Good News! Allahpundit Now Employed by ‘Christian and Family-Themed’ Media Conglomerate!

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This certainly should be interesting:

Mediaite has learned that leading center-right web site Hot Air has been acquired by Salem Communications for an undisclosed sum. . . .
Salem Communication defines itself as a leading U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values.

Ed Morrissey: “Neither Allahpundit nor I will have any official comment on this until tomorrow.” Anybody guess that Allah’s unofficial comment about being sold to a Christian conservative outfit wasn’t exactly “family-themed,” eh?

Congratulations to Michelle Malkin on divesting herself of the atheist Eeyore — at a handsome profit, we certainly hope.

UPDATE: The announcement was time to coincide with CPAC. It was at CPAC 2006 that Hot Air made its big rollout (and I scored some swag, a coffee mug and refrigerator magnet). Hot Air initially specialized in original video production — remember “Vent”? remember those cute Mary Katharine Ham videos? remember Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch videos? — but that emphasis changed after 2007, without explanation.

Ace of Spades speculates:

Although Michelle Malkin is the owner and got most of the money, presumably Allah and Captain Ed have also got a nice chunk of change in the deal and contracts, too.

This presumes more than we actually know, and contradicts my own educated guesswork. In 2008, Salem purchased my friend Nathan Tabor’s site, The Conservative Voice, and shut it down. No notice, no archives, nothing — the URL just became a re-direct to Townhall.

Like Michael Corleone said, it’s just business.

UPDATE II: James Joyner:

And hearty congrats to Michelle Malkin on what one presumes was a lucrative buy-out. While her politics are harder right than mine and her writing style more polemical, she’s a sweet lady and an incredibly hard worker.

That’s certainly true. If you’ve ever seen Malkin at work, she works. Blogging, syndicated column, Fox News appearances, books, speeches — a real dynamo. Were I asked to hazard a guess, I’d guess that we’ll soon hear that Malkin has signed a deal for her own talk-radio show. Perhaps with . . . er, Salem Communications.

Guy Benson, a kid I never heard of until five minutes ago:

Unlike many, I happen to work for Salem. I’ve spoken to a number of the people involved on both sides of the reported deal, and I’m unable to confirm or deny any details of the story at this point.

Considering that there were only three people (Ed, Allah and Michelle) on one side of the deal, which ones did you talk to, Guy?

Max Fisher of the Atlantic Monthly is spectacularly clueless, from his headline — Sale of ‘Hot Air’ Shakes Up Conservative Blogosphere — to his observation, “Hot Air is known for the blogging team Ed Morrissey and the pseudonymous ‘Allahpundit.’ They’ve earned wide readership for their sharp analysis and tendency to break from conservative orthodoxy.”

First, there’s no “shake up” — unless you count Little Miss Attila threatening to “stomp [her] little feet” —  and second, where does Fisher get this breaking-from-orthodoxy meme? Would he care to cite examples of the aforesaid heterodoxy? Because, yeah, we all remember how Allahpundit advocated immediate withdrawal from Iraq in 2006. And then there was the time Ed Morrissey endorsed Chuck Baldwin for president . . .

For the benefit of Max Fisher and any other leftoid commentators: HotAir.com is a property, a commodity of value. Its proprietor sold it to another company. Think in terms like profit, assets, entreprenuership, business — you know, capitalism.

Instapundit may soon go on the auction block. While I’m always for rent, no one has yet tried to buy me. On the other hand, I’ve had several lucrative offers for Smitty . . .

The Protocols of the Elders of CTHULHU XII. Re-engineering ‘Freedom’

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by Smitty (INTRODUCTION)

The third glance pulled it all together: a coffin, ringed by a dozen chairs, each its own horror story.

The door opened inward, but I could not see who was in the hallway. There was a man’s voice, but his mind sounded badly broken. “…glaciers…data…bastards…lost…hockey stick…” were some of the rantings.
The old man had made it near the door, and the voice retained at least one functioning eye, for there seemed to be recognition as the old body shambled forward, raising its arms to the gestures of the squid on the table.
“Mr. Buh-buh-buh-buh…thank god for a friendly face! Your sponsorship was so important, but you’ve got to save–wha-wha-NOOOOoooooo….” as the old man left the room, followed by the functionary, and the door shut.

