Sunday, January 6, 2013

Ban, Block and Report Walter James Casper III in 2013

Walter James Casper III was banned from this blog in April 2010. I wrote at the time that "I rarely ban radical leftist commentators" but that I was getting tired of Repsac's disgusting racism and rank stupidity. I'd also grown tired of this idiot's perpetual lies and taunting harassment even when proven wrong beyond any doubt. That's not debate or engagement. That's stalking and harassment. A few months back, after Walter Russell Mead prohibited commenting at Via Media, Vox Day wrote:

Walter James Casper
Vox Popoli is not, and will never be, an echo chamber. There are not, and will never be, any topics that are definitively outside the scope of permissible intellectual discourse ... The only commenters whose participation I will not tolerate is those who repeatedly lie, who demonstrate proven intellectual dishonesty, and who simply refuse to admit it when someone else has publicly shown them to be wrong. If you are not at least capable of acknowledging that you could be wrong about an idea, no matter how near and dear it is to you, then you will probably be better served commenting at a place where your ideas will not be questioned or criticized.
More than ever, that's key. The complete intellectual dishonesty and moral bankruptcy of a person who refuses to admit that, you know, he might have been wrong about something. It is, in a word, anti-intellectual. It's also morally bankrupt. That is why Walter James Casper III was banned.

Since then, Walter James Casper III has continued to stalk this blog, claiming "trolling rights" to comment here whenever he pleases. See: "F*** You, Douglas! — W. James Casper = COBAG = Repsac3!!" Of course, no one has a "right" to comment on someone else's blog. The right to freedom of speech guarantees freedom from discrimination by government. Repsac3, despite claiming worldly expertise on politics and government, just doesn't get a basic point --- indeed, has no clue --- of public goods theory or the politics of pooled resources. So here's a lesson.

"PUBLIC COMMENTING SYSTEMS":

In denying his stalking and harassment --- criminal activity of which I have reported to the police --- Repsac3 claims that he was only "submitting comments to an area open to public comment, in rebuttal of posts attacking me by name." See that? He was only harassing this blog on the justification that the commenting system here is an area "open for public comment." The problem, of course, is that there's no such thing as a "public" blog open to "public comments." Put aside the obvious fact that Blogger blogs are owned by Google and not the U.S. or any state government (and hence privately owned), the individual proprietor of a blog, even a Blogger blog, retains all the rights to allow any and all comments at the site. But for some reason, serial harassers have claimed a "trolling rights" theory to justify their despicable harassment of people with whom they disagree and of whom they wish to terrorize. And this is after being repeatedly warned to cease and desist, the legal threshold over which Repsac3's actions became criminal. Robert Stacy McCain identified this criminal activity in the case of Kimberlin-Rauhauser bully Bill Schmalfedlt. By developing a psychotic theory of "public commenting," radical leftist harassers delude themselves that they have a "right" to torment their targets. A blog, of course, is nothing like, say, a public park. Anyone can use the park, regardless of whether they contributed to the provision of that park, a public good, through tax contributions or user fees to the government agency responsible for providing that service. In other words, there are distinct realms of consumption of good and services. The oceans are common pool resources that no single nation-state owns. The public good problem is the incentive for one state to use more resources than it would be allowed under existing norms, regimes, or legal treaties. Even in this case, an otherwise common resource is nevertheless restricted in its use by state actors, otherwise the common resources --- say fisheries --- would be depleted. In sum, Walter James Casper III has invented a system of "public commenting" that only exists in the dark recesses of his addled and hateful mind. There is no right to comment on someone else's blog, no matter the kind of commenting system the blog uses. To this day racist Repsac3 is a raging, roiling hate-filled loser who rues the day that I switched to Disqus commenting, which has a fabulous black-listing system to ban persistent harassment trolls such as the dick Repmaster Troll. Suck it up and get used to it, asshole. You're banned.

*****

Criminal harasser Repsac3, in his deranged world of never entertaining an idea that conflicts with his communist ideological program, has also developed a theory of generalizations which, when deployed, is purported to reject any argument about the obvious and inherent anti-social and collectivists tendencies of the radical left. With this theory, Repac3 can justify in his mind that progressive collectivism is a benign, benighted system of thinking, the correct ideology to lift the human race, bring peace, and end racism and poverty through "social justice." The facts, of course, are exactly the opposite, as over a century of history have shown with communist ideologies of the kind that Walter James Casper consumes and promotes in his radical political identity and activities.

"NO SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS":

Repsac3, at his Twitter profile, claims he's against "sweeping generalizations." Indeed, when union goons are repeatedly caught out as violent thugs, and when the union leadership advocates violence, union backer Repsac3 denounces the "sweeping generalizations," stupidly claiming that it's only "individuals" committing violent acts, not the unions. Of course idiot Repsac3's spouting illogical bullshit. To be clear, generalizations are a form of argument to explain general tendencies. To say that unions are violent and thuggish is a generalization that is repeatedly demonstrated as true. The examples of individual union members who do not engage in violence or thuggery don't disprove the generalization. If one says that "seat belts save lives" the claim is not invalidated by the example of someone being killed in a car crash despite wearing a seat beat. It's a clear generalization that is borne out by experience. Further, if one argues that progressives favor high taxes to fund a massive state sector of public services and transfer payments, and that these programs violate the liberty of Americans, the point is not invalidated by a few individuals who identify as progressive but don't favor higher taxes. Take Occupy Wall Street as one example that Walter James Casper III loves to defend by attacking "sweeping generalizations." Occupy is a movement that has been marked by violent protest and thousands of criminal arrests. It's own website declares, with a closed-fist icon of violent resistance, that it's a movement for a worldwide revolution and "is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia." The original founder of Occupy's New York mobilization, Kalle Lasn, is a proven Jew-basher and anti-Semite. And the initial Occupiers in the streets demonstrated widespread anti-Semitism on a daily basis and research shows that Jew-hatred is not a bug but a feature of the movement. A few Judeophile supporters of Occupy Wall Street do not disprove the generalization that the movement is anti-Semitic, despite the deranged and desperate bleatings of Repsac3 to the contrary. Indeed, the Democrat Party from President Obama and Nancy Pelosi on down has declared their solidarity with the Occupy movement, but polls have shown that only minorities of self-identified Democrats support or sympathize with Israel as an independent state with the right to self-defense. The generalization that Democrats ---- who are public backers of Occupy Wall Street --- don't support Israel is borne out by the data.

Again, the fact of some union members who are not violent thugs, or some individuals who are not violent Occupy activists, or who are strong supporters of Israel, does not disprove the generalizations. A generalization is a general pattern, a statement of a tendency. If "Hatesac" is bothered by the generalization of progressive violence and hatred and bigotry, perhaps he should reject those ideologies rather than defend them.

*****

"LIBERAL-DEFENDER NOT LIBERTY-DEFENDER":

Walter James Casper III has used his hate-blog American Nihilist to publish my workplace information with exhortations for progressives to contact my college administration, with the obvious intent to get me fired for my conservative advocacy and allegedly politically incorrect statements. The widespread understanding among free speech advocates is that it's not appropriate to get someone fired because of their political views. But Repsac3 offered his co-bloggers front-page posting time to launch ideological attacks on my livelihood. The fact is that Repsac3 always had --- and still has --- editorial control over the contents published at his blog. If he didn't, then the post targeting me would still be available at the blog. (It has been edited by the blog administrator, Repsac3, to remove my contact information, as it should have been from the start, but wasn't.) Of course, it should have never been published in the first place, under any circumstances, and the "personal responsibility" for the post rests not with the author but with the person who provided the pixels at the front of the hate-blog, Walter James Casper, the blog publisher of American Nihilist. No amount of dodging can possibly escape the truth, which is why Repsac3 has been universally condemned for his intimidation campaigns among conservative bloggers and free speech advocates. See: (O)CT(O)PUS, "DEFAMATION - DONALD STYLE," February 12th, 2009. After Carl Salonen and SEK launched their vicious libel campaigns at my workplace, Repsac3 praised those attempts to get me fired, remarking that such attacks worked in having me no longer blogging about those pricks. By such actions, which are logically unsupportable, Repsac3 objectively backs efforts to shut down his political opponents and he in fact befriends and embraces some of the most vile criminal goons populating the left's intimidation networks. Further, as the left's campaigns of lawfare and workplace intimidation have become widespread, Repsac3 has repeatedly defended the hate and laughed off attacks on conservatives has "wingnut" whining. This utterly bankrupt behavior puts Reppie up there with the main Kimberlin-Rauhauser henchmen, like Schmalfeldt. See: "Pray for Ten Thousand Angels."

