LIVE AT FIVE – 1.31.11

I don’t know about Cairo, but Soylent Green kicks off this week’s Rule 5 roundup with some stray lingerie found on smokin’ ladies. In case that wasn’t enough, he follows that up with some memorable unmentionables. Woof.

Fishersville Mike brings us the Flyers’ Lauren Hart. Seems a little overdressed to me, but then it is hockey.

The Jerseynut explores the many ways in which Brooklyn Decker gives hope to New Jersey.

The Camp of the Saints has a toothsome threesome: Manuela Arcuri, Zooey Deschanel (and a backup squad), and Jennifer Liano. Dustbury, on the other hand, is content to deliver Minka Kelly and Sarah Shahi.

Frequent commenter Richard McEnroe brings back some pleasant memories with a post on Barbara Eden in all her I Dream of Jeannie glory.

Troglopundit tips us off to the advent of Oktoberfest Dentistry and bemoans the unbalanced nature of this year’s Super Bowl bet between the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Gahrie offers us a link to Leilani Dowding, but unfortunately there is LEWDNESS of a NSFW nature there and we’re just not going to be able to share that with you.

Finally, audience participation! DaleyGator wants YOUR vote for the DaleyBabe Playoffs! Round 1 features Barbara Eden and Janine Turner! Vote early and often!

Thanks to all for their links! Send next week’s submissions to Rule 5 Wombat!

UPDATE: In the interest of world peace, we are proud to present Miss Egypt 2006, Fawzia Mohamed:

Talk about an uprising in the streets! Wouldn’t you like to crack down on her unrest? IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE II: Technical difficulties prevented us from answering the question in the post title with a resounding YES! Maggie’s Notebook has fixed her widget problem and so you can now follow this link to some positively incendiary Egyptian lovelies. (Okay, the last one is Liz Taylor, but she’s playing Cleopatra. Work with us here, will you?)

Category: Rule 5

‘Regime Change’ in Egypt?

Posted on | January 30, 2011 | 32 Comments

The stars appear to be aligning against Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Joe Biden’s early defense of Mubarak appeared to suggest that the Obama administration might support maintaining the status quo, but that has obviously changed with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton now calling for “real democracy” in Egypt:

Real stability only comes from the kind of democratic participation that gives people a chance to feel that they are being heard. And by that I mean real democracy, not a democracy for six months or a year and then evolving into essentially a military dictatorship or a so-called democracy that then leads to what we saw in Iran.

But this formulation evades the basic problem, doesn’t it? How can the U.S. be certain that a “real democracy” in Egypt won’t eventually lead to either a new military autocracy or else to an Islamist revolution? If we are “imperialist” to support Mubarak, are we any less imperialist to insist that the Egyptians pursue exactly the sort of democracy that meets our approval?

Perhaps the Left would be less enthusiastic for Mubarak’s ouster if they realized that this places them in agreement with what Bill Kristol calls the “prestigious” Working Group on Egypt. We know that the Left’s guiding principle in foreign policy is to support our enemies and attack our allies, so perhaps Mubarak could save himself by striking a pose of anti-Americanism, maybe buddying up to Hugo Chavez or blaming the protests in Cairo on the Mossad and the CIA.

It’s interesting to note that Mark Levin is very skeptical toward the prospects of Egyptian democracy. And I further note that this skepticism is shared by the indisputable king of right-wing pessimism, Allahpundit:

No doubt Iran is already working on ways to get money and arms to the Brotherhood for the power struggle ahead, which will end up being Exhibit 8,943 that Shiite and Sunni fundies are perfectly capable of cooperating against a common enemy. . . .
Even if [Mohammed ElBaradei] ends up as a compromise choice for leader, without any sort of formal Islamist takeover, having him at the top is guaranteed to weaken the west’s alliance with Sunni Arab regimes against Iran.

Ed and Allah have compiled a huge aggregation about the ElBaradei/Muslim Brotherhood angle in Egypt that’s worth reading.

UPDATE: Christine Brim exposes the double game being played by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose English-language site calls for “freedom,” but whose Arabic-language site appeals to jihadist sentiment. I’m reminded of A.L. Rowse’s criticism of Neville Chamberlain and the British appeasers. None of them were fluent in the German language; they knew little or nothing of German history and culture; and they hadn’t read Mein Kampf. Those well-meaning Englishmen would not listen when Churchill and others tried to warn them that Hitler’s promises of “peace” could not be trusted. Indeed, those who warned of the Nazi menace were viewed as irresponsible alarmists, while the appeasers were hailed as brilliant statesmen — until they were finally overtaken by the catastrophe they had made possible.

UPDATE II: Donald Douglas at American Power has video of Hillary’s appearance on “Meet the Press”:

Here, Hillary makes clear that the U.S. isn’t simply going to pull the plug on Mubarak, but will insist on an “orderly transition” to democracy. Hillary also makes a point that John Guardiano made yesterday at The American Spectator: The Egyptian military is a widely respected institution, which offers the best hope that Egypt will not go the way of Iran or Somalia.

UPDATE III: Via Katy Pundit, we have an analysis by Jim Carafano of The Heritage Foundation titled “Obama Doctine is Failing in the Middle East.”

