Democrats Reward Failure

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Of course, that’s the principle of their social-welfare policies, but who thought they’d apply it to politics?

Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.) promoted an internal candidate to be the new executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Israel, the new DCCC chairman, announced Monday that Robby Mook would be the committee’s next top staffer.
Mook led the DCCC’s Independent Expenditure effort in the 2010 cycle, during which the party lost more than 60 seats and its majority. . . .
“Robby has the right combination of experience, political know-how and leadership savvy to help make this the shortest Republican majority in history,” Israel said in a statement.

Translation: He’s an experienced loser! Note that Republicans, despite their huge victory in the mid-term elections, are staging a mutiny against RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who is being blamed generally for the GOP having failed to win more.  

In their dissatisfaction with a less-than-complete victory, Republicans remind me of the ancient Athenians, as described in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War: “And what they have planned but not carried out, they think that in this they lose something already their own; what they have attempted and gained, that in this they have achieved but little in comparison with what they mean to do.”

Related: Tea Party Nation promoter wants Sarah Palin to seek the RNC chairmanship.

‘A Communicational Schematic That Is Superior to Anything Else in Existence’

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On April 7, 2002, a university professor in Tennessee posted this:

I keep hearing from people that they started a weblog because of InstaPundit. About a month ago, I asked everyone who did so to email me. I got so many that it took me a while to find the time — and energy — to compile them into a list.

You can go look at that list, which includes such well-known names in the blogosphere as Stephen Green, Ed Driscoll and (believe it or not) Matthew Yglesias. The list of Instapundit-inspired blogs was subsequently collected by Jeff Wolfe with hotlink URLs and an addendum.

What is interesting, in looking at all those blogs, is how many of them have faded into oblivion, even as blogs that started much later — including this one, which became a full-time project in March 2008 — have endured and flourished.

Blogs come and go, but Instapundit still dominates. Imitated, but never excelled. And while that success continues to inspire emulation, it also excites envy. (Such are the perils of success.) Who is this guy, whose mere “heh” can mean so much? Why should his enigmatic interests, his particular likes and dislikes, have such overwhelming influence in Blogland? Continue reading ‘A Communicational Schematic That Is Superior to Anything Else in Existence’ →

Teacher Convicted of Sex With Teen Asks Judge for Castration Instead of Prison

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Weird story from Connecticut:

A teacher convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students had an odd request for the judge at his sentencing Thursday.
Adam Friedman, 46, offered to be castrated in an effort to avoid prison time.
Friedman was an instructor at the Arts at the Capitol Theater magnet school in Willimantic when he was arrested in December 2008.
Prosecutors say Friedman had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl between July and November 2008. . . .
Thursday at his formal sentencing . . . Friedman asked Judge Elliot Solomon to allow him to be castrated instead of going to prison.
Solomon didn’t take the offer, sentencing Friedman to 13 years.

Beyond the weird factor, did you notice that this took place at a “magnet school”? In other words, getting to attend this school was like a real special honor or something. Maybe they need to take that concept back to the drawing board.

Ruh-Roh: Bernanke Says Unemployment Won’t Be Back to ‘Normal’ for Five Years

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On “60 Minutes” last night:

The nation’s unemployment rate, which has been over 9 percent for a record 19 months, is not likely to return to “a more normal unemployment rate” of about 5 percent or 6 percent for four or five years, the Federal Reserve chairman said in an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday night. . . .
Bernanke said: “Between the peak and the end of last year, we lost eight and a half million jobs. We’ve only gotten about a million of them back so far. And that doesn’t even account the new people coming into the labor force. At the rate we’re going, it could be four, five years before we are back to a more normal unemployment rate. Somewhere in the vicinity of say 5 or 6 percent.”

You know what the weird thing is? You can expect the stock market to go up because of this bad-news remark by Bernanke. Why? Because if Bernanke believes the economy’s in the toilet, it probably means the Fed will keep pumping currency, which means low interest rates for financial institutions, etc.