These activities grow from Walter James Casper III's radical ideological commitments, which I have documented in recent posts:

* "Communists Angela Davis and Danny Glover to Headline Democracy Now!'s Inauguration-Night 'Peace Ball' in Washington D.C."

* "Far-Left Whack-Job Thom Hartmann Wants to 'Outlaw Billionaires'."

* "Harvard Grad, Occupy Wall Street Activist Busted on Bomb-Making and Weapons Possession Charges."

So, for all of my readers and blog allies, remember that this is a dangerous ideological opponent and political enemy who is working to do harm to those with whom he disagrees. Like Zilla of the Resistance has advised, the best remedy is to ban these assholes, block them from your comments sections and block and report them on Twitter for stalking and intimidation.

Green Bay Beats Minnesota in Wild-Card Game

At LAT, "Green Bay shows off depth in 24-10 win over Minnesota."

You had to love that spinning John Kuhn in the second half.

And at NYT, "Packers Cruise Past Vikings in N.F.C. Wild-Card Game."

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Tax Code May Be Most Progressive Since Era of Jimmy Carter's 'Malaise' in the 1970s

Way to go, progs!

At the New York Times, "After Fiscal Deal, Tax Code May Be the Most Progressive Since 1979" (via Memeorandum).

And things'll be getting more progressive as we move FORWARD!! into the future.

Surrender Your Dignity

IMAGE CREDIT: The People's Cube, "In Progressive America Virtue Has No Value."

Added: The Times repeats the lie that taxes aren't going up on the "99 percent." See the Wall Street Journal, "The Stealth Tax Hike."

Oh Yeah! That's Why I Posted Previously on Instagram Disabling Card Integration on Twitter

I couldn't remember why I posted on it earlier, at this post: "Instagram Disables Twitter Card Integration."

But on Twitter right now, I just remembered that it was because I couldn't see Alessandra Ambrosio's photos in my timeline. I can now, though. She's posting straight to Twitter (below) and using Path media services.

Hey, that improves the Twitter experience either way:


More blogging at Maggie's Farm, "Saturday morning links."

And from Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 News: 05 January 2013 A.D."

Why Legalizing Pot Won't Curb the Drug War

At some point I was going to post this, so now's as good a time as any.

At The Atlantic.

Legalizing marijuana will only escalate the drug wars, as the market expands for pot, users move on to other drugs, and the "legal" regime of pot dispensaries opens up a new wave of associated crime.

More at iOWNTHEWORLD, "“Peaceful” Potheads Rob Colorado Marijuana Dispensary with Bear Mace!"

And the cartels are really winning down south. See the Los Angeles Times, "Mexico weighs pot legalization after ballot wins in U.S."


Pregnancy Centers Gain Influence in Anti-Abortion Arena

Seeing the headline I thought this New York Times article might be reflecting positively on the reality of the pro-life side winning the reproductive wars. But Tom Maguire digs down for the reality that the Times reporters just can't stand alternatives to the deadly "pro-choice" regime:
Sadly, they can't (or don't want to) quote a single prominent liberal in favor of this implementation of "safe, legal and rare"...


BBC Cameraman's Video of Starving Polar Bear Trying to Get Him for Lunch

Althouse has the video, "'I've been there. Drunk, looking for a snack, couldn't get the pickle jar open'." (The title's a funny quip from the comments at YouTube.)


And some amazing pictures at London's Daily Mail, "So THAT’S what it’s like to be eaten by a polar bear! Photographer inches from animal’s jaws as he takes wildlife shots from safety of perspex cage."

Best Photographs of 2012

Seems to me you're supposed to get these "best of" roundups published before the new year rings in, but this one's worth sharing.

At London's Daily Mail, "A bathing tigress, an Alaskan bear on the hunt and a Swiss mountain in moonlight: The stunning images from across the globe voted best photographs of 2012."

The Latest Anti-Jihad Campaign Uses Their Own Words

At Astute Bloggers, "GELLER'S LATEST HOISTS THEM BY THEIR OWN PETARDS."

Suppressing Zero Dark Thirty

From Mark Tapson, at FrontPage Magazine:
For anyone still skeptical of just how influential Hollywood’s movie messages are in the cultural and political realms, one need look no further than the political football called Zero Dark Thirty.

After appearing in limited release late last year, the film Zero Dark Thirty goes wide in theaters this month. Created by screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow, the filmmakers behind the 2010 Oscar-winner The Hurt Locker about a bomb-defusing adrenaline junkie in the Iraq war, ZD30 dramatizes an even more controversial subject – the real-life takedown of elusive terrorist icon Osama bin Laden.

Once word got out earlier last year that the Obama administration had granted the filmmakers access to classified information about the military operation, and that the film would be released just prior to the presidential election, conservatives cried foul and worried that the movie would exaggerate Obama’s role and serve essentially as an extended campaign ad for him. This concern was understandable considering that Hollywood was already doing everything in its power, onscreen and off, to reelect their Messiah. The left in turn dismissed these complaints as Republican paranoia.

But it didn’t quite turn out that way. First, the filmmakers avoided any seeming political impropriety by releasing the film after the election. Then, once the movie hit theaters and began garnering reviews, the left was aghast to discover that it opened with a graphic and extended scene depicting the waterboarding of a terrorist suspect, a scene that seemed to affirm what many conservatives had been insisting all along – that the hotly debated enhanced interrogation under President George W. Bush produced results that contributed to the intelligence which ultimately led us to bin Laden.

Suddenly, left-leaning reviewers were falling all over themselves to denounce the film. The Huffington Post dismissed it as “torture hagiography” and declared that the movie’s message “corrodes our culture.” Meanwhile, reviewers on the right were embracing it...
Continue reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Zero Dark Feinstein."

Communists Angela Davis and Danny Glover to Headline Democracy Now!'s Inauguration-Night 'Peace Ball' in Washington D.C.

Communist Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! is hosting a big inauguration-night party featuring Angela Davis, a former Communist Party USA leader who ran as that party's vice presidential candidate in 1980 and 1984, and Hollywood communist Danny Glover, a widely-acknowledged left-wing radical who is close personal friends with Communist Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Also speaking is Van Jones, the Obama administration's former "green czar" who was fired after his past revolutionary communist organizing activities were exposed by conservative new media outlets.


Clicking the link takes us the information page at Democracy Now!, and the list of speakers:
2013 Peace Ball (Washington, D.C.)

Join Angela Davis, Amy Goodman, Danny Glover and Alice Walker with performances by Mos Def, Sweet Honey in the Rock and more at the 2013 Peace Ball!

Celebrate with food, laughter, music and dance, as peacemakers from all over the globe gather for this incredible event.

Where: Washington, D.C.‘s historic Arena Stage at The Mead Center For American Theater

When: January 20, the evening before the Presidential Inauguration

Special guests include:

Angela Davis
Danny Glover
Alice Walker
Ralph Nader
Rita Dove
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Van Jones
Sonia Sanchez
Nicole Lee
Avis Jones-DeWeever
Julian Bond
Marian Wright Edelman
Medea Benjamin
Etan Thomas
Dave Zirin
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr.
Barbara Ehrenreich
Phyllis Bennis
Jack Halberstam
and more!

Musical performances by Sweet Honey in the Rock, Mos Def — and special surprise artists!

Each $200 ticket includes admission for one to The Peace Ball, VIP reception, refreshments and open bar.

VIP Reception begins at 6:00pm
Program Begins at 7:30pm

Arena Stage at the Mead Center
1101 6th Street Southwest
Washington, DC 20024

Tickets will be held in your name at the door — Photo ID required for entry.
Alice Walker is also a well-known communist who is on record as spouting some of the most vile anti-Israel eliminationism of recent years. See, "Alice Walker: The Color of Anti-Semitism." Her Discover the Network page is a checklist of some of the most hardline revolutionary activism around.