Personally, I’m hesitant to interpret the situation in Egypt as a litmus test of Obama’s foreign policy. After all, it might work out successfully, in which case we’ll know that Obama’s policy had nothing to do with it. On the other hand, if the situation turns into a complete disaster — and, c’mon, it’s the Middle East, so that’s the most likely scenario — Obama will go down in history as “the president who lost Egypt.”

You may say that’s rather a cynical view, but of course, if Egypt spirals out of control, liberals will find some way to blame it all on Bush.

UPDATE IV: Some may wonder why Barack Obama doesn’t just come out and denounce Mubarak for running a corrupt kleptocratic crony government. But I must remind you that Obama is a Chicago Democrat.

PREVIOUSLY:

1/29: Egyptian Uprising: Latest Updates
1/29: Egypt: ‘Attaboy, Mubarak’?
1/28: ‘Whose Bright Idea Was It to Send Joe Biden Out to Talk About Egypt?’
1/27: Egyptian Regime Unraveling?

Category: Egypt, Hillary Clinton

Ace? Is That You?

Posted on | January 30, 2011 | 2 Comments

OK, so I was watching the “Academic Vagina” video I posted earlier, and then I noticed another video from the same site. Watch it:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Did you see the guy at the 35-second mark, playing Tekken in class?

If that’s not Ace of Spades, it’s his twin brother.

Category: Ace of Spades, humor, Video

Pull the String

Posted on | January 30, 2011 | 10 Comments

“Consider if you will, the rhetoric the left used against Reagan when he ran in 1980. I was twelve at the time, and our school was all about the election. . . . Back then, we all did the ‘Weekly Reader’ thing in school. They had us vote in their mock election, which, they had bragged, had never been wrong in predicting Presidential elections. I voted for Reagan, and made the apparent mistake of sharing that information. The result? The teacher said he would start a war. My classmates said he would start a war. Hell, even my mother said he would start a war. I would not have been surprised if a voice came over the PA, saying, ‘He’ll start a war, kid.’ Obviously, the left did manage to create the narrative that Reagan was a warmonger, and would trigger the apocalypse shortly after taking office. It was a knee jerk reaction from Democrats — almost like an old talking toy with a drawstring. You say ‘Reagan,’ and pull the string, and a Democrat says ‘warmonger.'”
— Matt Ross, Conservative Hideout

Category: Republicans

Herman Cain Attends Koch Brothers Meeting, Causes Left-Wing Freak-Out

Posted on | January 30, 2011 | 9 Comments

Lee Fang at Think Progress sees a conspiracy afoot:

This weekend, David and Charles Koch, co-owners of the Koch Industries conglomerate of chemical, timber, oil and manufacturing interests, are hosting their twice annual meeting to coordinate strategy and raise funds for the conservative movement. . . .

Among those in attendance at the meeting in Rancho Mirage, California, is Herman Cain. Still a year to go until the Iowa caucuses, and he’s already got ’em shaking in their shoes.

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

‘Climb Back Into That Academic Vagina’

Posted on | January 30, 2011 | 9 Comments

“Because if we were good at life, we wouldn’t need more school.”

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

(Via Snaggletoothie, who posted this video the day before he suffered a fatal seizure last week. R.I.P., Chris Monson.)

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! By the way, an earlier installment in this video series appears to have starred Ace of Spades.

Category: Education, humor, Video

A Reverse Piven Strategy?

Posted on | January 30, 2011 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Tyler Cowen’s little book, “The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better” is interesting, but I’m nonplussed by this notion:

Right-wing ideas, in their least viable forms, have become more popular in this political environment. From the American right, tax cuts are one way to raise incomes immediately, and so politicians market tax cuts to voters. Shortsighted voters usually favor tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts. So, in the short run, real incomes will be higher, but we’re just running up debt and postponing and indeed intensifying our dissatisfaction.

This is among the prime irritants of the Progressive Faith (not to accuse Prof. Cowen of adherence, mind you): a blind acceptance that the status quo is somehow proper, and a confinement of discussion to a small enough time frame to make it all seem ‘normal’.
The notion that tax cuts are merely a populist power ploy misses the point that the federal over-reach has been achieved by trampling the spirit of the Constitution in a systematic way over the last century. Sure, the ignorance of the people and the SCOTUS have been fig leaves for the problem. Also, one would be unsurprised to discover that the math involved in tax cutting has been dodgy. Fine. However, if intellectual (“It won’t work”)and historical (“We’re pissing on liberty”) appeals fail, then what should be done?
The tax cutting approach, possibly, will be viewed in retrospect as a “reverse Piven” strategy. Instead of establishing a guaranteed national income, break the input to the national income on the front end.
In the information age, liberty should abound, not be sacrificed to bureaucracy.

Category: Economics
Tags: economics

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The Other McCain

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

LIVE AT FIVE – 1.31.11

Rule 5 Sunday: Is Cairo Burning?

‘Regime Change’ in Egypt?

Ace? Is That You?

Pull the String

Herman Cain Attends Koch Brothers Meeting, Causes Left-Wing Freak-Out

‘Climb Back Into That Academic Vagina’

A Reverse Piven Strategy?

THE FULL METAL JACKET REACH-AROUND AWARD

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!

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