“They’re trying to re-inflate the bubble,” as an economist buddy remarked to me in May 2009. But it’s not working and at some point, they’re going to have to admit that it’s not working. And he’s your kick-in-the-head economic news of the day:

Gold imports into China have soared this year, turning the country, already the largest bullion miner, into a major overseas buyer for the first time in recent memory.
The surge . . . comes as Chinese investors look for insurance against rising inflation and currency appreciation . . .

Guess they’ve been listening to Glenn Beck.

LIVE AT FIVE – 12.06.10

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TOP NEWS

Wikileaks Founder Threatens To Taunt U.S. A Second Time

Does not actually know how to use the word "thermonuclear" in a sentence

Claims to have 1.3 GB of unredacted files ready to be released

Tax Deal Could Have Something For Everyone
Reduced tax rates for all taxpayers likely to be extended in return for more unemployment funding

Prop 8 Goes Back To Court Today
Ninth Circuit panel to hear arguments for, against gay marriage initiative

Sailor Remembers Attack On Pearl Harbor 69 Years Ago
U.S.S. California survivor recalls Japanese sneak attack

POLITICS

Schumer Wants Making TSA Scan Recording, Publication Even More Illegal, Or Something

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) discovers the privacy issue

TSA: “Problem? What problem?”

Christie To New York: “Stop Screwing With Us”

Gingrich: “I’m More Inclined To Run In 2012”

Being Publicly Censured Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry

State Judge To Determine If Texas’ Death Penalty Is Constitutional


THE ECONOMY, STUPID

Citing Fatigue, Pfizer CEO Quits

Bernanke: More Fed Bond Buys “Certainly Possible”

Level 3 Claims Comcast Jacking Up Internet Fees To Guard TV Business

Galaxy Tab Sales Hit One Million

SPORTS

It’s Ducks & Tigers For the BCS

Puddles is ready to dine in Glendale!

Horned Frogs & Badgers in the Rose Bowl

Manning Throws Four Interceptions In OT Loss To Cowboys

Werth Agrees To Seven-Year Deal With Nationals

Red Sox, Padres Complete Deal For Gonzalez

McDowell’s Birdie Putts Foil Tiger


FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS

Brooke Mueller Checks Into Sober Living Facility

Charlie Sheen's soon-to-be-ex, Brooke Mueller

Mom: “Brooke is really trying to get her life back.”

Bristol Palin: “Really, Margaret? Really?

Suge Knight Arrested On Traffic Warrant, Released

Mel Gibson In Weird, Wacky “Beaver” Trailer (Video)

Asked & Answered: Nicki Minaj

Is Taylor Momsen The New Christina Aguilera?

Robert Downey Jr. Signed For Movie Musical



Third Injury Strikes Troubled “Spiderman” Broadway Play


FOREIGNERS

Iran Claims Self-Sufficiency In Uranium Production

UK Had Its Own Anna Chapman – Or Rather, A String Of Them

Hundreds Missing In Medellin Landslide

Israel, Turkey To Meet In Geneva, Seeking To Repair Ties



BLOGS & STUFF

Weasel Zippers: Bolton – Obama A Bigger Danger Than Wikileaks

Dan Drezner: So How’s The Global Jihad Going?

Classical Values: Is That A Cucumber In Your Underwear…

Jammie Wearing Fool: We Were Punished For Saving The Economy Or Something

Power Line: “Everyone” Knows The Solution…


— compiled by Wombat-socho

Smell the Glove, America!

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Professor Glenn Reynolds nails it:

Nigel Tufnel, many will remember, was the fictitious heavy metal guitarist in the fictional “rockumentary” “This Is Spinal Tap.” In a classic scene, he displays his guitar collection and his special amplifier that — unlike all other amplifiers in existence — has knobs that go all the way up to 11, instead of just 10.
And that’s what Obama has done: In his first two years as president, he’s taken us to 11 in so many ways. . . .

Read the whole thing. There’s a Memeorandum thread, with further blog commentary by Don Surber, Classical Values, Riehl World View and — amazingly enough — Instapundit.

FMJRA 2.0: Wobbling Down The Road

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Okay…got a little fancy this week and did a crude sort by post popularity. Maybe next week I can actually subdue the cold/flu/plague/whatever and get this done on Saturday. Meanwhile, enjoy.