I could go on: Barbara Ehrenreich and so many other communists on the roster. Unreal.

And yet once again, such hard-line communists and Israel-haters are regular listening fare for the extreme left-wing troll-rights harassment stalker Walter James Casper III:


As I've been reporting, Repsac3 has become more openly radical than ever and at this point it's safe to say he's a small-c communist as indicated by his radical activism and affiliations, far-left online blogging and Twitter footprints, and by the long list of hard-left and ideological communists who fill his mass media repertoire and inform his programmatic political commitments.

Walter James Casper III is a tool of the anti-American, anti-capitalist left in this country, and by definition is a traitor to American exceptionalism and the limited government system established by the founders. But like all the other communists manning today's hard-left ramparts, he will deny any of these orientations and venomously denounce the "McCarthyism," which is tantamount, of course, to a thinly-veiled confession of such un-American radical politics.

It's amazing how far out in the open the communists have come over these last few years. But with the Democrat Party today taken over by the "boring from within" revolutionary radicals of the Alinsky mold, it's really no surprise at all.

The New Foreign Policy's Here, Featuring 'The Second Coming' of Barack Obama

By now I thought we were through with the leftist media's "lightworker" puns, but I guess not, by the looks of the January/February 2013 edition of Foreign Policy.

The Second Coming

Obama Set to Nominate Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense

From CNN, "Hagel expected to be nominated as Defense Secretary." (Via Memeorandum.)

The folks at Commentary have been hitting hard against a Hagel nomination for weeks, and here's the search link.

And Ron Radosh posted a must-read entry a week or so back, "The Meaning of Pat Buchanan’s Surpising Endorsement of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense."

Plus, there have been a number of tweets like this in recent days:


Yeah, it's not looking so good for O's new national security team.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Official White House Photo Shows President Obama's Reaction to News of Sandy Hook School Shooting

For a moment, just envision the president reacting to the news as a horrified parent of school-age children, not as the depraved gun-grabbing child murder exploiter we've had to endure this past few weeks (via Flickr).

White House Flickr

RELATED: From Jeff Goldstein, "“Angry at the NRA? That Won’t Reduce Gun Violence”."

Unruly Passenger Duct Taped After In-Flight Meltdown

CNN was reporting earlier that the passenger was monitored after being immobilized, but this just sounds too gnarly.

At London's Daily Mail, "The moment drunken passenger is taped to his seat during flight to New York after 'trying to choke one woman and ranting the plane was going to crash'."

Church of England Rules Homosexual Clergy Allowed to Become Bishops

They're allowed, but only if they're sexually abstinent.

I'm sure that'll work out really well.

At Independent UK, "Gay bishops allowed – but they can’t have sex":

Gay Bishops Cant't Have Sex
The Church of England reopened the most divisive issue in Anglicanism tonight by unexpectedly announcing that openly gay men could become bishops, providing they are celibate.

The timing of the decision took both supporters and opponents of gay bishops by surprise and threatens to plunge the Anglican Church into renewed infighting over the thorny issue of sexual orientation.

One leading conservative tonight warned that the U-turn would put the debate about women bishops in the shade and “finally divide the Anglican Communion completely”.

Although liberals largely welcomed the announcement they also voiced concerns that gay clergy would still be expected to answer searching questions about the nature of celibacy – something their straight single counterparts are not expected to do.

The consecration of gay clergy as bishops has caused deep divisions within the Church of England ever since Jeffrey John was forced to withdraw his candidacy for the Bishop of Reading in 2003 following an outcry by conservative evangelicals.

Today’s announcement could pave the way for Dr John, who is now Dean of St Albans and one of the few openly gay but celibate clerics, to finally take up a senior position within the Church.

Celibate homosexuals. Is there such at thing? An oxymoron?

Check back here for updates.

The Next Generation of Holocaust Survivors

An amazing story, at the Los Angeles Times, "Youngest Holocaust survivors look to next generation":
She was an orphan, a 14-year-old Jewish girl, when she went to the Berlin train station on a summer day in 1939, leaving behind all that she had ever known.

She had already experienced loss: her parents claimed by illness, her brother taken by the Nazis. Now Dora Gostynski was about to get on a train that would take her and hundreds of other Jewish children to safety — but they had to go without the comfort of their parents.

She remembered the other children's sobs as they embraced their parents, who had made the agonizing decision to give their children a chance at life, even if meant never seeing them again. And she remembered the parents who relented when their child didn't want to leave them. They walked away from the train station, and back into a world of danger.

"There was like an ocean of people and an ocean of tears," she said.

She was escaping Nazi Germany through the rescue mission Kindertransport, which carried about 10,000 youths to Britain and elsewhere for shelter during the Holocaust. Many — more than 60%, according to various estimates — never saw their parents again.

As they grew older, they sought out one another, drawn by a wrenching, shared experience. They founded the Kindertransport Assn., and kinder from around the world have gathered every other year for the last two decades.

The kinder are among the youngest Holocaust survivors, yet even they are now mostly in their 80s, a group thinned by the passing years. With each gathering, there are whispers that it could be the last.

At the most recent gathering, in an Irvine hotel, a much older Dora recalled the train station on that day more than 73 years ago. She recognized one of her classmates, a girl named Fritzy Hacker. Fritzy's mother hugged each of the girls tightly before they boarded the train together. "She said goodbye to the two of us like she was my mother too," she said.

But Dora couldn't stop thinking about her sister, Ida. They had applied for the Kindertransport mission together. But as they waited for word to arrive, her sister had turned 17. She missed being able to qualify by two months.

As the train chugged toward the Dutch border, she and Fritzy told themselves they were going on a field trip. The other passengers wept. She thought of her sister. She didn't know if she would ever see her again.

::

Dora — now Doris Small — is 89, and a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was one of the remaining kinder who had come to share their stories of survival with one another and their children in the hopes that their history isn't forgotten after they are gone.

"My generation is dying off," said Michael Wolff, who at 76 is one of the youngest. He was 2 when his mother handed him over to a teenage girl to carry him to Scotland. When his father visited him months later, he did not recognize him.

The conference in Irvine represented a passing of a torch to the survivors' children and grandchildren to maintain the Kindertransport story. The gathering drew three dozen survivors, and for the first time, the gathering was organized by the second generation — "KT2," as they are called. More than half of those attending were the survivors' children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.
Continue reading.

'Did you lie when you spoke to me? ...'

Love me some, The Clash:

Birth Tourism: Scores of Companies Operating 'Maternity Hotels' in Southern California

I'm seeing more and more stories like this, with examples from across Southern California.

At the Los Angeles Times, "In suburbs of L.A., a cottage industry of birth tourism":
USA Baby Care's website makes no attempt to hide why the company's clients travel to Southern California from China and Taiwan. It's to give birth to an American baby.

"Congratulations! Arriving in the U.S. means you've already given your child a surefire ticket for winning the race," the site says in Chinese. "We guarantee that each baby can obtain a U.S. passport and related documents."

That passport is just the beginning of a journey that will lead some of the children back to the United States to take advantage of free public schools and low-interest student loans, as the website notes. The whole family may eventually get in on the act, since parents may be able to piggyback on the child's citizenship and apply for a green card when the child turns 21.
Hey, they're working the system. And don't you love that "free" public education.

Amazing. Man are we suckers sometimes.

Used Book Browsing

At the Bookman in Orange yesterday.

It's really cool. I picked up a cheap paperback copy of "The Heart of Darkness."

Clint Eastwood

'Brandy'

The Looking Glass:

More Stephanie Seymour Bikini Pics!

She really takes good care of herself --- and she likes letting everyone know it!

At London's Daily Mail, "Still got it! Stephanie Seymour, 44, is still runway ready as she relaxes by the pool in her bikini in St Barts."

PREVIOUSLY: "Supermodel Stephanie Seymour Looking Great in Bikini at St. Barts."

Welcome to ObamaCare!

Twitchy reports on the shock of customers in Texas at being charged a medical device tax at Cabela's retail outfitters: "Cabela’s cash register ‘glitch’ shines spotlight on new medical device excise tax."

Device Tax

This was apparently a glitch on the checkout registers, but the medical device tax is no glitch. It threatens to hammer whole industrial sectors, like the device manufacturing industry in the O.C. Either way, we'll be seeing more and more examples of this monstrous law throughout the year as ObamaCare kicks in. These retail glitches only bring the reality home to your average mom and dad retail shoppers.