“Freedom is the right to do that which the law allows.

Freedom of speech and press shall not in any wise exist in our novus ordo seculorum.

The pretext for stopping any publication will be the alleged plea that it is agitating the public mind without occasion or justification. I beg you to note that among those making attacks on us will also be organs established by us, but they will attack exclusive points that we have pre-determined to alter.
Not a single announcement will reach the public without our control.

…

Literature and journalism are two of the most important educative forces, and therefore our government will become proprietor of the majority of the journals.

The three ranks of media outlets shall be:

  1. …organs of an official character
  2. The media.
  3. …our own, to all appearance, opposition, which, in at least one of its organs, will present what looks like the ery antipodes to us. Our real opponents at heart will accept this simulated opposition as their own and will show us their cards.

We, of course maintain our poker face.”

The room was nearly back to where it had begun, but the squid in the fishtank seemed larger still.

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The Protocols of the Elders of CTHULHU XI. Global Constitution

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by Smitty (INTRODUCTION)

The second glance revealed that it was not actually rectangular, but a hexagon, with vertices one third of the way along the surface, away from the wall screen marking the head. Also, it lacked legs, being full from top to floor.

The madness of the situation, of 11 live, 2 dead, 1 ambiguous person and a squid, in a cold cold room, listening to a lecture blending Machiavelli and Mephistopheles was nearly enough to snap my mind like dry tinder. Yet the only thing to do about it was write. Try to capture every insane detail.
The squid on the table, one tentacle looped over the lip, held two others out like arms. The bodies of the functionary and the old man slowly moved and pulled themselves up by the table with the most obscenely robotic movements.
The old man was clearly dead, the functionary still shrouded, and the speaker was going on about a global Constitution, while the two bodies shambled around the head of the table for the door, and the outside moanings got louder and more human.

“The general direction of all of the failures of the proletariat is upward.
As we have more global information, and more media control, we will increasingly flood the mob with information pointing to the fact that the world is falling apart, for all it really only has the narrowest deviation from historical mean, overall.
We exist to create apparent problems for which we are the most convenient solution. A natural analogue is a constrictor using every twitch from the prey to tighten the grip.
The local situation and government are a failure, so the State must fix it. The State is a failure, so the EU, Federal Government, regional hegemon, or the UN is the next stop. Above that level, of course, is us, shaking everything, at a medium pace, to keep power wafting up to us like so much smoke.
Each crisis makes some sliver of sovereignty a reasonable exchange,

…we shall keep promising them to give back all the liberties we have taken away as soon as we have quelled the enemies of peace and tamed all parties…

When? Three words: Real Soon Now. The Americans, I should note, may require a relatively more final solution than others.”

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Newt Gingrich on CPAC

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At Human Events:

Tomorrow, for the 37th time, conservatives will gather in Washington to discuss, debate, and forge new solutions at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. . . .
In 1975, then-Governor Ronald Reagan inspired a dispirited conservative movement to revolution at CPAC. In a message that resonates to this day, President Reagan proclaimed, “Our people look for a cause to believe in,” and then asked: “Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors, which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?”
President Reagan’s first speech to CPAC was in its inaugural year in 1973. According to CPAC organizer David Keene, that year, 125 Americans came to CPAC to hear Reagan speak. This year, attendance is expected to top 10,000.

Read the whole thing. Newt’s OK, even if he doesn’t spend enough time hanging out at the lobby bar at CPAC.

Killer Socialist Professor Update

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Harvard-educated murderer Amy Bishop displayed her enlightened, sophisticated academic temperament:

In March, 2002, Bishop walked into an International House of Pancakes in Peabody with her family, asked for a booster seat for one of her children, and learned the last seat had gone to another mother.
Bishop, according to a police report, strode over to the other woman, demanded the seat and launched into a profanity-laced rant.
When the woman would not give the seat up, Bishop punched her in the head, all the while yelling “I am Dr. Amy Bishop.”

She got probation. Because she was, after all, Dr. Amy Bishop.

