The Other McCain

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

U.S. to Join Anti-Israel Bloc at U.N.?

Posted on | February 17, 2011 | 9 Comments

A troubling signal:

The U.S. informed Arab governments Tuesday that it will support a U.N. Security Council statement reaffirming that the 15-nation body “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity,” a move aimed at avoiding the prospect of having to veto a stronger Palestinian resolution calling the settlements illegal.
But the Palestinians rejected the American offer following a meeting late Wednesday of Arab representatives and said it is planning to press for a vote on its resolution on Friday, according to officials familar with the issue. The decision to reject the American offer raised the prospect that the Obama adminstration will cast its first ever veto in the U.N. Security Council. . . .
Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, outlined the new U.S. offer in a closed door meeting on Tuesday with the Arab Group, a bloc of Arab countries from North Africa and the Middle East. In exchange for scuttling the Palestinian resolution, the United States would support the council statement, consider supporting a U.N. Security Council visit to the Middle East, the first since 1979, and commit to supporting strong language criticizing Israel’s settlement policies in a future statement by the Middle East Quartet.

Criticism of this gesture is bipartisan. John Tabin at The American Spectator approvingly quotes Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) who calls the administration’s diplomacy “too clever by half.” Allapundit says “we’re going to see a lot more bet-hedging in the region by the White House going forward. We can’t afford to alienate our new ‘democratic allies,’ after all,” and adds:

This is the new reality in the region — win/win provocations where the U.S. is forced to pander to popular Arab sentiment at a moment of retrenchment and democratization or stick with Israel and risk the consequences of shattered alliances. What could go wrong?

It appears that many people have forgotten the lessons we ought to have learned in the 1930s.  Read more

Category: Israel

LIVE AT FIVE – 2.17.11

Posted on | February 17, 2011 | Comments Off on LIVE AT FIVE – 2.17.11

TOP NEWS
Borders Enters Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Borders enters a new chapter after 40 years in business

Plans to close 30% of stores nationwide

Governor Christie: Feds Need To Emulate New Jersey
Cut spending, treat voters like adults, show leadership


Scott Brown Describes Harsh Childhood
Beatings, sexual abuse


POLITICS
Wisconsin Public Workers Take To The Streets In Protest

Either Walker breaks the unions, or they'll break Wisconsin

10,000 union members rally to protest against Governor Walker’s reform measures

House Axes Backup Fighter Engine The Pentagon Didn’t Want

New White House Press Secretary Takes Stage (Video)

Bipartisan Senate Group Works On Deficit Plan

Florida’s Governor Scott Rejects High-Speed Rail Money



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Dell Leads Rally In Tech Stocks
Singapore Warns Of Higher Inflation
Nikkei Index Hits Nine-Month High On Earnings, Mergers
Google One Pass Aims To Kneecap Apple’s App Store With Better Deal For Publishers
Expect Nokia Windows Phones In 2012, Says Chairman
Sun Emits Most Powerful Solar Flare In Four Years



SPORTS
Cavaliers Avenge Previous 55-Point Loss, Stun Staggering Lakers

Kobe Bryants drives the lane against the Cavs' Antawn Johnson

Third straight loss for Lakers comes at hands of NBA’s worst team

Pujols On Contract Talk Suspension: “We Strongly Feel This Is The Best Course Of Action”

Earnhardt Wrecks Car In Practice, Will Start Daytona 500 From Back

Blackhawks Coach Quenneville Hospitalized

Slump Continues, But Ailing Stars Confident They Can Bounce Back

Clayton Kershaw Gets Nod As Dodgers’ Opening Day Starter



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Charlie Sheen Does The Dan Patrick Show

Who is this cleancut young man?

Clarifies remarks on “Two And A Half Men”, offers advice to Lindsay Lohan – Y RLY

Nicole Richie Tells Sheen To Get Clean On “The View”

The Deep Thoughts Of Justin Bieber In Rolling Stone

Diane Kruger In GQ


Seinfeld’s Uncle Leo Dies; Len Lesser Felled By Pneumonia At  88

Michael Vick Bails On Oprah Interview

Adrianne Palicki To Star As NBC’s Wonder Woman



FOREIGNERS
Bahrain’s Main Opposition Group Claims 2 Dead After Riot Police Attack Demonstration
Activists Call For “Day Of Anger” In Libya
North Korean Defector Walks Through DMZ Minefields To Freedom As Norks Celebrate “Dear Leader”‘s 69th Birthday
India Attempts Damage Control In Wake Of Corruption Scandals
Netanyahu To Nasrallah: Stay In Your Bunker (Video)



BLOGS & STUFF
Atlas Shrugs: US To Rebuke Israel At UN
Dan Riehl: Coulter Gets Christie Love But Loses Credibility
Michelle Malkin: Watch Wisconsin
Rasmussen: 55% Say Obama’s Budget Doesn’t Cut Enough
Cubachi: Jim DeMint Goes After The Muppet Lobby
Confederate Yankee: Alternet Doubles Down On Bigoted Accusation That Black Conservatives Are Race Traitors

JihadWatch: Spencer On Qaradawi – Egypt’s New Hitler
Professor Bainbridge: UC Davis Religious Discrimination Definition Discriminated Against Christians

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

The Epidemiology of CPAC Plague

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 22 Comments

Moe Lane has been laid low by the mysterious post-CPAC illness that’s been going around among attendees of last week’s conference, but in fact there’s nothing mysterious at all about this malady.

