The Other McCain

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

The St. Pancake Flotilla: Commission Determines IHH Initiated Violence

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 3 Comments

An official commission investigated the May incident where Israeli commandos were attacked when they boarded a vessel defying the Gaza blockade, and has determined that activists with the Turkish “humanitarian” agency IHH provoked the incident:

The commission concluded that on board the Mavi Marmara and the other flotilla vessels was a group of IHH and affiliated activists (the IHH activists) that violently opposed the Israelis boarding. The IHH activists who participated in that violence were civilians taking a direct part in hostilities.
“The force used against civilians on board the flotilla was governed by the principles of ‘necessity’ and use of ‘proportionate force’ associated with human rights based law enforcement norms. However, the IHH activists lost the protection of their civilian status for such time as they directly participated in the hostilities. The use of force against these direct participants in hostilities is governed by the applicable rules of international humanitarian law,” the report said.
The commission explained that the IHH activists carried out the violence on board the Mavi Marmara by arming themselves with a wide array of weapons, including iron bars, axes, clubs, slingshots, knives, and metal objects.
“Overall, the IDF personnel acted professionally in the faces of extensive and unanticipated violence. This included continuing to switch back and forth between less-lethal and lethal weapons in order to address the nature of the violence directed at them,” the commission said.

Friday, Pamela Geller highlighed a report by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on the jihadist connections of the IHH.

Category: Israel, Terrorism

The 9/11 Memorial Rip-Off

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 7 Comments

Schoolchildren “thought their penny jars and bake-sale proceeds would go toward building a 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero — not the six-figure salaries of nonprofit execs.”

Foundation President Joseph Daniels, 38, pocketed $371,307 after receiving hefty raises three years in a row — 28 percent in 2006, when he was promoted from acting president, followed by 12 percent and 6 percent.
Museum director Alice Greenwald made $351,000, and capital planning Vice President Joan Gerner soaked up $337,143 before leaving last spring. Development director Cathy Blaney raked in $322,292. The full-time foundation employee also worked last year as a fund-raiser for Gov. Cuomo’s election campaign.

Hat-tip: Kathleen McCaffrey at Legal Insurrection.

Category: New York

The Word Is ‘Reprehensible’

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 27 Comments

Donald Douglas calls our attention to the latest cover of Newsweek, in which the gunman is wrapped in an American flag:

The cover story by Jonathan Alter is more than 2,000 words. And what one word does not appear in that article? Zeitgeist.

Remember when Newsweek used to do reporting?

UPDATE: Linked by Stephen Green at PJM’s Tatler blog. Thanks!

UPDATE II: Linked by Ed Driscoll. Thanks!

UPDATE III: Linked by the Lonely Conservative. Thanks!

UPDATE IV: Linked by the Rio Norte Line. Thanks!

Category: American Power, Arizona, Crime, Media Bias, Zeitgeist

The Pagan Caucus?

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 22 Comments

“As a Pagan I can tell you that I, like many others, strongly support economic freedom, limited government, a strong nationals defense and law and order. Many Pagans are also pro-life, anti-drug and pro-traditional marriage. Should Pagans be turned away because they aren’t Christians?
“The Pagan Right is a vigorous defender of conservative values and classical liberalism in an arena that few other conservatives have access to. It is time the movements were linked together so that both are strengthened.”
— Rob Taylor, NewsRealBlog, “Top 5 Potential Allies Conservatives Ignore — at Our Peril”

Because, of course, the “Odinists for Obama” movement proved to be so crucial in 2008 — certainly more powerful than “Wiccans for Hillary.” Catholic blogger Lisa Graas points out the problems of political math:

Note to Rob: There are 67 million Catholics. Last I looked, 67 million was a lot bigger than 400,000. Adherents.com lists 69,776,000 Catholics (24.5% of the population in America) and 768,400 Neo-Pagans (0.28% of the population in America).