The Protocols of the Elders of CTHULHU X. External Appearances

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by Smitty (INTRODUCTION)

At first it appeared a table, that long, rectangular, gunmetal surface dominating the space.

The softness of the speaker’s voice was low enough that the breathing of three or four attendees, probably getting ready for medication of some sort, was noticeable.
Thus, a distant moaning from outside of the room, as of a beleaguered, cornered animal which knows it shan’t see another sunrise, but still unhappy about the pain separating it from final oblivion, started to interfere with the current topic.
The speaker was droning on about appearances, while the squid hooked a tentacle over the lip of the fishbowl to improve its vantage of the bodies on the floor.

“…bear in mind that governments and peoples are content in the political with outside appearnces.

Voting, and the political races leading up to the elections, shall be a crucial…

…in order to establish an absolute majority, which cannot be got from the educated propertied classes. In this way by inculcating in all a sense of self-importance, we shall destroy among the [proletariat] the importance of the family and its educational value and remove the possibility of individual mindes splitting off, for the mob, handled by us, will not let them come to the front nor even give them a hearing…

In order that our scheme may produce this result we shall arrange elections in favour of such presidents as have in their past some dark, undiscovered stain…then they will be trustworthy agents for the accomplishment of our plans out of fear of revelations and from the natural desire of everyone who has attained power, namely, the retention of the privileges, advantages and honour connected with the office of president.

You see why, for all the media must claim to serve truth, and schools must claim to be bias-free bastions of the free exchange of ideas, they must be anything but. The ignorance of the mob, both of history in general and of the backgrounds of leaders, is key to control.”

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It’s CPAC Time!

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From my column today in the American Spectator:

Lisa De Pasquale was preparing Tuesday morning to depart her office in Northern Virginia to set up operations at Washington’s Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, and she wasn’t the only one planning such a trip. Across the country, thousands of conservative activists are making their way to the hotel in northwest D.C. that is the site of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference beginning Thursday.
As CPAC director, De Pasquale spends all year planning and organizing the annual three-day conference that is the largest gathering of its kind in the country. The event has become so huge that it was moved this year from its longtime home at the Omni Shoreham Hotel to the larger Marriott Wardman Park, just off Connecticut Avenue near the Woodley Park Metro station.
“We’re at a larger facility this year, but it looks like we’re already going to be bursting at the seams,” said De Pasquale. “Right now, we’re about 20 percent above pre-registration for last year. So we’re expecting between 9,000 and 10,000, if on-site registration is on pace with last year.”

Read the whole thing. For my friends who are attending their first CPAC — this list includes Barbara Espinosa of American Freedom and Pete at Da Tech Guy — I strongly suggest reading Jimmie Bise’s “Rookie Guide to CPAC,” which offers helpful advice like this:

CPAC is a lot like Disney World. There are all sort of wonderful places to go and things to see and people walking around in costumes (I am not kidding about this) and you will be sorely tempted to try to see everything. Let me tell you right now, you can’t see everything and if you try, you’re going to end up tired and cranky, just like at Disney World. The nice folks at CPAC have provided an agenda, though, and therein lies your first key to sailing through like a professional. Print it out, grab a highlighter, and pick the events you most want to attend. Pick about three of them each day, four if you’re ambitious, but no more than that.
Here’s the important thing when you’re making that list. If you want to see one of the big speeches like, say, Glenn Beck’s keynote of Ann Coulter’s Saturday speech, plan on standing on line for at least 45 minutes. . . .

Yeah. Then there’s Plan B: Hang out with me in the hotel lobby bar, saunter down to the main ballroom right after the crowd reaches fire-code capacity, then I’ll tell my buddy the security guy that you’re a VIP and — presto! — you’re in like Flynn.

For some reason, Plan B works best when the alleged VIP is an extremely attractive woman. And here’s the thing: Even if Plan B doesn’t work, we just go back to the lobby bar, which is where all the real fun is, anyway.

Barbara Espinosa is a genuine VIP, so she’ll be attending the special 7 p.m. pre-CPAC dinner tonight. The rest of us losers will convene in the lobby bar and stay until they throw us out. Little Miss Attila will be there and, as usual, she’ll be expecting me to buy the martinis, so please hit the tip jar. She can really put away the gin . . .