Why Pro-Life Activists Have Been Winning Ever Since Roe v. Wade

At Life News, "Shocking Time Magazine Cover: After 40 Years, Abortion Activists Losing."

And at Time, "Is the Pro-Choice Movement Losing the Fight for Abortion Rights":

In January 1973, the Supreme Court made access to abortion a federally protected right. As I write in this week’s TIME cover story, that seemingly decisive victory 40 years ago kicked off a war that the pro-choice movement has been losing ever since. In many parts of the country today, obtaining an abortion is more difficult than at any point since the 1970s.

There are fewer doctors willing to perform the procedure and fewer abortion clinics open for business. Pro-choice activists have been outflanked by their prolife counterparts, who have successfully lobbied for state-based regulations that limit access. Scores of states now require women to undergo counseling, waiting periods or ultrasounds prior to obtaining abortions. Minors across the country must often get permission from their parents if they want to terminate pregnancies. And pro-life state legislators are passing laws that require clinics to comply with arcane requirements—such as a hallway having to be more than five feet wide— that make it difficult for them to stay open.

The pro-life cause has been winning the abortion war, in part, because it has pursued an organized and well-executed strategy. But public opinion is also increasingly on their side. Thanks to prenatal ultrasound and advanced neonatology, Americans now understand what a fetus looks like and that babies born as early as 24 weeks can now survive. Although three-quarters of Americans believe abortion should be legal in some or all cases, most support state laws regulating the procedure and fewer and fewer are identifying themselves as “pro-choice” in public opinion surveys.

The prochoice establishment has also been hampered by a generational divide within the cause. Young abortion rights activists today complain that the leaders of feminist organizations, who were in their 20s and 30s when Roe was decided, aren’t eager to pass the torch to a new generation whose activism is more nimble and Internet-based. But the most pressing challenge for prochoice activists may simply be that abortion is legal. In a dynamic democracy like America, defending the status quo is always harder than fighting to change it.
Right.

And that takes us back over to Life News, "NARAL President Quitting, Cites Lack of Young Abortion Activists."

Abortion's an abomination, as is the progressive movement as a whole. This story's a reminder that conservative grassroots activism is effective over the long haul. Folks of good standing and decency just have to keep plugging away. We'll take back the country a little at a time. We have to, or we won't have any country left.

Watters' World In Hawaii

This is good.

Hugh Jackman Starved Himself of Food AND Water for His Most Gruelling Role Ever

At London's Daily Mail, "Making Les Mis? It was sheer misery!":
Hugh Jackman is part-way through a gruelling, 12-hour working day on the film Les Miserables, which comes hard on the heels of an equally gruelling three-hour stint in the gym that began shortly after dawn.

He has barely eaten for 36 hours and hasn’t drunk anything, not even water, during this period.

Little wonder that the normally bright-eyed and smiling Australian, star of films Wolverine, Real Steel and Van Helsing and an accomplished musical theatre actor, looks gaunt, with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes.

Hugh later apologises to those around him for his grumpiness but feels wholly justified the following morning when he sees the unedited version of the scene he was shooting the previous day. ‘I realised the sacrifices had been worth it, that the headaches, dizziness — and the grumpiness — had been a relatively small price to pay,’ says Hugh, who is cast as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, the £38 million film version of one of the most successful stage musicals of all time.
Continue reading.

E-Reader Sales Down, Signaling a Waning Revolution

I noted earlier how e-reading is growing.

But according to the Wall Street Journal, the e-reader itself is seeing declining sales as tablet devices become more popular. See, "The E-Reader Revolution: Over Just as It Has Begun?":
The e-reader era just arrived, but now it may be ending.

Dedicated devices for reading e-books have been a hot category for the past half-dozen years, but the shrinking sizes and falling prices of full-featured tablet computers are raising questions about the fate of reading-only gadgets like Amazon.com Inc.'s original Kindle and Barnes & Noble Inc.'s first Nooks.

Market-researcher IDC recently estimated 2012 global e-reader shipments at 19.9 million units, down 28% from 27.7 million units in 2011. By contrast, IDC's 2012 tablet forecast is 122.3 million units.

IHS iSuppli comes up with different totals, but it sees a similar trend. It estimates that shipments of dedicated e-readers peaked in 2011 and predicts that 2012 shipments slid to 14.9 million units, down 36% from a year earlier. By 2015, it expects unit sales of dedicated e-readers to be just 7.8 million.

One problem is that some users who bought e-readers see no particular urgency to buy another. Julie Curtis, a substance-abuse counselor in Stow, Ohio, says she is devoted to her two-year-old Kindle. "It works fine, I really have no reason to get a new one," she says. "If I did ever want to upgrade, it would probably be to a tablet, like the Kindle Fire," she adds.

E-readers seemed revolutionary when they came into vogue in 2007. They allowed users to store and read hundreds of books on a device that was lighter than many hardcovers and took up much less space. In addition, digital books cost less to buy.

In the intervening years, e-reader designs improved. The devices looked sleeker, they were easier to read, they weighed less, their pages turned faster, and they held more books. Wireless capability allowed users to download novels, magazines and newspapers wherever they were, whenever they wanted, and now the devices allow for reading in the dark.

"The real innovation in e-readers has been giving consumers a convenient way to buy books, wirelessly, without even having to use their computers," says Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester Research analyst. "Giving consumers a digital storefront right in their hands, that's what really made e-readers a phenomenon."

But tastes and technology have moved on. People haven't stopped reading. They are just increasingly likely to read e-books on tablets rather than e-readers, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. The polling firm found that 23% of Americans said they had read e-books in 2012, compared with 16% in 2011.

'Serious men don't taunt...'

A great commentary from Peggy Noonan, at the Wall Street Journal, "There's No 'I' in 'Kumbaya'":
We're all talking about Republicans on the Hill and their manifold failures. So here are some things President Obama didn't do during the fiscal cliff impasse and some conjecture as to why.

He won but he did not triumph. His victory didn't resolve or ease anything and heralds nothing but more congressional war to come.

He did not unveil, argue for or put on the table the outlines of a grand bargain. That is, he put no force behind solutions to the actual crisis facing our country, which is the hemorrhagic spending that threatens our future. Progress there—even just a little—would have heartened almost everyone. The president won on tax hikes, but that was an emotional, symbolic and ideological victory, not a substantive one. The higher rates will do almost nothing to ease the debt or deficits.

He didn't try to exercise dominance over his party. This is a largely forgotten part of past presidential negotiations: You not only have to bring in the idiots on the other side, you have to corral and control your own idiots.

He didn't deepen any relationships or begin any potential alliances with Republicans, who still, actually, hold the House. The old animosity was aggravated. Some Republicans were mildly hopeful a second term might moderate those presidential attitudes that didn't quite work the first time, such as holding himself aloof from the position and predicaments of those who oppose him, while betraying an air of disdain for their arguments. He is not quick to assume good faith. Some thought his election victory might liberate him, make his approach more expansive. That didn't happen.

The president didn't allow his victory to go unsullied. Right up to the end he taunted the Republicans in Congress: They have a problem saying yes to him, normal folks try to sit down and work it out, not everyone gets everything they want. But he got what he wanted, as surely he knew he would, and Republicans got almost nothing they wanted, which was also in the cards. At Mr. Obama's campfire, he gets to sing "Kumbaya" solo while others nod to the beat.

Serious men don't taunt. And they don't farm the job of negotiating out to the vice president because no one can get anything done with the president. Some Republican said, "He couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag." But—isn't this clear by now?—not negotiating is his way of negotiating. And it kind of worked. So expect more.

Mr. Obama's supporters always give him an out by saying, "But the president can't work with them, they made it clear from the beginning their agenda was to do him in." That's true enough. But it's true with every American president now—the other side is always trying to do him in, or at least the other side's big mouths are always braying they'll take him down. They tried to capsize Bill Clinton, they tried to do in Reagan, they called him an amiable dunce and vowed to defeat his wicked ideology.

We live in a polarized age. We have for a while. One of the odd things about the Obama White House is that they are traumatized by the normal.