If you gather 11,000 people from around the country for a conference, how many of the attendees are traveling by commercial aircraft? Suppose that it’s 5,000 and that, on average, each of them spent two hours on a plane with 200 other passengers. So these air travelers bring with them to the conference the germs of 1 million people.

Let’s further note that a lot of partying went on at CPAC. The lobby bar was packed until well after midnight every night, and the conference started at 9 a.m. every morning. So people’s immune systems were suppressed by alcohol consumption and loss of sleep.

In all, an event like that is a perfect storm for the spread of contagious disease. I managed to escape the pandemic, a good fortune I attribute to three main causes:

  1. I got enough sleep. Not eight hours nightly, but enough to keep from getting completely run down. On Thursday, I took a nap in the afternoon. On Friday and Saturday, I slept late. Lack of sleep is a major stress on the immune system.
  2. I blogged from my hotel room. Last year, the Internet connection in the Bloggers Lounge was atrociously slow. So this year, I set up my laptop in the hotel room I was sharing with Ladd Ehlinger, and did my blogging from there until the final few hours. I’d go out on expeditions around the conference to collect notes and photos, then return to the hotel room to blog it. This minimized my exposure to the Bloggers Lounge, which seems to have been Ground Zero of the CPAC Plague.
  3. I ate a good breakfast most days. Hunter S. Thompson, who engaged in more heinous substance abuse than any other journalist in history, was a firm believer in the value of a hearty breakfast. No matter how hard he partied, Thompson always began the day with a big breakfast. If it was good enough for Dr. Gonzo, it’s good enough for me.

Skye at Midnight Blue was the first to contract the illness I first described as CPAC Fever, and at that time I explained its origins:

This disease is caused by a rare virus known as schmooze and is spread through the promiscuous exchange of business cards.

Take two aspirin, hit the tip jar and call me in the morning.

Category: CPAC

Pennsylvania Teacher Suspended for Telling Truth About Kids Nowadays

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 6 Comments

They ought to pin a medal on her:

Teacher Natalie Munroe makes no excuses for writing blog posts about her students which include statements like, “A complete and utter jerk in all ways,” “although academically okay your child has no other redeeming qualities,” “I hear the trash company is hiring,” and “There’s no other way to say this, I hate your kid.” . . .
The 30-year-old teacher used the name “Natalie M” and never identified the name of the school in the posts that also lashed out against other teachers and administrators. But once word got out it was her, the school suspended Munroe with pay.
In one posting on her blog she called her students, “out of contol,” and “rude, lazy, disengaged whiners.” . . .
In another, she created a list of comments teachers could use on report cards to describe students, like “rat-like,” “dresses like a streetwalker,” and “frightfully dim.”

So now we have finally learned what a public school teacher has to do to get fired: Tell the truth.

Her blog is Natalie’s Handbasket.

Category: Education

Jill Filipovic Throws Me Some Traffic; Little Green Footballs, Not So Much

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 32 Comments

America’s Favorite Feminist responds to this morning’s provocation by accusing me of promoting the narrative, “Brown people are savages who will go after pretty white women.” A near-miss there, Ms. Filipovic, but thanks for linking me. Meanwhile . . .

It’s really sad that he’s got nothing better to do. While I’m on the hook for whatever irresponsible things I’ve said, neither Jim Hoft nor Pamela Geller can be blamed for my rantings, nor can I be blamed for their rantings. But just out of curiosity, let’s see what they had to say, starting with Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit:

Lara Logan is lucky she’s alive.
Her liberal belief system almost got her killed on Friday. This talented reporter will never be the same.
Why did this attractive blonde female reporter wander into Tahrir Square last Friday? Why would she think this was a good idea? Did she not see the violence in the square the last three weeks? Did she not see the rock throwing? Did she miss the camels? Did her colleagues tell her about the Western journalists who were viciously assaulted on the Square? Did she forget about the taunts from the Egyptian thugs the day before? What was she thinking? Was it her political correctness that about got her killed? Did she think things would be different for her?

