Camp of the Saints is clearly ready for a long season, with Sylvie Garant, Marian Stafford, Adriana Lima, and a nice roundup of Rule 5 News to sustain him.

Coming in from the bullpen to close out this early spring training session, it’s Maggie’s Notebook with Ivanka Trump!

Thanks to all for their contributions. Send your links for next week’s Rule 5 roundup to me at the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox no later than Saturday the 26th.

Category: Rule 5

Everybody at CPAC Likes to Have Their Photos Taken With Celebrities …

Posted on | February 20, 2011 | 5 Comments

. . . which is why some obscure dudes from a cable-TV show insisted on having their photos taken with Susannah Fleetwood and Sarah Rumpf:


Video of the obscure cable-TV dudes at CPAC:

Remember that most people tuned into cable TV at 3 a.m. are watching ads for the George Foreman grill or “natural male enhancement.”

A few of them, however, are watching Fox News and asking themselves, “Who are those guys on Andy Levy‘s show?”

Category: Celebrities, CPAC, Fox News

Has Alex Knapp Proven Anything?

Posted on | February 20, 2011 | 7 Comments

“Contrary to my colleague Doug’s description of the Federal government as existing primarily to redistribute wealth, there is actually very little wealth re-distribution in the United States.”
— Alex Knapp, Outside the Beltway

It is not my habit to defend Doug Mataconis, as he and I very often disagree about politics. But Doug’s post, “The U.S. Government Exists Primarily To Write Checks And Redistribute Wealth,” based on an analysis of Office of Management and Budget data by John Merline, was perfectly reasonable. And so the response by his Outside the Beltway colleague Alex Knapp drew my attention.

Knapp employs a chart based on numbers from the Congressional Budget Office:

What this shows is that the fifth quintile (top 20%) of income-earners pay nearly 70% of federal taxes, while earning about 55% of all pre-tax income. Because they also earn about 51% of after-tax income — a relatively small differential between their pre- and post-tax incomes — Knapp says, “See? No redistribution!”

Knapp’s rather limited “proof,” however, overlooks many possible objections. What is a minor cost to a wealthy person, for example, may be a bonanza for a poor person. Bill Gates’s fortune has been recently estimated at $54 billion. If I could get my hands on just one-tenth of one percent of that sum, I’d be a multimillionaire.

Thus, the 4 percent net loss of income share experienced by the top quintile (as estimated by the CBO) due to federal taxation may seem a minor redistribution to them, or to Knapp, and yet it would be a substantial gift if it were lavished directly on those in the bottom quintile — but it most certainly is not. Read more

Category: Budget, Conservatism 101, Economics, Outside the Beltway

Sissypuss The Blog Kitty Will Now Do A Performance Art Summary Of The Leftist Triumph In Wisconsin

Posted on | February 20, 2011 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

This is a little something mooched from Miss Cellania that summarizes the situation in cheeseland rather effectively. It’s below the fold so that Stacy doesn’t reach through the internet and slap me for slowing the page load. Read more

Category: Sissypuss the Blog Kitty, Wisconsin

The Real Deal in Madison

Posted on | February 20, 2011 | 24 Comments

Dan Collins at Piece of Work in Progress recounts the story behind the protests in Wisconsin: How Democrats, after losing the November election, called a special lame-duck session in an abortive effort to lock in sweetheart deals for government employee unions. When that didn’t work, Democrats have since tried to prevent Republicans from acting to balance the budget at the expense of government employee unions.

As Pejman Yousefzadeh points out, Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s opposition to unions was well-known, a hallmark of his political career, so that a Democrat state senator said of Walker: “Unions have always been his piñata, over and over.”

We can therefore only conclude that the Wisconsin voters who elected Walker share and endorse his anti-union views, and that his “busting” of the state employees unions is the legitimate consequence of last November’s election.

The union protests in Madison — and the flight of Democratic lawmakers — are an effort to overturn the election, to maintain the power of state employees unions in contravention of the expressed will of the majority of Wisconsin voters.

Category: Piece of Work in Progress, Unions, Wisconsin

VIDEO: Chicago Commies in Wisconsin

Posted on | February 20, 2011 | 25 Comments

Thanks to Maggie’s Notebook for this video from the MacIver Institute showing Chicago-based members of the Revolutionary Communist Party arriving in Madison to distribute their propaganda at the protests:

Bob Avakian’s RCP is the leading Maoist group in the U.S. RCP spinoffs include Refuse & Resist and Not in Our Name, which were important presences in the Bush-era anti-war protests. Read more

Category: Video, Wisconsin
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