A lot of the president's staffers were new to national politics when they came in, and they seem to have concluded that the partisan bitterness they faced was unique to him, and uniquely sinister. It's just politics, or the ugly way we do politics now.

After the past week it seems clear Mr Obama doesn't really want to work well with the other side. He doesn't want big bipartisan victories that let everyone crow a little and move forward and make progress. He wants his opponents in disarray, fighting without and within. He wants them incapable. He wants them confused.
Continue reading.

John Boehner Re-Elected Speaker of the House

At The Hill, "Boehner reelected as Speaker; nine Republicans defect in vote." (At Memeorandum.)


And actually, Boehner's outward emotion never really bothers me, but it makes for a lot of comedy. At Weasel Zippers, with additional video, "Shocker: Boehner Tears Up After Being Re-Elected House Speaker…"

And from Patricia Murphy on Twitter:


Thursday, January 3, 2013

Far-Left Whack-Job Thom Hartmann Wants to 'Outlaw Billionaires'

Whether or not he's a socialist or a communist, Hartmann's on record here attacking money in politics (and thus capitalism) as a "cancer," and so it's no surprise that his recent comments calling to "outlaw billionaires" are getting a lot of play.

Here's NewsBusters' headline, "Aspiring Bolshevik Thom Hartmann Wants U.S. to 'Outlaw Billionaires'."

This is seriously some f-ked up shit.

And from Greta's show last night:


Socialist, communist, or who knows what?, this guy Hartmann's way out there, a freakin' loon. He's peddling some weird-ass conspiracy theory called "Billionaire-istan," populated by allegedly EEEEE-VIL villains like the Koch brothers. Here's his December 27th RT program calling on the Democrat Party to destroy this vicious billionaire cabal that this psycho claims is destroying the American democracy. For real. This is billionaire trutherism --- and, no surprise, Walter James Casper III is down with it:


Online Pay Models in 2013

I don't care for Andrew Sullivan, obviously, but this piece by Ann Friedman points out why the Daily Dish is a special case: "Journalism is Personal." Very few people will have the kind of personal brand that Sullivan has, and thus very few people will ever be able to establish on online business model that he's initiating. So far he's off to a good start: "Sullivan's new Dish raises $333,000 from over 11K people in first 24 hours." (Via Mediagazer.)

And here's where I cribbed the title above: "The Atlantic Will Experiment With Online Pay Models In 2013."

Time to Tackle Spending

At IBD, "After Fiscal Cliff Tax Hikes, Spending Cuts Finally?":
The fiscal cliff deal raises taxes on the rich, investments and the vast majority of American households, while doing almost nothing to rein in spending.
Now that President Obama and fellow Democrats got their way on hiking taxes on the rich, they have no excuse for not taking on runaway government spending, Republican leaders argue. But some analysts doubt that the GOP itself is ready to take a serious stand.

The New Year's Day fiscal cliff deal hikes taxes by about $700 billion from 2013-22, IBD estimates. But that only will reduce the increase in the national debt by 14% over that period.

The deal does almost nothing to cut spending. It increases spending on jobless benefits by $30 billion. It boosts Medicare spending by $10 billion in 2013 by making yet another one-year "Doc Fix" patch delaying scheduled cuts in payments to doctors.
Continue reading. There's an eye-opening chart at the report.

Occupy Wall Street: Deadbeats, Freeloaders, Scofflaws and Terrorists

Via Maggie's Farm:

Occupy

#OccupyWallStreet. Just the kinda people of attention-whore Walter James Casper III!

He wants to be a part of it!

"Occupy wherever you are..."!

See: "Harvard Grad, Occupy Wall Street Activist Busted on Bomb-Making and Weapons Possession Charges."

Another day of citing Hate-sac's own words and then watching the progressive dick break down in impotent rage. It's too easy.

Off to a wonderful New Year!

Underage Southeast Asian Hotties at Lawyers, Guns and Money!

This is interesting.

I distinctly remember being accused by the LGM thugs of posting underage bikini babes here at the blog, although the alleged "underage" woman was Courtney Messerschmidt's 21-year-old blog-model Lauren. So for a big, lusty laugh this morning let's play some "accuse the accusers" with the f-king depraved clowns at Robert "Che" Farley's hate-site. It turns out these freaks really go in for some lovely young Southeast Asian jailbait:

UnderageLawyersGunsMoney

Clicking on that link for the "23 year-old" "Yan he" and her teen-swinger friends takes us to iDateAsia.com, with some very busty underage girls popping out at the homepage.

And if you refresh the page at Lovers, Sex-Guns and Money you'll be able to "browse singles now" (even younger singles) at FilipinoCupid.com.

And remember, Robert "Che" Farley's a counterinsurgency expert, so he's no doubt looking to help his fellow (young Asian) experts with some of that "love you long time" progressive mojo. You can't touch that, conservatives!


It Used to Be 'Please Don't Feed the Bears...'

Now it's "Don't Kill the Bears, or Else..."

At the Los Angeles Times, "More bears mean more strife at Lake Tahoe":
HOMEWOOD, Calif. — She was born under a house on the west shore of Lake Tahoe and quickly became a beloved fixture in this rustic community.

She rambled through backyards and climbed into open windows to snack. She swam in the lake's impossibly blue water and sunned herself on the beach as if on an extended vacation.

Residents nicknamed her Sunny. She was one of Lake Tahoe's "celebrity bears" — animals so familiar, so seemingly at ease around humans that they've become de facto residents of this forested idyll where the boundary between wilderness and civilization has all but disappeared.

"She was the epitome of how bears and humans can coexist," said Ann Bryant, an animal rights activist here. "Until she was murdered."

The morning of July 30, Sunny was found dead on the beach, felled by a shotgun blast.

The killing infuriated Lake Tahoe's large and vocal community of bear lovers, who raised $35,000 for a reward leading to the arrest and conviction of Sunny's killer.

Others thought that wasn't enough.

When no arrest was made, the suspected shooter's name and address were posted on a Facebook page established by a bear advocate to shame businesses with unlocked and overflowing dumpsters.

Reaction was swift — and, at times, disturbing:

I hope the person who did this is not only prosecuted to the fullest, but suffers the same fate Sunny did.

Can we have open season on the person who shot the bear??

Burn his cabin down.
Oh, it's "animal rights activists"? Color me unsurprised. And that Facebook "shaming"? It's now the SOP of the radical left, to release public information on people who haven't even been convicted of a crime.

I'm sure it was a nice bear, and I'm sorry it was killed. But it was a bear. These granola goons would kill their next door neighbor before even entertaining an inconvenience from these creatures.

High Earners Face First Major Tax Rise in Years

An excellent summary, at the Wall Street Journal.

RELATED: At Michelle Makin, "Obama’s Tax Evaders of the Year":
Well, it happened last night. The U.S. Senate Democrats and bend-over Republicans delivered a massive tax-hike/puny spending-cut bill in the ratio of 41-to-1 tax hikes to spending cuts. This is the Washington idea of a “balanced approach” to our fiscal woes. The McConnell-Biden love connection screwed us over big time.

But as American families, business owners, and struggling entrepreneurs now brace for their “fair share” punishment, many of Obama’s wealthiest friends are busy evading the tax hikes their candidate spearheaded. Let’s ring in the new year exposing the hypocrites.
And at the Washington Free Beacon, "Gore Pockets Estimated $100M on TV Sale to Oil-Backed Al Jazeera":
According to the New York Times, which first broke the story Wednesday, Gore wanted to complete the sale before Jan. 1, 2013 to avoid getting slammed with higher taxes.
Higher taxes for thee, but not for me...

Obama Continues Terrorist Renditions

If you're a civil liberties advocate, this administration is much worse than the Bush administration. But no one's demonizing President Obama as they did President Bush, because, you know, O's a brother and all that.

At the Washington Post, "Renditions continue under Obama, despite due-process concerns."

Remember progressive hypocrite Kevin Gosztola? All he can muster is a mildly critical retweet:


More at Big Journalism, "Press Mum as Renditions Continue Under Obama."

Who's College Football's No. 1 Team?

More football coverage, at the Wall Street Journal, "Who's No. 1 in College Football Is a Contested Issue: Conflicting Title Claims Abound, Some of Them Written in Stone."