Now Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs:

This horrible story gets worse and worse. Worse still, CBS tried to keep the whole thing quiet and was forced to get in front of the story only when it became widely known that other media outlets were on to it. Who are they covering for?
And why? Because the false narrative the media is painting of what is going on in Egypt is patently false, and this brutal sex attack points to something else entirely.
The NY Post is the only news outlet reporting that the Muslims raping her were shouting “Jew, Jew, Jew.” Obama should make a statement addressing this horror and condemning the vile Islamic anti-semitism at the heart of Islam.

Let’s stipulate that there are a lot of unknowns at this time, and the reality of the situation may turn out to be diffferent than however Geller, Hoft or I currently conceive it. For example, my friend John Guardiano thinks Logan may have been raped by pro-Mubarak thugs, rather than anti-Mubarak protesters. We don’t know enough facts to judge the incident, and may never have enough facts to do so. Read more

Category: Atlas Shrugs, Charles Johnson, Crime, Egypt, Feminism, Gateway Pundit

It’s a Good Day for Bieber Blogging

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 11 Comments

Not that there’s ever a bad day to blog about Justin Bieber, but it’s not every day that a Bieber story turns up on the Memeorandum feed:

“I don’t think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them,” Bieber says. . . .
The Canadian-born Bieber never plans on becoming an American citizen. “You guys are evil,” he jokes. “Canada’s the best country in the world.” He adds, “We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. . . .”
He does have a solid opinion on abortion. “I really don’t believe in abortion,” Bieber says. “It’s like killing a baby?”

OK, so he’s anti-American, pro-socialized medicine, and anti-abortion. Maybe someone could explain to him that socialized medicine pays for abortion. But since it’s killing “evil” American babies, maybe he’d be in favor of that.

Next time I get ragged about my shameless traffic-whoring, remind me to point out that such eminences of liberalism as Ezra Klein, Think Progress and Alan Colmes couldn’t resist the chance to get some of that easy Bieber traffic.

So now I’ve blogged about Bieber, which means it’s time to go take a nap and let the traffic come rolling in. Life is good.


Category: Abortion, Canada, Celebrities

NYU Fires Nir Rosen, Liberal Writer Who Slammed Lara Logan as ‘War Monger’

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 20 Comments

Despite my attempt this morning to draw feminist fire, they were too busy claiming the scalp of a left-wing anti-war writer: Nirs Rosen has lost his prestigious fellowship at New York University’s Center for Law and Security.

Academic fellowships are how the Left rewards journalists who advance the Left’s agenda, an academic subsidy that enables them to write books and articles without having to worry about keeping the rent paid.

So there he was: Nirs Rosen, a 33-year-old writer who has been published by Rolling Stone, Harper’s and The Atlantic Monthly, enjoying a sweet sinecure which afforded him the leisure to Tweet rude things about Lara Logan. His first reaction to news that she had been assaulted was to Tweet: “Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson.”

Rosen started getting blowback, but ignored Healey’s First Law of Holes — “When you’re in one, stop digging” — and doubled down on stupid with Tweets like this:

“Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger.”

and

“Look, she was probably groped like thousands of other women.”

This is classic: If Rosen had only stopped after his first “outdo Anderson” remark, he might have been judged guilty of nothing worse than questioning the wisdom of sending women correspondents into potentially dangerous situations. Yes, he would have been scorned as a sexist for saying such a thing, but Rosen should have stopped Tweeting at that point. He might have pulled back and written a thoughful 1,200-word column for HuffPo or some other online outlet about the inherent dangers of being a reporter covering a Third World crisis, and explaining why he felt CBS was unwise to send Logan into that Cairo mob scene.

That’s the difference between (a) becoming “controversial” and (b) getting your sorry ass fired. Trust me when I say that I’m quite familiar with walking that kind of career tightrope. Instead, Rosen kept Tweeting and foolishly attempted to rally his ideological allies by pointing out Logan’s pro-war reputation, bemoaning that a “major war monger” was about “to become a martyr,” and belittling her assault.

Good-bye, prestigious fellowship! Read more

Category: Crime, Education, Egypt, Journalism

Paging Jill Filipovic

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 69 Comments

Please tell me what I am permitted to say when a gang of Egyptian men celebrates the end of the Mubarak regime by sexually assaulting an American TV news reporter:

Maybe Egyptians could use one of Filipovic’s pious lectures about “no means no” and “stop means stop.” I’d probably be accused of some sort of thought-crime if I were to suggest that the spontaneous outburst of savagery against Lara Logan of CBS News says anything about the future course of democracy in Egypt. Yet I will risk recalling how on Jan. 27, in my first post about the Egyptian crisis, I employed this quote:

“The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please; we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations which may be soon turned into complaints.”
— Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

How often have Aayan Hirsi Ali and Phyllis Chesler warned feminists about the brutal subjugation of women in the Islamic world? Here we have that phenomenon distilled to its most raw and ugly essence, and what are feminists saying? Read more

Category: Crime, Egypt, Feminism
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