Mike Tuggle calls Taylor’s idea a “psychedelic version of conservatism,” expanding political inclusiveness to the point of philosophical universalism, so that anything and everything can be called “conservative.” It’s symptomatic of an age of political confusion that dates back to the end of the Cold War, but no one’s ever going to pay me to write that 70,000-word book, so I’ll desist from further analysis.

Category: Religion

From the Dept. of Obvious Headlines

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 5 Comments

Low-tax states attract
budget-conscious Americans

Gee, ya think so? You mean to tell me that, given the choice, people would rather live where taxes are low than where they are high?

Put that story at the top of A-1 and phone the Pulitzer committee!

Update (Smitty): “Those bitter, Klingon, unpatriotic swine!” Vice President Biden was not quoted as saying.

Category: Economics, Taxes

You Knew This Was Coming

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 10 Comments

UPDATED: “This is about the systematic dismantling of the progressive voice in this country,” and other demented moonbat reactions to the MSNBC-Olbermann divorce.

Category: humor, MSNBC, Video

In Which Charles Johnson Belatedly Discovers We Can Fact Check Your A$$

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 22 Comments

The Diary of Daedalus guys caught the LGF Grand Wizard trying to disavow the term “St. Pancake” as a reference to anti-Israel protester Rachel Corrie, resulting in Patterico’s conclusion: “In short, Charles Johnson is a sanctimonious, lying hypocrite.”

This brings up two issues:

  1. Why disavow what was, in fact, a brilliant meme? I’m not sure which LGF commenter coined “St. Pancake,” but it was perfect. I used it last year in describing the Left’s “Rachel Corrie Death Cult.” People whose misguided idealism leads them to destruction deserve all the mockery we can heap on them. The purpose of that mockery is to discourage others from imitating their folly, to say to them, “Don’t be such a fool.” Conservatives naturally are averse to breaching the civilized custom that one should not speak ill of the dead. But what shall we say of amoral monsters who have devoted their lives to the destruction of civilization? If Ted Gold, Diana Oughton and Terry Robbins do not deserve respectful remembrance, neither does Rachel Corrie, whose “pacifism” made her a stooge of terrorists. She is forevermore “St. Pancake” and Charles Johnson is an idiot for attempting to disavow that.
  2. Will Patterico mend the breach with Jeff Goldstein? The blogosphere never forgets and, when I linked Patterico the other day, Joy McCann commented: “I’m amused at your linking Patterico, Stacy … but then, that’s me.” And I knew to what she referred. While I’m willing to let bygones be bygones, there is still the matter of Patterico’s past offenses against Jeff at Protein Wisdom. Patterico would no doubt deny that he was at fault, but each man is the the judge of his own honor. Jeff was my friend in the hour of need, and if Patterico offended Jeff, it is incumbent on me to insist that my friend must be made whole or there can be no rapprochement.

No blog is an island, as I say, and when you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way. It would be dishonorable of me — a betrayal of Jeff — to make a separate peace with Patterico for my own convenience.

“You have to answer for Santino, Carlo.”

Category: Charles Johnson, Protein Wisdom

‘Coercive Bisexuality’?

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 4 Comments

“It is clear that discrimination on the part of individuals, but of course not the state, is part of our birthright of liberty.
“If not, coercive bisexuality would be the logical implication of the antidiscrimination movement. Why? Well, male heterosexuals despicably discriminate against half the human race as bed/sex/marriage partners: all other men. Nor can female heterosexuals plead innocence against this dread charge; they, too, abjure half of their fellow creatures in this regard. Can male homosexuals deflect this deadly indictment? No, they, too, refuse to have anything to do with all females in such a context. Similarly, female homosexuals, lesbians, rotten creatures that they are, also avoid entangling alliances of this sort with all men — again, half the human race.
“No, it is the bisexuals, and only the bisexuals, who are entirely innocent of discrimination of this sort. They are the only decent people in the entire sexual spectrum to refrain from this evil practice.”
— Walter Block, “Why Discriminate?”

Category: Sex
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