Harvard Grad, Occupy Wall Street Activist Busted on Bomb-Making and Weapons Possession Charges

Hey, "occupy wherever you are..."

At the New York Post, "Greenwich Village couple busted with cache of weapons, bombmaking explosives: sources."

Photobucket

And at American Glob, "Shocker: Occupy Wall Street Denies Link To Couple Busted With Guns And Bombs":
Of course! This is what they always do.
Right. It's what they always do, because we wouldn't want to make any "sweeping generalizations" or anything. Assholes.

More at London's Daily Mail, "Doctor's daughter who had baby in custody after she was arrested for keeping explosives in apartment 'robbed a man after meeting at a bar in February'."

Social Justice and the Constitution

From Douglas Gibbs, at Canada Free Press:
Barack Obama won the election of 2012 with a number of strategies in place, and the one that made the largest impact was his offer of the federal government as the giver of gifts from the treasury, at the expense of the producers in society. In other words, the redistribution of wealth. The liberal left calls this Social Justice. The Founding Fathers called it despotic and unconstitutional. Today’s conservatives call it communism.

Enough voters, however, have bought into the lie that only government must be the guarantor of social justice.

The concept of Social Justice begins with the claim that the government is simply seeking to achieve “fairness.” In this pursuit, the Democrats cry out that those with more must “pay their fair share” in order for the “less fortunate” to achieve equity in our unfair society. Equality and fairness. Sounds good to most. A tool used by the statists to achieve their big government aims, Social Justice is a myriad of entitlement programs we are told were designed to ensure those that are underprivileged are taken care of by government.

Social Justice is argued as being the responsibility of the government for reasons of morality. To not support social justice is to be immoral because that must mean you want the potential recipients of entitlement programs to suffer in their poverty. In reality, the statists are paying the poor to remain poor, not only to buy their votes, but to keep them under the control of the government.

Does the Constitution give the federal government the authority to create and fund programs designed to redistribute the wealth from the taxpayers to those seeking participation in entitlement programs?

The answer is “No,” though folks that oppose a system of self-reliance and personal responsibility will argue otherwise...
Well, to be precise, the Constitution sets forth in the Preamble that we should provide for the "general welfare," although it's a political question as to what that actually means. Should the "general welfare" be defined as promoting greater liberty for the individual to pursue material economic interests to the best of his or her ability, with the aggregate of those interests promoting the public good through increasing social prosperity? Or should the "general welfare" be defined as promoting ever increasing (re)distributive "welfare" programs as defined by the radical left's entitlement ideology? As it stands right now, the latter definition is winning (and liberty is increasingly threatened).

But continue reading.

Speedboat Puts Out Boat Fire

I was watching the news yesterday when this story came on. That's some quick thinking:

More Tax Hikes On the Way

A great O'Reilly Factor segment featuring Charles Krauthammer at the clip.

And from James Pethokoukis, "Why the Obama tax hikes have only just begun":

Total taxes are going up some $220 billion this year, including both the Obama income tax hikes and the Obamacare tax hikes. Even worse, the income tax hikes raise the burden on working, saving, and investing. They make our mess of a tax code even more damaging to growth than what it was before.

Nor is Obama done pushing higher taxes. As he said on New Year’s Eve, concerning the outstanding issues of the sequester and debt ceiling:
I want to make clear that any agreement we have to deal with these automatic spending cuts that are being threatened for next month, those also have to be balanced, because, remember, my principle always has been let’s do things in a balanced, responsible way. And that means the revenues have to be part of the equation in turning off the sequester and eliminating these automatic spending cuts, as well as spending cuts. Now, the same is true for any future deficit agreement. Obviously we’re going to have to do more to reduce our debt and our deficit. I’m willing to do more, but it’s going to have to be balanced. We’re going to have do it in a balanced responsible way.
How much more “balance” does Obama want? ...
Continue reading.

And from Yuval Levin, at National Review, "It’s a Spending Problem" (via Memeorandum).

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Bill Plaschke: A Little Boring, But Stanford Brings Back Tradition to the Rose Bowl

Bill Plaschke was grumbling pretty hard on Twitter during yesterday's Rose Bowl game. He gives ground a little in his column today, at the Los Angeles Times, "Stanford's old-school Rose Bowl win a welcome throwback trend":
Who knew the elite Bay Area school had enough old-school fans to fill the Rose Bowl with a roar that even drowned out that Wisconsin beer cheer? Who knew that a longtime second-tier program could lose one of college football's best coaches and quarterbacks in a span of two seasons and not only survive, but triumph? Who knew that, 41 years after an infamous "Thunderchickens" defensive line gave Stanford its last Rose Bowl championship, the academic powerhouse could overcome an NCAA world filled with recruiting cheats and grade scams to return to football's most traditional throne?

From the shadow of USC and Oregon to the glorious winter shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains, Stanford formally arrived Tuesday in a game that fit Cardinal culture perfectly. It was a bit thoughtful, a tad boring, but ultimately a real gas. The Cardinal scored twice in the game's first nine minutes, then spent the rest of the afternoon swarming and scheming and hanging on for history.
PREVIOUSLY: "Rose Bowl: Stanford 20, Wisconsin 14."

New Breed of Republicans Resists Fiscal Deal

The title above almost needs a question mark. A WTF? kinda question mark. That's because to understand this piece at the New York Times you have to understand the paper's agenda. There's never any questioning the idea that government today has to expand, that government must grow. Look at the spin on the fiscal cliff deal. Oh, we saved people thousands of dollars by not going over the cliff. Why isn't that enough for you Republicans? It's been ten years since the Bush tax cuts passed, but for NYT's reporters they're still temporary, so it's the Democrats who should get credit for them, right? For making them permanent. And Republicans should just STFU and get with the program on more spending because Obama decided to let you have your little play toy.

See, "Lines of Resistance on Fiscal Deal":
WASHINGTON — Just a few years ago, the tax deal pushed through Congress on Tuesday would have been a Republican fiscal fantasy, a sweeping bill that locks in virtually all of the Bush-era tax cuts, exempts almost all estates from taxation, and enshrines the former president’s credo that dividends and capital gains should be taxed equally and gently.

But times have changed, President George W. Bush is gone, and before the bill’s final passage late Tuesday, House Republican leaders struggled all day to quell a revolt among caucus members who threatened to blow up a hard-fought compromise that they could have easily framed as a victory. Many House Republicans seemed determined to put themselves in a position to be blamed for sending the nation’s economy into a potential tailspin under the weight of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.

The latest internal party struggle on Capitol Hill surprised even Senate Republicans, who had voted overwhelmingly for a deal largely hashed out by their leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The bill passed the Senate, 89 to 8, at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, with only 5 of the chamber’s 47 Republicans voting no.

Twenty-one hours later, the same measure was opposed by 151 of the 236 Republicans voting in the House. It was further proof that House Republicans are a new breed, less enamored of tax cuts per se than they are driven to shrink government through steep spending cuts. Protecting nearly 99 percent of the nation’s households from an income tax increase was not enough if taxes rose on some and government spending was untouched.
And that's supposed to be bad? We'll soon be pushing $20 trillion in national debt and these idiots question why Republicans might be worried about a little bit more than voting to keep something first passed ten years ago. You want to hit these numbskulls up side the head. This is Democrat media framing at its finest, courtesy of the newspaper of Walter Duranty.

More at the link.

And then read Erick Erickson, "The McConnell Tax Hike":
The McConnell Tax Hike raises taxes on people making over $400,000.00, but it also raises taxes on the middle class. “More than 80 percent of households with incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 would pay higher taxes.”

Not only does the McConnell Tax Hike stick it to the middle class, it raises taxes $41 for every $1 in spending cuts. Those spending cuts are ephemeral as there is $330 billion in new spending and a $4 trillion price tag over the next ten years.

Both Hollywood and NASCAR get carve outs. So too do wind energy companies.

The Republican Establishment in Washington, DC should be burned to the ground and salt spread on the remains. Republicans who saw Mitch McConnell and John Boehner destroy the last plank of the Republican Party are going to need to look elsewhere for a savior for their party. Boehner and McConnell have declared they will survive. Their party? They don’t really care.

Conservatives must look elsewhere. I do not advocate a third party. I advocate bring fresh blood into the GOP.
And also, "A New Agenda."