She’s Certainly Making the Right Enemies

  • DaTechguy
  • Republican Redefined
  • Hillbuzz
  • Adelie Manchot
  • The Sundries Shack
  • TrogloPundit


    • Memo for Meghan McCain

  • Outside the Beltway
  • Fausta’s Blog
  • Cassy Fiano
  • Obi`s Sister
  • Ruby Slippers Blog


    • Muslim Columnist: U.K. Rape Gang Case Exposes ‘Disgusting Cultural Beliefs’

  • The Aged P
  • The (Perhaps Slightly Less) Lonely Conservative
  • James Board
  • Maurice Myth
  • The Hayride
  • The Black Kettle

    • Kate Middleton Upskirt Photo?

    Blame Feminism?

  • Cassy Fiano

    • ‘Far More Grim’

  • The (Perhaps Slightly Less) Lonely Conservative

    • ‘The Weekly Sarah Palin Segment . . .’

  • The Camp of the Saints
  • Chicago Daily Observer

    • Not Just ‘Yes,’ But ‘Hell, Yes!’

  • House of Eratosthenes
  • Maggie’s Farm

    • Obligatory WikiLeaks Apocalypse Post

  • Instapundit
  • DaTechguy
  • Applesauce
  • Ric’s Rulez
  • The Camp of the Saints

    • LIVE AT FIVE – 11.29.10

  • DaTechguy

    • Mohamud’s Bad Luck Was Not Just Luck

  • The Sundries Shack

    • The Idiotic Eloquence of Tom Friedman

  • TrogloPundit

    • Shorter Obama: ‘In This False Dilemma, America Must Make a Manichean Choice Between My Indisputably Wise Policies and My Tendentious Straw-Man Caricature of Republican Policies’

  • The (Perhaps Slightly Less) Lonely Conservative
  • Blog de KingShamus

    • The Endless Delaware Post-Mortem

  • Goldfish and Clowns

    • The Perils of Presidential Oratory…

  • The Daley Gator

    • Why Doesn’t the SPLC Just Go Ahead and Call the Republican Party a ‘Hate Group’?

  • Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing

    • Best. Cable. Movie. Evah!

  • The Camp of the Saints

    • Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and Don’t Go Messing With the U.S. Marine Corps

  • Gay Patriot
  • Zion’s Trumpet

    • LIVE AT FIVE – 12.01.10

  • Katy Pundit


    • Lame-Duck Filibuster!

  • Republican Redefined

    • Alabama Democrats to Barack Obama: ‘Hey, Thanks for Killing Our Party!’

  • Katy Pundit
  • Practical State

    • Democrats Extremely Concerned About Extremism of Extreme GOP Extremists

  • Katy Pundit

    • How Gay Is the WikiLeaker?’

  • The Camp of the Saints

    • Julian Assange Has ‘Got the Editor of Time Magazine Hanging Breathlessly on His Every Word’

  • The Camp of the Saints
  • WyBlog
  • Maggie’s Farm

    • Missouri Senate 2012: Club for Growth Backing Sarah Steelman Over Jim Talent?

  • Nathan Cossey

    • As a Freelance Independent Blogger Consultant, I Have Enormous Sympathy …

  • The (Perhaps Slightly Less) Lonely Conservative
  • Jan The Marketing Man

    • Elsewhere on the Blogosphere

  • The (Perhaps Slightly Less) Lonely Conservative
  • The Sundries Shack

    • WikiLeaks and the Totalitarian Impulse

  • The Sundries Shack

    • LIVE AT FIVE – 12.03.10‚

  • Mind Numbed Robot
  • Pirates Cove

    • Scratch Newt for 2012

  • Dyspepsia Generation
  • Spartanburg TEA Party
  • Political Junkie Mom
  • Republican Redefined

    • Blogger Gets 2 Million Hits Because of His Insightful Commentary and Lucy Pinder’s Enormous Breasts, But Mainly . . .

  • The Daley Gator


    • You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself

  • Katy Pundit