Keith Morris Recounts the Origins of the Los Angeles Punk Scene

I'm just clicking around on YouTube looking for a different version of "Nervous Breakdown" and I come across this Keith Morris interview. I start listening thinking I'm just going to check it out for a couple of minutes but Morris sucks you in. There's no one like him. From his accent and mannerisms, to his encyclopedic revelations of the early punk movement, you can't not be riveted to this man talking. At times it seems he's having a brain malfunction, like he's lost his train of thought, only to blast out a fascinating recollection using the most colorful examples and analogies. You gotta love this guy. (And if you're able to stay with it until the end, Morris regales the story of Chuck Berry, during a concert in St. Louis, coming up on stage to jam with the Circle Jerks and then later telling the club manager how much he loved Morris' music.)

House Republicans Refuse Vote on Hurricane Sandy Relief

Chris Christie is pissed. And whatever the justifications in the House, the PR won't be good for the GOP. The Democrat Media Complex will make sure of that.

At the New York Times, "House Ignores Storm Relief, to Fury of Local Republicans."


Also at the Los Angeles Times, "House leaders opt not to act now on Sandy aid."

Rose Bowl: Stanford 20, Wisconsin 14

I was rooting for the Badgers, actually. But they weren't playing well at all.

At the New York Times, "Stanford Wears Out Wisconsin on Ground":

PASADENA, Calif. — The view was a sight to behold, the sun setting on the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance. Down below, the teams looked vintage as the 99th Rose Bowl devolved into something familiar for Barry Alvarez: brawn, bruises and punts. A lot of punts.

But Alvarez’s 16 seasons as Wisconsin’s coach, a College Football Hall of Fame induction, a previously perfect 3-0 Rose Bowl record, his vintage red sweater vest and his timeless sunglasses did not count for much on Tuesday. Not against Stanford, a program that flexed its staying power, slowly wearing out the Badgers, 20-14.

It was Stanford’s first Rose Bowl win since 1972 and Wisconsin’s third Rose Bowl loss in three years.

In his final game, Wisconsin’s Montee Ball, the N.C.A.A. record-holder for career touchdowns (83), rushed for 100 yards on 24 carries and scored on an 11-yard run.

The second half was a tug of war between Ball and his Stanford counterpart Stepfan Taylor. Back and forth Ball and Taylor went, disappearing in a mosh pit of red and white bodies, out of sight to gain their yards. Taylor gained 88 yards on 20 carries and scored on a 3-yard run that gave Stanford a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Trailing, 20-14, Wisconsin mounted a final drive, but quarterback Curt Phillips’s pass was tipped and intercepted by Usua Amanam near midfield with 2 minutes 3 seconds remaining.

Wisconsin seniors had pleaded for Alvarez, the athletic director, to step in for Bret Bielema, who had left for Arkansas. Alvarez hired the Utah State coach Gary Andersen, but decided to take Bielema’s place in the Rose Bowl. Six assistants who will have new jobs stayed to assist Alvarez.

Stanford (12-2), ranked eighth, opened the game with two touchdown drives, balanced and impressive, as it had looked with Andrew Luck at quarterback a year ago. Taylor pushed forward and wiggled for extra yards. Kevin Hogan, who is often likened to Luck, looked as if this were not his fifth career start, marching the Cardinal 80 and 79 yards.

Bill Plaschke wasn't thrilled:


Well, Stanford's sure excited.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Tension-Filled New Year's Day in the House of Representatives

The post title above draws on the reporting at the Wall Street Journal, "Cliff Showdown in House: Chamber Takes Up Senate Version of Bill Despite GOP Objections on Spending."

I've been out all day, visiting friends and watching the Rose Bowl. But I've been following along on Twitter. Things have been a lot more complicated today. Folks woke up this morning and went to work to actually get a grip on what was in the Senate's fiscal cliff compromise passed during the wee hours. Tom Foreman breaks down the House GOP's opposition at the clip. And the best analysis I've read all day is this lead editorial at the Journal, "Obama's Tax Bill Comes Due":

The headlines say the Senate has passed a bill to avoid the tax cliff, hallelujah. This is the way to look at it if you have a pre-Copernican view of politics where Washington is the center of the economic universe. The better way to see it is that the tax bill on the private, productive part of the economy is now coming due for President Obama's first-term spending and re-election.

The Senate-White House compromise is a Beltway classic: The biggest tax increase in 20 years in return for spending increases, and all spun for political purposes as a "tax cut for the middle class." But taxes on the middle class were only going up on January 1 because the politicians had set it up that way, manufacturing a fake crisis. The politicians now portray themselves as scrambling heroically to save the day by sparing the middle class while raising taxes on small business, investors and the affluent.
Continue reading.

And see David Malpass, "Nothing Is Certain Except More Debt and Taxes."

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "Obama wins 'fiscal cliff' victory, but at high cost":
WASHINGTON — President Obama, who campaigned on raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, has fulfilled that promise even before his next term starts.

The announcement Monday night of Senate agreement on a compromise to avert part of the "fiscal cliff" meant that for the first time in two decades, Republicans in Congress were preparing to vote in favor of a bill that raised taxes, an extraordinary concession to the nation's fiscal woes and the president's reelection.

But Obama's victory fell short of what he had campaigned for, and came at a high cost. Even if the House later Tuesday or Wednesday musters the votes to approve the bill that the Senate was to vote on in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the terms of this compromise guarantee another pitched battle over spending and taxes within months.
Continue reading.

I think the costs will be higher for Republicans, actually. If I can gather the motivation, I want to go back and research how the GOP agreed to this "fiscal cliff" framework in the first place, and especially whose idea it was for "sequestration." For real. It's as if an automatic tax increase, with spending cuts to defense, was tailor -made for the Obama White House in the first place. You're not negotiating a deal when that's the "consequence" of failure. The Democrats would get massive tax increases, etc., and could blame them on the GOP. See Jonathan Tobin for more on the frankly shitty politics of it all, "GOP Plays Into Obama’s Hands on Cliff."

In any case, politics on New Year's Day isn't all that pleasant. I think most people would rather be relaxing than stressing higher taxes and spending cuts. But these are the Obama Democrats we're dealing with nowadays. They don't really care about the well-being of regular people, and they certainly don't care about economic growth. They care about political power and expanding their big government agenda, and they've been quite good at it. Ross Douthat has more, and then I'll be back with more on this later, "Liberalism’s $400,000 Problem." (Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: The bill passed in the House and now goes to the president for his signature. At the New York Times, "G.O.P. Advances Senate-Backed Plan, Despite Opposition."

Black Monday Sweeps Through the NFL

Seven coaches were fired.

The Los Angeles Times reports:


Overnight, the NFL went from Xs and O's to ex-coaches and whoas.

In a head-spinning blizzard of pink slips, seven head coaches were fired Monday, leaving openings in Philadelphia, San Diego, Buffalo, Chicago, Arizona, Cleveland and Kansas City.

The dismissals included three coaches who led their teams to Super Bowls in the last eight years: Andy Reid of Philadelphia, Lovie Smith of Chicago and Ken Whisenhunt of Arizona.

Also shown the door were San Diego's Norv Turner, Buffalo's Chan Gailey, Cleveland's Pat Shurmur and Kansas City's Romeo Crennel.

Five general managers were fired: San Diego's A.J. Smith, Cleveland's Tom Heckert, Arizona's Rod Graves, Jacksonville's Gene Smith and the New York Jets' Mike Tannenbaum.

Most of the moves were long-anticipated, but the Bears raised some eyebrows by dumping Lovie Smith after a 10-win season that failed to produce a playoff berth. The Eagles parted ways with Reid, the league's longest-tenured coach, who had been there for 14 seasons. Philadelphia was 4-12 this season.

"When you have a season like that, it's embarrassing. It's personally crushing to me and it's terrible," Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a news conference.

Lurie said he didn't fire Reid after last season because the Eagles had always bounced back after a down year.

"That was the history," Lurie said. "I really believed that this season, with our talent, that we would be a strong contender and a double-digit win team. Nobody is more disappointed or crushed than myself because I fully believed that that's exactly where we were at in August as we started the season."

Although the firings came fast and furious Monday, the turnover has yet to match that of 2010, when there were 10 new coaches put in place, nearly a third of the league. The day after the season ends has come to be known as Black Monday.

"You hope that those guys that obviously were victims of Black Monday land on their feet," St. Louis Coach Jeff Fisher said. "You've got guys that have been to Super Bowls and won championship games and all of a sudden they've forgot how to coach, I guess."
More at the top.

I'm taking my boys up to Long Beach to watch the Rose Bowl with my colleagues Charlotte and Greg Joseph and their kids. I'll be back blogging tonight. I'm still reading around on the reaction to the budget deal and I'll have more on that. And don't miss lamblock on Twitter. She's a riot.

Laguna Beach Plastic Bag Ban Starts Today

Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, bans plastic bags. I pay 10 cents for a paper bag whenever I stop off at Wal-Mart on the way home from work. It's lame. And it's coming to the O.C.

At the O.C. Register, "Laguna plastic-bag ban begins today." The best part is the argument against from the surprisingly-named American Progressive Bag Alliance:
"Laguna Beach's plastic bag ban and paper bag tax will not only hurt consumers' pockets but also push them toward less sustainable alternatives," chairman Mark Daniels said in the statement. "Paper bags are a worse environmental option at checkout – using a large amount of water and emitting more greenhouse gases than plastic bags, and reusable bags cannot be recycled and are predominately imported from China."

The organization shared the following data:
• Reusable bags have been found to host dangerous bacteria, which can carry disease;
• Plastic bags aren't usually single-use, they said, with 90% of Americans reporting they re-use their plastic bags;
• Cloth bags must be used 131 times to ensure their footprint is less than a plastic bag, according to a U.K. government study;
• Seven times the number of trucks are required to deliver paper bags versus one truck for plastic;
• Plastic bag production consumes 4 percent of the water used in paper bag production.
Long Beach and Los Angeles County have similar ordinances.
Right on.

E-Book Reading Grows

I'm not quite there yet, although I'm reading journal articles on my wife's iPad. I'm liking it, so who knows?

At Pew Research, "E-book Reading Jumps; Print Book Reading Declines":
The population of e-book readers is growing. In the past year, the number of those who read e-books increased from 16% of all Americans ages 16 and older to 23%. At the same time, the number of those who read printed books in the previous 12 months fell from 72% of the population ages 16 and older to 67%.

Overall, the number of book readers in late 2012 was 75% of the population ages 16 and older, a small and statistically insignificant decline from 78% in late 2011.

The move toward e-book reading coincides with an increase in ownership of electronic book reading devices. In all, the number of owners of either a tablet computer or e-book reading device such as a Kindle or Nook grew from 18% in late 2011 to 33% in late 2012. As of November 2012, some 25% of Americans ages 16 and older own tablet computers such as iPads or Kindle Fires, up from 10% who owned tablets in late 2011. And in late 2012 19% of Americans ages 16 and older own e-book reading devices such as Kindles and Nooks, compared with 10% who owned such devices at the same time last year.
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Hispanic Pregnancies Fall in U.S.

This is fascinating.

At the New York Times, "U.S. Birthrate Dips as Hispanic Pregnancies Fall."

And while we're on the topic, you gotta read this, from Jonathan Last, at the Weekly Standard, "A Nation of Singles."

Audrina Partridge Calendar 2013

Hey, a great way to start the new year. What a lovely.

At London's Daily Mail, "Bikini girl Audrina Patridge reveals sneak peek of her sizzling 2013 calendar."

Hot Jenny McCarthy Kisses Navy Officer on New Year's Eve 2013!

This was something else.

At Gossip Cop, "Jenny McCarthy Makes Out with Navy Officer on New Year’s Eve (VIDEO)."


And see London's Daily Mail, "'Thirteen is my lucky number! Taylor Swift steals the show in leather as she heads New York's star studded celebrations."

'You Shook Me All Night Long'

I was thinking about this song earlier, a classic rocker for New Year's Eve:


She was a fast machine
She kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman that I ever seen
She had the sightless eyes
Tellin' me no lies
Knockin' me out with those American thighs
Takin' more than her share
Had me fighting for air
She told me to come but I was already there
'Cause the walls start shaking
The earth was quakin'
My mind was achin'
And we were makin' it and you -

CHORUS:
Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me all night long

Workin' double time
On the seduction line
She was one of a kind, she's just mine all mine
Wanted no applause
Just another course
Made a meal out of me, and come back for more
Had to cool me down
To take another round
Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing
'Cause the walls were shaking
The earth was quakin'
My mind was achin'
And we were makin' it and you -

CHORUS:
Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me all night long
Knocked me out and then you
Shook me all night long
Then you were shakin' and you
Shook me all night loooong
Yeah you shook me
Well, you took me

(guitar solo)

You really took me and you
Shook me all night long
Oaaaaaahhhhhh you shook me all night long
Yeah yeah you
Shook me all... night... long
Ya really took me and you
Shook me all night long

Yeah you shook me, yeah you shook me
All night loooong!

'It Don't Come Easy'

You know it don't come easy, at the Concert for Bangladesh:

(It don't come easy, you know it don't come easy)
(It don't come easy, you know it don't come easy)

Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues
And you know it don't come easy
You don't have to shout or leap about
You can even play them easy
Forget about the past and all your sorrow
The future won't last
It will soon be your tomorrow

I don't ask for much, I only want your trust
And you know it don't come easy
And this love of mine keeps growing all the time
And you know it don't come easy
Open up your heart, let's come together
Use a little luck, and we will make it work out better

Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues
And you know it don't come easy
You don't have to shout or leap about
You can even play them easy
Please remember peace is how we make it
Here withing your reach, is your freedom to take it

I don't ask for much, I only want your trust
And you know it don't come easy
(de de de) growing all the time
And you know it don't come easy...

Memorization's Loosening Hold on Concert Tradition

I was in band in junior high. I played French horn. We had to memorize if we wanted to play, for both marching band and the holiday classical concert. It was a long time ago. But this story at the New York Times triggered the memory, "Playing by Heart, With or Without a Score":

It would seem that the filmmaker Michael Haneke, who wrote and directed the wrenching and poignantly acted new French movie “Amour,” is swept away by the mystique of a pianist, alone onstage, conveying mastery and utter oneness with music by playing a great piece from memory. The drama of playing from memory is at the crux of a scene involving the elegant French pianist Alexandre Tharaud, who, portraying himself, has a small but crucial role.

The story revolves around an elderly Parisian couple, Georges and Anne, retired music teachers, as they cope with the stroke that has paralyzed Anne’s right side. In one scene Mr. Tharaud, in the role of a former student of Anne’s who has gone on to a significant career, makes an unannounced visit to his old teacher to see how she is faring. He can barely contain his shock at her condition. Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) asks a favor: Would Alexandre play a piece she made him learn when he was 12? It is Beethoven’s Bagatelle in G minor, the second of the Six Bagatelles (Op. 126), Beethoven’s last published piano work.

At first Mr. Tharaud demurs. He has not played the piece for years, he explains, and is not sure he can remember it. Then, saying he will try, he proceeds to play the stormy bagatelle flawlessly, at least as much as we hear before the film cuts to the next scene. I suppose it would have been too pedestrian a touch if, when Alexandre said he was not sure he could remember the bagatelle, Anne had said, “Oh, I have the score, of course, right there on the shelf.”

Over the years I have observed that the rigid protocol in classical music whereby solo performers, especially pianists, are expected to play from memory seems finally, thank goodness, to be loosening its hold. What matters, or should matter, is the quality of the music making, not the means by which an artist renders a fine performance.

Increasingly, major pianists like Peter Serkin and Olli Mustonen have sometimes chosen to play a solo work using the printed score. The pianist Gilbert Kalish, best known as an exemplary chamber music performer and champion of contemporary music, has long played all repertory, including solo pieces (Haydn sonatas, Brahms intermezzos), using scores. As a faculty member of the excellent music department at Stony Brook University, Mr. Kalish spearheaded a change in the degree requirements in the 1980s, so that student pianists could play any work in their official recitals, from memory or not, whichever resulted in the best, most confident performance.

Yet there is still widespread and, to me, surprising, adherence in the field to the protocol of playing solo repertory from memory. This season Mr. Tharaud took a little flak for performing recitals in New York using printed scores.
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